Lucy's excitement hadn't diminished much by the end of the school day. In fact, any excitement she may have lost over the course of the day returned when she caught sight of Milo just outside the courtyard. Picking him out among the crowd of children wasn't hard; she'd recognize that curly blonde mane anywhere. Her heart swelled at the prospect of spending the entire bus ride home talking to him about their plans for the weekend.

Her excitement quickly turned to confusion, however, when she saw that Milo wasn't getting in line for the bus.

"Hello, Milo," she said. "I'm glad I caught you outside. Let's go get in line before it fills up."

"Oh, I'm not taking the bus today," he responded. "My dad is picking me up!"

Lucy deflated a little. "Oh."

She barely had any time to feel disappointed, however, before she felt Milo's chubby hand patting her on the shoulder. She shivered as his touch sent a tingle of joy zipping up and down her spine.

"It's okay, Lucy. We'll have lots of time to hang out on the weekend!"

The tingle grew even stronger, forcing a smile. Just the sound of his light, fluffy voice and the sight of a smile breaking out across his pudgy cheeks were enough to put her mind at ease.

"We... we sure will," she said.

A few moments later, she heard the rumble of a car approaching the curb. The car was a metallic blue Prius, slightly worn, with two bumper stickers on the front that read "ACAB" and "THERE'S NO GOVERNMENT LIKE NO GOVERNMENT". The front window rolled down to reveal a middle-aged man in a baseball cap, with a well-defined chin and a big bushy mustache.

"Hi, Milo," he said in a slightly gravely voice, tipping his hat. "How was your day?"

"Pretty good," Milo said with a shrug.

Just then, the back door of the car opened up, and out popped an older redheaded girl in a blue sweater, who ran up and lifted Milo into a bearhug.

"Hi, Little Koala!" she sang. "Did you have a good day at school?"

"Mm-hmm," he muttered, returning the hug. As soon as she put him down, he turned to Lucy and pointed towards the two new arrivals.

"Lucy, these are my dad and my big sister Mindy. Dad, Mindy, I'd like you to meet my friend Lucy."

Beaming, Mindy walked up to Lucy and ruffled her thick black hair, causing her to recoil in surprise.

"So you're the girl I've been hearing so much about," she said. "You've got quite the imagination, from what I've heard."

"She does!" chirped Milo. "She's got all sorts of great ideas. And, uh, we were talking today, and she- I mean, we decided that it would be cool if she could come over this weekend. Would that be okay, dad?"

"'Course it would!" his father said. "I'm proud that you made yourself a friend."

"Just remember to pick up your dirty socks and underwear before you let her into your room," said Mindy.

Milo cringed, hiding his face. "Mindyyyyyy!" he whined.

His sister and father shared a laugh before inviting him into the car. As he stepped in, he looked over his shoulder and gave his friend one last smile and wave goodbye, which she returned in kind. After the car pulled away, however, the name of the older sister started echoing in Lucy's head.

Mindy, Mindy, Mindy, she thought. Now where have I heard that name before?

And then, just as she was getting in line for the bus, it hit her.

No way...

Lincoln came home rather late; after stuffing themselves at Jean Juan's, he and his friends decided to cap off the day with some co-op Dance Battle at the mall's arcade. At around 8:00, that night, Lincoln came ambling through the driveway - tired, stuffed, and very satisfied, but still mildly concerned about what had happened that morning.

What he didn't expect, however, was that someone would be waiting up for him. As soon as he closed the front door behind him, he saw Lucy sitting on the living room couch, staring at him with her arms folded.

"Welcome home, Lincoln," she said. "There's something I must discuss with you."

Lincoln gulped, a chill creeping down his spine. "W-what would that be?"

"It's about the new girl, Mindy. She wouldn't happen to have braided red hair, would she?"

He blinked. "Actually, she does. Why?"

"And does she wear a blue sweater with an orange skirt?"

"Yes."

"And black buckled shoes?"

"Okay, time out!" cried Lincoln, his formerly weary eyes now wide with shock. "Did you see Mindy today? Because everything you've said so far is exactly right."

"I think I did," said Lucy. "And I think Mindy is Milo's older sister."

He stood there with his mouth agape for a spell, as his brain took its sweet time processing what he just heard.

"Milo was picked up by his dad today," she continued. "When he arrived, Mindy came out of the car and gave him a hug. Unless she's a really close family friend, I think it's safe to assume that she and Milo are related."

After he finally regained his senses, he swished the new revelation around in his mouth for a few seconds - and found it surprisingly easy to swallow.

"They did show up in Royal Woods at about the same time," he pondered. "So I guess this isn't that far-fetched."

A budding smile started to form on his face as he walked across the room and took a seat next to his little sister.

"How are you and Milo, by the way?" he asked.

"I'm glad you asked," she said, returning the smile. "Today he invited me over to his house. I'll be seeing him on Saturday."

Lincoln gasped with delight and clasped his hands over his cheeks. "You're kidding!"

"Not at all."

He let out a squeal of glee and started tousling Lucy's thick black hair, causing her to fidget and squirm.

"L-Lincoln, come on, cut it out," she uttered in between nervous giggles. He complied with her request and withdrew his hand, giving her a moment to fix her hair.

"Sorry about that. But god, I'm just so dang happy for you. It sounds like you and Milo are really hitting it off."

"We are," she said. "This Saturday is going to be an adventure. I can't wait to see what he has planned for us."

The goth's smile swelled as she spent the next few seconds daydreaming about her prospective playdate. Would they make new puppets? Would they develop the lore behind Thaddeus and Gus? Would she get to see Milo's extensive collection? So many possibilities and so little time to speculate.

"By the way," she said, scooting across the couch towards her big brother, "how are you and Mindy?"

As soon as she asked that question, all of his memories of that morning's outburst came rushing back. His smile began to taper off - and once she noticed, so did hers.

"Not perfect," he said. "Up until today we were fine, but... something happened this morning."

"A fight?"

"Not exactly. I told you that my friends and I were going to Jean Juan's today, right?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Well, when we told her that we couldn't squeeze her in because we already made the reservations, she kind of lashed out at us. I think it was the first time I'd ever seen her angry."

Lucy knit her brow, leaning in closer.

"But what's weird is that she didn't stay angry," he continued. "After lashing out, she caught herself and got all sheepish. It's almost like what we said triggered something inside of her."

"That is concerning," said Lucy, rubbing her chin. "She's almost certainly hiding something from you."

"Yeah, but I don't know how I'm gonna pry it out of her. Without offending her, at least. I just want to be-"

Suddenly, the boy was stunned into silence as his brain spawned a bright new idea - as it was wont to do.

"Wait a second. You'll be going over to their house this weekend, right? Maybe while you're there, you could..."

"Let met stop you right there," said Lucy, taking on a stern tone of voice. "I'm going to be spending all of Saturday with Milo. I'm not going to waste it snooping around Mindy's stuff."

"I wasn't going to ask you to snoop!" cried Lincoln, as he shrunk away from her and threw up his hands in defense. "Just, you know, keep your eyes open. Let me know if you come across anything weird."

Lucy took a moment to mull over his request, after which she looked at him and gave him a nod.

"Okay. But I won't be going out of my way to find anything. You know I could get in trouble for that."

"Perfectly all right," he said, giving her a reassuring smile.

With that, the two shared a hug and went upstairs to get ready for bed. As she went through her bedtime routine, however, a pang of unease began to swell inside of Lucy. As excited as she was to see Milo on Saturday, she knew she'd have to watch herself around Mindy, lest she inadvertently set her off. She suspected that social rejection could be one of her "buttons", but even that was just speculation. What was her deal?