Tarkin stared at Tech — no, Theodore. A trickle of blood trailed down Tech's mom's finger. Tarkin's dad put a protective arm around him. Tech's mom let go of Tech's jaw with a yelp. Tech opened his mouth; "Mom, I... that... um... Mom..."

Mom glared at Tech. "Car. NOW." She was seething. Tech didn't go. "I'm sorry-"

"THEODORE! CAR! NOW!"

That sent Tech scrambling out of the room. Tarkin stared in shock at them. Mom turned to look at them. "Sorry about that. So what happened?"

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Omega sat in her room, playing with some toy cars. Then she decided she was thirsty and went downstairs to get some water. As she was drinking the phone rang.

She picked it up. "Hello?"

 "Hi Omega." It was Mom's boyfriend, Rampart. Omega liked him enough. He wasn't her father but he was nice and treated Mom well. Hunter liked him too. He didn't treat him like a dad, but he was still friendly. Tech was downright hostile. On the phone Rampart spoke: "Hey kid, is Nala home?" Nala Sé was Omega's mom. "No, she's not home right now, she was called to the high school."

Just then the door opened and Tech stormed inside. Mom was right behind him. They were yelling about something. Omega caught the words: "Phee" and "Tarkin", "hockey", "breakup". Tech sobbed a bit and Mom put a bandaid on her finger. "Tech, honey... it's gonna be okay. I still can't believe you punched him, though I guess it was for a good cause." Mom hugged Tech. "I think you should talk to Phee."

"What?! No! I can't! She'll-"   A knock on the door cut off Tech's words. He turned and his face paled. "It's Phee! Sh-"

"Tech!"

"Sorry Mom." He scratched the back of his head. "It's just..." Tech swallowed. Mom opened the door and let Phee inside. "Hi brown eyes." She gave Tech a hug. Tech stumbled backwards and almost fainted [again]. "Phee... urm... hi?" He patted her back awkwardly. She cried into his shoulder. "You punched him!"

Tech looked guilty. "Sorry,"

Phee punched him in the gut. "Don't apologize! Didn't you hear? He got suspended for the rest of this week and next week too! What did you get?"

"To come home early and got suspended 3 days." Tech looked into Phee's eyes. He saw no anger, no hate, just gratitude. "So um... Tarkin and you..."

"He was..." Phee looked at Omega. Omega looked back innocently. Phee looked back at Tech. "He was harassing me."

Tech's face contorted into anger. "Is he still alive? Good. Now I can go kill him." Tech tied to march out the door but was held back by Mom and Phee. On the phone Rampart coughed. "Hello?" Mom jumped up and grabbed the phone. "Rampart?! How long have you been on the phone?" She glared at Tech, daring him to say something. Tech looked back 'innocently'.

"Listen Nala, I can call back..."

"No, no it's fine. Me and Tech talked it out." She looked back at Tech and saw him kissing Phee. He saw her and jumped back. He looked guilty. Mom shooed him away to hang out with Phee in his room. She talked to Rampart about what happened. "Well, there is a solution..."

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In Tech's room, he and Phee were on the bed, muttering about who knows what, and Hunter was in there too, playing with (and breaking) Tech's Newton's Cradle. "Are the balls supposed to be cracking like that?" He pointed to some cracks on the balls of the Newton's Cradle.

"Hunter, stop breaking my balls." Tech glared at him.

Phee snorted.

Hunter glared right back at them. "Your balls are fine, Tech. Right Phee?"

Phee couldn't hold back the laughter. Hunter looked confused. "What? These cracks were already there!" Phee laughed into Tech's shoulder. Tech was looking very bewildered. "What's so funny?"

Phee shook her head. "Don't worry about it." She looked at the clock. "Oh-no! I'm supposed to be home! My...dad... wants me to be there when the baby comes home-"

Tech stared at her. "You're expecting?!"

"Not me! My dad-"

"Your dad is pregnant?"

"Tech. No. My dad wants me to be there when my new baby sister comes home... I gotta go!"

She ran out of the house, to her way home. Tech watched her go out the window. "*sigh*"

"Uh... hey Tech?"

"Yeah?"

"Your balls just exploded."

Tech looks at the now exploded Newton's Cradle. "Hunter. Stop breaking my balls."