Part 2- Confrontation

"Hello Phil." Jake murmured, clenching his fists. "You remember Brian and Robert?" He gestured to two heavily built bullies who were standing behind him. Brian grunted.

"Hi." Phil waved nervously. After Myron had stopped being a bully, these two had taken over. They were much worse.

"So Diffy," Jake began, his eyes narrowing, "What have you been doing with my girlfriend?"

Phil took a step back.

"Nothing."

"Yeah, really?" Jake was skeptical. "So most friends kiss each other."

Phil's mouth went dry.

"It was an accident Jake, I didn't mean for it to happen."

"Stay away from Keely." Jake warned him.

"You don't deserve her." Phil muttered under his breath as he turned to continue down the hall. Jake heard this and grew much more angry. He grabbed the back of Phil's shirt and pulled Phil towards him, before half throwing him into a locker.

Ouch… Phil knew he'd have at least one bruise after that. Phil pulled himself from the locker and winced.

"Stay away from Keely!" Jake yelled, and a few of the students that were still in the corridor turned to stare.

"Fine." Phil grunted, and put his bag back on.

"Oh, and Diffy?" Jake added, with a slightly manic grin. "It's not over. If you lay a finger on Keely, I'll do something much worse than throwing you into a locker."

Phil didn't doubt him for one minute.

Jake nodded to Phil, and walked out the door of the school.

Phil sighed and walked to his locker. He had missed half on English, and there was no way that Mr. Ross was going to let him come in late.

Phil considered the consequences if he was found out side his designated classroom after the bell.

Detention…he thought to himself, and pulled his shrink-ray-like gadget out of his pocket. Last time he had used this, he had helped Keely gain enough confidence to sing in front of a crowd while he was hanging on to her microphone, supporting her the whole time. This time he was using it for his own purposes. Keely and Tia had laughed when they had noticed the miniature dollhouse in his locker, but now it would finally come in handy.

Beep.

Phil began to shrink to the size of a mouse, and hung on to his locker. When he stopped shrinking he stepped into his locker, smiling at his handy work. He had a pool, a couch, a mini working barbecue, and a mini closet all to himself. As he sat down, he sighed. He was planning to apologize to Keely, but how was he going to, now that Jake would be watching him?

I could after school…he began before remembering he was grounded. Phil rolled his eyes and kicked the side of the locker in frustration. The 21st century kept getting more difficult and frustrating.

Well, at least April isn't mad at me, he comforted himself with a sad smile.

As the bell went for lunch, Phil emerged from his locker. Making sure no one else was around, Phil returned to his normal size. At least he would be able to apologize to Tia, if he couldn't apologize to Keely.

"Tia, can I speak with you for a bit?" Phil asked, as he noticed her coming out of the Science Lab.

"Sure Phil." Tia paused. "By the way, I think Keely was wondering where you were for English. She wanted to talk to you. If we wait just a minute, she'll be here."

Phil's eyes widened in alarm.

"Uh, no, let's go somewhere else." He said quickly, pulling her further down the corridor. When they had moved down several more corridors, Phil relaxed his tight grip on Tia's wrist.

"Geez, Phil, are you trying to kidnap me?" She said, grumbling and rubbing her slightly sore wrist.

"I'm sorry." Phil apologized. "And not just for the wrist. I'm sorry for wrecking your DVD party." Phil looked at her sheepishly.

Tia looked at Phil and noticed the difference in his face.

"Phil, this thing has really messed you up, hasn't it?" She looked up at him, and seeing the look on his face again made her feel even worse. He seemed emptier than she had ever seen him before.

"No, I'm fine." Phil lied, attempting a full-heartedly smile, but coming quite short, and looking like someone who just got a horrible present and was trying to pretend they loved it. Tia tapped her foot on the ground and narrowed her eyes skeptically.

"Okay, no. I'm not fine." Phil muttered. "All I want to do is say sorry to Keely for what I did and sort some things out, but now I can't because stupid Jake won't let me near enough to her to apologize! I am grounded for a month, and after school is the only possible time I could have talked to her, but now I can't leave the house! I betrayed my girlfriend, and wrecked your party. I feel like a jerk and an idiot. Not to mention, I had only 5 hours sleep last night, I missed English, and I have a really painful bruise on my back, thanks to Keely's stupid boyfriend!" Phil grumbled with his voice rising at the end of each sentence.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I think you made my party much more interesting." Tia smiled, and patted him on the back.

"Thanks." Phil smiled back.

"Let's just sit here for the rest of lunch." Tia suggested, pulling out her lunchbox. "I'm kind of sick of all that noise, and it might be good to have a break once in a while."

