"You did what?!" Matilda said to Genevieve. "I was so excited about going to Juilliard, and you tried to get Nicholas to lie to me to keep me from going!"

"Matilda, I backed down in the end and let him tell you the truth. That should count for something."

"You're a dirty ableist! You tried to stop me from fulfilling my dreams because I'm autistic!"

"Yeeeaaahh, I suck at mediation, so I think I'm gonna be in the other room until you guys work this out," said Nicholas. "Let me know when you're done fighting!"

"NICHOLAS!" Matilda and Genevieve both shouted at him in unison.

"Okay, fiiine, I'll stay and help you guys sort this out. After all, I don't want you two to become like them." He gestured at the Switched at Birth characters, which drew scowls from several of them.

"Thanks for the compliment, Nicholas," Bay snarked.

"Look, Matilda, I'm sorry," said Genevieve. "I realize how much Juilliard meant to you, and I'm sorry for getting in your way. From now on, I'll try to do a better job supporting you and your goals."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it. I'll forgive you for now, but please never do anything like this again."

"I won't, I promise."

"Yay, friendship saved! In your face, 'A'!" said Nicholas. "Now who wants some frozen mojitos to celebrate? I make some pretty mean ones."

"Guys, Bay and I got a text from 'A' too," said Daphne. "It was about, well, a crime that Bay committed several years ago. Or rather, one that I committed that she took the fall for. This 'A' person threatened to reveal Bay committed perjury when taking the fall for me."

"What exactly did you do?" asked Matilda.

"I...vandalized a construction site my mom was working on, because I was angry at her for other stuff. But I promise I've become a better person since then. I'm horrified by what I did back then."

"Yeah, and if this 'A' person tells everybody about this," said Bay, "then both Daphne and I could go to prison. Or, in my case, I would go back to prison."

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with us," said Genevieve. "Now, how do we find out who this 'A' person is?"

Nicholas turned towards you, the reader, and said, "The more important question is, what kind of a Bugs Bunny company would name one of their characters 'A'?" Bay, Daphne, Toby, Lily, Mingo, and Emmett once again looked around to try to figure out who he was talking to. And I got pissed at him again.

"Who the hell are you talking to?" said Bay. "There's no one there!"

"Will you quit it?!" Alex said to Nicholas. "You never used to do that until you met our new friends, and now you're doing it all the frickin' time!"

"Okay, okay! Jeez. I won't do it again." Muttering under his breath, he said, "Spoilsport."

"Look over there!" said Matilda, pointing towards an open portal that looked as though it went to another world. "I wonder if that's how 'A' found us."

"Let's check it out!" said Nicholas. Upon approaching it, he noticed a sad, dreary town appeared on the other side. "Aww, c'mon, how come it can't be a cheery, happy place with unicorns and ponies?" And just like that, the world on the other side of the portal changed to a cheerful land with unicorns and ponies.

"Whoa, that's awesome!" said Nicholas. "Now do my mum's house!" And just like that, the portal showed his mom's house on the other side.

"Now do Alex's underwear drawer!" said Nicholas. And sure enough, it showed his underwear drawer.

Needless to say, Alex wasn't pleased. "You do realize how creepy that is, right?"

"Okay, fine, I'll change it back." And just like that, it showed the sad, dreary town again.

"This must be just like that portal in the Sonic the Hedgehog movie that can take us literally anywhere in the world just by thinking about it," said Mingo.

"If it can take us anywhere in the world," Matilda said to Bay and Daphne, "then would you mind if you showed us your old high school before we got to looking for 'A'?"

"Sure!" said Daphne.

"Yep," said Bay. "But fair warning: it's not at all like your high school."

"That's fine," said Matilda. "Genevieve, are you coming along?"

"Of course!"

"Drea?" asked Matilda.

"Eh, I think I'll sit this one out," said Drea.

"Okay," said Matilda, "then here we go!"

