It's morning and everyone is up in the kitchen eating breakfast. Cate is getting paperwork together and Lauren is following her around trying to get her to sign a paper she is holding.
"Okay, remember that Fern is going to be here when you get off of school, so no going meet Bug. Baze is going to take you straight here." Cate tells them.
"Mom, I need you to sign this. Can you stop moving for like a second, please."
Cate stops and takes the paper away from Lauren. She sees that it's a test and Lauren made a C on it. "A D, Lauren? Really?"
Lauren shrugs. "What? I suck at math, sue me."
"How can you be bad at math? I was great at math."
They hear Baze honk the horn outside.
"That's Baze." Lux says grabbing her things.
"I'm not you. So, can you please sign it so I can go." Lauren asks her mom as she hands her a pen.
Cate takes the pen and signs. She was really disappointed. "Fine. Bring your stuff home tonight. I'll help you." She says giving Lauren her test back.
"No, thanks." Lauren mumbles as she grabs her things and follows Lux out the house.
Cate sighs. She didn't know what was going on with Lauren, well, she did. Ever since Lux came, Lauren had been acting out and not herself. She and Lux barely said one word to eachother, or at least not in front of her.
"What has got into her? She use to have no trouble in school." Cate says getting her things together.
"Are you serious?" Ryan laughs. "Cate, Lauren is horrible at math. I mean she got through it but she wasn't good."
"Oh my gosh. I'm a horrible Mom." Cate groans.
Ryan comes up behind her and puts his arms around her waist. "No, you're a great Mom. It's just going to take some time. Okay? Trust me on this." He says kissing her on her cheek.
Cate turns around in his arm and smiles at him. "I trust you." She says kissing him on his lips passionately. Cate pulls back quickly when she has a flashback of her and Baze, the night at the bar, having sex.
"Hey, you okay?" Ryan asks her. Cate comes back and looks up at Ryan. She could see he was really worried. Cate gives him a fake smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine. We're going to be late." She says grabbing her things.
Ryan wasn't sure to believe her or not, but he let it go, for now.
At school Lauren closes her locker when her friend Sam walks up to her.
"So, why was the new girl getting out of your dad's truck?" Sam asks her.
"Hey to you, too, Sam." Lauren says avoiding the topic. She figured this would come up sooner or later.
"Answer the question, Lauren. Who is she to you?"
"She's my sister." Lauren tells her as she avoids eye contact as they walk down the hall.
"Your step-sister, right? Ryan has a kid?"
Lauren laughs. "My mom and Ryan aren't married."
"You're avoiding the question."
"My mom and my dad had a baby when they were sixteen. She was put up for adoption, and now she's back. Lux was that baby. There. Question answered." Lauren says walking away. Sam just stood there stunned.
Lauren couldn't believe she just told her best friend about Lux. She knew she'd have to explain later, but she just was not feeling up to it right then and there.
Outside Lux sees Jones' talking to some girls. She could hear them talking about a party.
"Hey." She says walking up to them. Jones turns around and smiles.
"Oh, hey, Lux. What's up?"
"I don't know. You tell me. Who's having a party?"
Jones sighs. "Well, Rich bailed. We were suppose to have the party at his house, but his parents are coming in from out of town a day early. So, right now the party is a no go." He explains.
Lux stares at Jones smiling. She knew what she was about to say was probably a bad idea, but if she was going to stay at this school, she had to find some way to fit in. "I know a place."
"Really where?"
"My dad's loft. It's big enough and definitely party material. You down?"
"Totally. Thanks, Lux."
"No problem." Lux walks away from them, smiling, not sure what she got herself into, but she was glad she did.
After school Lauren is waiting at the curb for Baze, when Lux walks up to her.
"So, party at Baze's tomorrow." She tells Lauren.
Lauren looks at her confused. "What are you talking about?"
"Jones needs a place to have his party, soo, why not have it at Baze's? It's big and it's just a few people."
"Jones doesn't know just a few people. How are you going to get that by mom and dad?" Lauren asks her.
"Well, first of all Cate doesn't need to be involved. And it's Baze, he'll totally be cool with it." Baze drives up and gets out his truck. He throws his keys to Lux. "What is this?"
"Well, you need to learn to drive, so I'm going to teach you." He tells her.
"Uh, no, no, no. I never drove before in my life." Lux says hesitating.
