The next morning, Laurel tries and fails to convince her parents to let her go with Justin to the Homecoming dance in support of his bid for King. She storms out of the room and brats to "Sutton" about her totally unfair life. Emma realizes she has an escape hatch and offers to stay home with Laurel and watch movies. She claims it's a token of sister solidarity and a thank you for clearing Ethan's name for the laptop theft. Laurel has a hard time believing "Sutton," who won Homecoming Queen last year, would give up her dream of a twofer. Emma insists, and the girls' night is on.

Rybak house. Eduardo stops by to clear the air with Mads, who has been skipping ballet class. Amid Mads' chilly reception, Alec arrives and announces himself. Mads shoves Eduardo into a room to hide, which he finds weird since they're not doing anything wrong. Mads slides the door shut and plays interference with Alec. He tells her to get ready for school so he can make some calls. Eduardo has a front-and-center view while Alec calls the hospital/living facility where Annie Hobbs is staying. He wants to check whether there have been any visitors, and Dr. Hughes assures him there haven't because they have tight security. "It better be for what I'm paying," he retorts. He tells her that the visitor he's trying to keep out will go by the name Sutton Mercer, then lies that she's a con artist looking for a payday. He promises to send her a picture soon. Alec heads into the kitchen, so Eduardo decides to take his chance to leave. Unfortunately, Alec hears the door slide open, walks into the living room, and sees that it's been left ajar. Ominous head tilt.

At school, Laurel offers herself to be Justin's campaign manager, mainly so she can be the one dating the Homecoming King. Justin doesn't really care because his golf teammates put him on the ballot as a joke, but Laurel has practically already starting printing up buttons or engraving iPods or whatever kids these days do.

Elsewhere, Mads is giving "Sutton" a talking-to about dropping out of the race when Char strolls up obliviously chirping about going shopping for dresses that afternoon. Mads fills her in, and Char completely brushes it off. This is unthinkable for her. "Sutton" confirms that Mads was speaking the truth. Laurel is gobsmacked -- they've been planning for this day since eighth grade. She wants to be the Pippa to Sutton's Kate, even though her mom saw the campaign posters she made and suggested she run. Emma agrees with Phyllis, but Char insists she's a behind-the-scenes kind of girl. As they're talking, Nisha strolls up with posse to talk shit. She asks if Mads is bringing Eduardo to the dance. Mads says she's going solo, then snidely suggests Nisha ask him since "that went so well last time." Nisha pretends she's not interested and makes track as quickly as possible, leaving "Sutton" to be all, "What in the what? Eduardo?" Char is gratified that someone else was left in the dark. Mads puts them both to rest by admitting she lied just to stick it to Nisha: "You know how she gets when there's a trophy on the line."