Once the four of them went through the portal into Carlton High School, Bay and Daphne gave Matilda and Genevieve a tour of the school. As they were passing through the hallways, Matilda and Genevieve noticed that everyone at the school looked extremely somber.

"This place feels way different than our high school," said Matilda. "Everything here seems so...melancholy."

Several students stared at Matilda and Genevieve, almost as if they could tell somehow that something was different about the two Moss sisters.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," said Genevieve.

Just then, Genevieve bumped into a male hearing student who was walking past her in the hallway.

"Oh, sorry, sorry!" she said. The student glared at her.

Noticing how hot the guy was, Genevieve decided to try a pick-up line on him. "Are you a vegetable? 'Cause you look like a cute-cumber!"

The guy was not at all amused. "I don't know who you think you are, coming in here and cracking jokes like a clown, but in case you haven't noticed, nobody around here does that. So beat it! And watch where you're going next time."

Once the guy was out of earshot, Genevieve said, "Boy, what a hardcase."

"Welcome to my world," said Bay. "Both literally and figuratively."

"It's like we landed smack-dab in the middle of a depressing drama show or something," said Matilda.

"You could say that," said Bay.

Just then, a female hearing student approached the group with a couple of her friends. Pointing at Bay, she said, "Hey look! It's that jailbird who vandalized a construction site, and smuggled heroin into a state prison!" And pointing at Matilda and Genevieve, she added, "And she brought a couple friends from the circus!"

"Um, excuse me?!" said Genevieve, in the kind of indignant but still goofy voice a sitcom character might use to respond to this kind of an insult. "I'll have you know that my sister and I are both very dignified people!"

Right after Genevieve said that, Matilda farted. "Sorry...!" she said sheepishly.

Genevieve glared at Matilda. Meanwhile, the student gave Genevieve an incredulous look.

Desperate to change the subject, Genevieve said to the student, "If you think we're the odd ones out, why don't you take a look in the mirror?" With a smile and a sense of humor, she continued, "Like, what's with the skinny jeans? Who do you think you are, a millennial?" Bay and Daphne both facepalmed, because they both knew this was not the kind of show—um, I mean, school—for those kinds of wisecracks.

The girl grabbed Genevieve by the collar. "You think you're trying to be smart with me? Huh?"

Somehow managing to keep her sense of humor, Genevieve retorted, "Of course! I'd rather be smart than stupid, after all." Matilda giggled once again, whereas Bay made a "cut it out" hand gesture to Genevieve.

The girl pushed Genevieve against the wall and looked as though she was about to pummel the crap out of her.

"Let her go!" said Daphne.

"Yeah? And why should I?"

"Because our dad is John Kennish. The famous baseball player who used to play for the Royals."

"Yeah, you know, that John Kennish? Maybe you've heard of him?" Bay said in a sarcastic tone of voice. "And you don't want to get on his bad side, now do you?"

The girl let go of Genevieve and said to her, "Looks like it's your lucky day, wise guy. Don't cross me again." She and her friends left.

Once the girl was out of earshot, Genevieve asked Bay, "How do you put up with these people?!"

"With a healthy dose of cynicism and a lot of snark."

Matilda tried to Google John Kennish on her phone, but nothing turned up for her. "Are you sure he exists? Or did you make him up?" she said.

"Of course he does! Let me show you," said Daphne. Her Google search turned up numerous results about John, which she then showed to Matilda.

"Weird," said Matilda. "Maybe we are behind a firewall after all."

Genevieve turned towards Bay and said, "Look, I get the life you've grown up with so far has been nasty, brutish, and hopefully won't be short, but it never hurts to laugh once in a while, and try to find the humor in life. So what if I have a total bozo for a brother? It allows me to laugh at him, and with him. It makes life more bearable having a brother, and a family, with a sense of humor. And yes, maybe Nicholas, Matilda, and I run around the house in our underwear singing 'I'm an Oscar Mayer wiener' and Nicholas slips whoopee cushions under our seats. But I'd much prefer that over your life where everything is depressing drama nonstop and you never stop to laugh once in a while. So what if there are assholes at your school? Laugh at them every once in a while. Not everything is serious all the time."