"That sounds good." Phil murmured. "Want a soda?"

"Sure."

Phil now saw the side of Tia he didn't know existed. The nice, non-shallow side. He wished he could see this side of her more often from now on.

"Mom I'm home." Phil called out, to make sure his mother would know he had returned and wasn't breaking the rules and going anywhere.

"Great. Honey can you help me with the dishes? Then you're free to do your homework in your room."

Phil groaned.

"Great…" he mouthed sarcastically.

"What's got in to you the past couple of days?" Barbara asked him with a look of concern. "You've been moody and misbehaved." She paused. "Is everything alright?"

Phil was tired of lying about it.

"No, nothing's alright." He sighed as he put on some large pink rubber gloves. "Where's the detergent?" He asked, wanting to get this job done as quickly as possible and avoid answering questions. "Is it under the sink?"

He looked up to see that Mrs. Diffy was already holding the detergent. He knew where this was going.

"And if I don't tell you what's up, I don't get the detergent, do I?" He asked in a drawl.

"No, I'll give you the detergent, but I want you to know, that if you need anyone to talk to, I'll always lend you an ear." Mrs. Diffy laughed. "Hey, I can literally lend you an ear!" She said chuckling to herself, as she took a robotic ear out of a cardboard box lying on the table.

Phil pulled a confused face before running the hot water tap. Then it hit him.

"Wait a minute, we have a dishwasher."

"I knew there was a reason why you get straight A's and Pim gets Cs." Barbara smiled. "Pim didn't realize and washed the whole of the dishes by hand once."

Phil chuckled.

"I haven't heard that sound from you in a while." Barbara said.

"Oh, No, I laughed yesterday." Phil said, nodding. Then he remembered it was because he was with Keely.

"Mom?" Phil asked. He knew he was going to end up asking for her advice, so he might as well now.

"Yes?" Mrs. Diffy replied.

"What do you do when you find something out about a friend which could jeopardize a friendship?"

"What did you find out about Keely?" Barbara asked.

Phil's mouth dropped open.

"How, how did, how did you know it was Keely I was asking about?" Phil asked in astonishment.

"I just knew." Barbara winked. "You haven't been talking about her for quite a while, and you've been very quiet since a few weeks ago when she came over to study with you. Although when I mean quiet, I am overlooking the fact that you kept the family up for hours last night with your incessant loud drumming."

"I am sorry about that."

"I'm sure there's a reason behind it. But if you'd just tell me what's wrong, maybe I can help."

"Not unless you can turn back time, and we don't really have a working time machine at the moment." He sighed.

"Well honey, at least tell me what's bothering you so I can at least understand what you're going through."

"Okay."

Phil gave in.

"Keely and I were doing a project for English together. Then we used the DNA projector, so we could find out our relatives without even needing to research."

"Which we forbade you from doing, because you're not supposed to use gadgets from the future to cheat on your assignments. Ever since the Unification incident…" She began.

"Yeah, I know I shouldn't have used it, but Keely needed the help and it was so easy. Anyway, we hit a major hiccup."

"What hiccup?" Mrs. Diffy asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer, seeing as Phil seemed worried about telling her, especially when he said the word 'hiccup.'

Phil hesitated. He didn't want to tell her, because he could be in a lot of trouble.

"We're related."

"Of course we're related, you're my little cupcake."

Phil pulled an agonized face when she said this, but continued, ignoring that last comment.

"No, Keely." He said, as clear as possible. "Keely is my great-great-great grandmother." He felt much better after he said it to her, but then all the memories of Keely flashed back and he felt sick again.

"Aww…that's wonderful, you two are related!" Mrs. Diffy smiled. Phil gave her a look that clearly indicated he felt differently about the situation.

"What's bad about it?" Mrs. Diffy asked, completely confused.

"You…can't…" Phil began, feeling worse than ever about the situation.

"Honey, it's okay, go on…" Mrs. Diffy tried to get Phil to keep talking and not trail off.

"You can't be in love with someone who is related to you!" He blurted out angrily. Mrs. Diffy looked at him in shock. She had suspected he had liked her a bit more than friends a couple of times, but had always shrugged the idea off. Apparently her suspicions were correct, but it didn't make her feel any better, seeing as Phil now could never have a future with Keely.

Phil bit his lip in annoyance. He should be feeling good getting this off his chest, but it seemed the more he told his mother, the angrier he felt towards himself.

"Oh, sweetie…" She said, hugging him. "First love always breaks your heart. Don't worry, at least you two weren't a couple before you found out."

