It was nearing dark on a Friday night---one of the weekends that the Hamrens flooed home for to spend time with Emily and Jonah as a family.

Cody had told his parents he'd be out with friends that evening, seeing a movie in town. There was only half of truth in that statement.

He came home on time, but with two black eyes, and a fat lip. He was also completely drunk---again.

He erupted through the front door, bursting into song.

"AND I WAS LIKE BABY, BABY BABY, AND I WAS LIKE BABY, BABY, BABY, OHHH BABY, BABY, BABY...THOUGHT YOU'D ALWAYS BE MINE, MINE!"

Jonah had just barely touched his mattress when the noise from Cody's entrance startled him, and he began to cry again.

Luna was exhausted and had been aching for bed herself. She lifted her son back up over her shoulder and began to rock him to sleep again sending a look to Garrin.

"Is that...Cody??" She frowned as she tried to calm the infant.

"Sounds like...sort of?" Garrin remarked, frowning with alarm. He descended the stairs, and his eyes went wide at the sight of his son.

"What in the bloody hell happened to you? What have you been up to?"

Cody then put a finger to his lips, and shook his head.

"Secrets. And I drank. I drank lottsss. Lookin' good, Pop!" he said, winking at the man.

Garrin was livid at once.

"You were fighting. Who hit you? Where were you tonight? I want answers Cody, and now!"

"You, you, youuuu...always about you, Daddy-O," Cody mumbled, before breaking into a laugh.

"Only joking. OW! Am I ever DERRRUNK!"

"Quiet down, Code. Come on, come sit down, wind down a bit. Did you ingest anything else tonight besides alcohol?" Garrin asked, fearing the worst.

"Nope! Or...diiiid I?" Cody said, laughing.

"This isn't a joke. You're not sober enough to give a solid answer, so we had better go get your stomach pumped. Did you drive home?"

"No--I dropped him off," someone new said, poking her head in the door.

"Jane?" Garrin said, surprised.

"I---I was with him the whole time, Mister Hamren. Please...don't tell my parents. I just wanted to make sure he came home alright. He only drank, trust me, I watched him the whole time."

She flinched a bit, holding back some of the truth.

"Thank you, Jane. I'm going to have to tell your parents, sorry," Garrin said, frowning.

Jane nodded. "Figured so. Well...I'm...sorry. Bye, Cody."

Garrin thoroughly examined the boy, checking for any signs of alcohol poisoning. He took him up to his bedroom, instructing Jason to keep an eye on him.

He found Lu, and sighed.

"He's drunk as a skunk. I'm worried, Lu...for the obvious reasons, and...half wondering if we should take him in to get his stomach pumped. He seems okay, but...with Jane as the only witness, I'm just not sure he didn't take anything else. He's beaten to a pulp, too...won't tell me who hit him."

"Okay well, let's -- not-- drive him to the hospital. I'll call Luca, see if he'll stop by, that's a bit of a happy medium. " Luna suggested, as she was still rocking the irritable baby.

"Here, hold Jonah for me." She replied as she got her phone out.

"Ughnnn...stomach...." Cody moaned, his head rolling back as he sat on his bed.

"Lay down, mate," Jason said, making a face. He put down the wastebasket next to him.

"Who hit you?" he asked, frowning.

"Me. Myself. And I," Cody mumbled, before retching into the basket.




Garrin took Jonah, feeling a slight bit of calmness from the baby's little body.

Emily poked her head in.

"Is Cody okay?" she asked softly.

"He will be, Honey. Go to bed."

"Luca's on his way." Luna replied and closed her phone.

"You're never allowed to date people from our neighborhood. No neighbor girls for you." She told Jonah, who giggled as she kissed his hand a few times.

"Should I bring him some water or do I not want to see it?" Luna asked her husband as she sat down on the end of the bed.

"It might very well undo you," Garrin said with a nod.

"He's in quite the state. Think someone got him in the gut, too, the way he was walking. I'll bring him some water."