Bay was speechless. But it did cause her to stop and think for a bit.

Shortly, Bay said, "Well, before you guys go back to LA thinking my life is a total dumpster fire, there's somebody I'd like you to meet."

Bay and Daphne took Matilda and Genevieve to Melody's classroom to meet her.

"Bay! Daphne! It's great to see you again!" said Melody. "Wait, I thought you were in LA visiting Emmett?"

"It's a long story, and you wouldn't believe us if we told you," said Bay. "But basically we came back here just for the day and we're going back to LA shortly. These are our new friends, Matilda and Genevieve. Matilda and Genevieve, this is Emmett's mom Melody. She teaches here at Carlton."

"Emmett told me about you," said Melody. "It sounds like your brother is...quite the character."

"Tell me about it," said Genevieve.

"I'm sorry you're only visiting for the day," said Melody, "but next time you come here, you're welcome to stay at my place. And while you're here, you should definitely try some Kansas City style barbecue. It's the best barbecue in the country."

"Thanks, that's very kind of you," said Matilda. "And you should try some In-N-Out burgers the next time you come to LA."

"Oh, I will. It was nice meeting you!"

"You too!" said Matilda and Genevieve.

After they had left Melody's classroom, Matilda said, "I'm ready to go home now."

"So am I," said Genevieve.

On their way back to the portal, a gruff-looking security guard stopped them. "Hall passes, please."

With a smile and a sense of humor, Genevieve responded, "Hall passes? We don't need no stinkin' hall passes!"

Bay sighed and said exasperatedly, "C'mon, Genevieve, let's go."

Bay, Daphne, Matilda, and Genevieve then headed back through the portal. Upon seeing the sight of the portal, the security guard simply shrugged.

"Nicholas, we're back!" said Matilda, after crossing through the portal back into Drea's parents' house.

Nicholas was taking a nap and was woken up by Matilda's announcement. "Huh? What happened?" he said groggily. "Did you find 'A' yet?"

"No, but we're back from Bay and Daphne's high school."

"Great!"

"Okay," said Matilda, "are we all ready to go find 'A' now?"

"Hold on," said Lily. "Either Toby or I needs to stay with Carlton. Only one of us can go through the portal."

"I'll go so you don't have to," said Toby Kennish.

"No, I'll go so you don't have to," said Lily. "I don't want to risk losing you."

"I've got a better idea: how 'bout both of you go so I don't have to?" said Nicholas. Toby and Lily both stared at him.

Turning away from Nicholas, Toby said, "I'll pretend I didn't hear that." Just then, he had an idea. "Let's flip a coin."

"Okay, good idea," said Lily.

"Heads I go, tails you go." It came up heads.

"Well, okay, I guess that settles it then," said Lily. "Good luck, Toby."

"Thanks!" said Toby. "Love you."

"Love you too."

"Okay, portal," said Matilda, "show us the location of 'A'."

The portal showed the same sad, dreary town from earlier.

"So this is it," said Daphne. "Are we all ready?" Everybody said yes, including Nicholas, whose words were, "Oh, I was born ready!"

"But you just said—" said Genevieve.

"I know what I just said! But that was 30 full seconds ago. A dude can change his mind in that amount of time, can't he?"

"O-kay..." Genevieve muttered under her breath.

"Well, here we go then!" said Matilda.

"Cowabunga!" Nicholas shouted as he jumped through the portal.

"Oh great," Bay snarked. "All he needs now is an orange mask, a surfer accent, and an insatiable appetite for pizza."

"Well, I guess I'd better go in after him to make sure he doesn't get into any trouble," said Alex. He then crossed through as well.

As Drea crossed through, she said, "Bye Mom and Dad! I'll see you soon!"

"Good luck!" said Suze. "Don't get killed by any homicidal maniacs!"

Everybody else crossed through after Drea.