Just like with the exterior of Quilene's house, I'm amazed by the interior of her house. While Professor Hillenburg gives me a tour, I just look around and observe how this whole interior looks. The living room, I notice, has a cream-colored ceramic tile floor with gray grouting helping to make the tiles stand out. That same ceramic tile floor can be found in the entry foyer and the dining room. The walls are a yellowish-beige color with white moulding, and they seem to reach all around the ground floor. I manage to get a quick peek into the kitchen, and I can see that it's got stainless steel appliances, a breakfast bar, a large pantry, and a dining area which have been left all open into the spacious family room. The family room has a gas fireplace, a cathedral ceiling with two skylights, recessed lighting, and sliders into a private yard with a huge paver patio that's complemented by a sitting wall and a white vinyl fence. It just amazes me how nice this house is, especially when Professor Hillenburg and his partners and their children are living here.

"It's so nice to see my daughter making friends with one of my students," Professor Hillenburg says.

"Thank you, Professor Hillenburg," I reply with a smile. "And it's so nice to see you outside the classroom, especially with you being as nice as you are."

"Oh, shucks. Well, have you met the rest of Quilene's family?"

"Uh... I've met Patrick before, but other than that, no."

"Then allow me to introduce you to the rest of the family."

Quilene and I follow him into the dining room where Patrick, a blond-haired guy wearing a brownish turtleneck sweater and white dress pants, a Black woman with an afro and a flower in her hair, a woman who appears to be Japanese, and then some other people around the same age as me and Quilene (or younger, give or take a few years) are all sitting around a long white rectangular wooden table. One of my peers appears to be partly Black and take after the Black woman quite a bit, down to having the same shade of brown eyes as her and the same light brown skin. I can definitely see some resemblance between Quilene and Patrick, though. Quilene's got the same thick dark eyebrows he does. Plus, her hair color matches his hair color. She's got the same eye shape he's got, too. She didn't inherit his round face and portly figure, though; nor did she inherit his light brown skin. One thing is for certain, though. They are both hapa.

"You said you already met Patrick, right?" Professor Hillenburg asks me, wanting to confirm what I said was right.

"Uh, yes, sir," I reply with absolute certainty. "He's actually my cousin Steven's stepbrother. That's how I know him."

"Ah... I see. So then I guess I should introduce you to the rest of the family. Hope, I would like for you to meet Edward Thompson, Sandy Cheeks, Mindy Summers, Quilene's sisters Edena and Leilani, my biological daughter Shelley, and Edward's biological kids Amadeus and Settimia. Eddie, Sandy, Mindy, kids, I'd like for you all to meet Hope Harvey-Dahl. She's Quilene's roommate."

We all give our friendly hellos. Sandy Cheeks... where have I heard that name before? Oh yeah, that's right! She's Grandma Ruby's cousin! Grandma Ruby used to tell me and Jonah stories about her from when they were kids. I had no idea Aunt Sandy knew Professor Hillenburg, let alone that she was even in a polyamorous relationship with him. This really is such a small world.

"It's just so nice to meet you all," I tell everyone. "Especially you, Edena and Leilani."

"And it's so nice to see you again, Hope," Sandy responds in her distinct Texan drawl. "Last we saw each other was when you and Jonah were babies. Your grandma Ruby was tellin' me just the other day about how you wanted to go ride with me in my truck."

I chuckle in an effort to hide my embarrassment. "I guess I thought you would take me home and give me candy."

"Well, that's what your mama said, but she was real worried she'd never see you again. Your mama is a real good mama to have raised you and your brother into such nice and wonderful people."

"And I'm sure she'll do the same again when she gives birth to our new sibling."

Now it's Patrick's turn to start speaking. "New... sibling?"

"That's what I said," I reply.

"Is... is your mama expecting another baby?" Sandy asks me, not quite sure how to wrap her head around it.

Quilene chimes in now. "Yeah. Garnet's expecting another baby, and this time, it's not through adoption."

Professor Hillenburg can hardly contain his shock. "Oh... my... gosh..." is all he can say.

"That's kinda what I thought, too." I rub the back of my head with my hand. "To tell you the truth, I'm not sure how she could handle a pregnancy, especially at her age. You remember when I told you about her having Waardenburg Syndrome Type II, right?"

"I'm pretty sure you did."

"That's what I thought. Anyway, you know how Waardenburg Syndrome can cause deafness? Well, I'm worried that my new sibling might have to face a lot of hardships because they're deaf or they might have abnormal kidneys. I don't think it's fair of Mom to do this, especially when she had to deal with being partially deaf herself. I don't know, I guess I'm worried I might lose Mom just like how I might lose Van."

Professor Hillenburg looks at me with a forlorn expression on his face. "I'm... I'm sorry about what's going on with Van. As much as I want everything to turn out okay in the end, I know that there's a slim chance that Van will survive at this point. It's very hard to predict the future when we're close to entering a new year, so... the best we can do is hope things get better for us somehow."

"Thanks, Professor Hillenburg. I'll have to keep that in mind for the rest of the year."

It's only a matter of time before we've all eaten our food. We manage to clean everything up and then get ready to watch football in the living room. Right now, the football game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Northwestern Wildcats is playing on the LG 4K Ultra HD TV that's resting comfortably on the farmhouse-style TV stand. The football game doesn't do much to distract me from my anxieties about school and the rest of the year. What if this year ends badly for us? What if next year starts out worse than before? I don't want to think about that right now, but my mind insists on fixating on it every chance it gets. Okay, guess I'll just have to focus on something else, like...

"So..." I begin to speak. "Edena, Leilani, what schools are you attending around here?"

Edena barely looks up from her Android phone. "Oh, um, I'm attending Montclair State University."

"And I'm attending Rowan University," Leilani adds.

"Ah, very impressive." I nod and smile while saying this. "What are you guys majoring in?"

Edena's eyes now just focus exclusively on her phone while she scrolls through some sort of webpage. "I'm working towards a major in Computer Science."

Meanwhile, Leilani is typing down notes on a Macbook laptop. "And I'm working towards a degree in Elementary Education. I really want to make a difference in children's lives."

"Neat," I simply reply. "I'm sure your parents must all be very proud."

Leilani nods with confidence. "Oh yeah, they're very proud, especially Papa and Father." She pushes her purple rimmed glasses back up to her face and tucks her dark hair behind her right ear. "They like how we picked different majors from the usual Humanities and English shtick. They also think that it's cool we want to help people through computers and education."

"It's true, you know," Patrick interjects. "I might not understand a whole lot about what Edena or Leilani are talking about, but I do understand that all my kids are smarter than me and that it's nothing to be ashamed of. By the way, what does 'IDK' mean?"

"'I don't know,'" Leilani replies.

"What do you mean you don't know? I thought you were an expert in this stuff?"

"No, it means 'I don't know.'"

"How could you not know what it means? Is there anybody around here who knows what 'IDK' means?"

It's Settimia's turn to chime in. She looks up from her copy of Dubliners. "'I don't know.'"

"What do you mean you don't know?" Patrick asks again, starting to get frustrated.

"'I don't know.' 'IDK' means 'I don't know.'"

"Well, why did you answer if you don't know?"

"Papa, 'IDK' means... ugh, forget it." She goes back to reading Dubliners. "I swear to God..."

Quilene and I can't help but snicker for a bit. There's just something funny about Patrick struggling to understand what his kids are trying to tell him. For a moment, I feel better and I start to think positively about the future... especially when it comes to Quilene and Jonah. I can't help but think they have a bright future ahead of them.