- Ellen gets home in time to run—in silence—with Link.
- Their parents are at the school having the meeting about Link; he wonders what's taking so long.
- Ellen's pretty sure her parents are gearing up to a huge fight about who is to blame for Link's defiant actions.
- Their parents get home. It's family meeting time.
- The school will let Link take his exams again as long as he goes into therapy. He's… not a fan of this plan. He wants the school to just leave the grades as they stand, which would give him B-'s across the board.
- His dad is preoccupied about colleges accepting him with the "bad" grades, but his mom insists that's not what they should be focusing on.
- It's clear his parents aren't on the same page about the whole fiasco. His mom wants Link to talk about why he did it—she can see that there are underlying problems that led to this crisis—while his dad is quick to jump on easy explanations, like performance anxiety.
- Whoa. It turns out his dad is giving Link a raised, untaxed allowance as a not-so-subtle bribe to have a girlfriend—dude's been secretly paying him to date Polly.
- Mom is shocked and appalled. And very disappointed.
- Mom tries to diffuse the situation. She is trying to be supportive of whatever Link needs, but continues to insist on therapy so that he can talk to somebody about whatever he's going through.
- The truth about Link's switch from math to piano is revealed. Dad is angry (what's new?), and Mom is incredulous but supportive.
- Link abruptly decides the family meeting is over; he and Ellen are going out to buy a Christmas tree.