A flashback shows the life of Maya’s and Derek’s parents. Their mother Helen is sick with arthritis and is having difficulty performing her daily tasks, barely even being able to hold her newborn twins. At dinner, she teaches Patrick how to say his prayers, as she prays that she’ll live to see her children get married. As the disease progresses, her physical and mental health deteriorates, and by the time they are young children, she’s in a wheelchair. At his desk in the car dealership, Patrick is at a loss and looks to the cross, praying that he will be able to fulfill his wife’s wish, as the scene jumps to the bitter-looking Patrick of the present.

Back in the present the protagonist wakes up and goes to clean the DIK mansion together with the HOTs and the other DIKs.

Conditional story - Waking up

Sage The protagonist wakes up to see Tommy sitting next to his bed, grinning and eager to hear about his night with Sage, as Tommy reveals that he found Sage's anal plug. He applauds the protagonist for scoring such a high-profile girl and tries to extract more information from him on what Sage and him did.

Maya & Josy The protagonist wakes up to a furious Tommy barging into his room, followed by Maya and still naked Josy, as Tommy begins scolding him for having sex with his sister. As the argument heats the rest of the DIKs enter the room to see it unfolding. The protagonist reveals that he is in a relationship with Maya and Josy. In an attempt to hide the secret of their relationship, Maya and Josy explain that they both wanted him and so they agreed to share him and be his girlfriends. The protagonist calls the DIK secret code on the event as Tommy leaves angrily. It is soon revealed that Tommy told the HOTs about the protagonist's relationship with Maya and Josy, defying the DIK secret code.

Jill The protagonist and Jill sit for breakfast with the DIKs as they discuss how they got together. Rusty is still uncomfortable seeing them together.

Isabella The protagonist asks Isabella to leave as he goes to talk with Nick. Nick inquires about the nature of his relationship with Bella but promises to not share what he has seen with anyone.

Others If the protagonist has slept in the HOT house, he eats breakfast there with Elena before going back to the DIK mansion. If he has slept at Nicole's house, they eat breakfast and she urges him and Lily to leave since her ex-husband will soon arrive to drop off their son Marvin at her place but asks the protagonist out on a date next Saturday before he goes back to the DIK mansion. In any case, Lily offers the protagonist to "roll" with her, which she explains is a non-exclusive relationship where they help each other out when needed. If Quinn hasn't asked the protagonist to accompany her to the drug den last night, she asks him while they are cleaning.

While the DIKs are eating breakfast, Derek lets the protagonist know about the camera that he found, worried that someone is going to use the footage recorded with it against him or Ashley. He asks the protagonist to search for more cameras but they don’t find any. The protagonist sees Riona trying to hit on Jamie. John Boy talks with the protagonist about having seen Heather exit Nick’s or Jacob’s room and he suspects that she cheated on Tommy with one of them. Nick asks the protagonist to help him care for his fish. The protagonist plays with the black metal box on his desk and solves the first two puzzles on it. Quinn lets the protagonist know that the DIKs have some tradition about Thanksgiving where the younger members organize a Thanksgiving dinner for the older members.

The jocks suddenly arrive and, pissed off at the trick Quinn pulled to get them away for Halloween, make threats against the DIKs, hinting that they have used Caleb to trash the DIK house since he wasn’t yet officially a Tri-Alpha member. Sage calls for an urgent meeting in Rusty’s room comprising the presidents and their vices: herself, Quinn, Rusty, Tommy, Dawe, and Anthony. Sage manages to broker a deal between the DIKs and the Tri-Alphas whereby from now on they will share partying with the HOTs, with the DIKs getting more parties than the jocks, and in exchange Sage will get her parents to allow Chad to return to a non-presidential role in the Tri-Alpha fraternity, revealing that she could do it all along and just didn’t want to. After they leave, Sage scolds Quinn for tricking the jocks and causing this mess.

