A kettle shrieks, begging for the ASPCK to intervene and liberate it from the kitchen of Dr. Mark "Mold Is Also" Greene and Dr. Elizabeth "Sideshow Bob's Hair Strikes Again" Corday. Elizabeth bellows for Mark to take care of the kettle, but he's frantically trying to find his notes on vertigo for some presentation no one will attend. Rachel darts into the busy kitchen and grabs the ringing telephone. Mark, Ella hanging from his shirt, won't leave until he finds his notes, so Elizabeth silently prays that they appear on the table by magic. Rachel chirps that she wants to go to a party for her friend Claire's birthday. Mark worries that it's a school night, but Rachel promises it's just a dinnertime function; Mark agrees, on the condition that he can speak with Claire's mother. So summer is apparently over already, in the span of two weeks, and Rachel's enrolled in school and has friends. Because it's that easy. "Mark, I have an eight o'clock thyroidectomy!" Elizabeth screeches. While Mark talks to the Claire's mother, Elizabeth embarks upon her weekly feigning of interest in Rachel. We learn that Claire and Rachel take an Art class together, in which they sculpt things. Mark hangs up and tells Rachel that she must call him after dinner so that he can collect her from Claire's house. The doorbell rings, and Mark thinks it's Katherine, who I can only assume is the nanny. But when Mark flings open the door, he sees only a tall, dopey-looking kid who's there to pick up Rachel. "Dad, this is Andrew; he's giving me a ride to school," Rachel says flippantly, dashing out the door. Dazed, Mark shakes Andrew's hand, amazed at his own astonishing unimportance. Rachel hands him the vertigo notes, which she found in the dining room, and tries to leave. "Oh, sorry, I forgot -- Andrew has the car while his dad's out of town," Rachel says by way of explanation. Mark is startled that Rachel has friends with licenses, and Andrew dorkily points out that he hasn't had an accident yet. They leave, Rachel calling out that this is great because now Mark and Elizabeth won't be late for work. Mark is floored by all of this. Ella dangles precariously from his arms, begging for attention and getting nothing. Elizabeth strolls up behind Mark and arches an eyebrow. "Guess she's making friends," she notes.