Jack emitted an involuntary sigh. Next to him, Jamie, who had been watching Good Luck Charlie, turned to him. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," Jack exhaled. "Nothing big, anyway. Just a new kid at school. Frankly, he gives me a strange vibe."

"What kind of strange vibe?" Jamie pressed on curiously.

"Like... He's aloof—cold, even—to most of everyone," Jack admitted. "But when it comes to Zander and Spencer, he gets all charismatic and cheerful right away, which is slightly disturbing to see. I thought it was weird at first, but then this other guy approached me after school and said that he was trying to take them away from me. It sounds dumb, but now that I really think about it, I'm beginning to suspect it's legit."

Jamie shook his head. "No, I think you're overthinking it. I've seen similar situations, and they end up being totally imaginary."

"And exactly what are these situations you speak of?" Jack raised a questioning eyebrow.

"...When Monty first transferred, the twins got mad when I apparently 'paid more attention to him than to them,'" Jamie somewhat sheepishly confessed, rubbing the back of his head. "They obviously ended up coming around, after realizing Monty meant no harm... At least, I think."

"Well, that was you guys in elementary school. Things are different in high school, where everyone's a whole lot more devious," Jack pointed out. "Besides, that doesn't really offer an explanation for the change in attitude. Monty's genuinely a nice guy, but I can't say the same for Mal."

"Is that his name?"

"It's actually Malcolm, but considering how Mal's his nickname or something..."

"Oh. Well, whoever that guy who told you Mal's up to no good shouldn't be taken too seriously," Jamie dismissed. "Give Mal a chance. Maybe you guys will end up as friends."

"Right," Jack agreed, but he couldn't shake off that uneasy feeling in his chest. Jamie resumed watching television while he continued musing, until Sophie suddenly bounded in from the kitchen.

"Jamie, Jamie! Unicorn Umbrella World!" she chanted excitedly.

"Unicorn Umbrella World?" Jack and Jamie replied simultaneously.

Mrs. Bennett entered with an amused smile on her face. "Jamie, you've seen the commercials on TV, haven't you? That highly publicized kid's play place opening up in the plaza tomorrow?"

"Oh god," Jamie moaned, looking very tired all of a sudden. "Yes."

"Play place?" Jack echoed.

"There's a ball pit, Whack-a-Mole, and other stuff," Jamie sighed. "It's like what you see in cartoons."

"There's also pink!" Sophie squealed happily. "Lots and lots of pink! And there's a giant unicorn! I want the giant unicorn!"

"Jamie, I promised your sister I would take her there tomorrow. Do you want to go?" Mrs. Bennett asked. "If Jack doesn't want to go, then I guess you could stay home."

"And I really, really don't want to go." Jack was already making judgments on this. "I'd rather stay and snack on food than play kiddie games to win prizes."

Sophie pouted. "Poo!"

"Sorry, Soph," Mrs. Bennett chuckled. "Maybe next time they'll come with us, okay?"

Or, more accurately, never will, Jack thought dryly. I'll improve my grade in math before that happens.

Florence yawned as the bell rang, ending sixth period. Up ahead, McCarthy was pinning the official cast list against the wall, and Florence smirked internally. I'm so going to get the part for Gretel. I'll make this play actually seem good.

At that moment, both Hazel and Cici entered. "Hey, Florence!" the former greeted lightly. "Oh, cool! The cast list is up!" She tugged on Cici's arm. "Let's go see who made it!"

But as the two of them got closer to the list, their faces changed from interested to weirdly blank. They stayed like that for a few more seconds until Cici came back over to Florence. "Florence."

Florence looked up at her. "Yeah?"

"You...might want to take a look at the cast list..." Cici trailed off.

Florence audibly gasped. "What? Did I not get the part?!"

Cici shook her head. "No, no! You got the part! It's just that... You should see for yourself."

She pulled Florence out of her chair and up to the where the list was, and Florence spotted the name at the top.

Florence Robinson . . . . . . . . . . Gretel

Florence felt ecstatic after seeing this, and even more smug than before. I knew it. However, her grin dropped once her eyes scanned down the list.

Brianna Stone . . . . . . . . . . Gretel Understudy

Cody Gray . . . . . . . . . . Hansel

Zander Anderson . . . . . . . . . . Hansel Understudy

Bostyn Robinson . . . . . . . . . . Cheryl

Hazel Campbell . . . . . . . . . . Cheryl Understudy

Evan Callahan . . . . . . . . . . Adam

Ryan Nguyen . . . . . . . . . . Adam Understudy

Annabelle Vince . . . . . . . . . . Hansel and Gretel's Mother

Noah Dorsey . . . . . . . . . . Hansel and Gretel's Mother Understudy

Barry Sylvester . . . . . . . . . . Hansel and Gretel's Father

Fernando Chavez . . . . . . . . . . Hansel and Gretel's Father Understudy

Florence stood, speechless. Beside her, Hazel and Cici nervously waited for her to combust. Meanwhile, more people had crowded around the list, and they weren't much happier.

"Why am I the understudy for a female part?" Noah Dorsey complained. "I auditioned for Adam!"

"At least you don't have the stress of having to make sure nothing happens to you so Fernando doesn't have to take over!" Barry Sylvester groused.

"Hey!" Fernando cried indignantly.

Noah turned to Annabelle Vince. Icily, he spoke, "You better not ditch this and make me play your part for you."

By now, Florence had regained her voice. "Who the fuck came up—" she proceeded to shrill.

"—with this goddamn awful cast?!" a foreign voice filled in for her. Cody's hands suddenly reached out, grabbed the list, ripped it off the wall, crumpled it up, and threw it at Malcolm's fedora—something everyone else was glad he did.

Malcolm positioned his hat properly again and turned to face the potential wrath. "Do you need something?" he asked calmly.

"What the fuck were you thinking?!"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Why did you create that shitty cast?!"

Malcolm tilted his head. "But weren't you the one who came up with it?"

"If I was, I wouldn't have made myself part of this monstrous play, let alone the lead," Cody griped. "Why would you do this?"

"I'm not playing dumb, I truly don't know anything about this," Malcolm stated. "I thought you had filled out the roles after your silly fight with your friend."

"He's not my—wait, what?" Cody scowled. "I thought you took care of that before you left!"

A moment of silence took place, and Florence, who abruptly appeared between the two of them, then deadpanned, "Both of you fucked up."

"Then who did it for us?" Malcolm questioned.

McCarthy glanced up from her desk briefly. "I did."

Cody immediately whirled on her. "What's with this cast?!"

"I took whatever notes either of you had written about each individual audition and tried my best from there," McCarthy loftily replied. "And you didn't write too much, so I ended up having to base roles off of appearances."

"Then why am I the lead?! You said I would be placed on prop design!"

"I told you, I ended basing things off of appearances. Malcolm had written that Florence had great potential, but I was stumped when it came to Hansel. Then I realized that you basically looked like a male version of her, so I figured you two could work well together as siblings," McCarthy explained.

Cody had on an expression that showcased so many emotions all at once. Finally, he asked, "I'm not going to have to kiss Cheryl, do I?"

McCarthy blinked at the supposedly dumb question. "Of course you do. They're love interests. There's always a kiss scene somewhere."

Cody recalled exactly who had gotten the role of Cheryl, and he shakily spoke, "I need to step out of the classroom for a little bit."

McCarthy nodded, and Cody hastily left. Five seconds later, a loud voice echoed from outside, "I HATE THIS PLAY, I HATE THAT BITCH, I HATE THAT OTHER BITCH, I HATE THIS CAST, I HATE HANSEL AND GRETEL, I HATE THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE, I HATE THE WITCH, AND FUCK THIS WINDOW!" A loud noise resembling the breaking of class then sounded.

The talk in the classroom stilled, and all the students looked in the direction of the door. McCarthy, however, seemed like she didn't just hear anything.

"The last thing I want is to upset you even more," Hazel began as soon as she and Cody were alone in their own private bubble. "But there's something I need to say."

"Something about your brother?" Cody asked, playing with the gauze wrapped around his right hand after he punched the administrative office's window.

Hazel looked at the bandage and frowned. "I hope you know now to not just punch anything when you need to let out anger."

"You wouldn't be on a very high scale of happiness either if your teacher trolled you, made you part of a piece of shit even after she promised she wouldn't do that, and told you you had to make out with a bitch who was on the receiving end of Suzuki's dick last year," Cody snapped.

"...At least she's pretty," Hazel offered.

"The physical appearance of a person doesn't matter if they're a total cu—"

"I'm going to cut you off right there. How'd you not get in trouble anyway?"

"Anton's dad wasn't...pleased...but overall, nobody really cared all that much." Cody shrugged. "They were planning on replacing that window in the first place. I just saved them the trouble of having to take it out."