He magicked a glass full of water into his hands, then popped into Cody's room, right in time for another puking session.

"Don't have to ask how he's doing, I suppose," Garrin mumbled.

"Do you know who hit him?" Jason asked.

Garrin shook his head.

"I'll find out tomorrow. Luca's on his way over...bless him."

Karissa arched her brow at the boys' room, just outside her room in the hall.

"Heat's off me for awhile," she told Keely, plopping down on her bed. Emily sat up in her own bed, reading, and pretending to not listen in.

"First you, now Cody. That Susie chick really screwed him up, didn't she?"

Luna put Jonah to bed yet again and went downstairs to let Luca in.


Keely stared up at her cousin. "That's sweet of you, 'Riss. But really. I told everyone that girl was bad news! Cody just needs a distraction. The best way to get over someone is to...well. to get 'over' someone else." She laughed.

"What about you, are you still dating that guy from the dance?"

Garrin found Luca and motioned him upstairs.

"I don't know if he's in the best state to move right now," he explained, frowning.

"I don't think he has alcohol poisoning, but I'd like to get him checked, just the same. Thanks for coming, Luca," he said wearily.

"He's also been in a fight...I lifted his shirt a little, his chest has a nasty bruise on it."


Karissa scrunched her nose in a little laugh.

"Nah, that was...a one time deal."

What she neglected to mention, was that that elaborate kiss had been arranged to serve as a distraction, allowing Alden to spike the punch. Given Cody's state, she saw it fit to not volunteer that information to anyone.

Luca opened the door to Cody and Jason's bedroom and let himself in. "Good lord, son. Were you auditioning for the role of the racoon at the theme park?" Luca exclaimed as he began tending to him.

Cody mumbled something inaudible, but Jason thought he saw a bit of a small smile in the boy's face. That had to be a good sign.

And then Cody puked again, thankfully not on Luca.



The next morning, Jason smacked a sleeping Cody in the head with a couch cushion from downstairs.

"UGhhh!" Cody moaned, flopping around and making a sour face.

"What the bloody hell...." he muttered, slapping away whoever was in his face.

"Get up. I have some questions," Jason said plainly.

"Go away," Cody mumbled.

"I can see you're going to need more convincing," Jason said, taking out his wand. He levitated his cousin to the air, and Cody started hollering at once, making his head pound even more.

With his other hand, he held up Cody's cell phone.

"Text from Alden Bloomquist," Jason said.

"'My brother wants to talk to u now. See you tonight.' What the bloody hell is that about, heh?" Jason demanded.

"Lemme down, you git! That text is...nothing of your concern...."

"Talk or I'll start bouncing you off the walls!" Jason yelled.

Their shouting set off the Jonah alarm. Minutes later Luna was standing in the open doorway, muttering a counter curse to Jason's spell, her wand aloft.

"What's going on in here?" She demanded, none too pleased that her son was now awake.

Cody fell softly back to his bed.

"Jason's gone mental, apparently," he grumbled, rubbing his head.

"And I've discovered that Cody's making plans to meet up with Dylan Bloomquist. You tell me who's mental!" Jason countered.

"What's this about, Cody?" Luna demanded. She would have sent Jason downstairs, but he was proving too valuable with information at the moment.

Cody sighed heavily, trying to think best how to lie.

"It's a misunderstanding. I...bumped into Alden last night. He scrounged up some fake ID's for us, and we went to some bars...got into a scuffle with some tough blokes...it was a bit of a joke, really, what he said about his brother. I'm not getting tangled up with Dylan. Just a...drunken inside joke. Look, I know last night...I was stupid. And I'm sorry we woke up Jonah."

Jason looked entirely unconvinced.

"You're acting like all of that is just supposed to be okay. Cody, I know you're upset honey, but look what you're doing to your life! You know your father wants to speak to you this morning. If you don't want to wind up in Germany all summer, I suggest you get your act together." She warned him.

"Yeah...you're right. Sorry," Cody said, nodding and determinedly not looking her in the eye.