"You're sixteen. You're going to be driving soon, so you need to learn. Get in." Baze says getting into the front seat. Lux was suddenly really nervous and unsure about this, but she obeyed Baze and got into the driver's seat.
"Lauren, get in." Baze says noticing Lauren hadn't moved from her spot on the sidewalk.
Lauren was just in shock that her dad even handed his keys to Lux. No one ever drove his truck. "Um, I think I'll walk. I don't really feel like dying today."
Lux gives her a fake laugh and Lauren does it right back. "Oh, come on." Baze says.
Lauren rolls her eyes and jumps into the backseat.
"Okay, now put it in drive and slowly ease off the brake and onto the accellerator." Baze tells her. Lux does as she's told but it doesn't go smoothly. She's presses down really hard on the accelerator. "Brakes!" Lux slams on the brakes fast making them all fly forward in their seats.
"Oh my gosh!" Lauren yells. "I'm going to die.."
"Alright just do it again, but really slow."
Lux does it slower than before and they ease out onto the road really slow.
At Cate's, Cate is outside trying to make her house look better than before for Fern. So, she is planting in the front yard. She looks up and sees Lux driving Baze's truck, with Baze in the front seat, and Lauren with her hands covering her eyes in the backseat. Cate steps back completely surprised, angry, and scared.
"Why is she driving!" Cate yells at them.
"It's okay. She's driving slower than old people!" Baze yells back out the window. "Come on, Lux, you can go faster than this."
"I don't know, Baze." Lux was completely fightened.
"It's okay." Lux presses down a little harder on the accelerator, well, so she meant to, she ended up going faster than she expected and was having a hard time finding the brake. "Brake! Brake! Brake, Lux!" Baze yells.
"Oh my gosh!" Lauren yells from the backseat.
Cate could see that Lux was about to lose control, so she backs away. "Baze, help her!" She yells. But before Baze could stop the truck, Lux ran right into the curb and into Cate's plant, breaking the vase and everything.
Lux jumps out and runs over to Cate. "I am so sorry, Cate! Are you okay!"
"Why did you let her drive!" Cate yells at Baze.
"What? She was doing good!"
"Really!" Cate says pointing to her now broken vase.
Lauren gets out the truck very slowly. "Oh my gosh. I made it. I'm alive." She says walking over to her parents and Lux.
Lux rolls her eyes at her. "You're being a little dramatic."
"No. Remind me never to ride with you ever again."
"Baze, are you an idiot! She doesn't even have her permanent yet! Or taken driver's ed!"
"Cate, chill out! We'll get this all cleaned up for you before Fern shows up." They hear a car door close and they all look up. Fern is standing near her car looking at them. "Or not."
Inside Fern is looking in every room as Cate and Baze follow her. Lauren and Lux stay behind on the couch waiting for the verdict.
"Well, everything looks good. Where does Lux sleep?" Fern asks Cate.
"Well, we recently fixed up the attic for her. So, she has her own nice spacious, uh, space for herself." Cate laughs.
"Mhm." They walk back into the living room. "Lux, how are you doing here?"
"Hey, it's better than the other crappy ones." Lux tells her half jokingly and half serious. Fern looks at Cate and Baze who quickly smile.
Fern looks over at Lauren who is in her own little world. "Lauren, how about you? Are you adjusting to having a sister?" When Lauren doesn't say anything Lux nudges her.
"Hm, what?" Lauren says coming out of her daze.
"I asked how you like having Lux here." Fern tells her.
"Oh, um, it's great! I love having a sister." She says trying to be as convincing as she could.
"Well, I think I've seen enough. Mr. Bazile does Lux stay with you, too?"
"Oh, um, no not yet. I'm kinda working on her room right now." Baze tells her.
Fern nods. "Alright, well, please let me know how that turns out. You'll hear back from me in a few weeks, or Lux, if you need me. You know how to reach me." Fern tells her.
Lux smiles and nods her head as Fern turns away and leaves.
"Oh my gosh. I never thought that would end." Cate says taking a breath of relief.
"Yeah, I know. She's kinda scary." Baze says. "Where's your boyfriend?"
"He is at the station waiting for my call. He figured he'd give the four of us privacy for the inspection."
In the background, Lux nudges Lauren and gives her a stern look. Lauren shrugs her shoulders, confused. Lux nudges her again.
"Okay, okay." Lauren whispers standing up and walking over to her parents. Lux follows far behind. "Hey, Dad, since it's my weekend, well, our weekend, me and Lux's weekend now, um, can we have a few friends over please?" She says quickly.