"Is that your train of thought all the time?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Never mind. What's your mom going to say once she sees that bandage?"

"...I fell and scraped my entire hand," Cody supplied simply. "So you wanted to talk to me about something important?"

"Huh? Oh, right. Hector wants both of us to do some volunteer help this afternoon. He said it was going to be 'fun.'" Seeing the unreadable expression on his face, she prodded, "So will you be able to do this?"

"Depends. Where?"

"Sophie is going to go to Unicorn Umbrella World?"

Jack nodded in response to Spencer. "It's this new play place opening up—"

"Yes, we know what it is," Zander cut him off. "Are you going along with them?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "No way. As much as I love Sophie, that place looks like it'd be a nightmare. I'm not stupid enough to go and commit suicide like that."

Zander looked unamused. "Oh, you're going."

"Right." Jack did a double take. "Wait, what?!"

"You're going! We need to go there, too, and I don't want it to just be me and Spencer!" Zander griped, crossing his arms stubbornly.

Jack's jaw dropped. "But... But why?!"

Spencer forced out a laugh. "Our aunt Hilda is visiting until the end of the week. At first, our parents said all she was doing was coming over for dinner on Saturday night, but apparently that was a lie since they know we dread her visits..."

"Spencey-wencey!" our aunt Hilda cooed as she grabbed and pulled me into this...life-threatening hug. "You've grown so much taller since I last saw you~! You're 18 now, aren't you? You're graduating in a few months, right? That's amazing! I'll be sure to attend the ceremony!"

I looked back and saw Zander getting increasingly irritated. "Um, that's great, Aunt Hilda, but, uh..."

"I'm here, too," Zander spoke up. "Don't pretend like I'm not."

"Oh, Alexander." Our aunt's smile fell off her face. "Long time no see."

"Call me Zander, Jesus Christ!"

"Anyway," Aunt Hilda began as she let go of me and smoothed out her dress, "as you know, I'll be staying here for the next few days—"

"What?!" Zander exclaimed, looking like he was going to combust. "That's not what Mom and Dad said!"

It took a second for the truth to register in our heads, and we both turned to glare at our parents, who feigned innocence.

"Well," aunt Hilda said awkwardly, "I'm going to be staying here until Friday. But, on the bright side," she added, lightening up, "that'll be plenty of time for you to have playdates with Brenda!"

Brenda's her adopted daughter. Then, speak of the devil, she came in through the door. "Unicorn Umbrella World! Promise you'll take me there, or I'm runnin' away!" she demanded.

"Nice to see you, too, Honey Boo Boo," Zander muttered.

I shushed him and turned back to Brenda. "Unicorn Umbrella World? Mind telling us what that is?"

"It's a play place opening up at the plaza! You're gonna win me all the prizes, or I'm runnin' away!"

I forced out a chuckle. "That was a joke...right? You're not going to actually run away, are you?" When she just glared at me, I sighed in defeat. "Okay, fine... We'll go with you." For the record, I only accepted because Aunt Hilda was still in the room.

Zander, however, scowled. "There is no way I'm taking my adoptive, spoiled, bratty cousin with hair teased like one of Nicki Minaj's wigs—"

Aunt Hilda suddenly reached out and grabbed his ear, tweaking it. "Listen here, young man," she spoke sharply, "you are going to treat my daughter the way she wants to be treated, and that includes taking her wherever she pleases. Understood?"

"...Fine," Zander grumbled begrudgingly, rubbing his sore ear after our aunt let go. "I'll go with her, if it'll get you off my back."

Aunt Hilda smiled. "Good. Come now, Brenda, I know you're hungry. Let's head on over to the kitchen."

Once they left, Mom piped up, "You know, your father and I know perfectly well that you don't like it when Hilda visits, which is why we decided to spare you the bad news."

"Maybe you ought to give us a warning next time," Zander supplied acidly. "Aunt Hilda hates me for no reason at all!"

Dad shrugged. "Maybe it's because of the attitude you give her."

"So... You're basically forced to take a spoiled brat to Unicorn Umbrella World?" Jack slowly absorbed it all. "That...must suck."

"We managed to convince her to not go yesterday, with the auditions and all." Spencer shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "But we have no excuse to get our butts out of it today, so..."

"So you're coming with us," Zander finished for him.

"Why?!" Jack whined.

"I told you, I don't want it to just be me and my brother! Besides, you work better with kids than any of us combined!"

"But... But..." Jack scrambled to find an excuse. "But I have to babysit Jamie! He wanted to go as much as I did, so the two of us are staying home! I can't just leave him alone in the house!"

"Then he can come with us!" Zander argued, seemingly disregarding all cases of how much others wanted to accompany him and Spencer.

"But—"

"But nothing! You're coming, whether you like it or not!"

"And that's what happened," Jack sulked once school let out. "Both of us are going to have to go together."

Jamie was less than amused. "Jack! Why would you give in like that?!"

"Because... Because Zander had looked legit scary at that moment, so I cowered a bit!" Jack protested. "Come on! Your mom will kill me if I let you stay home on your own! It's just this one time! Please?"

"F... Fine," Jamie reluctantly accepted. "The things I do for you."

Jack grinned in relief. "You know I appreciate it, kiddo. The three of us agreed to go home and meet after a few minutes, once we've set everything down. And I guess we're walking there."

"You guess?"

"Neither of them really mentioned how we're going to get there," Jack frowned. "But considering it's just that plaza where Cici and Florence work, I'm assuming we're walking. I mean, it's not that far away."

Once they reached their house, Mrs. Bennett was slipping on Sophie's shoes for her. She briefly looked up and greeted, "You're home."

"We're going with you to Unicorn Umbrella World," Jamie bluntly delivered. "Zander and Spencer happen to be going, too, and they forced Jack to be with them."

"In my defense, I couldn't manage to get an opinion in," Jack inputted wryly.

"Oh." Mrs. Bennett appeared pleasantly surprised, but otherwise didn't seem all that affected. "That's good. Sophie was really disappointed when you two refused the invitation at first. Isn't this great, Soph?"

Sophie responded by running up and jumping into Jack's arms, almost knocking the latter over. Jack couldn't help thinking, Damn, she can tackle people pretty well for a four-year-old. He opened his mouth to say that they should probably go out and meet the twins, but then he got a text. While balancing Sophie carefully in his left arm, he pulled his phone out to see what it said.

Where are you? I'm picking you guys up to go to UUW. I'm right outside your house.

~ Anton

Jack stared at the text unblinkingly until both of his hands began shaking. Mrs. Bennett promptly snatched Sophie from him, sensing him to not be in the best state to hold a toddler.

"Uh, Jack?" Jamie questioned cautiously.

"I... I can't..." Jack managed to choke out. "This... I can't..."

Jamie stood on his tiptoes, wanting to see what had caused Jack to become so anxious. "Oh, your friend's picking us up! That's a good thing, isn't it?"

Jack shook his head rapidly. "No, it's not! Have you seen his driving?! We can't strap a toddler in that car of his! He'll kill us all!"

"I'm sure he's not that bad," Mrs. Bennett dismissed, opening the door. Sure enough, Anton's car was waiting at the curb for them.

Zander stuck his head out of the passenger window. "Come on! Brenda's getting a little jumpy from waiting!"

Jack marched right up to him and demanded, "You hate being in his car just as much as I do! Why would you be willing to have him drive us?!"

"You think I had a choice?" Zander growled testily. "Mal couldn't lend me his limo and his chauffeur because apparently it broke down on his way home after dropping us off yesterday. And my own car can't fit so many people at once, unless if you want me to make rounds."

"That's still better than dealing with this." Jack motioned at the entire car.

Anton, despite having on earphones, listening to music, had been hearing this entire exchange, and he spoke up with an annoyed tone, "Alright, you wimps, stop talking and get in the car. I don't have all day."

Jack contemplated if Anton was forced to go to Unicorn Umbrella World just like how he himself was and decided to not test him. He opened the back door, only to see Spencer, Malcolm, a woman who he presumed was Aunt Hilda, and a little girl caked in makeup—the infamous Brenda.

Jack, however, only seemed to be fixated on Malcolm. "What's he doing here?"

"Why do you sound like it was your birthday, and you just found out your family is planning a celebration that wasn't for you?" Malcolm asked disinterestedly, not even bothering looking up from his tablet.

Jack shook his head. "Forget it."

"Are we supposed to sit way back there?" Jamie, along with his family, had caught up to Jack, and he was peering in the direction of the far back.

"Where else?" Zander pointed out. "Hey, Spencer, get out of the car for a minute so they can get back there."

Once they were all inside, Jack pointed out, "Hey, there's no baby seat."

"Yeah? So?" Anton asked carelessly.

"Sophie needs a baby seat!"

