Author's Note: For those of you who are wondering where the heck Kuki is and why she's not freaking out about all of this, don't worry. I promise you she will be making more appearances soon. She's definitely just as concerned and confused about this whole Wally situation as the others are, and I will give you all a chance to see that very shortly! As of right now, the gang still doesn't know what's become of their missing friend, but they will be finding out some startling information in the next chapter that will leave them feeling even more concerned, and will probably leave them with more questions than answers. Stay tuned.

Disclaimer: Never mine.

He did sleep on it. When he woke the next morning, Wally tried to pretend he was still sleeping on it to avoid having to start another day in the hospital. It also stalled the inevitable pestering he would eventually get from Alex, who did not seem to understand that Wally wasn't in there just to make friends and have a good time. Unfortunately, after a while, his bladder forced him to get out of bed, and Wally had no choice but to join everyone else for breakfast. Surprisingly, the food at Lakewood wasn't all that bad. It was actually much better than the school lunches he'd gotten at Gallagher High. Then again, that wasn't saying much. Anything was better than the food at Gallagher High.

After breakfast, Wally returned with the others to partake in some group activities. He wasn't much interested in the yoga and meditation stuff they offered him, but he was more than willing to try the art class. It was really interesting to him how he had so many choices to make at Lakewood. They offered a lot of fun things to their patients, and the patients were never forced to do anything they didn't want to. Daniel had told him if he wanted to get out sooner, he would have to try to make a real effort and show the doctors that he was serious about his improvement. Attending groups was a must. Wally still wasn't sure whether he wanted to get out now or later, but pushed the thought aside when he joined the other boys outside for some fresh air. Eventually Alex convinced him to play a game of tennis with him, and Wally actually found himself having a good time, glad to be distracted from the turmoil inside him for once.

Z was watching from the sidelines when their game was over. She had a book in her lap.

"Nice game, losers."

"Thanks," Wally said, trying to catch his breath. "Although only one of us is the loser, and it ain't me. I beat him."

The girl stared at him for a moment, smiled, then returned her focus to her book. "Nah. You're a loser too."

Wally watched her for a few seconds, confused, then shrugged and went inside to get a drink of water.

After lunch, Wally had a lengthy therapy session with his doctor. Periodically throughout the day, nurses and caretakers would approach him to ask how he was doing. Sometimes they'd have clipboards to document what he said. But every day, he had some time to speak to his doctor privately. It was hard for him to really know where to begin, and Dr. Williams seemed to expect him to know exactly what to say. Wally had never been someone who was good at talking about how he felt, but he tried his best anyway. What else was he to do? Unfortunately, his best still consisted of mostly shrugs and "I don't know" and "I guess I just feel kind of bad". They would have to work on that. Dr. Williams said he wouldn't be able to help him if he didn't know what exactly he needed help with.

Wally found himself actually missing Erica. At least Erica genuinely seemed to care about him individually. His doctor said things to act like he cared, but Wally could tell he was doing his job more so for the money than to really help people. Dr. Williams did not seem very patient at all, and though he tried to understand, there was something about the way he spoke that made Wally feel like he was actually annoyed by the fact that he did not tell him very much. Dr. Williams wanted answers, and unfortunately, Wally had very little.

Later, Wally spoke with his parents and told them that he'd had a pretty good day. He promised he would let them know as soon as he was ready to leave, but that he was feeling hopeful that staying at Lakewood for a little bit longer would help him. At first his mother did not seem to agree, but eventually he managed to convince her, telling her that he would be coming home soon enough to be with her, he just needed a little extra time to calm down. He told them they didn't need to worry about him now. He was going to be well taken care of in the meantime. His mother told him she'd never stop worrying about him, but agreed to let him stay if that's what he really wanted.

"I just think I should give it a try, is all," he'd told them. "I'm already here so I might as well."

When he asked about Joey, they told him that they'd made up an excuse for his absence, saying he'd been staying at a friend's house for the past couple nights. Wally knew this excuse would only work for so long and, considering multiple days had already passed, it was probably already pushing it. They never let him stay out for more than one night, even with people they trusted. He would've had to come home sometime, especially since he was still supposed to be in school. Joey was too smart to not question them about that. They didn't want to tell him the truth though, at least not until they had no choice not to. Chances were that Wally would be coming home very soon, so telling him now would be pointless. Wally agreed that Joey didn't need to know all the details, but when he suggested that he may end up having to stay longer than they thought, his father said they would "figure it out."

"Don't worry about Joey right now, son. Just worry about yourself. Just worry about feeling better."

But that didn't make Wally feel any better or worry any less.