Baze and Cate look at eachother. "Um, I don't see why not."
"Lux, you made new friends?" Cate says happily. "That is so good!"
Lux walks over and stands beside Lauren. "Um, yeah, just a couple. It's not a big deal."
"No, it's a very big deal! I knew you could do it. Just like I know Lauren will be able to get an A in math after I get through with her!" Cate says as Lauren groans.
"Mom, seriously!"
"Yeah, come on. Let's go get your math book and you can show me what you're having trouble with. Come on!" She says pushing Lauren towards the living room. "I hate you." She tells Lux.
Lux and Baze laugh as they watch Cate force Lauren to sit on the couch.
Couple hours later, Baze left, and Lux went into her room, leaving Lauren and Cate in the living room. Cate is going on about a problem in math and Lauren is just staring at her not having a clue what she's talking about.
"So, do you want to try to do it this time?" Cate asks her as she hands Lauren the notebook.
"Try what?" Lauren was beyond confused.
"The problem. Lauren, were you listening to anything I was saying?" Cate was getting frustrated herself.
"Listening, yes. Understanding, no. Mom, I'm never going to get this."
"Yes, you will! I have faith in you. Alright, come let's try it again." Cate says taking the notebook from her when Ryan walks in.
"Honey, I'm home." He says laughing. He walks into the living room and sees how miserable Lauren is. "Having fun, Lauren?"
Lauren rolls her eyes. "Thank God your here, Ryan. Mom, I will study in my room. You haven't seen Ryan all day." Lauren says taking all her stuff and running out of the living room. Cate sighs exhausted.
Ryan and her sit down on the couch together. "Long day?" Ryan asks her.
"The longest. Baze tried teaching Lux how to drive!"
Ryan laughs. "How did that go?"
"Well, did you see my front yard? Oh, and I think Fern even hates me now."
"The inspection didn't go well?"
"No, I think it went fine. How come Baze is the cool parent?" Cate asks him.
Ryan was now confused. "What are you talking about?"
Cate sighs. "Well, Lux and Lauren want to have friends over, but at Baze's. What's wrong with my place?"
"Well, it is Baze's weekend. So, I don't think it's a matter of who's cool or not."
"Really? It feels like it. Baze is like their pal, their buddy. I'm just the annoying, embarassing Mom. I use to be cool to Lauren, but what the hell happened?"
"I think Lauren is just at that age right now where she just wants to be alone. Ya know? I went through it. You said you went through it."
"Not by choice." She points out.
"Okay, but maybe Lauren just needs time to get use to this having a sister thing by herself before she can really let you in on how she feels about it. And Lux, well, Lux has her own issues, and soon enough I think she'll trust you guys to let you in on that, too." Ryan tells her.
Cate smiles at him. "You promise?"
"I promise." He says as he kisses her. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
The next day Lux and Lauren are busy packing their bags for Baze's place. Cate walks into the bathroom where Lux is doing her make up.
"Hey."
"Hey, Cate."
"So, um, are you all packed?"
"Yeap." Lux looks over at Cate who was just watching her do her make up. "Um, are you okay?"
"What? Who? Me? Yeah, I'm fine. So, why didn't you guys want to have the party here?" Cate asks her.
Lux smiles. She knew exactly what was going on now. "Well, it is Baze's weekend."
"Yeah, I know, but I totally would have let you have a party here."
"Thanks, but it isn't a party. Just a few people over. And Baze's has more room. It's like one big room." Lux explains to her.
"Oh, alright." The doorbell rings. "Baze is picking you up? I thought I was bringing you?"
"You are. I don't know who that is." Lux says walking out the bathroom to answer the door. When she does Bug and Tasha are outside smiling at her. "Bug, Tash, what are you guys doing here?"
"We have a surprise for you." Tasha tells her.
"What?"
"Yeah, go get dress."
"I can't I have to go to Baze's."
"We barely see you anymore. We thought we could hang tonight." Bug tells her.
Lux wasn't sure what to say. She knew it would be a bad idea to invite them to the party. "I'm sorry, guys. I promise tomorrow we'll hang. I just, I have to go. Baze is really excited since it's my first weekend over."
Tasha and Bug looked pretty bum. "Alright, we understand." Bug tells her.
"Thanks." Tasha hugs her.
"I'll see you tomorrow." Bug says kissing Lux then they leave.