Anton glared in the rearview mirror. "She'll be fine without one! She doesn't look like she has a problem with it, and neither does Brenda!"

Jack couldn't help but notice Mrs. Bennett tighten her grip on her daughter significantly. Sighing in defeat, he reluctantly said, "Okay, I think we're all ready."

Anton took no time reacting to his cue and immediately floored it. Hilda began to shriek, which prompted Brenda to shriek, which prompted Sophie to shriek, which prompted Mrs. Bennett to try in vain to calm her down, which prompted Jamie to try in vain to help her, which prompted Jack to regret not hopping out of the window the first chance he got. As for the twins, Zander dug his fingers into the arms of the seat and yelled, "We're gonna die, Jesus Christ!" while Spencer only tensed up and became motionless with a terrified look on his face. Meanwhile, Malcolm still had not looked up from his tablet, simply stating exasperatedly, "I get enough of this chaos at school."

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Anton came to a red light and slammed his foot on the brakes, throwing everyone forward. Once she regained her breath, she pleaded, "Can you please not drive so recklessly?"

"Your daughter wants to get to Unicorn Umbrella World as fast as possible, doesn't she?" Anton pointed out. "I'm only complying to her wishes."

"That doesn't mean I'm willing to sacrifice all of our lives like this!" Hilda cried wildly, reaching for the door handle. She attempted and failed to open it so she could escape, thanks to Anton having locked the door (It was surprising how he did that yet couldn't follow any other basic rules of driving).

If they were in an anime, a vein would clearly be visible on Anton's head by now. He coldly smiled and said, "Nobody gets out of any car ride of mine before we reach the destination, and if anyone dares to defy that, I'm backing this car into the one behind me."

"...Dude." Zander looked at him, not being able to believe he would do that.

"I'm not bluffing. I didn't let myself get forced into accompanying all of you to that overly pink monstrosity just to have the ones who wanted to go the most chicken out on me at the last minute." Anton's voice was laced with irritation. "So, if you were smart, then you'd consider the fact that we have two toddlers and one middle schooler in here."

Needless to say, nobody made any complaints after that. Finally, Anton pulled into the parking lot of Unicorn Umbrella World. "We're here!" he announced a little too cheerfully to be genuine.

Everyone else, except for Malcolm, was too frazzled to reply coherently. Anton quickly found an empty space and parked the car, undoing his seat belt and hopping out. "Come on, hurry up!"

Zander was the first to recover and hastily got out of the car, opening the back door and helping everyone out. First was a traumatized Aunt Hilda and her uncaring Brenda, then an unmoving Spencer, then a gracious Malcolm who hopped out himself. Moving the car seat so the people in the back could get out, Zander helped the Bennett family plus Jack step out.

"I feel like puking," Jack stated monotonously.

"Then let's hurry up and go inside! Hopefully, you'll be able to hold it in until you find a bathroom there," Anton said.

"Cody, come out already!" Hazel sighed, standing outside of the men's restroom. "We have stuff to do!"

"No, I look fucking stupid," Cody stubbornly declined from inside.

"I'm sure you're fine! Look at me, I'm wearing a stripper outfit," Hazel contended.

"And exactly what's your definition of 'stripper outfit'?" Cody obviously sounded like he didn't believe her. "Do you mean like you're not wearing anything at all? Or are you just saying that because it's not as conservative as what you normally wear?"

Hazel looked down at the pink, sleeveless, umbrella dress that was accompanied with thigh-high, pink-and-white striped socks and pink sneakers. On her hands were white, silk gloves that reached right above her elbows. At last, she decided on replying with a, "Let's just say that if you look as terrible as you claim you do, then my outfit isn't much better."

At that moment, Hector, dressed as a unicorn, hurried over. "What's taking you guys so long? Cody's been in there for ten minutes!" His voice was muffled from the ridiculous costume.

"Cody, you don't have it as bad as you think! Look at Hector, he's wearing a unicorn costume, for crying out loud!" Hazel continued to persist.

"What's wrong with my costume?" Hector defensively folded his arms across his body.

Ignoring her brother, Hazel added, "And considering you're most likely just gazing at yourself in the mirror right now, won't the people who go in there see you anyway?"

That last point seemed to get through to Cody, and he swung open the door with a defeated scowl on his face. He was wearing a short-sleeved, button-up shirt, green shorts that went along with suspenders, and white sneakers. On top of his head lay a little, green hat that had a bell dangling at the tip. He looked...

"...Wow," Hazel breathed, looking him up and down. "The way you were complaining about it made me prepare myself for something really horrifying, but you actually look..."

"Like a hideous elf, I know," Cody irritatedly supplied.

"I was thinking more along the lines of...cute." Hazel had to hesitate before allowing herself to say that adjective. "You look cute...in a very unique way."

Cody looked at her for two seconds, then unhesitatingly flicked her forehead.

"Ow!" Hazel caressed her forehead protectively. "What was that for?!"

"You don't call a guy cute," Cody dryly informed. "I don't know about you girls, but guys don't like that. Now I didn't step out here so I could stand idle and have people stare at me as they pass by." He turned to Hector. "How'd you get the people to let us volunteer here anyway?"

"We came to this plaza a few days ago, like on Sunday," Hector explained proudly. "Hazel wanted to go find one of her friends at the Starbucks a few shops next door, and while we passed by this place, this guy Winslow pulled us over and gave us a flyer, saying that we should consider volunteering here. Dad and Hazel weren't interested, but then I took this as the perfect chance to cross off another thing on my bucket list."

"And I've been wondering, which thing on that list was that? I don't remember seeing anything about volunteering on there," Hazel asked.

"'Spend some quality time with my sister,'" Hector frankly voiced. "Technically, that qualifies for everything on my list, since they're all stuff I want to do with you."

Hazel suddenly felt awkward. "Oh... Um..."

"And what about me?" asked none other than the forgotten Cody.

"Oh yeah. And you, too," Hector added on quickly.

"Uh... Hector, didn't you say you're finally going to school next week? How do you feel about that?" Hazel uncomfortably changed the subject.

"Oh yeah, that. I don't know, really. A little nervous, but also a little happy to not be holed up in that house 24/7," Hector replied, looking at the gauze wrapped around Cody's hand. "Oh, and by the way, that's a really cool thing to have! Where'd you get that?"

"This?" Holding up his hand, Cody wryly stated, "It's not exactly something I have on for fashion, if that's what you were thinking. I injured it when I threw something."

Hector was puzzled. "What did you throw that could cause you to injure your hand?"

"A tantrum," Cody vaguely stated.

When Hector looked even more confused, Hazel filled in for him, "He punched a window in anger."

"Oh," Hector laughed. "That's funny. Are you okay?"

"Honestly, you should be more worried about the shattered window," Cody answered, walking off. "Look, I'm going to go find something to do, alright? You guys stay there and chat or whatever."

Once he was out of earshot, Hector snickered. "You were so checking him out when he came out of the bathroom."

"What?" Hazel squeaked, not expecting that comment. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, you were looking him up and down with this amazed expression on your face." Seeing his sister blush, he added, "There's nothing wrong with that. He does look better than he thinks."

"Yeah. Too had he doesn't think so. You know, he wasn't very happy with me when he found out he had to wear that."

"Why? Didn't you tell him that before?" Hector questioned.

"No, he wouldn't have agreed to do this if I did," Hazel explained. "But anyway, we should probably stop standing around here. Let's go."

Jack turned his head as they were lining up to buy entry tickets. "Hm..."

Spencer noticed him and inquired, "Something the matter?"

Jack shook his head. "No, it's...it's nothing. I swore I saw Hazel's face somewhere in there though."

Spencer chuckled. "That'd be funny, wouldn't it? If she ended up being here as well."

"It wouldn't be that big of a coincidence though. Cici and Emmanuelle both work here, so it wouldn't be that big of a stretch if Hazel visited them after school. They're both working their shifts right now, after all," Zander cut in.

"Oh yeah, you never told me why you forced me here along with Mal and Anton," Jack told him somewhat indignantly. "When you said you didn't want it to just be you and your brother, you sounded as if no one else was going to come."

"Oh, that's because I got paranoid and thought about the possibility that you would bail on us last minute, so I got those two to come," Zander explained. "But hey, the more people, the better."

Jack groaned. "I was just about to ask you if that meant I could leave, too..."

During this conversation, Aunt Hilda and Mrs. Bennett had split the price of entry and were finishing up the payment. As the latter passed out the tickets, Aunt Hilda announced, "I'm heading on over to the Starbucks over there. Zander, Spencer, can you take care of Brenda until I get back?"

"Sure thing, Auntie," Spencer complied.

"Whatever," Zander mumbled at the same time.

