"Hey...it's time to wake up, dude..."

Tim's eyes began to flutter open to sound of the female voice that was telling him to do this; however, when he heard the voice saying this a second time, he noticed that something was a bit off about it: it wasn't Pinky's voice. His eyes continued to faze in and out of consciousness as he slowly tried to wake up, making out what was, presumably, two people standing in front of the couch where he and Pinky were sitting at the night before; and just like them, the two were also a male and a female, but they don't seem like a couple from the way they were talking to each other...if only Tim could make out what words they were saying around this time. The voices do sound familiar to him though, but he couldn't put his finger on who they actually were; but that was when the man standing before him came a bit closer, snapping his fingers in front of the mechanic's face.

"Excuse me, sir; it's time for you to wake up now." The male of the duo said, sounding a lot louder than the female; but something about the person's rather sophisticated tone made him sound even more familiar to Tim's ears, especially the vernacular that the man uses. "It might just be speculation, but perhaps this individual is...possibly inebriated. It seems logical given how he's been discovered in this room asleep and is currently unresponsive to our gestures."

"That, or you're not trying hard enough." The girl then argued. "Seriously, you should've just-"

It was at this moment; Tim was finally awake enough to see who the two people were standing before him: they were none other than...Ian and Jenny. "G-Guys?" The mechanic asked as he rubbed the side of his own head. "What are you doing here?"

"I believe that's what we should be asking you." Jenny stated as she began crossing her arms, while continuing to give Tim the same stern look that she had been giving him before. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, uh...there's no need for you guys to worry about anything, because we were only here to avoid the storm last night." Tim answered honestly, yet sheepish at the same time.

"We?" Ian asked, now seemingly baffled. "Who's 'we'? You're the only person in here."

"What are you talking about? Pinky's right over-" Tim then turned his head to the left, only to see that Pinky was no longer sitting next to him. "W-Wait a minute, where did she go?" He asked, before glancing around the store to see where the prep went; but unfortunately, it didn't seem that she was anywhere.

"I don't know about you, dude; but if you ask me, you must've been dreaming." Jenny stated as the young mechanic began to stand up from the couch.

"As reasonable an assumption that may be, I don't believe that's actually the case here, Jenny; because I highly doubt that this person would've been able to cause everything out there singlehandedly." Ian stated before glancing behind himself at the entrance to the store, where outside, he could see the bicycle Tim took from the bike-shop the night prior. In fact, one could even see the tire-marks that were left behind thanks to both the bike and Pinky's rollerblades on the ground near the mall's fountain. "It only seems logical that there had to have been another individual involved in what had previously transpired here last night."

"Then where's this dude's friend?"

"Well, I suppose whoever this fellow companion of his is had decided to abandon him so he can deal with the consequences on his own."

'I-I can't believe this...the first girl to have ever actually kissed me, and she just...abandoned me?' Tim thought as he stared off at the mall's corridor that was off in the distance. 'But...she couldn't have...she wouldn't have just told me that she had what was probably the best night of her life and then just...leave me to get in trouble with the S.P.A. for it, right? But...then again, I have just met her last night; but...she seemed like a genuinely nice person...'

After letting out a defeated groan, Tim decided to defend himself in this situation. "Um...listen, we weren't causing trouble in here if that's what you're worried about; we were just here to get out of the storm-" The mechanic was then cut off by the sight of the geeky girl raising her hand in front of him.

"Hey, don't worry about that, man; because you're in anything but trouble." Jenny reassured him. "Besides, you're not the only person who had decided to pick a shopping center as shelter to get out of that hurricane last night."

"Indeed." Ian chimes in, as he straightened his glasses. "Although, none of them has had quite the pandemonium than what happened here."

"Oh, well, that's good..." Tim said with a sigh of relief, before suddenly becoming confused about something regarding this entire confrontation. "W-Wait a minute, how did you guys know about me being in here?"

"Some of the locals who were taking shelter inside the coffee shop across the street gave Agent Walker a call last night, informing him that the lights inside here had suddenly turned on; and without any sign of a vehicle parked anywhere in the lot, they believed that the facility was being ransacked; so, once it was morning, and once the storm had finally cleared out, me and Jenny decided to come out here to investigate what was going on."

