"Mom? Can I talk to you for a minute?" Sam asked as she peeked in the door. Already her mom had cleaned up the glasses of lemonade and left the room.

"Yes, Samantha, just a moment!"

Then the clatter of something hitting the countertop sounded before Mom hurried back in, wearing a smile that Sam couldn't quite tell the genuineness of. Whichever, it was the aftermath of the Lilla situation and wouldn't last forever. Maybe a few hours, maybe a day, but things would go back to not trusting Sam at all after a while.

Sam opened the door the rest of the way and tugged  on Diana's hand, pulling her into view. "I just wanted to let you know that... you know how I'm not dating Shane anymore?"

"Yes..."

"Well, you've met Diana tons of times." Sam gestured vaguely to her friend with her free hand, watching her mom's expression like a hawk.

Mom's face flickered between a thousand different emotions before settling into a tentative smile, only a little wavering and tinged with worry. She nodded.

"You're going out with Diana?"

Sam nodded, and felt Di squeeze her hand encouragingly. "Yeah, we've been dating for about three months."

"Oh. That's nice that you've told me, sweetie. And I suppose your mentor's friend Britney..."

Sam laughed out loud at that, letting out a good amount of the tension she had been holding onto. "Yeah, her wife."

"Well, good. I don't think anyone should let their best friend name their baby. That's silly. I was going to tell her so but I thought it might be rude." Mom looked thoroughly relieved with this minute comfort and Sam rolled her eyes.

While she knew she would soon be given a new version of "the talk" involving that just because she couldn't wind up pregnant didn't mean that she could start acting what her parents called "foolishly", it was okay. Mom would tell Dad what she had told her, and they would both get over it if Mom would. This was going the smoothest it possibly could have, and Sam thanked the skies for that.

Then there was a massive thump and a yelp from outside, and Mom looked as though she had just seen someone hit her cat with a car.

"Oh, no. It's burglars, I'm sure of it. They've come to steal everything we have," she exclaimed, whirling around in useless circles. "Samantha, go hide."

Diana leaned over to whisper something into Sam's ear. "Yeah, that's Shane."

Sam rolled her eyes and headed out the front door, leaving her mom looking for something with which to fend off her imaginary burglars. Diana followed a couple feet behind and when they reached the path between Sam's house and the neighbor's, they found that Diana was correct. Lying on the sidewalk looking halfway between a broken collarbone and endless laughter was Shane. While the fence next to him was not broken, it was a bit crooked.

"You are such a jackass, I swear to god I wouldn't be surprised if you wound up breaking your own neck," Diana said, kicking at Shane's side as he got to his feet.

"That was a terrible idea, Shane."

Sam tried to straighten the fence that Shane had decided to try to vault over. If not for the trampoline he put to use from the yard next door, he probably would have broken something. It probably would have been his own neck.

"Worth it," Shane laughed, only wincing a little.

"Mom, we're fine! There's no burglar, Shane is just an idiot!" Sam shouted back towards the front door. She heard a muffled voice call back, but it was almost completely unintelligible.

Not really caring whether Diana and Shane remained put in the sideyard or followed her, Sam hurried back to Mom. Apparently Mom missed the memo. At least, that would make sense by the way that Sam's mom was clutching a broom like a metal bat when Sam rushed in the door.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Sam threw up her hands and backed up a couple steps, giving her mom time to recognize her.

"Oh, I thought you were the burglar, Samantha. You shouldn't have run out there. You could get hurt."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Mom, there's no burglar. It was Shane falling down and knocking into the fence by the Clarks' house."

At that, Mom lowered the broom handle she had kept up and facing the still-open door. She let out a breath slowly and nodded.

"Well, that's better than a burglar, but tell your friend to please be more careful in the future. He nearly gave me a heart attack!" Mom exclaimed, fanning her face with one hand.

"Yeah, okay, I will. I'm going to go hang out for a while, 'kay?" Sam asked, pushing back her laughter at the ridiculousness that was her mom. "I'll be back on time. I always am, right?"

"Be back for dinner this time," Mom called after Sam as she hurried through the door, closing it after calling a quick bye.

Diana was sitting on one of the porch chairs, and Shane was hanging from the tips of his fingers, clasped on the ledge that extended from the side of the house. Both of them got up and down respectively when Sam shut the door behind her. Shane looked not too much worse for wear. That was for the best, Sam supposed.

"So, did Lilla change her mind about letting you go visit her babies?" Shane asked as they started walking out towards town. They had plenty of time before it would be even close to curfew.

"Nah, not so much. Guess we'll have to figure out another plan."

Sam had really been hoping that Lilla would agree to let her come in, especially after she had been so nice when she was meeting Mom. She wanted to believe her counterpart, at least a bit, but she needed proof. Especially since, even though Lilla was acting nicer, she was still acting... weird. She was secretive about stuff that she shouldn't be about, and open about secrets.

"So, plan ideas? I have one. Teach me to pick locks and we can break into the program's headquarters," Shane suggested. Diana didn't sigh because Shane had told a terrible joke, but because Shane was a hundred percent serious.

Sam shook her head. "That's a terrible idea."

"I have a less absurd idea. How about we go visit Lilla's school even though she said not to? That's a lot easier and less illegal than breaking and entering," Diana said, glaring at Shane for the last few words.

Shane let out an offended sound. "Not like we haven't done it before."

"That was one time, Shane."