If Aunt Hilda noticed Zander's negative attitude, she did a good job hiding it and left. The second she turned her back, Brenda reached out and yanked one of Sophie's blonde locks, causing the messy-haired girl to cry out in pain. Jack, his big brother instinct kicking in, gave both twins the glare of death.

Spencer sighed and picked his cousin up. "Please, Brenda, don't do that."

"Um, excuse me, all of you?" the usher piped up tentatively. "You're holding up a line, so would you please...?" He motioned towards Unicorn Umbrella World's interior.

All of them glanced back to see the people lining up behind them and saw that most of them were beginning to show signs of impatience. Hastily, they shuffled inside, not wanting to cause any huge scene.

Hazel flounced over to Cody, who was sitting on the floor by the ball pit. "What are you doing?"

Cody looked up from feeling his wrist for some reason. "...Supervising the ball pit? Doing what those employee guys told me to do?" he answered with an expression of "duh" on his face.

Hazel eyed two particular boys—brothers, most likely—roughhouse in the pit. The smaller one threw a ball at the other boy, who punched him in the face in return. Both then proceeded to escalate the situation to a full-on fight. "You don't seem to be doing a very good job, if you don't mind me saying that."

Cody followed her gaze and brushed her concern off, "Come on, I did that all the time when I was a kid, and that was before I landed in my puddle of angst. I always won, by the way."

Hazel didn't even feel tempted to ask. "Well, what about the parents? A couple of them would probably murder you if they saw you letting their children fight like that."

"Not my problem. And what about you? Why are you here?"

"Zoeylanda saw you and wondered why you were just sitting here and inspecting your hand, so I offered to check on you," Hazel explained.

"I'm not inspecting my hand, I'm inspecting my wrist. There's a difference."

"Okay, then why are you inspecting your wrist, wise guy?" Hazel sarcastically questioned as she took out her phone and began tapping it.

"...No reason." Cody looked away. "And what about you? Who are you calling? Or texting?"

"A friend from my old school, Bailey," Hazel simply said, putting the phone up to her ear. "It's been a week since I phoned her, so I want to catch up."

"...And you chose to do so during the one time you're not supposed to?"

"Shut it." Hazel frowned when nobody picked up. "Darn. Voicemail... Hey, Bailey, it's me, Hazel. Call me when you can, okay? Bye, love you." Snapping the phone shut, she sat down next to Cody and sighed.

Cody eyed her. "Where's your brother?"

"Over there, attracting the kids with that absurd costume of his." Hazel pointed at the familiar unicorn head that stood out amongst the crowd.

Then, a father and his son approached them. "Excuse me, do you know where the ring toss is?" the former asked. "Little Leroy wants to try it out."

Hazel stood up. "Of course, right this way."

She led the two of them in the direction of the ring toss, while Cody stayed there and watched her leave his eyesight. He looked down next to his side, realizing that she had forgotten her phone, having set it down on the floor when she seated herself. He considered going after her and giving it to her, but she was most likely going to come back once she was done, anyway.

He jolted out of his thoughts when it abruptly began ringing. On the screen, "Bailey" was the contact name appearing. Cody's hand hovered over it, tempted to answer the call, but he hesitated. Should he answer it? The call wasn't for him...but Hazel would probably be pleased if he picked up and carried the phone over to her. She seemed eager to talk to this Bailey girl, so she wouldn't be too amused if she ended up missing out during the one time she didn't have her phone in her hands.

Oh, fuck it, Cody thought humorlessly, quickly grabbing the phone and answering it. "Hello?"

"...You're not Hazel," the other line stated quite brilliantly.

"No, I'm not. I'm her...classmate," Cody finally decided.

"Why do you sound so unsure of yourself? Are you lying to me? What have you done with Hazel?! Where is she?!" Bailey accused, jumping to conclusions.

"Calm your tits, bitch, I didn't do anything," Cody replied irritably. "She's just busy. We're at Unicorn Umbrella World."

"...So...you're that guy she told me about? That chocolate-obsessed he-slut?" Bailey's voice suddenly developed a much ruder tone.

"...I'm a what now?" Cody voiced disbelievingly. "A... A chocolate-obsessed..."

"He-slut," Bailey interrupted. "What are you, deaf or what?"

Cody gripped the phone tightly. "Exactly what has she been telling you about me?!"

"Just put her on the phone, you emo freak!"

Cody had a hunch that if he squeezed the phone any tighter, he would crack it. "Fine... Okay. Okay, I'll get her," he responded stiffly.

"About time, you overly emotional moron. Good riddance."

Cody's left eye began twitching rather uncontrollably. He got up and stalked over to the ring toss, where Hazel was watching the children play. He trudged right up to her and shoved the phone in her hand. "Here!"

A taken aback Hazel only gaped dumbly back and forth between her phone and him.

"Bitchy Bailey called you back," Cody snapped viciously. "Remind me to never pick up calls for you ever again."

As he stormed off, Hazel spoke into her phone. "Bailey?"

"Hey, Hazel!" Bailey cheerfully greeted. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, but hey, what'd you say to Cody?" Hazel concernedly inquired. "He seemed pretty upset by the way he forced the phone into my hand."

"Oh, so that's his name? Nothing too bad, really."

"...Uh huh." Hazel obviously did not believe that.

"Okay, so maybe I called him some names, but it's not like I made them over-the-top or anything," Bailey admitted. "Just stuff like 'emo freak' and 'chocolate-obsessed he-slut.'"

But that second one is over-the-top... Hazel sighed. "Bailey, please, he was already in kind of a bad mood before you called, and I doubt he wanted to deal with the name-calling at the time. Also, I think now he thinks that you were saying those things because that's how I described him to you."

"But you did say he was obsessed with chocolate."

"But I never said anything about being slutty!" Hazel groaned. "Whatever, let's just forget about this. What have you been up to lately?"

"...The hell?" Zander managed after a long period of speechlessness. "This place looks..."

"...too pink?" Anton finished for him, putting a hand to his mouth as if he was about to vomit.

"I was about to say, 'flamboyant,' but that works, too."

"Come on, you two, it's not that bad. At least pink isn't the only color in here..." Spencer tried to stay on the bright side.

"If you're referring to all the male employees dressed in those silly, green outfits, then I don't see how that makes the situation much better," Jack snarked.

"Your face is greener than those outfits, Jack," Mal stated bluntly. "Once again, you look like you want to puke. Except this time, it's for real."

"...Now that you mention it, I feel a little nauseous..." Jack hastily put a hand over his mouth and ran off to the bathroom.

Once he was gone, Sophie, without warning, lunged and grabbed onto one of Brenda's curls in retaliation to what happened while in line. Gathering up all her strength, she pulled as hard as she could, causing a few strands to be yanked off.

"Sophie!" Mrs. Bennett gasped in horror, picking her agitated daughter up off the floor. "What's the matter with you?! Oh god, I'm so sorry—"

"No, no, it's fine. I've been tempted to do that for a while now, except I couldn't," Zander interrupted with a disturbingly happy smile on his face, while Spencer tried to calm his hysterical cousin.

Jack then came back after a few more moments of waiting, looking a little pale but overall much better. "What'd I miss?"

"My sister attacked Brenda," Jamie flatly voiced. "She pulled out some hair."

As if to show off, Sophie brandished the strands as her brother explained to Jack what had happened.

"Okay..." Jack slowly nodded his head. "Then why does Zander look so cheerful?"

Malcolm piped up, "He just tends to have sadistic thoughts when it comes to physical harm becoming associated with his—"

"Excuse me," an unfamiliar voice intervened. All eyes landed on a man who appeared to be fresh out of college. He had on a charming smile, his green eyes sparkling with kindness as he swept aside the brunette bangs that got in the way of his face. "Do any of you need help with anything? You lot have been standing here for a while now."

"Oh, no, but thank you," Mrs. Bennett said gratefully. "We were just about to get started, anyhow. No worries."

"Okay, that's good." The man's smile grew. "But if you need any help with anything, feel free to find me. My name's Winslow."

Mrs. Bennett nodded and smiled back. "Yes, thank you."

As Winslow walked off, Spencer turned to Jack, Malcolm, and Zander. "So where do you guys want to take the kids first—" He stopped once he saw Malcolm's expression. "Um... Mal, are you okay?"

Malcolm was glaring sullenly at Winslow's back as the latter walked away and gently nudged through the crowd. There was something in his eyes that was never there before, and it was blatant that he wasn't thinking about unicorns or umbrellas at that second.

"Yo, man." Zander waved his hand in front of Malcolm's face. "Earth to Mal? What's up?"

Malcolm snapped out of his reverie. "The ball pit," he stated simply as if he were perfectly fine. "I think Brenda and Sophie would both like that."