"Oh, that makes sense." Tim said while nodding his head. "Hey, what time is it right now anyway?"

Jenny pulls out her Smartphone so that she can look at the time. "It's a quarter to nine." She answered as she placed her phone back into her pocket.

"It's almost nine?!" Tim exclaims, nearly jumping into the air. "Chaz is probably wondering where I'm at right now!"

"Actually, before you go, we were hoping that you would-" Before Ian could finish the rest of his sentence, Tim began running off to find the mall's exit, much to the frustration of the former. "Okay, nevermind then..." He muttered.

"So, are we done here now, Ian?" Jenny asked in an inpatient and unamused tone of voice. "In case you don't know, I have somewhere to be right now."

While letting out an annoyed sigh, Ian turned around and replied to the geeky girl's question. "Well...I guess since there's nothing that's assigned for you to do today, then...I guess I don't see why not. Besides, I'm fairly certain that a majority of the day is going to be focused on discussing whether or not there's any specific locations around town that last night's hurricane had caused...unless you want to abide additional time in order for you to-"

"Yeah..." Jenny interrupts, cutting the genius off mid-sentence. "After being held up in that headquarters all night, I'm going to abide my time somewhere else. I'll see you tomorrow morning." After she said all of that, Jenny began to make her exit so that she can leave the mall, leaving her coworker by his lonesome.

'The least someone could do is lend me some extra assistance when it comes to the mess outside...' Ian thought as he watched his coworker leaving the store, before immediately looking on the bright side of this situation soon after. 'Ah, what do I care? It's not like Agent Walker actually needs me back at the Agency yet; so so might as well just pass the time lending my own assistance here.' He then picks up a nearby broom and began to head out of the store, helping the two janitors who were trying to clean up the tire-tracks from the bike Tim previously used last night.


Back at the Morris's House, Katie was just starting to wake up around this time too; and just like Tim, she was just as tired and drowsy upon getting out of bed; but unlike the young mechanic, who had a pretty swell night all things considered, the dentist...didn't have the same exact luck as he did. Last night was probably one of the worst nights that Katie had ever had to sleep through in her entire night; most of which was probably because she decided to go to bed at an earlier hour than she'd usually do, but most of it was because of the lightning, as it kept on waking her up every few hour or so; and needless to say, it gets difficult for her to fall asleep after being awoken by a loud sound, whether inside or outside of the house. Hopefully, there's still coffee for her to make somewhere in one of the cabinets.

After nearly stumbling down the stairs, Katie sluggishly made her way into the kitchen, where Maxwell was busy making pancakes for them; and when he turned to greet his daughter, his eyes jolted open upon seeing her drowsy state. "Oh, my word..." He said, softly. "Kathryn, is everything alright, dear?"

"Aside from Mother Nature having the audacity to be my 'Middle-of-the-Night alarm clock'...I feel like shit..." The tomboy answered, before nearly collapsing onto one part of the kitchen counter. "Do we have any coffee around here?"

"There should still be some inside of that cabinet over there." Maxwell answered while pointing towards one of the upper-cabinets.

"Thanks." Katie went over to the cabinet her father was pointing to and took out a small bag of coffee-mix, then began pouring it into the top of the coffeemaker that was underneath said cabinet.

"Are you sure you've got this all handled, Kathryn?" The tomboy's father then asked with clear uncertainty in his voice. "If you're still too tired, I can take care of making the coffee for you."

"Don't worry about it, dad; I got this." The tomboy replied before letting out a huge yawn. "Besides, these things don't usually take long to make anyway."

After being silent for a few seconds, still giving Katie that same uncertain look, Maxwell ultimately decided to accept what his daughter was saying. "If you say so, dear." He said in a soft tone of voice, before turning around and facing the stove once again.

As she waited for her coffee to get done, Katie glanced over to the calendar that was on the wall right next to her, which caused her to remember her conversation with Crystal last night. "Oh, hey...before I forget, do you mind if I ask you something, dad?"

