The teenage boy, completely oblivious to his mother's current dilemma, walked over and sat down to a plate of ribs and a side of cake.

There was a lot of food left over from Rose's and Julianne's antics.

Max: Thanks for the food, mom.

Julianne: No problem sweetie... Bon appetit.

She herself had a smaller side of ribs and a smallerpiece of cake.

And the teen happily  begun to take a bite, before continuing in his story...

Julianne: So, tell we what happened? I want to hear everything.

Max: Oh yeah...

And then he continued to elaborate on everything. The car, ..

Max: ... Luke had this really fancy car hed gotten from Mr. Timo.

Julianne: Oh, really....

Max: Yeah. It wasn't as fancy as your old car though.

The mother couldn't help but laugh. Ah... memories.

..., the playground, ...

Max: There was this place they called the playground. It was huuuuuuge! And deserted.

Julianne: Mmmm... hmmm...

Max: It was in.... ahhh..... I forget... anyway.....

..... the tests.....

Max: .... Oh! Ken checked out my super speed, and turns out, I got a new personal best. 570kmh!

Julianne:  Really? Thats incredible hon!

...... and then the fights...

Max: ... so Luke was throwing a ton of boulders at Ken, and I mean a lot, but Ken kept dodging them like....

He started trying to illustrate the fight with his hands and the sounds with his voice.

Max: .... whoosh, shhoooo, hah. But get this,  Luke was planning on that and was trying to get close to Ken,

Julianne: Hmmm really....

Max: Yeah! But it gets even better....

He continued with a smile that shook the mother.

Max: That whole thing... was Ken's plan all along.

Now at that point, even Julianne Hunter was a bit surprised.

Max: Ken used his ice breath to disappear from his sight and then hit him from behind. It was so cool.

The mother was stunned for a moment.

Julianne: I see. That was cool. (thinking: These kids he hangs out with... they're no joke.)

Max: I know right.

But the tales did not end there.

Max: Then Tiffany had me draw some weird flower to promise that I'd be a good teammate, but then....

He only glossed over it for a moment.

Max: I had to fight her right after, and maaaaan, she was...

For a moment, the humbling thought returned to him.

Max: ... she was way tougher than I thought she'd be.

Julianne: Really.

Max: Yeah...

For several seconds, as his mother noticed, her son seemed quite troubled. But that look on his face quickly disappeared.

Max: (cockily) But I still beat her.

And then the last part of the story.

Max: And so I super sped here cuz they'd need to go through some traffic jam to head home.

Julianne: Well, that was an interesting story, hon. (thinking: And now, he's learning life lessons as well.)

It was hard to fully admit it, but this situation she was living in, her son's risky life, in a sense, was growing him.

He was changing. And not in a bad way.

He'd just learned humility.

Max: And tomorrow, we're going there again. I can't wait.

In the mind of Julianne Hunter, what had just occured was almost a miracle to her.

Her son had only ever spoken excitedly about video games or skateboarding. And even then, his excitement had never reached this level.

And so.... what could she say? In a sense, she had to admit, she was glad she got to see this side of her son.

But there was another pressing matter she needed to resolve. One that would require that she went through a lot of pain.

She knew this. And in an odd sense, she knew this would cause her hair pulling agony. But, she knew, or rather something in her knew, that this would solve a lot of her problems.

So, as her son walked up stairs to get to bed, right after he'd said good night, she made a statement. One she knew she could have just kept quiet about, but, she knew she had to say.

Julianne: Wait hon!

Max: Hmm?

Julianne: Before you go to bed, we need to have a chat.

"We need to have a chat."

Max had heard those words before. It never ended well for him, at least from his perspective.

Max: Oh...

And so, with a tad bit of melancholy, the teenage boy returned to his mother.

Max: Yes, mom....

Julianne: Have a seat.

"Have a seat." Those words are always a follow up of that previous sentence.

Max's head suddenly started running laps. What had he done wrong this time?

Or worse, had she had a change of heart?

Irregardless, he sat down.

And the mother begun to speak. As the conversation went on, his mother said something that made his eyes open wide with shock.