"The ball pit, it is." Anton made a gesture towards where he had briefly spotted the pit through the crowd a few minutes earlier, and he led the way. Once they all managed to push through the people, Anton immediately froze once he got one good look at the ball pit. His expression promptly became as if he were constipated, and he stammered, "I'm sorry... I suddenly remembered that I needed to get something from my car..." Shuffling quickly, he disappeared into the crowd before anyone could have a chance to follow him.

"...What was that?" Jack wondered aloud before looking in the direction that Anton had been glancing before, and it only took a fraction of a second for him to figure out what had made the Asian leave so hastily.

Leaning against the metallic cage surrounding the actual ball pit was Cody, dressed in a ridiculous green-and-white costume that everyone was sure he had been forced to wear. He obviously noticed them, too, and was giving them a rather intense stare as if to order them to not come near him.

It didn't take long for Jack to realize what Anton had left to do, and his theory was proven correct when, as if on cue, he suddenly heard uncontrollable laughter from somewhere nearby. Shaking his head, he approached Cody, despite all logical instincts telling him that he was going to exit this conversation in a mauled state.

"What are you doing here, Cody?"

Cody only gazed at him for a moment longer before speaking in a strong French accent, "Qui êtes-vous? Who are you?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "I'm not falling for that."

"No, really." Cody wasn't dropping it. "Who are you? My name is Rhody. I am a French student studying abroad at Phoenix Prep."

"What?" Malcolm furrowed his brow. "I never saw you there."

"I am new. I only started yesterday."

Zander eyed the bandage wrapped around Cody's hand and challenged, "Then where'd you get that thing right there?"

Cody held up his hand and informed flatly, "I got it when I held a very sharp knife the wrong way. I cut my whole hand up."

Sadly for him, Hazel came along at that second to ruin his moment. "Hey, Cody, listen, I'm sorry—"

Cody slapped his forehead and groaned, causing Hazel to stop in her tracks and wonder what she did wrong this time.

"That Rhody thing wasn't working, anyhow," Jack dryly remarked. "So why are you two here?"

"Volunteer service," Hazel explained, recovering. "I, uh, managed to convince Cody here to join me."

"So that's why you look like..." Spencer trailed off.

"A strawberry-flavored candy," Hazel suggested.

Spencer nodded. "Yeah, yeah... And Cody looks like—"

"—Like I belong in Santa's little workshop," Cody testily interrupted.

Jack only gave him a look that blatantly meant, You and that stupid hat are gorgeous compared to North's real elves, and the presents are actually made by yetis. Therefore, your statement is inaccurate.

Anton appeared before the group again, trying and failing to conceal a humongous grin. "So, why are all the guy employees dressed like it's Christmas?"

"Because green goes well with pink," Malcolm muttered sourly. His reasons for being so bitter were unknown by everyone else, though they didn't complain considering they also barely appreciated the color coordination.

Abruptly, a giant unicorn appeared out of nowhere, freaking everyone who wasn't Cody or Hazel out, and tugged on Hazel's arm. "Hazel, what's a bastard?"

Hazel gawked at him in horror. "You can't just ask that out loud in public!"

"So... It's something bad?"

"Not necessarily bad, you just can't casually say that in a place full of children!"

Jamie apparently realized that Sophie and Brenda shouldn't stay around for the upcoming exchange, and before Jack could read his mind and point out that he shouldn't either, he quickly intervened, "Uh, can my sister and Brenda go into the ball pit now?"

Cody only opened the cage and let both little girls in, while glaring back and forth between the Campbell siblings with an expression of, You've got to be joking. You've got to be fucking joking right now.

"Uh..." Hazel glanced at her friends desperately, and all of them hurriedly began pretending to be distracted. Spencer feigned supreme interest in Brenda chucking balls at other children, Zander excused himself to go to the restroom, Malcolm pretended to be interested in the loose thread on the inside of his fedora, and Jack led Jamie away to see if there were any other interesting games to see and possibly play, with Anton in tow. Even Mrs. Bennett refused to help, instead choosing to keep an eye on her daughter to make sure she didn't end up in a cat fight of any sort with Brenda.

Hazel held back an incoherent whining noise and turned to Cody, who was her last hope.

He noticed her instantly, flatly declining, "No."

"Save me!" Hazel burst out. "...Please?"

"It's not even that bad of a word. Considering how he's heard me talk, I'm sure he can handle the truth."

"Come on! What is it?" Hector persistently pressed.

Ignoring her brother, Hazel flushed and contended, "I'm just not comfortable explaining in a public place like this!"

Cody raised an eyebrow. "You prude."

"Just...help me!"

Cody rolled his eyes. "Ugh, fine, if it'll stop your whining." He leaned in and muttered something that only Hector could hear, and the latter's eyes widened in realization. "Ohhhh," he smiled, pleased with finally being enlightened. "Okay, thanks, Cody!" He began to wobble off on his unicorn feet when Hazel stopped him.

"Wait! What was with the sudden question?"

"Oh, I saw this middle-aged man arguing with this teenage girl, yelling that he didn't want his daughter to have a bastard child," Hector informed lightly, before leaving.

Hazel gaped in wonder after him, and Cody grumbled, "Wow, so this place doesn't just attract children, it also attracts pregnant girls."

"He... He took that better than I expected," Hazel admitted tentatively.

"I told you he'd be able to handle it," Cody deadpanned, though there was something unfamiliar in his eyes... Was it mirth?

At that moment, Brenda began pounding on the cage from inside the ball pit. "Let me out!" she demanded angrily. Cody let out an irritated sigh and complied, and Brenda hopped into Spencer's arms. "Take me to the sharpshooter!"

"...I don't think you're tall enough for that yet," Spencer disbelievingly replied.

"I don't care! I want to have a prize! Play for me!" Behind Brenda, Sophie seized her chance and positioned herself to throw a ball at the spoiled girl, but Mrs. Bennett swooped in and grabbed her before she could do anything.

"Alright," Spencer relented wearily, running a hand through his hair. "Promise you'll be good when I'm playing, okay?"

"Just win within 30 seconds or I'm runnin' away!" Brenda screeched, clinging on to her cousin even harder.

"Agh! Okay, okay, we'll go now..." Spencer murmured, carrying Brenda in the direction of where he thought he saw the sharpshooter earlier.

"...Doesn't the sharpshooter last for like 45 seconds long?" Hazel worriedly asked.

"Last time I checked, yeah, I think so." Judging from his tone, Cody seemingly couldn't care less. "Relax, she's not really going to carry out that threat."

"Who carries out what threat?" Zander inputted, returning from his trip to the toilet.

"Oh, you're back," Cody dryly acknowledged. "Your time gone was unusually long. Did you go have to shit or something?"

"Ha, no. I just wanted to make sure that oversized unicorn was gone by the time I came back," Zander retorted. He eyed inside the ball pit. "Where's Brenda?"

"Your brother took her to the sharpshooter. She said she wanted some kind of prize within 30 seconds, or else she's running away."

Zander raised an unsurprised eyebrow. "Typical. Isn't that, like, that thing where you're supposed to shoot as many targets as you possibly can in 45 seconds? How's Spencer going to shorten that to 30?"

"Does it matter? I really doubt she'd actually run away," Cody brushed off. "I mean, kids are stupid, but not that stupid."

"Oh, you don't know my cousin," Zander tensely argued. "Last year, she threatened to put red food coloring in my shampoo bottle after I refused to buy her candy! I didn't take her seriously, and that was probably the worst mistake in my entire life." He looked at Cody. "You understand, right? You used to have blue streaks, didn't you?"

"You had blue streaks?" Hazel piped up. "I can't picture that."

"I ended up having a buzz cut, and this was like way back then, so there's no need to bring them up now," Cody wryly supplied. "But yeah, I remember you coming to school that day with red hair. I figured the reason why was that you were high on something and became delusional the previous night."

"I might as well have been," was the sour response. "Look, my point is that my cousin doesn't screw around with these things. The only reason why I'm not worried is because my brother's responsible and knows better than to lose her."

As if on cue, Spencer showed up, holding a giant stuffed panda and appearing rather disturbed. "...Zander..."

Zander instantaneously noticed Brenda's absence and screeched, causing many people to turn their heads to stare at him, "You lost her?!"

A forgotten Malcolm, who had been watching the conversation silently up to this point, stated quite simply, "You have just jinxed yourself."

He remained unacknowledged, however, and Zander gripped Spencer's shoulders. "I trusted you!"

"Well, she wanted a prize, and I can't exactly win one if I'm staring at her as I'm shooting!" Spencer defended, his voice also rising. "I was in a lose-lose situation!"

Zander groaned and threw his hands up into the air. "Great, just great. Now Aunt Hilda is going to kill me, since she always blames me when things go wrong!" He desperately turned to Cody. "Don't you guys have this desk where you file for missing person announcements?!"

"No, but we have a hair decorating salon for little girls, in case you want to dye your hair to correspond with your freaking out," Cody deadpanned.