"Of course, Kathryn." Maxwell answered, turning to face his daughter again. "What is it?"

"When's the next day that both of us have the day off?"

"Well...that would be tomorrow." Maxwell answered, causing his daughter to smile in delight. "Why do you want to know about this information?"

"Oh, you know..." Katie paused for a second, trying to word together everything she wanted to say in her head without coming across as too blunt, which was arguably one of her biggest weaknesses thanks to her academic background. "It's just...been awhile since we've last had father-daughter time together, I believe the last time that we've even spent time together like a real family should probably was, like, back in the summer of 2015 when me, you, and...well, mom...went to the park together to celebrate the fact I graduated high-school; and...I just thought...with everything that this family has been through this year...I thought that it would be nice if we did something like that again; just me and you." She then rubbed the back of her neck. "So, what do you say, dad?"

Maxwell turned to look at his daughter, not giving her an answer on the fly as she had hoped; but that was when he smiled and gave her his answer. "That would be lovely, Kathryn; I've been missing times like that for quite some time now."

"Awesome."

"Is there anything specific you'd like to do tomorrow, Kathryn?"

"I'm not too sure at the moment, but since it's the last thing we've done together, I guess we can go to the park and throw the football around." Katie then turned towards the garage-door that was close by to her spot. "By the way, do we still even have that football?"

"I think so; it should probably still be sitting on top of the shelf that we keep all of our laundry detergent on."

"Awesome; so it's a plan then." After Katie says this, a loud 'beep' was heard coming from the coffeemaker, meaning that her coffee was finally done. "Hopefully, you still have some rounds left in you, eh dad?"

"Oh, we'll see if I do." Maxwell says as he places a few of the already made pancakes onto a nearby plate, before handing it over to his daughter. "Anyway, your breakfast is now ready, Kathryn."

"Thanks, dad." After pouring the coffee she made into a nearby cup, Katie collected her plate of pancakes and headed over to the dining-room table.

Once seated, the first thing Katie did was immediately take a sip of her drink, just so that she can get her adrenaline up and running; and after taking her first sip, the tomboy felts so much energy powering through her body, almost instantly. She found herself no longer tired and drowsy, regardless of both mind and body; and truth be told, she felt like she could skateboard through the entire neighborhood twice how awake she felt after that...not that she'd be able to do that today, since the storm most likely caused some damage outside. Still, she was finally pumped up for whatever ends up coming her way today.

After she finally felt energized, Katie began to hear the sound of what appeared to be knocking; and it sounds like it was coming from the front door. Since her father was still currently busy making his own breakfast, Katie decided to check and see who it was; and much to her surprise, it was none other than Ray Frowler. She didn't know why he, of all people, was here at her house, considering the fact that they were never exactly friends; but if Katie had to make a guess, she assumes that Ray has mistaken her house for somebody else's, or Crystal has done something to piss off either him or his girlfriend. Either way, she opened the door to see what the goth wanted from her.

"Good morning, Jam-" Ray said, only to immediately stop after noticing that it was the tomboy instead. "Oh, it's you; that dentist Crystal's friends with."

"Yeah, and you're that one dude she's friends with who was apart of that 'Romeo and Juliet' play." Katie retorts back, not sure if what he had said beforehand was some kind of rude remark or something. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, nothing important." Ray paused for a second so he can rub the back of his neck, before deciding to ask the tomboy a question. "Since you're the closest person in this part of the neighborhood that I actually know, and since I was told you're pretty smart, I think you'd be able to help me out with something."

"What is it?" The tomboy asked, feeling a little suspicious of what the goth wanted to ask her.

"Do you happen to know where James Louiston lives, by chance? I was once told by Goth Boy that the guy lives around this part of the neighborhood."

"I'm guessing he pissed off either Goth Boy or one of the other goths, and you're out here so that you can kick his ass for it; is that right?"

"No, and he's not even why I'm even going to his house anyway; it's Stacy. She and I used to be quite close during our Senior Year together, and last night, thanks to remembering our graduation day, I felt it's only right that I pay her a visit."

