Graduation Day pictures reminds Ramona of her potential in what she could have pursued.

As the other genius of the family, Ramona has always focused her intellectual capabilities on more…unpredictable projects. Though the chemistry set that Gaby has loved as a child was left unused for many years, it may still prove to be useful.

Tonight, she is going to test that potential.

With the samples she gathered from the science facility, she plans to create her own mutant batch of plants for her own garden, simply out of boredom. What better way to continue her current lazy lifestyle while also satisfying her urge to delve into a little bit of chaos?

Good thing she listened to Gaby’s nagging to wear protective goggles today!

Gaby and Miranda expect no less from Ramona, and the three laugh it off together while Ramona puts out the small fire, but her nephew expresses great concern.

“Will you be okay, Auntie?” Rocco frets over her burns. He just can’t understand why they’re laughing about it. Even his mom, who usually nags her twin!

“Of course I’ll be okay, kid,” Ramona soothes, then proceeds to the balcony to cool herself down. She didn’t bother to wash herself until much later.

After being satisfied with a few more attempts and some extra explosions, Ramona goes on to the next part of her project: creating an appropriate space to dump her gardening equipment on. Getting some help from her big brother with the construction also gave the siblings an excuse to hang out properly together.

Gaby is just relieved that her twin stopped using her old chemistry equipment just as quickly as she started using it.

While her twin is out there trying to tamper with the laws of nature, Gaby deals with the uncomfortable situation of trying to reject someone as gently as she could.

She recently started to date again when the opportunity arises, but something about her indifference makes her worry that she might not be as emotionally ready as she once thought.

She wonders if her reluctance to start dating again may be because of her fear of how it would affect her son, who pretty much took the news about his father’s death relatively well.

Gaby will not let this affect her, and resolves to give dating another chance next time.

The mother and son duo finally end up visiting the new park, and as predicted, Rocco absolutely loves it.

“Araceli sent me pictures of this place, but it looks even better in person!” Rocco looks around in awe. This is definitely his new favorite spot in town.

He wishes he could visit again together with Araceli and Brooks, the latter who still doesn’t know about the park yet since he strongly refuses to own a phone (much to Araceli and his parents’ frustration).

Rocco sometimes catch his mother looking at him with a wistful smile, and sometimes he asks her about it. She just shakes her head and encourages him to go on.

Life goes on.

With Ramona out visiting Brentley to show her project’s progress and Miranda having dinner with old friends, Gaby and Rocco are left with the daunting task of repairing the sink by themselves. Rocco helpfully offers to run downstairs to grab his Aunt’s toolbox in the garden.

He worries if he could find the toolbox on time before the sink explodes and flood the entire kitchen, only to find two strangers standing between him and the toolbox????

His sudden appearance startle the kids, and himself. It took Rocco a while to realize that they are his new classmates who just recently moved to town.

This realization makes him sheepish, though it didn’t make him any less suspicious of them. “If you guys are here for my mom’s autograph, you could have just asked me at school earlier.”

The girl frowns at him, making him remember that her name was Layla. “What? No, we’re not here for an autograph.”

“I told you this was a stupid idea,” Samuel, her twin brother, whispers in protest. Layla continues, “We’re gonna see the rock star’s ghost.”

Rocco frowns back at her. “My gran-aunt’s not a ghost. She’s just dead.”

“There’s no way she’s not a ghost,” she scoffs, ignoring the fact that Rocco is related to a rock star. She have seen her grandparents as ghosts, so she knows what to look out for. “Me and Sam wanna see it for ourselves if it’s real.”

Behind her, Sam shakes his head furiously in disagreement.

Rocco is pretty sure that there are no ghosts haunting this house, especially not Gran-Aunt Eva, but he’s not comfortable about leaving them alone until they finally leave. So he sticks around, completely forgetting about the toolbox.

Layla is just as guarded as Rocco, but not as nervous. She’s not afraid of the other kids, or ghosts. Sam, on the other hand, would really want to leave before seeing one.

After a while, waiting becomes boring. Suddenly, Rocco remembers the helmets and goggles Araceli and Brooks left behind under the sofa, and begins weighing his options about letting these intruders use it. He decides to take a chance.

He offers it to Sam first, who appears to be easily intimidated (rather than being intimidating like his twin sister).

