Fall is answering its call.
It is a relief that Ronnie Anne sees her brother pick up the phone. But it is startling when she hears a different voice on his line.
"Hello?" Ronnie Anne responds.
Then, a mature woman voice replies, "Who is this?"
"That's my question! Who are you?! Where's my brother?!"
"He's busy, sweetie pie."
The call abruptly ends, much to Ronnie Anne's displeasure. She grunts heavily, feeling that her brother has breached a trust that he should not have breached. "UGHHHHH!" She dials in again and again, until she gets a response. But she gets none. "BOBBY!"
Frightened, Lincoln reaches out to her, "Ronnie Anne? Did he answer?"
She does not answer. Instead, she marches to the left side of the patio and attempts to jump off.
"Ronnie Anne, what are you doing? Where are you going?"
"Finding Bobby!" The irritated 11-year-old reaches the nearby rain pipe and slides down.
Lincoln catches up to her in climbing down on the pipe. "Wait for me, Ronnie Anne!"
"Lincoln, stay back. This is my own problem!"
He then defends, showing the same negative feeling she has, "Well Lori has not answered my call too. We're on the same page. And you need someone with you if you have to outwit those jocks after us."
Feeling his support, Ronnie Anne takes Lincoln's hand and pulls him to the teenage crowd. They crawl below to avoid detection and to blend in. It is a tussle for them since they have to deal with the stomping above them. Both of them choose to duck their heads to the pavement and find a way out of the crowd.
Ronnie Anne is speeding up. And Lincoln is trying to catch up. "Ronnie Anne, slow down!" He huffs and huffs to catch alongside her.
They find themselves crawling to an open window door that leads them to the interior living room, which is also swarmed by partygoers who are either passing out or moving like zombies.
One dude is even on the urge of puking towards Lincoln's position, but Ronnie Anne pulls him under a nearby table.
"That was close! Thanks Ronnie Anne!"
"Don't mention it."
The innocent kids then hear a wild chant that echoed to their direction. But it goes like, "Bobby! Bobby! Bobby! Bobby!"
Thinking it may be the Bobby they are looking for, both of them rush to where the ruckus comes from, without even crawling nor ducking their heads.
They find a group of partying teenagers in a circle over the chandelier foyer. In the middle of the crowd is a sando-wearing Bobby being pitted against a senior opponent.
"What the?! What's he doing?"
A college student with dark blond hair and a chiseled body announces the challenge upfront as he takes the two boy challengers by their wrist. "Ladies! Gents! We move to our final round for our ultimate frat games! We have Bobby all the way from Great Lakes City! And we have Kyle from Marshall County. And now, they'll be doing dizzy basketball. Rules are simple. These two men must spin on the chair for ten times. After which, they must grab the ball and shoot it on the ring!" The basketball ring turns out to be Carol Pingrey forming a circle with her arms.
Cheers and hollers occupy the entire lobby. Majority of the bets are on Bobby since he unintentionally showed the most enthusiasm in the games.
"First dude to shoot the ball wins!"
With the crowd getting wild, Bobby and the other guy position themselves by kneeling on the chair before they are spun around. As they do, the other teen is about to pass out, but Bobby keeps his aggression to his teeth.
After the tenth spin, Bobby quickly tackles Kyle, who drops to the crowd, and takes the ball to slams it to Carol Pingrey by pressing his body to hers.
Yet, the crowd cheers. "Bobby! Bobby! Bobby!" And both Bobby and Carol take a laugh on it.
But Ronnie Anne, who appeared in front of him as he rises, is not pleased. So does Lincoln.
Thus, they drag a still lightheaded Bobby to the nearby staircase that is out of the foyer premises. Ronnie Anne slaps him in the face repeatedly, but his wooziness gets the best of him.
"I win mama! I won the NBA…" he utters.
"Bobby, will you snap out of it?! I thought you're keeping your word! We'll try to be back early as possible, mi culo!"
Still woozy and unaware that Ronnie Anne is in front of him, "That's sweet."
Hurt, Ronnie Anne slaps him once more.
But Lincoln stops her. "Okay Ronnie Anne, that's not helping. Bobby, where is Lori?"
"Dolphin with Jobless…"
The two are rather perplexed on his answer.
Lincoln guesses, "Is he speaking gibberish or is he just…?"
Bobby muzzily repeats, "She's dolphin with jobless…"
"Bobby, for heaven's sake, speak some sense to your hermana!"
Lincoln makes another guess, based on his ramblings, "I think he's trying to say she's golfing with Chavez."
"She must be outside." Ronnie Anne looks back at Bobby to see him dozing off. "Okay, we drag Bobby outside to Lori. Then, make the both of them come to their senses."
"What about the jocks looking for us?"
"That's why we must hurry."