Isabella and math teacher Philip discuss some discrepancies in the midterm exams which they think are due to cheating. Maya and Josy have a hard time taking Isabella seriously as a teacher after hanging out with her at the party. Oscar is seen around campus with a black eye. After class, Derek and the protagonist see posters being spread around campus with embarrassing pictures of themselves and other DIKs that were presented on the DIK wall in the mansion, with demeaning captions mocking Derek’s penis size and the protagonist’s lack of body hair. Sally tells the protagonist she will come by later to drop off the clothes he gave her at the party.

Riona confronts Quinn about lying to Tommy that she didn’t pay for her weed. Quinn tries to get her to drop the subject and promises to not use her like this again. Derek and the protagonist postulate that the DIK posters and the Cathy flyers were spread by the same person, who must have also been at the Halloween party where he got the pictures from the wall. Isabella and Philip discover that the protagonist cheated in the midterm exams, as well as someone whose last name is Anderson.

In Sage’s room, the protagonist joins Maya, Josy, Sage, Derek, and Jill who meet to reveal Maya’s situation to Jill so that she may provide legal help. Derek tries to buy lottery tickets hoping to use the prize to help Maya and Sage makes fun of him, saying that his chances to win are the same as being struck by lightning. Jill is unable to help because Maya doesn’t have a copy of the contract of her loan, and Jill suggests going to Isabella for help. The group meets Isabella at the library and they let her in on the situation. Isabella doesn’t know what to do but then Derek and Maya come up with a plan to steal the contracts from Patrick’s room when they go back home for the Thanksgiving dinner. Josy, suddenly reminded of the “beard” concept that she told the protagonist about after he told her about Chad’s secret, suggests that Maya brings the protagonist home to help her obtain the contract by pretending he is her boyfriend, and Sage volunteers to also come with them by posing as Derek’s girlfriend.

Before they leave the library, Bella reveals to the protagonist that she knows he cheated in midterms but won’t report it, and that he has to stop cheating from now on because she is taking a risk by hiding it. The protagonist tells her about the papers he found in the bathroom and what was on them as Isabella looks worried. As he leaves, Jill catches him for a talk and shows him a poster with an image of the DIKs making a mess in Tybalt’s room during hell week, saying that she now realizes that they are the burglars Tybalt told her about who stole her underwear. The protagonist admits that they broke into her room as part of a hell week task but denies having stolen her underwear, saying that it is Tybalt who stole them, as Jill doesn’t know who to believe.

The DIKs meet in the mansion to discuss the posters being spread, and some of them start to freak out. They blame Tommy for hanging the pictures up in a place that party guests have access to and reveal that the preps crashed the Halloween party, blaming the protagonist for letting them in. The protagonist manages to reduce the heat of the argument and they agree to tear down any posters they see while trying to investigate which of the party guests is responsible.

The next day, everyone takes their yearbook photos. Ashley is angry at Anthony for bullying the nerds. Derek asks to talk with Ashley in private sometime later, intending to tell her about the camera in his room. Lily tells Maya that Sage asked her to investigate what kind of party Maya would want to celebrate her joining the HOTs, and specifically if it should be HOTs only or include the DIKs. Maya says she is fine with a mixed party.

Zoey is working at a beauty clinic and chats with Jacob and Jonah. The protagonist meets Nora at the gym. As he trains in the punching bag, the gym employee who helped him last time reveals that his name is Dwayne and that he is a personal trainer and offers the protagonist to join their fight club for no extra cost. Tommy hangs the photo of Leon losing the CUM-petition on the wall and instructs him to go plan Thanksgiving with the protagonist. They invite Derek and Jamie and Jamie explains the tradition that the new maggots must show their appreciation to their elder DIKs by organizing a dinner for them. They decide to have a barbecue in a park near campus the evening before the actual Thanksgiving dinner. Derek almost burns the kitchen by trying to demonstrate what are flaming shots. They talk with the HOTs about joining the barbecue and decide to combine Maya’s celebration and the DIK Thanksgiving.

Conditional story - Hanging out with love interest

Sage The protagonist hosts Sage in his room and is surprised by how messy she is with her food and how much she likes cinnamon.

Jill The protagonist and Jill organize a talk with Bianca where they reveal that Matthew is cheating on her with Olivia. Bianca is sad and angry and goes to confront Matthew, who admits he wants to be with Olivia and they break up.