"You're a horrible liar," Jason said loudly.

Cody mere shrugged at him.

Garrin came in, kissed Luna sweetly on the cheek, then scowled at Cody.

"We're going on a walk. Be ready in five minutes."

"You know you can tell me anything." Luna offered.

She took a look at both boys, seriously considering placing a ban on the dating of neighborhood girls for them. They were so close to adulthood now though, would it really matter?

She couldn't quite figure out what they saw in Susan Foster.

"Yeah. Thanks," Cody said to Luna. With a rotting gut and a throbbing head, Cody got dressed, and met his Dad outside.

Garrin prodded and drilled Cody as they walked around the forest, but Cody only told him so much. He confiscated the fake ID, and tried every approach known to parenting, but Cody refused to give specifics about who he was with last night.

"Grounded him and gave him a new curfew when he's home and at school. I think I'm going to find out what I can from Alden, and more from Jane, possibly," Garrin told Luna when they had returned.

"I just can't believe how quickly things fell apart." Luna sighed and shook her head.

"Do you think he was serious? I mean really serious...about marrying that girl?" She asked him as she wiped droll from Jonah's chin.

"No...he's sixteen. I believe he loved her, and still does love her, but...Susie's the first girl he's really fallen for, isn't she, and there will be loads more. I only hope they don't get back together. She broke his heart once, she'll be likely to do it again," Garrin said, sighing heavily.

"So you wouldn't have ran off at sixteen and married a girl without telling anyone? Because I'm afraid of that. Especially after Maddie's little stunt." She frowned.

"Susie though...I just. I don't like that girl. Her outward appearance is just so sweet and so charming, but her track record and my gut feeling say that she causes more mischief than anyone. I don't think he really knew what he was getting into with that girl. And Jason before him. I can't pry Nolan away from the window. I institute a ban. Here and now. No more Susie. Not in my house."

Garrin gave her a slightly skeptical look.

"Do you intend on banning Nolan from his peeping Tom routine? Because that sounds easier said that done. I do agree with you, however. Look at the affect she's had on our family. She might be a sweet girl, but it's best if we don't invite that drama into our house.

"And...Cody running off? I don't see that happening. He's impulsive at times, but he wouldn't do anything that drastic."

"A week ago I would have bet my left hand that he would never be the type to go out on an underage drinking spree and come home one giant abrasion either. Do you know how hard it is to bake with one hand? I just ...Break-ups are hard, but don't you think his behavior is extreme? What even ended them in the first place? He wasn't this chaotic when he though he was going to lose her over Sandrine..." Luna thought out loud.

"And yes, the idea of giving Nolan a room without windows has crossed my mind."

"Good idea. Anything we can do to discourage his behavior. He tends to objectify women, that one.

"And Cody---yeah, his behavior is immensely extreme. I never imagined him acting like he is, which makes me wonder if it's more than just girl problems going on. The thing with Sandrine...Susie never dumped him over that, but if she had, would he have acted like he is now? It's like there's a missing piece of this puzzle...there's something he's not telling us."

"He doesn't objectify Julie, I don't think." Luna added.

"But like you said...she didn't dump him for sleeping with Sandrine. Maybe it was just a coincidence...the timing of it all. Maybe she knew something we don't. That's even more worrisome."

"Sus has replaced Cody already, by the way. Horrible boy. Quite a few students on the dance team have crossed paths with him. He doesn't objectify girls, he uses girls. If Henry thinks she has a bad reputation now, it's nothing compared to the aftermath that follows this boy."

"Perhaps it would be decent, then, to warn Henry," Garrin suggested.

"I don't suppose it will last long, though, he's the rebound boy, isn't he? Another thing---I hope Cody doesn't go back to Jane. She's no good for him either. I'm quite sure dating isn't a good idea for him right now, as it is."

"I don't think he's with Jane. I think she was just an accomplice for that particular event." Luna put in.

"She cheated on him afterall. Cody isn't that stupid. My goodness...so much drama for their age. I don't remember our courtship being this explosive."