"Well, lucky for you, they live just across the street from here." Katie answered as she pointed off to the house she was referring to, causing the goth to look that direction. "However, I can't exactly tell you if Stacy's home or not, since she's probably off working at her dad's theater right now."

"Oh..." Ray glanced behind himself at the Louiston's House across the street for a few seconds, before turning his attention back over to the dentist in front of him. "I think I'm just going to pay them a visit anyway, just to see if she is there or not. Thanks for the help, nonetheless."

"No problem, man." Katie then backed up into her house, prepared to close the door now. "Have a nice day, dude."

"Same goes to you too." Ray said back to her, before turning around and heading to his friend's house across the street, all while the dentist was closing the door behind him.


Back with Tim, who was now currently sitting on the city bus to get to his best friend's house, he couldn't help but feel let down at the fact that Pinky wasn't next to him when he woke up. Sure, he only just met this girl last night; but Pinky was the first girl he's ever met who thought of him as a 'fun' guy to be around, even saying that she had the best night of her entire life thanks to him too. Also, she was the first girl who's ever kissed him; although, that kiss was probably just a friendly one rather than anything romantic; but either way, it was still a kiss. He didn't know where the prep was, or what she was doing; but wherever she is, he hoped that she didn't just use him for her own entertainment and abandoned him to get in trouble with the S.P.A. agents.

During the bus ride, Tim decided to pull out his phone so he can chat with some of his friends, and hopefully inform them of Chaz and Summer's break-up; but when he reached into his pocket, he felt something that was right next to his phone. He pulled out the item, only to notice that it was a folded-up piece of paper. It may seem like absolutely nothing to some people; however, Tim doesn't recall this ever being in any of his pockets; in fact, he doesn't recall ever having any paper that was the color blue. Upon unfolding it, he found that this paper had some words written on it, meaning that this was a note.

'Hey, Tim; so, you're probably wondering where I'm at right now, huh? Well, let me just say that I'm sorry for leaving you on such short notice, but I needed to leave so I can see if my parents and my friends are okay; but if it makes you feel any better, and if it's enough to make it up to you for leaving so suddenly, I left my phone-number and my home address on the back of this note, in case you ever feel like calling me or visiting me; but call me first so I won't end up accidentally mistaking you for the mailman or some stranger. I hope you're willing to hang out again.' This was all that was written on the note, and even though her name wasn't anywhere, it was enough for Tim to tell that this was from Pinky.

'Wow, what strange luck I'm suddenly getting right now...' Tim thought as he stared at the note in complete surprise. 'First, this girl gives me my very first kiss last night; and then she gives me her phone number and the address to her house. Usually, this would be happening to Chaz, not me...well, actually, this would happen to him before he met Summer; but still.' He then gave the note another look for a few seconds, before giving it a kind smile and placing it back into his pocket. 'I don't know if this is the start to a relationship or anything, but at least I don't have to call her 'the girl who got away'.' His smile then faltered immediately after that thought. 'Although, I'm sure if I actually want to start dating her, or anyone for that matter, knowing that my best friend got dumped last night; but at the same time...she is a pretty nice girl, and she does like me.' He then smacks himself in his own forehead, letting out a frustrated groan. 'Why must love be so difficult sometimes?'


Note: Welp, the storm's gone and the sunny weather is back again. Tim's on his way to Chaz's house so he can console him, Jenny's about to meet up with James at the coffee shop, Katie and her father talked about spending time together, and Ray's about to go meet up with Stacy. Every single subplot is in motion here, ladies and gentlemen...well, most of them anyway.

Anyhoo, let's see what reviews we have here today...

lordgemini: Like I said, that second part with Tim and Pinky doing all of those fun activities throughout the abandoned mall was my favorite part of the chapter. Although, there were some other ideas that I wish I could've added to that part, rather than just four or five stores; but regardless, I still absolutely love how it all turned out in the end. Also, I wasn't going to add Tim flying off his bike and into the fountain, but at the same time, I couldn't help myself and just added it in anyway.

Anyways, that should be it for now. See you all in the next chapter.