Isabella The protagonist goes to study at the library and hangs out with Bella. It is revealed that her glasses have no prescription and that she just wears them to look mature. They go to eat lunch together and Bella tells him that she read the guidelines handbook for teachers and that their relationship should be fine according to the rules. Bella reveals that she has been working at B&R for only two years, having moved there after she worked at the riverside library, which is an experience she doesn't want to recall.

Others The protagonist goes out with Quinn to a fast food restaurant where Quinn has a clash with a woman who used to buy from her. Quinn refuses to tell the protagonist about the woman or why they fought and he becomes angry at Quinn for not sharing her private life with him. He is about to leave Quinn at the restaurant when Quinn yields and confesses that she's a drug dealer and that she was bleeding because she got mugged. On the way to the den, she reveals that her father Rox is dead and that Buddy was his best friend and is like an uncle to her. The protagonist realizes that she brought him as a bodyguard and is upset at her for not telling him in advance. While he waits for her outside the drug den, he encounters Vinny who is also on his way to the den. Vinny realizes that the protagonist is there because of Quinn and mocks him, calling him Quinn's dog.

In the drug den, Quinn meets Buddy and asks him to get her the antidepressants that Sally and Karen wanted to buy and one party’s worth of mushrooms. Buddy questions her on the increased volume of her sales and Quinn gets defensive. As she leaves, Vinny comes in and questions Buddy about Quinn’s recent new customers, revealing that Mick is spying on her. Buddy reveals that while Quinn is his extended family, he doesn’t trust her at all, but keeps some loyalty to her because he owes it to Rox.

The protagonist relaxes in his room. He talks with Neil about the power outage during the party and Neil says that it seems much more likely that someone shut down the main breaker on purpose. He also informs Neil that he won’t be home at Thanksgiving as he has to go to Maya’s dinner, and asks him to have the holiday dinner on the day after, which is Friday. He then talks with Bella who invites him to join a free yoga session at the gym, while a very upset Quinn is seen leaving Stephen’s office. The protagonist invites Zoey over to hang out with him.

Tommy chats with Gina and Tiffani about the Halloween party and asks them if they know anything about the DIK posters. Tiffani says she will ask around about it and that Tara is angry at him (for having hit Oscar at the Halloween party). As they leave an upset Quinn arrives, hinting she has some new troubles. Tommy asks Quinn to sniff around for information on the source of the posters because the DIKs are upset about them. Quinn asks for Tommy’s opinion about Lily and reveals that she suspects Lily is making a profit on the drugs she sells to The Pink Rose, but Tommy says it doesn’t make sense to him.

The protagonist hangs out with Zoey in his room and they look at the guest photos from Halloween. Zoey is surprised to learn about the girls he is dating. He reveals to Zoey that he got Lynette’s diary and she is shocked to hear that and wants to read some of it with him. They read the next chapter, telling the story of how Neil bought Lynette earplugs as a present to help her cope with the noise from the construction work, which eventually led to her agreeing to go on a date with him. Back in the present, the protagonist invites Zoey to the DIK Thanksgiving barbecue. As she leaves they both look slightly sad and confused.

The protagonist goes to the yoga session and meets Jill and Bella. They are joined by Bianca and Carla, as Tybalt also arrives, as well as Sarah and Melanie, Camila, Heather, and Becky. Bianca is flirting with the protagonist. Heather privately apologizes to the protagonist for trying to use him to get back at Tommy at the party and says she feels bad about what she did and must talk with Tommy about it. The yoga teacher turns out to be Paula whom the protagonist met on the dating app and rejected him, although she doesn’t seem to remember him now. Isabella is unhappy with the protagonist’s performance in the yoga lesson despite him having warned her that he was not good at yoga when she invited him. Tybalt becomes angry at Paula and she tries to help him calm his rage. He stays after the end of the session to talk with Paula.

The jocks celebrate Chad’s return and discuss the upcoming Metal Men competition which they dream of winning. They tell him about the deal Sage brokered as Chad is sympathetic to the DIKs and Sage which leads Caleb to blame him for becoming weak. Chad says he’s going to stay in his dorm and not move back to the Tri-Alpha house and applauds Dawe for his performance as president. Dawe reveals that he started taking a new type of penis enlargement pills and that this type won’t show up on the drug tests because they are organic.