It was technically at least four times, including their trip across the construction zone, though perhaps that one ought not be counted. Sam was proud to say that she had never once let Shane convince her to participate in the breaking part of breaking and entering. That is to say, the only locks she had ever picked belonged to her or one of her friends (with permission).

"Wait, hold on, my idea is totally valid. And it's not like you're opposed to bending the rules a bit. So all we have to do is figure out a day when her school has a day and ours doesn't," Diana argued.

"Next week. Monday. We get a long weekend because they're doing a pupil-free day for us, but the brats still have to go to their place," Shane told them. "My mom was complaining about how the schedules will be so different between Maya's and mine once she starts kindergarten. I don't have a better explanation."

"Okay, so what? We go pretending to volunteer and say that we're helping in Ms. Wren's class?" Sam asked, glancing over to Diana and Shane.

They both nodded and Diana added, "They tell us where the room is and we check that's it's her, then we leave. No big deal."

"Sounds like a plan. I personally like the version where you teach me to pick locks better, but this works. Someday I'll convince you to show me," Shane told Sam.

She scoffed. "Doubtful. You'll end up becoming a real burglar if I ever show you how."

"Only maybe," Shane argued, though the fact that he might only possibly become a thief would never be enough to convince Sam to share her skills. "But I don't need to know now anyway, I guess."

And so they walked around until it was almost dinner time, then they each headed home. Sam only avoided conversation a bit with her parents during the next few days, and it was more because she had no intentions of subjecting herself to more awkward conversations.

Still, Mom and Dad were acting better than before Lilla came to visit. They didn't ask her twice where she was going when she told them she was going out to walk with Shane and Di.

Some of that positivity may have come from the fact that Sam told her parents about her plan to "volunteer at Juniper Elementary with some friends" come Monday. Maybe that wasn't quite the truth, but it was part of it. They might stay and help a bit with one of the classes that wasn't Lilla's. After all, each of the high schoolers had to do at least ten hours of community service. Sam was just thankful that she wasn't in any of the advanced programs that always seem to want more and more hours.

It was Monday before too long, as time tends to fly when you find things to occupy it with. For Sam, it was the latter, as she had planned to put off her homework Saturday and do it all Sunday. That was a terrible plan because she nearly didn't finish, but she did scrape by and it kept her from being bored waiting for the trip to Lilla's school.

"So we just go in?" Shane asked when they met up about a block from the school. "Like, aren't you supposed to call before or something?"

"Nah, come on. Don't be a baby. I thought you were all for breaking in somewhere? What's a little lowkey espionage compared to that?" Diana asked, running ahead into the school and giving Shane no choice but to either back out or follow her.

Sam smiled and shook her head before following Di inside, Shane trailing at the back but eventually coming along. The secretary working behind the front desk of the school was the same woman who had worked there when Sam attended.

"Hey, Ms. J! Long time no see!" Diana smiled to the office lady, who smiled back, looking a little surprised.

"Diana, right? I'm fairly sure you don't go to this school anymore. What are you doing here?" Though her tone was joking, there was a bit of seriousness in it.

Diana nodded. "Nah, I'm a bit old for sixth grade. But Sam and Shane, they came with and we want to help out in a class."

"If you've decided to cut school, I honestly didn't expect this to be your destination for your day off. Not what you kids would call worth it." Ms. J laughed at her own joke, but Sam felt the need to jump to her own and her friends' defenses.

Sam shook her head quickly. "We didn't cut class. We have school off today for some faculty thing. We just have to do a bunch of community service hours and figured this was better than picking up trash at the park."

"Well, I know one of our new third grade teachers, Mrs. Finnegan, is always looking for a bit of help," Ms. J said, looking over a chart on her desk. "She's in room 309. Third floor, door nine. Should be easy to track down."

"Oh, actually, we were wanting to help with Mrs. Wren's class. She teaches kindergarten, right?" Diana asked, flashing a red carpet smile and peeking over the front of the desk to look at Ms. J's chart.

The secretary fixed Diana with an unamused look. "I'm not sure where you got your information about this 'Mrs. Wren', but we do not have any teachers here by that name."

"Really?" Di asked, turning to give a Sam a worried glance. "Maybe I got the name wrong. I know her first name, though. Lilla?"

"Diana, there is no Lilla in our school working as a teacher. Now do you want to help with Mrs. Finnegan or do you not?"

Sam answered before Shane had a chance to do what he looked like he wanted to and opt out. "Yeah, totally. We'll help."

Even though both Diana and Shane seemed about ready to stab Sam for volunteering them to stay, neither of them disagreed. As soon as they were out of hearing range of the office, Shane let out a sigh that sounded like a dying seal. Di rolled her eyes and continued on towards the stairs and Sam did the same. Only when Shane sighed again did they stop and ask him what he was doing.

Actually, Diana whirled around and demanded he stop making noises like he was being sent to his room.

"Well, sorry, but I personally don't want to be helping file papers all day. I though we would be trying to figure out what's up with Lilla."

"She's not a teacher." Sam looked down at the floor for a moment. "But I think you had an idea of how we can figure out who she is."

Shane perked up at that and turned around to head back out the front door of the building. Sam stopped him by grabbing the back of his shirt.

"We can't go yet, moron. Come on, I have a plan," Sam said, heading back towards the stairs again.

"Yeah, my plan, apparently," Shane said from where he trudged back to the stairs.

Sam smiled. She was getting pretty good at the whole changing the plan last minute thing. The only problem was that this new plan would involve teaching one of her friends how to pick locks.