Diane: "Okay, what else are you into that we can do instead of YB&M?"
Wasid: "Doesn't Eli Gold work here now, directly across from Alicia's office? Because I need crisis management, and I heard that his job description is like morbidly flexible."
Diane: "What's the crisis?"
Wasid, grinning: "Where's the management?"
Diane sends Alicia to find Eli and Will, so she wanders the halls making complex faces until she gets to his office: He's not in yet. When he gets there, the Chris Isaak will presumably start up again. Her phone phones, it's Grace's phone phoning, and the ringer is perfectly marvelously irritating: "Mom, pick up the phone. Mom, pick up the phone." I will never understand ringers like that.
Grace: "Mom, I have phoned to be irritating on the phone."
Alicia: "I love talking to you so much, thanks for phoning. Please don't be angry with me for separating from your father, or secretly doing bad bad things."
Grace: "I am way too into myself to care about any of that. Listen, I just phoned to tell you that I don't need a tutor. Jesus is my tutor. My hunky black tutor."
Alicia: "Grace, you're much too stupid to get by on just Jesus."
Punk Outside School: (Shoves past Grace like she's invisible. God, I hope she begs for attention in some dorky major way, resulting in shame for the whole family. Zach ignores his sister's systematic bullying and snags the phone.)
Zach: "In other news, you've been invited to dinner by Nisa's parents."
Alicia: "Um, just me? Or..."
Zach: "I'd like you both to come. Either way, rest assured I didn't tell anybody that you are separated."
Alicia: "Well, that's not happening, but I'll pretend to talk to your Dad about it. Please remind your sister about the no-dorking-out-on-camera rule. I feel like she's about to snap again."













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