After the yoga session, the protagonist goes to practice in Dwayne’s fight club and encounters Troy, who also just joined the club, and they brawl. Dwayne tells the protagonist his life story and how he left brawling to pursue a career to be able to provide for the girl that he loved. He talks to the protagonist about controlling his anger as Tri-Alpha member Alex shows up and they also brawl.

In her room, Josy is still troubled by mean things Oscar told her at the party about her hobbies being too normal and deletes her bio on social media, as she tries to search for new hobbies.

Conditional story - Hanging out with Maya or Josy The protagonist hangs out with either Maya or Josy, regardless of whether he is in a relationship with them or not. During the hangouts, it is revealed that both the protagonist and Josy are afraid of thunderstorms and that Josy has a crush on the protagonist. If the protagonist isn't in a relationship, he admits his feelings for one of them. If the protagonist broke up with them due to pursuing a different relationship, Josy reveals earlier while cleaning the mansion that she had a crush on him and doesn't want them to be just friends, and so the protagonist spends the evening with Maya.

Broke up with Maya & Josy Earlier, Josy discusses her decision to not be friends with the protagonist anymore with Maya and Sage, revealing how deeply she had felt for him. In her room on her computer, Josy looks at a picture she had of her and the protagonist and deletes it, but then regrets having done so and restores it from the trash bin. The encounter with Maya follows.

Maya Maya dresses in thigh-high socks which is revealed to be a fetish the protagonist has and she reveals she likes being whispered things into her ear. If the protagonist hasn't pursued any relationship, he confesses that he still has feelings for her, as Maya is shocked to hear that and leaves his room crying.

Josy Josy dresses in lingerie and confesses that she has had a crush on the protagonist ever since they met at the mini-mart and still does. If the protagonist isn't in a relationship with her, Josy then snaps and apologizes, feeling terrible for what she just did. If the protagonist also hasn't pursued any relationship, they discuss having feelings for each other as they both struggle to stop themselves from making out but fear hurting Maya if they do. The camera zooms out and it is revealed that they are being watched.

Conditional story - Major event with love interest

Sage Sage is awaiting the protagonist in the HOT pool, with Camila and Heather. Heather discusses her relationship issues with Tommy and Sage talks with the girls about trying to organize her first date with the protagonist and how anxious she feels about it. Camila reveals to Sage that she had sex with him in the past. The protagonist arrives and he and Sage jump into the pool. They discuss the thunderstorm outside and the protagonist tells her that he knew someone whose house was hit by lightning. In the pool, they continue talking about their date, as Sage reveals she likes to play board games and they end up playing dots with Camila. They decide to have a classic date with a dinner and a movie. A few days later, the protagonist and Sage go on their first date. Sage is anxious about her appearance and asks Quinn and Lily for their opinion, as Lily reassures her but Quinn disapproves of her look, saying that it's too much considering who she's going out with. The protagonist picks up Sage in Rusty's car and they arrive at the restaurant where they are unknowingly seen by Madame Rose. Sage is still very anxious and acts clumsily at the restaurant and the protagonist helps her relax. He points out that there is a couple behind them that is having oral sex under the table. They go to watch a movie and the protagonist returns Sage to the HOT house.

Maya & Josy The protagonist, Maya, and Josy study together in the library as Becky comes around and tries to hit on the protagonist.

Jill The protagonist goes to meet Jill's parents. It is revealed that her father is Geoff, one of the ANO graduates the protagonist chatted with at the Dante Week party. Her parents are not in good shape due to Lana's birthday that is nearing, as Amelia is anxious and Geoff is drunk. Geoff shows the protagonist the house and Jill takes him to see Lana's room, which they preserved as a memory of her. The protagonist is excited to see Lana's things as he notices her rock guitar and posters of the metal band that he and Zoey used to listen to. Jill and the protagonist sit for dinner with Amelia and Geoff and reveal that they are in a relationship. Geoff reveals that they bought their house nineteen years ago from someone that Bianca's father Maynard knew, who was selling it urgently.