"Lauren, Lux, get a move on. We're leaving for Baze's in ten minutes!" Cate yells.
At Baze's, Lauren and Lux walk into the loft. The bar was about to open so Baze and the guys were downstairs getting everything ready.
"Okay, so what do we need to do?" Lauren asks Lux.
Lux shrugs. "I guess we wait for them." The door opens and Jones and other people walk in. "And the waiting stops. Hey, guys." Lux says greeting them.
"Hey, Lux. Man you were right. This place is great!" Jones says looking around.
"Thanks. Oh, this is my sister, Lauren." Lux says pointing to Lauren.
Lauren waves. "What's up, guys?"
"Yeah, I've seen you around school." Jones says.
"Yeah, I've seen you, too. Quarterback, right?"
"Yeah." Jones laughs. "I guess that's what I'm known for."
"So, where's the alcohol?" Jones' friend asks Lux.
"You didn't bring any?" Lux asks, confused.
"We thought your dad owns a bar." Jones asks her.
"He does."
"Well, he has alcohol, doesn't he?"
Lux goes downstairs and finds Baze, Math, and Jamie with turtles.
"Dude, this one only has three legs." James tells Math.
"That won't stop him." Math says completely sure.
"What's up, kid?" Baze says when he sees Lux approaching them.
"Can I have the key to the supply closet?" She asks him.
"Yeah, sure." He says handing her the keys, but pulls back. "What do you need in the closet?"
Lux smiles. "Chips, soda, and stuff."
"Ookay." He says letting go of the keys.
Lux walks away, taking one last look over at Baze, then she heads to the closet to get the alcohol.
An hour or so later, there's more people in the loft than before, and they are playing beer pong, and other alcohol games. Jones, Lux, and his friends are playing beer pong while Lauren watches.
"Who knew you were awesome at beer pong?" Jones says laughing as Lux makes the ball in a cup again.
"I didn't even know."
Jones' friend looks over at Lauren. "Hey, you want to be my partner?"
Lux looks over at them. "Um, no. I need her to go get something for me." Lux tells him.
"Oh, come on, Lux. Let your sister have some fun."
Lauren didn't think this was a good idea. She knew her dad would completely go crazy if he came up and seen that everyone was drinking, but she figured he wasn't up there yet so they might as well have as much fun as they could before it was stopped.
"Yeah, Lux. Let me have some fun." Lauren grabs a cub of beer and downs it.
"Oh, yeah. She's definitely on my team." He says laughing and pulling Lauren closer to him.
"Lux?" Lux turns around and sees Baze and Tasha.
"Uh, what are you guys doing here?" She asks them, nervously.
"This is what you ditched us for? To hang out with your spoiled abercrombie friends?" Bug asks her.
Lux could tell they were both angry. "No, it's not like that."
"It looks like it to me."
"We were going to come break you out. Figured you were bored. Clearly, you're not." Tasha says. She looks over at Lauren who is taking a shot. "Isn't that your sister? She's like twelve, right?"
"Thirteen next month. Here, have a beer!" Lauren says handing her a cup.
Down at the bar, Cate walks in as the guys are yelling at the turtles to race.
"Dude, this isn't working." Jamie says annoyed.
"It's okay! Just give them time! It's just difficult to do with everyone watching." Math tells them.
"Or when you only have three legs."
Baze turns around and sees Cate trying to sneak upstairs.
"Cate, what are you doing?"
Cate freezes, then turns around. "Oh, hey, Baze. What's up?" She laughs nervously.
"You were going to sneak up there and be nosey. You don't trust me or something?"
"Well, if you really want me to answer that question, um,..."
Baze stops her. "No, I don't. Don't go up there. Leave them alone."
"Fine, fine. Okay."
Baze walks away back to his friends.
"We need someone to go outside and start telling people about this, man." Jamie tells Baze.
Baze looks around and sees that only four people were in the bar. "Uh, fine. I will."
Upstairs, Cate walks in and sees that more than just a few friends were over, and they were drinking. Yeah, she definitely couldn't trust Baze, she thought. Cate walks around all the kids and sees Lux and Lauren playing beer pong. She runs over to them and quickly takes the cup out of Lauren's hand before she could drink it.
"Mom!" Lauren yells.
"Cate!" Lux yells.
"A few friends, Lux? Really?" Cate yells.
"Man, that's your mom? She's hot!" One of the guys tell Lux.
