Challenge Home Page | > Oasis Springs Recap
Poor Jaz accidentally goes in the wrong bathroom on the first day of school. And Thus starts the bullying from Billie Jang and her group of bullies. We get to know some about Myles and his relationship with Marnie - she spends most of her afternoons helping Myles with schoolwork when she's not trying to keep the store and home clean. Bennie, on the other hand, ignore the kids unless he's yelling at them. Phoenix spends a lot of time on the keyboard in the living room, which only annoys Bennie more. Benji cries in the bathroom over saying something dumb to his crush, Shaylee, while at school that day.
Vlad shows up on day two, and doesn't want to leave. (I end up cheating to get rid of him a day or more later) Jaz tries to stay home from school, only to have her father drag her to school in his PJ's, embarrassing her further in front of her peers. Jay (Benji's best friend) comes over and they spend some time playing video games. After school, Bennie forces Jaz to finish the beginning of her aspiration by listening to him read to her for hours, and then he makes her do her homework.
Bennie finally decides to open the store, but makes very little money from it, and he gets more and more frustrated, until finally just closing the store. Jaz comes home from school waddling, and doesn't make it to the bathroom. It comes out that she's afraid to use the bathroom with anyone else around after the horror of the first day of school. As punishment for making a mess, she is forced to get Benji back from the teen hang-out in her filthy clothes. Benji takes pity on Jaz and tells her about the wonderful thing called Hall Passes. (But doesn't bother to warn her about not using them in the same class every day..)
Marnie spends the next day cleaning house, while Bennie spends the day yelling at the twins. Myles starts serious work on his scouts badges. Bennie actually goes to his entertainer career job.
Marnie takes all of the kids to the park in Oasis Springs. Phoenix calls his club to order, and Myles works on his badges. Jaz meets Colin, and, during a chess game, he makes fun of her, only to have her actually stand up for herself. Colin is intrigued, and apologizes. Phoenix tries to take over the club, only succeeding in making Elsa angry with him. Jaz and Myles get in a fight over Marnie's favoritism.
The next day, Bennie is nice to everyone - and we find out the only reason he is is because he's sick. Jaz works on her aspiration, Benji and Jay go out to a bar, with the end result of Benji getting drunk and blurting out about his crush to his best friend. The night ends with Bennie dragging his inebriated son home and grounding him.
The week ends with an angry Bennie taking out being woken up early by a twin on everyone in sight. Bennie is still sick, and calls off work. When he tries to go to bed, however, he nearly gets crushed by the Murphy bed.
Bennie discovers he's short on bills for the week. Hoping it'll help, he opens the store for the day. We finally meet the villain to Jaz's school life: Billie Jang. She gets into a fight in the store, and Bennie disciplines her. We also discover that Jay has let Benji's secret crush out of the bag - it's not exactly secret anymore. Marnie gets struck by lightning, Bennie gets mad at the mice. Both Jaz and Phoenix have nightmares.
Bennie is able to pay bills, but had forgotten until the lights were actually turned off, getting him in trouble with Marnie. He manages to talk his way out of it, claiming it was just a slip of the mind. Marnie remains oblivious to the financial crisis. Bennie, hoping to get enough to pay for next week's bills, starts opening the store more often. Marnie goes on a fixing spree.
The kids are noticing a lack of food in the house, and get stuck with cereal with water instead of milk. Jaz meets up with Colin in the store, and he, to her surprise, seems to actually be friendly towards her. Benji finally is ungrounded courtesy of Marnie, so he goes to meet up with Cade in the countryside of Windenburg, far away from prying eyes. Cade explodes at him for having "eyes" on his girlfriend, and they get into a big fight... which Benji wins. Cade is kicked out of the Klepto club. The mice are still a problem, and still annoying.
Benji finds out he's about to fail out of high school, when he's so close to actually graduating. Colin calls Jaz, and confesses his rotten home life. Apparently, he's struggling with his parents getting a divorce. Benji gets in trouble due to his grades, and Bennie gets a promotion.
Elsa shows up the next day, and offers Jazmyn a position in the club, stating that Phoenix has even approved her joining League of Adventurers. Jaz is flattered, and accepts. She learns that the next club meeting is at Oasis Springs park on Saturday (the next day).
Jaz visits Colin at his house, and even Jaz notices the tension at home. She gets a hot shower for once, however, and then they head to the park. Jaz meets everyone else in the club, and Miki seems the most friendly (other than Colin, of course). They have a great day, and end the night by all playing a round of basketball.
Jaz spends most of the next day working on her aspiration, and Marnie helps Myles with his reading task. Benji inducts Londyn (a new teen in his class) into the Klepto club, and they have a club meeting at the Teen Hangout. Jay tries to face the music about having told everyone Benji's secret, only to push the blame off to his girlfriend. Benji confronts Shaylee, his crush, and they actually start flirting (despite her assurances to her friends that she didn't like Benji in "that way". By the end of the night, Shaylee is Benji's girlfriend.
Mice in the home are still posing a major problem, waking people up in the middle of the night, and generally being pests. Bennie, again, cannot pay the bills... and goes dumpster diving in the hopes of getting extra funds. Ultimately, he is finally able to pay the bills - this time before the power gets shut off.
In the middle of the week, Jazmyn is sent home early from school, having been given an ultimatum from the school: either she gets checked to find out what is physically wrong with her that she keeps using hall passes to go to the bathroom, or she faces a suspension. Marnie, furious, takes it out on Jaz, accusing her of skipping class. Jaz tries to insist she's not skipping on purpose, but her parents simply aren't listening. The matter of money finally comes up, and Marnie is forced to try to find a way to pay for the impending doctor visit. Benji, when he finds out about the suspension, laughs at Jaz for not knowing any better about always using a hall pass in the same class, at the same time - when he's clearly at fault for never warning her. Elsa stops by to check on Jaz, and ends up consoling her new friend that things will work out in the end.