Isabella The protagonist hangs out with Bella at her house and they watch TV, as the protagonist finds the adult channels and Bella claims she didn't know they were included in her cable plan, revealing that she likes to watch a show about house decoration. Bella reveals that in her youth she was a champion of beer pong and they play a round.

Others Lily is methodically advertising her relationship with the protagonist around campus and on social media. Back in the DIK mansion, the protagonist sees Riona hitting on Leon. He talks with her in private and she reveals that she's hitting on other people in front of him to make him jealous. They go to hang out at the arcade as Riona reveals that she likes video games but can't get the HOTs to play them with her. On Saturday evening, the protagonist goes on a date with either Nicole or Nora.

Nicole If he dates Nicole, they meet at her house and discuss her relationship with her ex-husband, as Nicole reveals that she started working as a stripper to be able to provide for her son Marvin and that her ex-husband, who came from a rich family, did not like that, trying to use this information to get full custody over Marvin.

Nora If he dates Nora, they meet at her house and discuss life and their aspirations. Nora reveals that she has a PhD, makes art, and wants to have children. Nora's cat Fluffy is hostile to the protagonist and spills the protagonist's wine over Nora's paintings, to the dismay of Nora who thinks the protagonist did it and is blaming Fluffy.

Feeling insecure due to the captions on the posters, the protagonist decides to grow a beard.

Derek and the protagonist go to science class which takes place at a local laboratory outside of campus. It turns out their instructor is Nora, whose full name is Dr. Nora Jenkins. She is surprised to see the protagonist and asks him to not tell anybody about their hookup, but he still tells Derek about it on the way back to college. On the street, they meet Cathy who offers the protagonist to ride the bus with her back to her home, where they discuss the recent events in their life, with Cathy revealing that she’s now a business consultant and the protagonist telling her that the DIKs are now also the target of embarrassing posters. He sends Derek a picture of the “Be grateful” sign on her wall (following up on their discussion at the dorm party about the signs that girls like to hang around).

A flashback shows Stephen as a young adult, working as an investor in a luxurious firm. Although he was very successful in his job for eight years and made a fortune while doing so, he is fired due to his manager Mr. Wallace being dissatisfied with him being too keen on abiding by the law. After being fired, Stephen goes to talk with his therapist. He talks with him about his marriage with Jade and how it started to deteriorate when he started working at that firm and had less time to be with her, which also coincided with when they learned that she couldn’t bear children. Jade initially decided to pursue a career instead of being a parent but then decided she wanted to adopt, a decision which Stephen was not happy with, as he felt they both didn’t have the time to deal with parenting, especially with children from a foster home which require additional attention due to their past trauma. However, he agreed to it because he didn’t want to upset Jade, as he reveals that he regrets having done so because he never felt like he was truly their father and that he wants to have biological children. The therapist suggests talking with Jade about it or going to couples therapy, to which Stephen replies that he tried but can’t get Jade to be able to talk about their feelings. Having made enough money to have everything he wants without having to work anymore, Stephen is feeling emptiness in his life, as they discuss what would he pursue now to achieve fulfillment.

The flashback fades into Stephen in the present, as he tells Jade that he’s divorcing her. Jade is furious and tries to get him to back off from the decision, warning that she will take half his property, as Stephen says that he is completely certain he wants to go through with this as he has been planning it for years.

Conditional story - Jade's video If the protagonist shared the video of himself and Jade with the DIKs as proof of completion for the Hell Week task, Stephen reveals to Jade that someone sent him the video of her having sex with the protagonist, and that if she doesn't want him to leak it, she will have to agree to give him most of their property in the divorce.

In the ANO mansion’s bar, Jill talks with prep lawyer Trent and thanks him for not pressing charges against the protagonist for the fire at the Dante Week celebration. Trent tells her there was no fire, and that turning on the sprinklers and causing minor damage is not a case he thought was worth pursuing, as they both realize that Tybalt has been lying about what happened at the party. Trent is furious that Tybalt tried to portray him as petty and stubborn, and they both go up to talk with him. They barge into Tybalt’s room and are shocked to see him masturbating to a watermelon with Jill’s photo and stolen panties on it.