"I might as well keep it black to symbolize the death that'll come to me if my aunt finds me right now!"

"Zander, you might want to pipe down now, you're attracting a crowd." An also forgotten Mrs. Bennett gestured to all of the eyes that were looking their way.

Zander looked around and hastily ushered Spencer and Cody outside, and once they were safely away from the onlookers, he wailed, "I'm doomed to rot in hell!"

"Dude, I have to go back in there and get back to work, what gives?" Cody questioned, getting a little irritated.

"Uh, have you not been paying attention?! My cousin is missing!"

"I know that, I'm not retarded," Cody snapped. "I meant, how is this my problem? I wasn't the one who lost her, and she's your cousin."

"Um... Maybe because she went missing in the very place where you're volunteering?!" Zander pressed his fingers to his temples. "Okay, okay. Whatever. Let's calm down and think."

"You're the one freaking out the most!" Spencer shouted.

"Nobody goddamn cares! Look, she's a four-year-old with stubby legs, so she couldn't have wandered off far. Everyone should split up and search nearby."

"...Just the three of us?" Cody voiced. "Or are you also including everyone behind you?"

Zander turned around to face all his friends, who had followed him, which included the people he had not seen since that unicorn guy left.

"Zander, what's going on?" Jack asked. "Everyone in there could hear you yelling something about losing Brenda."

"Spencer turned out to not know anything about taking care of a toddler," Zander griped. "We're going to look for her. She has to be nearby."

"Considering how much you seem to hate her, why aren't you happy?" Malcolm promptly questioned. "I speculated this would be a huge relief for you."

"I can't exactly be relieved when Aunt Hilda's going to have my skin, Mal!"

"But wasn't it Spencer who lost her?"

Spencer mumbled something unhappily about being thrown under the bus.

"Yeah, but since my aunt adores him but hates me, I'm the one who's going to end up being yelled at, and when I try to explain, she'll yell at me even more for trying to 'frame' my own brother!" Zander buried his face in his hands.

"Hey," Jamie piped up, "I think I remember hearing something a few minutes ago."

"What?" Spencer inquired hopefully, wanting to get this dilemma over with.

"When me and Jack were competing at Whack-a-Mole, I heard Anton comment something about seeing Brenda walk by. I mean, neither of us really cared at the time, since we were too busy trying to beat each other, and we thought one of you was with her," Jamie explained.

Silence ensue, as this new information sunk into all of their brains. Zander slowly raised his head from his palms, giving Anton a death glare that nobody knew he had. Behind Zander was an approving Cody, who seemed rather content with this new turn of events.

"...Zander, before you kill me, I swear I can—"

Anton was cut off when Zander lunged and brought both of them down to the ground, with the latter putting the former into a rather painful-looking headlock. "Fess up! Where did you put her, you pedophile?!" he yelled furiously.

Cody was now less approving. "Hey, I'm the only one who's allowed to do that to the Asian phenomenon!"

"Neither of you are allowed to do that to him!" Jack, setting his foot down, attempted to wrestle Zander off of Anton, only to repeatedly fail. "Come on, Zander, Anton knows no more than we do!"

"How do you know that?!" Zander yelled back.

An employee of Unicorn Umbrella World then emerged from inside and demanded irritatedly, "What in the hell is going on out here?! You're causing a ruckus!"

"There's a missing girl we have to look for, and a couple people here have decided to resolve that by attacking each other," Cody informed flatly, gesturing towards the pile of three boys.

The employee gaped at him in incredulity. "Well, restrain them then!"

Cody raised an eyebrow. "You mean, like, make that thing a four-way? Nah, I'd rather not be involved in any kind of orgy."

"Cody!" Hazel reprimanded. "Just stop the fight!"

"How come you guys always come to me for this kind of stuff? This is what I meant the other day when I said I have to play peacemaker all the fucking time," Cody groused.

"That kind of language could get you fired," the employee reproached.

"Except I'm a volunteer, so you can't fire me."

"Just restrain those guys!" the employee ordered once again.

Cody, getting all up into his colleague's face, replied loudly, "I will not!"

While Cody was arguing with his superior, Malcolm turned to Spencer. "Do you suppose you could do something?"

Spencer sighed and announced, "Hey, is that Florence in a bikini?"

"Where?!" Zander immediately let go of Anton and stood up, throwing Jack off of him. "Florence? In a bikini?! What?!"

"Oh, she left," Spencer whistled innocently.

Zander groaned. "Well, what kind of bikini was it? At least tell me that."

"Erm..." Spencer fidgeted for a little, before settling with, "The kind you always liked. You know... That one."

Zander narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Yeah, the thing is, I don't have a preferred kind."

"...I just wanted you to get off of Anton so you could listen, alright?" Spencer admitted with an exhale, deciding against digging himself deeper into the hole of deceit.

Zander crossed his arms in annoyance. "Dude, not cool. You want to grab my attention, fine. But lying to me about this sort of thing? That's a new low."

"Right, sorry. You just seemed a little not willing to listen to Anton explain himself," Spencer pointed out. "You automatically accused him of kidnapping a little girl."

"Yeah!" Anton agreed indignantly, getting up.

A random security officer had been walking by at that exact moment, and his head immediately snapped in their direction when he heard the word "kidnapped." "Who's been kidnapped?"

"This guy is a psychopath!" Cody accused, pointing at his infuriating coworker. "I bet he's associated with pedophilia!"

After the officer tased the employee and dragged him away, Jamie questioned, "What the heck just happened?"

Zander, however, ignored the odd turn of events and instead opted to give Anton another glare. "Okay. Start talking."

Anton held up his hands. "There really isn't much to say. I just saw her walk by, and that's literally it. I don't know what else to tell you."

"How about why you didn't grab her the minute you saw her?! You saw her alone, didn't you?!"

"Not that you have any, but calm your tits." Anton rolled his eyes. "My parents let me and Kayla walk around places like this when we were little."

"...Why?" Malcolm deadpanned. "That's plain irresponsible."

Anton shrugged. "We were good children. They trusted us to not wander off."

"From what you've seen of Brenda today, does she look like she's usually well-behaved?!" Zander shouted. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't throttle you right now!"

"Because that security guy is still there and would tase you, too? Because if you want to look for Brenda, you might not want to lose a pair of eyes? Because then your aunt Hilda and your parents will kill you? Because Cody will kill you since he's the only one with murdering rights? Because my dad will likely sue your family for not raising you to be above doing stuff like that? Because—" The unimpressed Anton listed his reasons off with his fingers, until Zander interrupted.

"Okay, I get it! Jeez, I asked for one reason, not seven billion. Also, 'murdering rights'?"

"Literally the most accurate thing that's ever come out of his mouth," Cody gave his input, indifferently scrolling through his phone for messages.

"...Okay, but anyway, don't expect me to get off your case until we find Brenda safe and sound, got it?" Zander testily concluded, shooting Anton a dirty look. "We're only wasting time right now, so we might as well get moving."

"Yeah," Jack spoke up, agreeing. "Like Zander said way back at the beginning, we ought to split up. Cody and Hazel should stay in Unicorn Umbrella World, in case Brenda is still in there, and they need to get back to what they were doing before someone calls them out anyway. Zander and Spencer can look around this section of the plaza, and me, Jamie, and Anton can go look over there. Any questions?"

"Perhaps I was simply inattentive, but I believe you've forgotten about me," Malcolm remarked monotonously.

Jack eyed him warily for a bit before deciding, "You can just stand out here if anyone else misses Brenda and she happens to walk right past you. I'm sure you don't want to work too hard on running around and searching for her, since you've been pretty disinterested in everything today."

Instead of getting offended, Malcolm shrugged and nodded. "Fair enough."

"Okay, so let's move—"

Zander's phone rang, cutting Jack off from his instruction. The former stiffened, not making any move to answer the call.

"...Aren't you going to pick up?" his brother asked tiredly.

"Should I?" Zander dully responded. "I don't want..."

"It might not be your aunt," Jack stated.

"And even if it is, she might be calling about something else," Anton pointed out.

"...Fine," Zander relented, taking out his phone. Looking at the caller ID, a look of reassurance dawned on his face. "It's just Cici." Picking up, he spoke, "What's up?"

"Zander... For starters, what exactly happened with you and your cousin? She suddenly came into Starbucks, without anyone with her."

Zander was utterly speechless.

"...Zander?"

"You found her?!" Zander burst out finally, feeling as if a great weight was lifted off his shoulders. "I mean, she just came in here?! She's still there, right?!"

"Well... No..."

The weight came back. "What do you mean, no?!"

Cici instantly realized that her words had been misinterpreted, and she quickly clarified, "No, she didn't wander off again or anything! She and her aunt are just going back to Unicorn Umbrella World to...yell at you or something like that."