Marnie gets a major electrical shock while trying to fix the TV. Winter finally starts to set in, and everyone is cold. Jaz continues working on her aspiration.
Jaz comes home the next day as a straight - A student, proving that the "skipping class" was truly not affecting her grades. Benji, on the other hand, comes home with a failing grade, and finally realizes it's way past time he tried to actually get them up so he can really graduate. Food is low, again, or Marnie just isn't filling the fridge well enough. We find her playing chess with Myles instead.
Jaz and Phoenix have another club meeting at the park. All is well, and everyone is getting along - until a storm rolls in and causes Jaz to hurry everyone under cover in the main park building. Benji takes Shaylee on a date to the Romance Festival.
Max Villareal and Phoenix become best of friends, helping Phoenix's aspiration. Bennie yells at Marnie for not cleaning the house enough. Benji shows up with a school project that he couldn't possibly have afforded, and spends most the night working on it, hoping to get some extra credit. Colin and Jaz play chess in the evening, with Colin being depressed about his family issues (divorce), and Elsa stopping by to say "hi". Bennie, like his eldest son, shows up with a guitar he shouldn't actually own, and starts working towards a promotion.
Bennie, again out of money on bills day, tries dumpster diving again. He does manage to pay them before it's time for work, but he is starting to realize he can't continue riding the "bubble" like this. Something is going to have to change. Marnie gets some unwanted gifts of frogs from Myles, and horrifies him when she simply gets rid of them. Jaz finishes her Mental aspiration. Bennie comes home with a promotion, and actually is in the Comedian branch now. Max and Phoenix plan trouble at school, and solidify their friendship even further. We find out that the next day is Jazmyn's appointment at Willow Creek Hospital.
The day of the doctor appointment dawns with Jaz being terrified, and Marnie being angry about having her routine messed up. Bennie is furious that he is left in charge of the twins by himself. On the way to the hospital, Marnie meets Bella Goth, and Myles and Marnie are invited to join a "geek" club at the library. Afraid and not knowing what to expect with a doctor appointment, Jaz is called back to meet Dr. Lee Winn, a resident at the hospital. She has worked herself up into a fever After being examined, it becomes clear the doctor is NOT listening to what Jaz is saying, and he ends up giving her a tranquillizer (which was completely un-necessary), and going out to talk to Marnie. He confirms that there is nothing physically wrong with Jaz at all, and refers her to a therapist to find out what's "wrong with her head", much to Marnie's dismay. Once they are back home, Myles finds out about his new club happily, and welcomes Marnie home. Jaz, however, is miserable until Colin normalizes therapy by saying he goes to therapy to help him deal with his parent's divorce.
The next day, Bennie goes to get groceries in the morning, and doesn't return until after everyone is already asleep without a word of explanation. Marnie confronts Bennie the next day, but he refuses to explain. Harvest fest wreaks havoc on the family as the gnomes break everything in sight.
Later, Marnie and Myles head for the Willow Creek Library, and he gets to meet his new friends. This gives him his first opening into stopping being a "mama's boy" .. and he seems to welcome the chance. Marnie, however, disappears during the club meeting, and we discover she seems to have a secret computer that she is practicing writing on! Marnie, afraid of being caught, heads back to the library to collect Myles, and runs into Nancy Landgraab. They meet, say hello, and Marnie goes to get Myles and heads home. Both Marnie and Myles had a great day, but for different reasons.
Bennie calls everyone in to a family meeting the next afternoon, and shocks everyone by announcing he has bought a cheap house at auction. Reactions vary, but the vibe is definitely positive. Marnie then apologizes for being mad at him, which Bennie eats up. We also see the first real repercussions of Benji's Klepto trait, as he starts scoping out his father's store as a larceny target. The mice have also gotten on Marnie and Bennie's last nerves.
The next day, Jaz heads to her saturday park club meeting, and Benji is in charge of the rest of the kids while Bennie and Marnie go to take a look at the property Bennie bought sight-unseen. Shockingly, the new house is in worse shape than their current apartment. Under closer inspection, however, Marnie and Bennie discover that there's a decent house under the disaster, and they plan to return with the kids tomorrow to clean it up. At the club meeting, however, Billie and her crew of bullies show up at the park, causing problems for the entire club. It offers a chance for Jaz and Colin to catch up, though. We see that they have finally become BFFs.
That night, Benji graduates. Somehow, he brought his grades up. We also hear talk of Malcolm Landgraab's father having died, leaving Nancy alone with the baby and Malcolm. By the end of the night, Shaylee has agreed to move in / out with Benji, and, unfortunately. the rest of the club invites themselves, putting a huge monkey wrench into the works.
We start the week out with the whole family (except for the twins and Benji, who are left behind for safety reasons) cleaning up their new home. Strangely, the whole family is getting along, and even Bennie is putting 100% effort into the cleanup. Bennie also arranges for pest control and junk cleanup for the yard for the next day. Back in Magnolia Promenade, Benji and the twins have a great time in the snow, and Benji discovers Shaylee's love of kids when she comes over to visit. He also shows her the result of his first major heist - the disappearance of a valuable armor suit from the store. (A disappearance nobody else seems to notice.) Benji also discovers that his cooking is not to be desired... but at least, he seems to be good at babysitting.
After a day of waiting for the house to finally be ready, the store is officially sold, the house purchase is finalized, and the Malone family moves into their new "digs". We see the final "move-in" screenshots of the house, including some purchases the family has made (bathtubs, showers, couch, etc.)
... The week will continue in next month's summary.
Challenge Home Page | > Oasis Springs Recap