The DIKs and HOTs barbecue begins. The DIKs discuss Arieth being pregnant and are terrified by the possibility of one of them being the father. They also talk with the protagonist about him having gone to the yoga session and are intrigued when he tells them about all the women in yoga pants that participate in those sessions. Lily gets the mushrooms she ordered from Quinn and gives them to Tommy, revealing that Tommy asked her to make sure the barbecue won’t be boring and this is what she chose to do. Some of the DIKs eat a mushroom and begin hallucinating, while some choose not to take one, including Rusty and Jacob.

Heather talks with Elena about wanting to break up with Tommy. Jill tells the protagonist about her encounter with Tybalt, revealing that she kicked him in his balls and that Trent wants to remove Tybalt from the role of president due to what they’ve seen him do. Nick reveals to the protagonist that he’s had a crush on Heather for years, even before she became with Tommy, and that at the Halloween party, he consoled her in his room when she was angry at Tommy and they ended up having sex. Nick is both troubled by whether he should talk with Tommy about this and disappointed that after he wanted Heather for so long she ended up just using him for sex as revenge against Tommy.

Zoey arrives at the barbecue and chats with the DIKs. After a while, she and the protagonist go to talk in private, as Zoey asks him to try to relive the moment they parted ways at the train station before she left for San Diego and tell her his feelings this time. The protagonist reveals that he was in love with Zoey and thought of a future together with her, as Zoey is shocked to hear that and is unable to reply. The protagonist leaves her there to think and goes back to the barbecue as he encounters Jacob who asks him if he’s alright with him hitting on Zoey. Jacob spends some more time with Zoey who lets him know that she’s not interested in him, but she is surprised when he tells her how the protagonist reacted to Jacob asking him if he could hit on her. Zoey watches the protagonist hanging out with the girls around the campfire and is suddenly overcome by feelings and runs away into the woods crying, as she is being watched from above.

A hallucinating Derek reveals to Rusty and Jacob that he found a camera in his room and shows them his chat with Ashley about it. Ashley sent Derek a photo of Jacob having sex with Arieth in the closet before it became Derek’s room, which she got from Anthony, who told her this was sent to the jocks as blackmail along with other photos of DIKs having sex with Arieth and that Chad told them it was the protagonist who sent it, which is why Chad beat him up and got expelled. Rusty and Jacob are shocked and find it hard to believe that the protagonist is behind this, as Derek tells them that he also doesn’t think it’s the protagonist but it has to be one of the DIKs and that this same person is also responsible for the Cathy flyers and the DIK posters. Rusty is extremely troubled by the revelation.

The protagonist goes to sleep in his tent. His tent is being watched from above.

Conditional story - Hanging out at the barbecue

Isabella The protagonist doesn't want to sleep in his tent and ends the night at Isabella's house. As they lie in bed the protagonist sees the photo of her and James on her nightstand and Bella invites him to ask her about James. She reveals that she's married only in the legal sense as James went missing after he left her and has not been found since, and is probably not alive anymore, as she starts to breathe frantically and panic. The protagonist calms her down and they go to sleep.

Others If the protagonist hanged out with Josy, they discuss their feelings for each other again, not knowing how to tell Maya about this, as they almost kiss but barely stop themselves. If he hanged out with Maya, they discuss what happened there, and Maya concedes that she reacted the way she did because she also has feelings for him. Nora lets the protagonist know that they can't date anymore because she's his instructor in science class. She reveals that to legally continue with this type of relationship would require a lot of complicated approvals and for her not to be teaching his class anymore. Lily continues showing off that she's in a relationship with the protagonist in front of the HOTs and Becky. She takes him to talk in private by the water and reveals that she can't allow them to fall in love because that would mean she would not be able to continue working at the strip club and make the money to pay for her tuition. Quinn talks with the protagonist and reveals that she's not interested in finishing college and might drop out eventually to focus on making money from the drug business. She also reveals that being the HOT president is not something that she's sure she wants to pursue although she's still considering it as an option if she doesn't drop out.