Zander felt like dying even more. "What?!"

"Your aunt came in here for a coffee, remember? She was still here when Brenda walked in. Brenda told her you had chased her away to go find her because you didn't want to be bothered."

"Bullshit!" Zander hollered into the phone, prompting a couple of his friends to raise some eyebrows. "Uh... Sorry about that... It's just that that's not true! Spencer was being careless and she wandered off while he was trying to win her a prize!"

"Nice to see you talking bad about me to her," the upset Spencer muttered. Jack comforted him by patting him on the back.

"Either way, you're in trouble, to say the least. Look, I'm not supposed to have my phone out or anything, but I felt like I should warn you that your aunt and Florence are heading over there right now—"

"What does Emmanuelle have anything to do with this?" Zander had to question.

"She said, and I quote, 'see what that bunch of idiots have gotten themselves into this time.' Also, I suspect she might want to see you in that situation."

"Gee, thanks a lot to her," Zander practically growled, thoroughly annoyed. "Anyway, gotta go. I need to rot in my misery, because they'll probably be here any second. Bye."

"Uh... Bye."

Zander hung up the phone silently and simply stood there robotically.

"So..." Jack started. "She wandered into Starbucks?"

"Mmmmhmmmm."

"How anticlimactic," Malcolm flatly voiced.

"That's not the point!" Zander began pacing back and forth frantically. "The point is that Aunt Hilda is about to come to very wrongfully accuse me of being irresponsible, when it was really my brother who—"

"Stop pushing the blame onto me!" Spencer exploded.

"I can't help it! I'm dead!" Zander yelled back. "Okay, okay, I should stop panicking. Maybe there's still enough time to make a getaway. Maybe—"

"Alexander Anderson."

Zander froze in his tracks, then stiffly turned around to face a rather peeved Aunt Hilda and her smug, little, four-year-old child. Behind them was Florence, standing there in her uniform with a rather odd expression on her face, as if to say, What the actual fuck did you do, you moron? Did you seriously decline your responsibility to look after a toddler?

"Alexander?" Cody muttered quietly to Anton, who only shrugged in response.

"Aunt Hilda, I can explain—" Zander began, but was (rather rudely, he had to note) cut off.

"Oh, really? You can explain the events happening that led up to you becoming unable to babysit your own cousin?" Hilda acidly supplied. "Of course. You're always making these absurd excuses, pushing the blame on other people. Why can't you be like your brother, who's well-behaved, responsible, and caring?"

Zander pointed at Spencer. "But it was him—"

Hilda grabbed his ear and tweaked it. "See? This is what I'm talking about! You think it's never your fault! Once we get home, I'm going to have to tell your parents to fix you up for a bit and make you behave better!"

"Please don't..." He definitely didn't want to incur the wrath of his parents. Though his dad might give him the benefit of the doubt, his mom surely wouldn't. Since she raised twins who were very different in personality, she was permanently embedded with the image that Zander was invariably the rowdier and less obedient brother.

"I'm sorry, but I have to. You've gone off the deep end this time, Alexander," Hilda chided. "It's time that you reform yourself."

"Please stop calling me Alexander..."

"Why? Are you ashamed of the name your dad's given you?" Hilda tweaked his ear even harder. "That's another thing you need to work on! You're so ungrateful of everything everyone's done for you!"

"Uh, Ms. Anderson, that's sort of not true—" Jack attempted to stand up for his friend, considering Malcolm was as aloof as always, Cody was enjoying this thanks to his sadistic tendencies, Hazel was too awkward, Anton was apparently a little irritated with Zander for attacking him and took pleasure in this scene, Jamie didn't have a backbone strong enough to enable him to actively disagree with an elder, and Spencer simply knew that Hilda would only commend him for attempting to 'responsibly take the blame and be humble,' which would undoubtedly only provoke her into making further comparisons between him and Zander.

"I'm sorry, but I'd rather not have a third party involved," Hilda interrupted. Finally letting go of Zander's ear, she whipped out her phone and began dialing. "I'm calling your mom and dad. I'm telling them we're going home, and that you need some discipline."

No way was Zander letting her make false accusations to his parents and get him into even more trouble. Thinking quickly, he blurted out, "But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!" With that said, he hurried over to poor, unsuspecting Florence, dipped her, and kissed her.

Hilda almost dropped the phone. "What in the world?!"

"Okay, Aunt Hilda, like you said, it's time to go home," Spencer hastily supplied, ushering his aunt and cousin into the parking lot. "We should leave Zander alone right now."

Jack then awkwardly told Jamie, "You know, Jamie, we ought to head home, too, while they're at it. Go get your mom."

"You don't have to tell me twice." Jamie, staring at Zander and Florence the whole time, unnaturally shuffled inside.

"We should go back in, too," Hazel piped up, clearly uncomfortable with the situation at hand.

"Why?" Cody inquired. "Feeling like a prude again?"

"This is voyeurism!"

Cody rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I like watching these two as much as the next guy. And can we go home, too? These dumbass suspenders are killing me physically and emotionally, and if I see any more combinations of pink and green for one more minute, I'm going to literally throw up on the pavement."

"Uh, sure."

As both of them went back inside, Anton mumbled, "I'll go get the car," and left as well.

"Okay, they're all gone except for me and Mal," Jack finally assured.

At last, Zander broke apart from the dazed Florence, a little out of breath. "Thank god that worked."

"What was with the Romeo and Juliet recitation, anyhow?" Malcolm questioned.

"It was the first thing that came to mind. Shut up..." Zander grumbled, cheeks turning a little pink.

"Hey, Florence, you never came back. What happened here?" Cici abruptly appeared, still in her uniform. "Our shift's over, and I figured I'd check on you."

"..." Florence still didn't say anything.

"...What happened?" Cici instantly realized that Florence was in a state of shock.

"Zander called her his Juliet and kissed her so he could avoid finishing his confrontation with his aunt," Jack explained.

Cici looked at Zander disapprovingly. "Zander..."

"I couldn't think of anything else at the time!" Zander hastily defended.

Florence finally snapped out of her reverie and punched Zander in the arm. "You!"

"Ow!" Zander rubbed his arm tenderly; Florence wasn't exactly the most gentle person on the planet. "Hey, I'm sorry!"

"You didn't have to involve me into whatever that was with your aunt!" Florence retorted. "I shouldn't have come here with her!"

"Yeah, and I didn't want you to come here in the first place! You could've easily avoided this if you decided to not butt yourself into other people's business!"

"You were the one who suddenly kissed me!"

"You're the one who came here out of her own free will!"

As the two of them bickered, Cici quietly asked Jack and Malcolm, "Can I hitch a ride home?"

"Yeah, sure, I doubt Anton would mind," Jack complied.

"Speaking of Anton, I believe we should go ahead and join him in the car as of now. Let's leave these two lovebirds alone so they could have their moment," Malcolm proposed, heading into the parking lot. Cici and Jack followed him.

"Why are you even so worked up about this?!"

"You try being the one who suddenly has a tongue shoved down their throat!"

"What?! My tongue was nowhere near your throat! When I kiss people, I don't French kiss them!"

"Whatever! You get what I mean!"

"Actually, I don't!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

And thus, their little quarrel ended, and they both stood in silence for a little bit, waiting for the other to speak. At last, Florence asked tentatively, "Was that your first kiss since, you know...the last time you had a girlfriend?"

"...Why do you ask?"

"Because I can tell you didn't practice lately."

Zander frowned. "Are you suggesting I'm a sloppy kisser?"

"Okay, so you're not that bad," Florence clarified. "How do I put it? You're good for someone who hasn't practiced. I can only tell you haven't from how awkward you were."

"...Well, that's embarrassing," Zander mumbled. "By the way, what kind of swimsuit do you wear?"

This time, it was Florence's turn to question, "Why do you ask?"

"I'm...conducting a survey," Zander lied.

"I don't know..." Florence was skeptical. "If you were conducting a survey on swimsuits, I would think it would take place in, you know, summertime. Not in March. Besides, I know you don't work for the school paper or anything, so what's the purpose?"

"Yeah, well, I'm working on a project," Zander fibbed again. "It's for sociology class. We do a survey about anything, and I chose to do one about swimsuits."

"That's so typical of you, pervert."

"Just answer, will you?"

"Fine. It's just a plain one-piece," Florence responded. "It's comfortable and easy to put on. I prefer efficiency over fashion, just so you know."

Zander was obviously a little dismayed. "So... No bikini?"

Florence laughed. "Yeah, no thanks. Those skimpy pieces of shit only exist for the sake of trending styles. When a girl wears one of those things, they would clearly have everything fall out by the time they go into the water."

"...Right..." Zander managed to force out.