Outside Baze is standing on the sidewalk. "Hey, one night only, turtle races! Come get your bet and have a drink!" Everyone ignored him and just walked passed him. Suddenly, a vase crashes down onto the ground from above him. Baze looks up, then quickly runs up to the loft. When he walks in he sees everyone drinking and dancing. He starts taking cups away then he walks over to the stereo and turns it off.
"Everyone out! Party is over!" Baze yells.
"Lauren, are you drunk!" Cate yells.
"It's okay! I'm fine." Lauren says slowly. She was really drunk. Baze walks over to them.
"Lux, are you an idiot! Do you know how much trouble I can get into! I could lose the bar for good, and possibly go to jail!" Baze yells at her.
"I'm sorry, Baze, I didnt mean.."
"You're sorry! Me too!"
"Hey, Daddy!" Lauren says waving at Baze. Cate grabs Lauren as she stumbles to her side.
"Alright, I'm taking you both home." Cate says grabbing Lauren.
"I don't want to go! Mom, please!" Lauren begs.
Everyone is starting to clear out of the loft, and Lux wasn't really sure what else to say. She never heard Baze really yell before, specially at her. She was scared to fight back.
"Lauren, you're drunk!" Baze asks her.
"No."
"Yes, she is." Cate says.
"Lux!"
"I'm sorry, Baze!"
"Just get out of my face. I don't even want to look at you." He says more calmly then before.
Lux grabs her jacket and storms out. Baze picks up Lauren and brings her out to Cate's car. "Baze.." Cate starts but Baze stops her.
"Call me if she makes it home." Baze tells her, then he closes the back door and walks away.
Lux is sitting on the curb when Bug walks up to her and sits down next to her.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"Great party." Bug laughs.
Lux rolls her eyes. "Baze hates me."
"Maybe it's time we leave then. I know you think you need to stay because of your sister, but do you really think they'll leave you two alone now, since you let her get drunk. " Bug asks her.
"What am I going to do? I was just trying to make friends."
"I don't think you have to worry about that anymore. Lux, you're not like those people. You're different. You're one of us, and it'll always be that way. You're just damaged."
"Damaged? That's what you see when you look at me?" Lux asks him.
"We're all damage. That's what I mean." He tells her. "Lux, lets leave tonight. You don't belong here."
Lux just looks at him. She felt horrible. The last thing she wanted was to make Baze angry and to hurt Lauren. Maybe Bug was right. Maybe she didn't belong here. It would probably be better if she left.
At Cate's, Cate helps Lauren through the door. Ryan walks up to them.
"What's going on?" He asks her.
"Turns out the few people turned into a party with alcohol." Cate tells him.
"She's drunk!" Ryan yells. Cate nods her head.
"I think I'm going to throw up!" Lauren yells covering her mouth with her hand and running to the bathroom. Cate was close behind to help her.
An hour later, Lauren finally stopped throwing up, and Cate got her to lay down and go to sleep. Lux walks in and sees Cate sitting on the couch.
"You're still up." Lux says.
"Yeah. I was waiting for you. Where you been?" Cate asks her.
"I was with Bug." Lux says turning away and going up to her room.
Cate follows her up there and sees Lux taking out a bag and packing her clothes. "What are you doing?"
"I'm packing."
"Why? Where do you think you're going?"
"Away. I hurt too many people here. I get my little sister drunk, Baze is so mad at me, and you.. I just need to go." Lux says continuing to pack her things.
Cate walks up to Lux and stops her. "You're not going anywhere. I meant what I said when I said that we are family and we were going to make decisions together and deal with our problems together. So, you're not leaving."
"Cate.."
"You're grounded. No phone, and no computer, oh, and no Bug." Cate tells her.
"What! Cate, that's not fair!"
"Tell the my twelve year old who will have a killer hangover in the morning. Lux, do you know how serious things could have got!" Cate asks her.
"I know! I screwed up! I'm sorry! You just wanted me to make friends so bad, I figured this was the best way to do it!" Lux confesses.
Cate couldn't believe Lux was doing that for her. "Lux, you don't ever need to prove anything to me. Do you hear me? I will want you no matter what. You're my daughter. You're mine. And I love you."
"You don't even know me."
"But I want to get to know you." Lux sits down on her bed. "So, your grounded. You're not going anywhere this time." Cate says kissing Lux on her forehead then turning away and leaving Lux's room. Lux was trapped in her thoughts. No one's ever grounded her before. It actually felt like she had parents now, and it felt good.