Speaking of which, the blond college dude who hosts the games earlier confronts them. "What do we have here? Bobby, are these your kids?"
"I am his sister," Ronnie Anne scoffs him threateningly. "Who are you?"
He charmingly introduces himself, "If you must know, I'm the guy running this place. Know the name but don't let anyone else know. Miles."
"Miles? You're Felix's stepbrother?"
"So, you blokes know Felix?" he replies like a cunning villain. "Well, glad to know that dork had brought kids illegally to my party. But I leave you to the jocks."
Fiercely, Ronnie Anne tells him, "I will not by threatened by you partygoing blockheads who let my brother to this mess."
Just at that moment, the jocks from earlier spot them. "KIDS! THERE THEY ARE!"
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne try to lift Bobby upstairs, but he is much of a dead weight now.
With no other choice, Lincoln suggests, "Ronnie Anne, we have to go!"
"No! I can't leave Bobby!"
"We'll return for Bobby! We need to save ourselves first."
Hopeless and frantic, Ronnie Anne grumblingly leaves Bobby to the staircase, and they go into hiding. Both of them retreat to an open bathroom. Lincoln locks the door, and the two take their breaths for a while. The latter is briefly relived from getting away from the claustrophobic party crowd, "That was wild. I swear I'll never go to a party like that in my life."
However, Ronnie Anne is more than upset from what is happening.
"Ronnie Anne?"
She becomes silent, leaning her back to the bathroom wall.
Lincoln takes her time to absorb everything. It is a brief silent moment, comprised of her sullen expression. But he eventually says to her, "Sorry about Bobby."
"I never seen him like that. That is not him," she utters.
He pats her shoulder to comfort her.
Ronnie Anne tries not to break into tears in front of him. She could only lean her head to Lincoln's shoulder in this time of confusion.
"I fear about Lori too."
Having shared his sentiments, Ronnie Anne embraces Lincoln. Likewise, he embraces her back to comfort her more. Never has there been a relevant period for the two friends to find comfort with each other over their older siblings' growth than now.
Eventually, Lincoln encourages her. "We'll get Bobby. But we have to get out of here."
Inconveniently, some kids are banging on the door. Thus, both of them take the air vents system.
Back at Felix's room, Felix tells another lifestory to Sid, "I had this niece in Great Lakes as well. Her name is Lucia. Before I had the barista gig, my aunt would always call me to take care of her. So, in days when I had no classes, I'd fill in for her. She was really energetic and quirky and happy. Even though they are poor, she would always bring a smile to us. Then, I would always read Matilda to her. She loves reading books. So, she would always relate to the girl hero who loves books because she is always imaginative."
"Is your niece talkative?" Sid asks him.
"Sort of."
"She kind of reminds me of my sister Adelaide. She would be a sass bucket all the time. But she likes it. She likes projecting her imagination all over the place. But that's how she likes it."
"Must be hard work being the older sister."
"Totally. But it is fun being the elder one."
"Yeah…" Felix is simply passive over that fact.
Sid becomes aware of it. So, she quickly acknowledges her mistake. "Oh sorry, if I offend you."
"It's cool. I'm used to it. The runt of the litter."
Sid then pats him on the shoulder. "Hey, you're cool. You're like a cool brother that I only realize now that I actually need."
Felix smiles tenderly at her compliment. "You're cool too."
Hearing that makes Sid's heart get warmer.
Jumping to Stella, Girl Jordan and Henry, the three are still jamming to any random song they have in mind. This time, they are singing "Michael in the Bathroom" from Be More Chill.
I'm just Michael who you don't know
Michael flying solo
Michael in the bathroom by himself
The song seems timely as Lincoln and Ronnie Anne burst in from the air vents towards Felix's bed. Everyone gasps.
"Lincoln! Ronnie Anne! What are you guys doing in there?"
"Long story, we escaped from the 2nd floor bathroom when the jocks nearly caught up to us," Lincoln tells them.
"The bathroom?" Henry wonders. Then, he segues to quipping about it with the synthesizer.
I'm just Lincoln who you don't know
With RA flying solo
They are in the bathroom by themselves
"Nothing happened guys! Swear," Lincoln assures them.
"But how did you guys got there?" Girl Jordan asks.
Since Ronnie Anne does not want to bring it up herself, Lincoln tells, "Long story, we looked for Bobby. But we saw Miles."
"You guys saw Miles?" Felix asks as he and Sid emerge out of the study room.
"Oh he's bad news. I don't want to even speak about him."
Looking at how tired and emotional the two were, Stella, Sid, Girl Jordan, Felix and Henry realized how much the unplanned night took a toll on them personally. In that way, Felix tries to think of an alternative to playing boardgames. So, he suggests this: "So, anyone who likes stargazing? I know a spot." Everyone agrees to his suggestion.