This conversation was cut short when Anton's car pulled up to the curb. At the same time, Jamie, his mother, and Sophie exited the play place and made their way to stand next to Zander and Florence.

"Hey, Zander, why do you look so disappointed right now?" Jamie asked, immediately noticing the expression full of chagrin on the older boy's face.

"Shut up, Bennett," Zander snapped, opening the back door. Cici, Malcolm, and Jack were in that row already, with Spencer riding shotgun. Aunt Hilda and Brenda were way in the back, both of them staring at Zander as if he had just stripped down to his underwear and climbed up the school flagpole. Zander merely glanced back and said, "I have to sit next to them?"

"They're not serial killers, Zander, so don't worry about it," Spencer exasperatedly sighed. "I just want to go home now."

Zander decided to suck it up and complied, and Jack hopped out of the car in order to help him move the seat so he and the Bennett family could get in. Once Zander and Mrs. Bennett were inside, Florence piped up, "Wait."

Zander turned towards her. "Yeah?"

"...I need a ride home," Florence forced out, swallowing her pride. "I don't want to head home alone. Usually I'm with Cici, so..."

Zander looked at her for a bit, then shrugged. "Sure."

Anton, who had been drumming his fingers on his dashboard in sheer boredom up till now, jerked up once he heard this. "Wait, what?! What am I, the local bus driver?! Am I seriously going to stop by everyone's house to drop someone off before heading home myself?!"

"You can drop me off along with Cici." Florence waved her hand. "We live close to each other." Without waiting for an answer, she lightly pushed Jamie, who had one foot inside the car. "Come on, go in."

"Huh? Oh, right—" Jamie once again focused on getting inside, but promptly froze in his tracks. "...There are no more seats left."

Jack, who had been staring into space during the past few moments, glanced inside. Sure enough, the car was full. Anton was at the wheel, Spencer was in the passenger seat, Cici, Malcolm, and himself were in the middle row, and Aunt Hilda, Brenda, Zander, Mrs. Bennett, and Sophie were in the back. "Uh..."

"I'm tempted to just drive off right now, but I won't because I'm not a dick," Anton remarked, getting out of the car.

"Language!" Hilda reprimanded, gesturing towards the two little girls.

Anton chose to ignore her as he approached Jamie, Florence, and Jack. He put Jack's seat back into place, and he motioned Jack to get back in. Once the latter did, Anton picked up Jamie and placed him on Jack's lap. Then, he instructed Florence, "Go ahead and climb towards the back. You can sit on Zander's lap."

"What?!" Zander exploded.

"Can I sit on the floor in the back instead?" Florence attempted to compromise.

"Sure, I don't care." Anton couldn't care less, only wishing to hurry up and leave this place. Once Florence was inside (and on the floor), he rather hopefully asked, "So no more issues? Good. Now let's—"

"Don't leave don't leave don't leave don't leave oh my god don't leave!" Cody suddenly burst through the door, still wearing the button-up shirt that was a part of his uniform, although he had slipped back into his normal pants. Hazel and that oversized unicorn from earlier followed suit, struggling to catch up to him.

Anton barely had time to react before his head was abruptly slammed into Jack's arm, when Cody hurriedly hopped into the car, accidentally kicking him in the head. As Jack rubbed his now sore arm, a recovering Anton yelled, "Are you trying to give me a concussion?! Also, I know you don't need a ride home!"

Cody, now sitting on the floor of the middle row, paused, then admitted, "Yeah, I kind of just wanted to make your life harder than it already was."

"And what makes you think I'm going to let you?!"

Cody shot him a long, long look.

"...Ugh, fine," Anton begrudgingly submitted. "Anyone else?"

"Actually..." Hazel tentatively fingered a lock of her hair. "Can I have a ride, too? Same for the unicorn..."

Anton gaped back and forth between her and, unbeknownst to him, Hector. "You've got to be kidding me. Hazel, I'm fine with, but why should I offer a ride to a unicorn guy I don't even know?!"

"Because he's her personal taxidermist, and you'll be a stuffed figure before you even know it if you don't help him, too." Cody's voice was deadpan, yet held a very ominous air. "So shut up and drive him home."

"Where does he even live though?!"

"Just drop me off at my si—Hazel's house," Hector piped up. "You know... Because of taxidermy priorities."

For the record, Anton didn't buy the taxidermy excuse for one second. However, he ultimately decided to obey, feeling the hole Cody was burning into his back. He sighed. "Fine... It's squeeze in somewhere."

"...But where?" Hazel gawked at the overfilled vehicle.

"Bitch, get inside!" Cody reached over and grabbed Hazel's hand, pulling her inside without warning.

As for Hector, he awkwardly shuffled inside, muttering apologies every time he accidentally brushed against someone with his ridiculous costume. In the end, he was in a rather uncomfortable position on the console assembly.

Instead of finally putting his car into drive, Anton began muttering something about how he was going to slay every passenger and sprinkle their remains on sushi.

"...Just drive already, you motherfucker!" Cody finally yelled.

"Again, language!" Hilda gasped, covering her daughter's ears. Mrs. Bennett did the same to Sophie.

"And I'm pouring soy sauce over your liver the first chance I get, you arrogant donkey!" Anton shouted back before flooring it.

Once again, Hilda began to shriek, which prompted Brenda to shriek, which prompted Sophie to shriek, which prompted poor Mrs. Bennett to try in vain to calm her down, which prompted Jamie to try in vain to help her, which prompted Jack to regret not jumping out of the car the first chance he got. This then prompted Cody to reach the end of his line, and he screamed as loud as he could, "Shut the fuck up!"

The rest of the car ride was silent after that.

This goddamn thing is 12,000 words. If you guys are still mad about me not updating for a month, I will feel extremely provoked.

So, I know a lot happened in this chapter, so I will sum it all up for you: Everyone meets up, both intentionally and unintentionally, at Unicorn Umbrella World, Cody's dressed like a traditional elf who's probably the most attractive in the workshop, Anton gets picked on, and Zander and Florence hurry and get it on for the sake of FAKE OUT MAKE OUT.

So guys... I've been thinking about a third installment lately. You know, just for the whole sake of making a trilogy. I won't say what it's about yet, but it's definitely different from PG and FG. It's darker, more action-packed, Jack has his powers back by then, and it's just...not centered around high school drama or anything of the sort. Are you guys interested?

Replies:

ReganRocks: Ahahahaha I haven't exactly acknowledged Jimmy Fallon in a while, thanks to my newfound addiction to Pewdiepie. Probably should catch up to him. I wish I had your uncle. None of my family members are crazy OTL. Except for me, of course. I shamelessly admit that something must have happened when I was in the womb that caused me to get this insane. And also, the joke didn't involve a frisbee, it involved a baseball...unless I derped and exactly typed frisbee instead. If so, oopsies. As for the college roommates thing, I like to think that Cody and Anton get along considerably better by the time they're college freshmen (Mostly because Cody becomes significantly nicer by then, as you'll see later on in FG. He becomes a combination of Cody as an elementary school student and the Cody we all know and love, as in he stays moody but ends up sometimes being nice), so they have no qualms with staying with each other. I mean, this was sort of unintentional, since they only became roommates by chance, and after getting over the initial shock, they were pretty much fine about it after that. At one point, I considered having Cody be a terrible roommate. Not like 'never bothers to clean up' terrible (since Cody is, in fact, quite the responsible child), but like...just 'evil' terrible, like chasing around and threatening to kill Anton with wire cutters. I even planned to have him insert a GPS chip somewhere on Anton so if the latter attempted to move out, he would find him. I ended up discarding that idea, partly because I forgot about it, and partly because, in retrospect, Cody needed to calm down.

Ivy000: Like I said, I played it once on some other guy's phone. I didn't even press replay, I just gave the phone back to him. I never really saw what was so addicting, so.

Sol's Darkness: Yes, Jack is a spirit in that extra. His powers have already returned, and he's simply paying Cody and Anton a visit. Also, it's Boston University c:

Faliara: I recently heard that the creator is thinking of putting it back up, though he'd have to give it a different name if he does so. Something about App Store terms.

Kai2: This is actually an extra, as in it's completely out of context of what's going on with the main story. This takes place post-FG, where Cody and Anton have graduated from high school and are now college freshmen. And, as a foregone conclusion, Jack has, in fact, gotten his powers back before then.

Frostpinkloverfr: Like with Kai2's reply, this is an extra, so read their reply if you want some answers. I can't exactly blame anyone for not realizing it's an extra, though, since I forgot to mention it.

Hana: Jack's hair turning gray was only there for comedic purposes. It's got nothing to do with the direction I'm taking the story to :P But hey, thanks.

Guest: Noooo, the gray hair isn't important. It's only there because a lot of teenagers develop a few gray strands here and there c:

ArkieR: Thanks! You remembered! *sob*

Review!