Meanwhile, Hoagie and his friends all had worries of their own. It was Friday now, and Wally hadn't been seen at school for days. Though it was possible that he was still trying to avoid them - and was doing an impeccable job at it, too - they couldn't help but feel that something was strange about that. Wally hadn't been spotted on campus at all since Wednesday. Why would he go through the trouble of missing entire school days just to avoid his friends? Hoagie knew Wally couldn't afford to miss any extra days now, and it was one thing to skip their mutual classes and a whole different thing skipping school entirely. Why would he risk further damaging his grades just to hide from people he didn't want to talk to? It didn't make much sense. Then, during 6th period, Trevor told him that Wally once again had not shown to Spanish class, and that his teacher said he was likely not going to come back. When Trevor asked why Wally wasn't going to come back, the teacher gave him a vague answer about him being pulled out of the remainder of the year for a private matter, and told him that's all she could say. Hoagie did not know what that meant, but immediately feared the worst.

"God, I knew something was going on. What if he's dead?!"

Abby smacked him over the back of the head and scowled. "Would you relax? He ain't dead. They wouldn't pull a dead kid out of his classes. They would've already told us he was dead and his parents would've called ours and we'd all be having a vigil right now. Don't be stupid."

"Yeah," Nigel agreed, with a frown. "We have no reason to believe something that serious has happened to Wally. He's probably just...sick."

"Sick? Sick with what? Why would he have to miss the rest of the school year if he was sick?"

"Well, I don't know! I'm just trying to be positive. There must be a good reason why he's out."

Hoagie swallowed thickly. "You don't think he has cancer, do you?"

"Cancer?" Abby repeated, looking like she was ready to smack him again. But instead of making a wise crack and telling him to calm down, she sighed. Truth was, she had no idea what had happened to Wally, but if his parents had to pull him out of school so late in the school year, there must have been a good reason. It had to be something serious. But she couldn't let everyone freak out when there was still a chance that it wasn't anything terrible. She had to keep them thinking positively. "You better hope not. But there's no use in thinking of all the possibilities and worrying right now. Maybe it's nothing. Maybe he's just gotten his ass into trouble again and his mom wants to home school him from now on so she can watch him and make him miserable. Or maybe he's just being transferred to a new school."

"To get away from all of us?"

"Maybe," Abby shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it ain't even about him at all. Maybe it's someone else in his family. Could be anything. Doesn't necessarily have to be something awful. But whatever the reason, instead of standing here and freaking out and doing nothing, why don't we just go over there and ask them and find out?"

Nigel furrowed his brows. "Go where? Ask who?"

Abby had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. "His parents, doofus. Who else do you think?"

"Oh... Right."

Hoagie frowned. "Do you really think that's a good idea? You think they'd talk to us?"

"Why not? We're all his friends. We stop by, say we're worried because we haven't seen him at school, find out if he's okay. What's wrong with that?"

"I guess nothing. But do you even think he'll be home?"

Abby shrugged again. "Beats me. Let's just focus on finding out if this kid's alive first. We can worry about talking to him later."

Nigel nodded in agreement. "Good idea, Abby. Let's find Kuki and let her know we're going in case she wants to come with us."

"She can't," Hoagie immediately answered. "She said she's going to be busy with Zeke today. As usual. We'll just have to let her know later what happened."

"Oh... Alright, then. Let's get going."

"Maybe nobody's home...?"

Nigel turned his head and took note of the empty driveway. "Maybe. But just because the car is gone doesn't mean no one's here. His dad's probably just at work. Maybe his mum is here with Joey. And, if we're lucky, Wally too. Try it again."

Hoagie shrugged and rang the doorbell again. Again they waited, but received no answer.

"Hello?" Nigel shouted, rapping his knuckles gently against the front door. "Mrs. Beetles? Wally? Anyone home?"

Abby was beginning to think it was doubtful. They'd been at the front door of the Beetles household for a good solid minute now, and nobody had ever answered to them. This was a little unnerving, but did not necessarily mean trouble. Knowing the others (or at least Hoagie) would immediately think it did, however, she sighed and tried to reassure them. "Okay. Nobody's here right now. Maybe they went to the store. We can try again later. Come on."

Hoagie fidgeted. "But...maybe we should wait another minute. Keep trying."

"We've been trying. We've been waiting. There's nobody home. They would've answered the door already if there was."

"Yeah. I think Abby's right," Nigel said, nodding. "We can drop by again tomorrow - earlier, since we don't have school. I'm sure someone will be home then."

Again, Hoagie fidgeted. This failed attempt at speaking to any of the Beetles family members only made him more concerned for his friend, but he knew Abby was right. Nobody was home, and if they were, they didn't want to answer the door. There was nothing he could do about that now. They would just have to keep trying and hope for the best. After all, he had to keep hoping that there was just some big misunderstanding.

"Fine," Hoagie agreed, turning away with a sigh. "Let's get out of here."