It turns out to be a good decision. Layla becomes friendlier when she sees that Rocco’s offer was not a threat, and the three kids start to create an elaborate make-believe of hunting down monsters from a helicopter. No ghosts appeared that night.

They stop when they hear Gaby calling out Rocco’s name, and they all look at each other. Layla takes off her helmet slowly, as if disappointed about stopping.

“We live just next door you know,” Sam admits to Rocco, as if trying to make up for trespassing. “Layla really hates our new house and would rather explore the neighborhood than stay there…”

“We’ll visit again,” Layla suddenly says without hesitation, but this time it sounds like she’s asking for permission. Kinda. The twins return Rocco’s stuff and walk over to the fence that separates the two houses. Layla pushes a loose plank aside and lets Sam crawl through first.

“Use the front door next time!” Rocco calls after them. Layla smiles and waves before crawling after her brother and pulling the plank back in place.

Last night’s events left Rocco very excited for school the next morning, he biked past the school bus altogether and got there an hour earlier.

By the end of the day, Rocco finds himself with two new friends. Which is just as well, now that Araceli has aged up to a teen just a few days later.

Now taller and older, Araceli starts to get along better with her older brother these days by pranking him in retaliation instead of arguing with him as usual.

Kenton is not pleased at all to see all of his favorite jackets hidden inside his bed sheets. It took him hours to find it.

Their father is simply pleased of his daughter’s growing teenage rebelliousness and relishes in his son’s frustration, which normally would not be tolerated at all if Lacey isn’t working overtime at the police station tonight.

Miranda starts to question her son’s ability to maintain discipline, and wonders if she should intervene.

While Lukas’ two older kids squabble in the background, Gaby gets to know one of his younger kids who recently had their birthdays. This one’s Jan.

Jan’s hairstyle reminds her auntie that she had the same hairstyle when she was a toddler herself. And they both look so cute in it!

Jan’s twin brother, Clay, prefers to cling to Auntie Ramona while she watches TV. It’s not clear from this angle, but he takes after his father A LOT.

With four kids running around the unit, Lukas and Lacey are definitely the busiest out of all of Miranda’s kids.

Rocco isn’t able to meet his youngest cousins with his family that night, since he’s sleeping over at Aunt Chelsea’s place to work on an assignment together with Brooks.

He would have preferred if Araceli was here to help them keep awake, but right now the boys are forced to fend for themselves. Brooks is already on the brink of giving up on his paper and on staying awake. Poor Rocco doesn’t know what to do first.

Homework becomes less of a chore when he works on it together with the Mercado twins. Contrary to what he assumed, Layla is less spartan compared to Araceli when it comes to working quietly. She mostly just shoots them an annoyed look.

Living just right next door, the twins visit the house more frequently, and just as promised, through the front door this time.

Though they consider each other as friends now, Rocco and Layla don’t always get along.

Layla’s indifference towards rules doesn’t always go well with Rocco’s obsession over following said rules. How can she have (almost) nothing hold her back? The thought of it is beyond him, and it’s frustrating sometimes.

Likewise, Layla sometimes gets annoyed at his rigid nature and his reluctance to make quick decisions. And yet despite these differences, the two become close friends.

Miranda gets to know her grandson’s new friends, especially Layla, whom she finds friendly and likable. She goes along with the child’s explanation as to why fish and chips is her favorite in the world.

Layla has always wanted to be an astronaut, like her grandmother. With Rocco’s handy costume chest, she reenacts the stories she loved from her childhood as best as she can.

Rocco breaks her immersion by pretending to be dinosaur in space.

In the end, Layla gives up on trying to reenact her story when her twin reveals himself dressed as a prince. She figures she’ll just create a new one to accommodate a lost astronaut, a green dinosaur, and a cowardly prince.

Rocco stares at the glitter coming out from the staff. “I don’t remember having that in my costume chest.”

“Oh he brought his own costume,” Layla shrugs. “He used to wear that ALL the time at our old school. The teacher got tired of telling him to stop so she just straight up told everyone that he’s gonna be the male lead in our play.”

“I bet he was great in it.” Rocco gives an applause to Sam, who continues shaking glitter all over the place.

(Author’s note: More kids! Rocco needs new friends, now that his main group is starting to outgrow him. )