While sleeping the protagonist suddenly regains his memory of the first night at The Pink Rose, as he flashes back to drinking too much, talking with Tommy about their relationship as maggot father and son, dancing naked in the cage, Rusty telling him that he behaved inappropriately after he is thrown out of the club, then vomiting in Maya’s laundry. After he wakes he goes to talk with Jacob, who still suspects the protagonist after what he heard from Derek. The protagonist decides to shave his beard.

In the evening Derek, Maya, Sage, and the protagonist prepare to leave for the Thanksgiving dinner. They ask Sage if she’s sure she wants to come and miss Thanksgiving with her family, and Sage looks sad and reveals that Jade canceled Thanksgiving and that she would rather not be around her parents right now. Isabella drives them to Derek and Maya’s house. They enter the house and barely manage to convince Patrick that the protagonist is Maya’s boyfriend, as Derek and Maya go to take care of Helen who needs to take her medication, and while Patrick is busy preparing dinner, the protagonist and Sage wander around the house. The protagonist finds Helen’s notebook with a letter she wrote to her family to read after she dies and is disturbed by having seen it. Sage finds Patrick’s room upstairs but it is locked. The protagonist notices that Sage is depressed but she tells him that it’s not the time to talk about it.

The protagonist and Sage join Derek in the dining room and ask him about the locked door. Derek tells them where the keys are as dinner is starting. The protagonist picks up the keys but doesn’t have time to enter the room. Derek asks Patrick for the car keys to use later for driving everyone back to college. The protagonist is surprised that Patrick sounds genuinely caring for his children. As the evening progresses, Helen’s painkillers wear off and she becomes anxious and angry, and eventually starts yelling at Patrick who takes her to her room to rest, as Sage is crying at the sight of Helen’s situation. Maya follows Patrick and an argument between them forms, as Sage takes the keys to try and infiltrate the room, and the protagonist goes to check up on Maya. He walks in on Patrick forcefully grabbing Maya’s arm and flashes back to times he saw her holding that area in her arm in pain, now realizing that Patrick is abusing her. The situation heats up and the protagonist calls Sage back and announces that they are leaving right now as he doesn’t want Maya to be subjected to more violence.

In Patrick’s car, the group is depressed at the disastrous outcome as the protagonist snaps and decides he is going to get those contracts, and walks back to the house with Derek coming to help him. He infiltrates the house through the garage window and walks to Patrick’s room as Derek calls Patrick to distract him. On the way there, he overhears Patrick talking with Derek about how Helen’s health has deteriorated lately but he didn’t tell them because he wanted that Thanksgiving dinner to happen. The protagonist fetches the contracts, returns the keys, and exits through the window, as he sees Patrick crying alone. In the car, Maya and Sage talk, and Maya reveals that due to her dementia Helen is sometimes very cruel to Patrick, telling him she doesn’t love him and that they should break up, as Sage sadly relates and says that divorce isn’t the worst thing, but Maya says that Helen is all Patrick has. The protagonist and Derek go back to the car and show the contracts to Maya and Sage and the group drives happily to Isabella’s house to regroup with her and Jill.

Outside Bella’s house, the protagonist and Derek discuss the events and all they’ve been through. Derek tells him that Patrick is sometimes difficult but he doesn’t abuse them, and that he’s had it very rough with having to care for them and Helen all on his own. Derek reveals that he has vowed to protect Maya and follow her wherever she goes, and that’s the only reason he’s in college, which is why he doesn’t care about the classes or studying. The narrator comments on the events, saying that although this was the worst Thanksgiving dinner he’s ever had, it was only the start of that disastrous weekend.

Heather is seen having a talk with Tommy who is furious. Leon wanders around the halls of the dorms and sees Beth hanging the DIK posters. The narrator goes on to talk about how everybody wants to feel protected, as Riona is walking back from a drug sale and calls Quinn, telling her she’s feeling worried, as she suddenly encounters Vinny and another person. They push Riona into a van and drive away as her phone drops to the ground, still on call with Quinn.