"I guess." Phil mumbled. "Keely wasn't in to me, so I don't think we would have ended becoming a couple anyway I guess."

"I'm sure you'll be fine. And if that's all that's wrong in your life, I'm sure soon you'll get over it."

Phil gave her a sad look. Barbara sighed.

"That's not all, is it?" She asked.

"No, unfortunately." Phil cringed. "Last night, I…kissed her."

Barbara closed her eyes, trying to be nice about this.

"Phil, Phil, Phil." She began. "Why?"

"It was an accident mom! I forgot…we were having such a good time last night and I just got caught up in emotion and stuff like that."

"It seems like a rare lack of judgment for you."

Phil nodded.

"Jake wants to beat me up now, and I think he has a right to." Phil added.

"And who is Jake?" Barbara asked, although she had a pretty good idea already.

"Keely's new boyfriend." Phil grumbled. "I don't like him very much, and right now, he hates me. At least April forgave me and Tia and Seth are still talking to me."

"April? Is she a new friend?"

"No, she was my girlfriend. Emphasis on the 'was' part." Phil sighed. "She and I broke up when I kissed Keely."

"Phil, I can't believe you." Barbara said in an angry tone. "Think about how many people you've hurt."

"Trust me mom, I know. It's eating me inside. That's why I was playing the drums all last night. I was punishing myself."

Barbara sighed. This whole situation with Keely was muddling with her son's brain.

"You know what you need?" She asked him.

"A tear in the time-space continuum?"

"No," She laughed. " Genuine, 21st Century PIZZA!"

Phil grinned. How he loved pizza.

Phil sat on the couch, happily munching pizza while he watched his father and sister fight over the remote control.

"So, what are we watching?" Barbara asked him.

"Wrestling." He said, pointing to the other two family members.

Phil started to play around with his gadgets to amuse himself before the family would eventually decide what to watch. He shrunk and became big again so quickly he was starting to feel dizzy. Next, he turned the grandfather clock into a dog and tried to teach it how to sit, but all it kept doing was barking steadily every second. Growing tired of playing with the grandfather clock dog, he turned it back and picked up the dreaded DNA projector. How he hated this thing now. But, seeing as Lloyd and Pim were still 'wrestling', he decided there was no more harm he could do by using it. Phil pressed a few buttons and scanned himself, laughing at the tickling sensation he could feel throughout his body. As he was looking at all the names, he pondered where he got all his genetic traits. The Diffy's were notorious for brown hair and dark eyes…

But then how did Pim come into all of this, seeing as she's blonde? Phil thought to himself. He then thought of it. Keely had blonde hair. Then another thought hit him while he was thinking about Keely.

I wonder who she married?

Phil was curious enough to wonder if she would actually end up marrying 'Jakie'. Phil pressed a few buttons and started searching for his great-great-great grandparents. Edward and Angelina Diffy popped up. Not the ones he was looking for.

Phil kept trying for an hour. Then finally he got a brainwave. Search for Keely's name. He did. Keely Tesslow. Died 2089, Pickford CA. Phil tried to find more information, but he couldn't. Lloyd, who had finally given in to Pim, looked over Phil's shoulder.

"So son, what are you doing?"

"Trying to find out who Keely ends up marrying."

"Phil, that's unfair to meddle with time travel and the past. Just leave it be."

"But…I can't find out who my great-great-grandfather who married Keely is."

Lloyd looked at Phil, confused.

"What are you talking about? Keely isn't your great-great-great-grandmother."

Phil rolled his eyes.

"Yes she is." He explained. "When we both used the DNA projector, we found out she was."

Lloyd still looked confused. Suddenly Lloyd's face turned to a smirk.

"Phil," He began, "You know you're not supposed to use the DNA projector more than once every hour."

"What do you mean?" Phil asked. Now he was the one who was confused.

"It's an old model," Mr. Diffy explained. "It gets scrambled and muddled up if you use it too much. You used it directly after Keely did, didn't you?"

As Phil realized this, he punched his fist in the air.

"YAHOO!" He yelled, full of enthusiasm.

It turned out they weren't related after all…

Wait till I tell Keely this!

To Be Continued...

Sorry for the long time between updates. :) Well, you'll be happy to know that it took me ages to write this chapter, and I almost gave up, before thinking: What if I let the people who are hanging on for another chapter down?

So, I got to it, and here you go.

Please review! I love reviews, and they make me happy.

I'll post soon (and that's a promise), but in the meantime, read the POTF story by meezardra. It's really in character, and I enjoy it a lot.

Look forward to reading those reviews!

Cya!