Aaron was so done with school, and it had barely started. Every bus ride was boring, except for the fact that he sat with his new friend Kaylee. Yes, friend! His entire family was surprised at his accomplishment.

As soon as he got off the bus he ran inside, Alex following behind him. It was Friday night, so he really didn't plan on doing anything that exciting. He grabbed a bag of chips from the kitchen and started up the stairs to his room.

"Aaron?" his twin brother said from behind him. Aaron stopped and slowly turned around.

"What?"

"I get that Mom's not home yet, but you know we can't bring food into our room."

Aaron stared, flabbergasted. "You bring up food all the time!"

"I bring up soda and water, not things that attract bugs," Alex said with an eye roll. He followed him up the stairs. "Anyways I see you're hanging out with Kaylee a lot."

"She's my friend," Aaron mumbled. "And Isn't that what friends do?"

Alex nodded and grinned. "Yeah it is. I never see you with friends though, and I want you to make as many as you can since this is a fresh start."

"A fresh start?" Aaron tilted his head.

"Yeah. High school is a fresh start for anyone. Once you get out of middle school, you can be whoever you want to be," said Alex, walking past his brother up into his room.

He nodded, blinking. "Yes...I guess so..."

He situated himself in his room, going straight to his computer and starting on his homework. Suddenly he received a text. He glanced down at his phone, confused who it was. He read over the test, shaking his head.

"Hey it's Kaylee from school! Turns out I grabbed your English notebook by accident. Is it cool if I drop it off at your house? Idk what your address is, so text me it if your cool with me coming over!"

Aaron blinked. He'd completely forgotten about his important English notes that he'd need for his assignment. He completely forgot he gave Kaylee his number but was grateful he had. He texted her his address, and she arrived ten minutes later.

The doorbell rang. Aaron grunted and walked downstairs but saw that Alex had already opened the door and was talking to Kaylee.

"Hey, Kaylee," Aaron muttered, trying to smile. He needed to work on those.

"Hi Aaron!" Kaylee said, smiling. He liked how she'd put her hair up in a ponytail, and he liked the anchor necklace she was wearing, although he didn't know why. "I'm sorry, I would've given your folder to you on the bus if I knew."

"That's okay," Aaron said, noticing Alex was watching him closely. "I might've-er-for-yeah-forgotten too."

Alex, who was still standing there, rolled his eyes and muttered, "Dork."

He felt his face burning and tried not to blush. Kaylee hadn't seemed to mind. "Oh, here's your folder by the way."

She took the folder out of her left hand and handed it to him. Their hands brushed, shooting electricity and warmth all throughout Aaron's body. He nearly jumped and wanted to grab her hand to feel the electricity.

"Thanks," he said quietly, staring hard at her suddenly beautiful hand.

She waved and backed off the steps into the path that led to his driveway. "Okay, well, I'll see you Monday!"

"Right," Aaron said, watching her climb on her bike and pedal out of view.

Alex starting laughing loudly. Aaron jumped and glared at his brother. He forgot he was there.

"You like her," Alex said, grinning from ear to ear.

"I do not," Aaron replied, crossing his arms and scrunching his nose. "I've only known her for a week."

"Sure, but you still think she's cute."

"S-shut up Alex," he snapped, shooting daggers at him. He stomped all the way up the stairs, making a huge scene of going to his room. "I'm going to my room."

"Okay," Alex said, looking amused. "But you still like her!"

Aaron didn't answer and slammed his door. He ran a hand through his short hair and sat down on his small bed, looking at his shaking hands. What did this mean? He liked her? His heart was pounding, every movement felt uneasy, and he thought a lot about his words before he said them. But did that mean he liked her? While Alex had liked many girls, he'd never liked a girl romantically before. Or a guy, for that matter. Then again, he'd never had real friends before, so maybe this was a friendly feeling that friends feel. But why did Kaylee make his words hard to say...and he had trouble meeting her eyes? Why did the touch of her hand simply sent him into an electric shock?

He sighed heavily and collapsed on his bed, quietly thinking all of these things. "C'mon. Get a grip, Stowe."

The next morning, Saturday, was a relief for Meghan. She was having a quiet morning. She woke up early, sat on her bed and did the small amount of homework she had. By ten o'clock, she was finished and stressed out. But hey, at least she finished her homework!

Stretching, she climbed off her bed and went downstairs. In the kitchen, her mom made breakfast while her dad read a book on the coach. She felt a twinge of sadness. Her parents cared for her, but ever since Sean left for college they had always been distant and sad. Their favorite child was obviously Sean, not Meghan, and that hurt her.

"Thanks for the pancakes, Mom," Meghan said gratefully, taking a plate of three delicious-looking blueberry pancakes.

"Sure," her mom replied. "It's been a while since I made you breakfast. Any plans for today?"

Meghan shrugged. "I don't know. The mall was fun last night, and I finished my homework, so maybe I'll spend a day relaxing."

She plopped down on the coach with her plate and switched on the TV. Random morning cartoons, here I come, she thought to herself.

However after ten minutes of watching, her phone buzzed almost ten times. She sighed, picking up her phone and glancing at her text. A dozen new text messages from Samheed. She opened her phone and read through them.

"Meghan" the first one said, followed by "MEGHAN", after that a "HELP", and a "COME QUICK", next a "I NEED YOU IMMEDIATELY." Blinking, Meghan texted him back and hopped off her coach. Her relaxing Saturday morning would have to be saved for later.

Within a minute, Meghan walked across the street and straight up to his front door. Without knocking she walked straight in and shut the door behind her. "Sam?"

Samheed rushed down the stairs, his face one of nervousness. "I don't know how it happened! I went to go check outside because my dog started barking, and I went to quiet him down. When I was walking outside I saw the garage was opened and it was missing. Oh, god! My parents will KILL me!"

"Whoa whoa whoa..." Meghan said, processing what was going on. "What's missing?"

"My dad's 3-D printer for guns!"

Her eyes widened. "He has one of those? Are you sure it's not in there?

He was frantic, pacing back and forth and hands constantly tugging at his hair. "Yeah. And yeah, I'm sure."

Meghan swallowed, looking at him directly and placing a hand on his shoulder. She tried not to feel the panic he was feeling. Someone had stolen a 3-D printer for guns...and could easily make a thousand, maybe spread terrorism and shootings across every town. "It's alright, we'll get it back."

He stopped pacing. "I don't know where to start. My dad is well, in the army and won't be back for a few months. My mom is on a trip with her friends for the next week."

"You said it was in the garage? Why don't we look for clues?"

"Why don't we?" Samheed said, in a slightly snappy tone. He rushed over to the garage and opened the door.

She followed him, channeling her inner detective. The garage was a clutter of...things. Boxes, military supplies, knives, gadgets, and papers lay strewn on the floor and pushed into big piles. She sighed. "This is a mess."

He shot her a look. "This is my dad's, and he might be unorganized but he's a military genius."

"Sure."

Samheed went over to one side of the garage, throwing papers over his shoulder as he sorted through the clutter. Meghan searched another pile, looking at every inscription of writing. A lot of it was hard to read; some of it was in another language. They'd been searching everything they saw for a good two hours.

Finally, Samheed shouted, "I think I found something!"

Meghan rushed over to him. He was holding a letter written about the location and business of a 3-D printer. The letter was crumbled up and obviously was meant to be in the trash. On the back side of the letter, the name was scribbled out but the address of the writer wasn't.

They shared a grin, and Meghan picked up a slip of paper she saw lying underneath his feet. On the paper was a small printed receipt from the local grocery store. Listed on the receipt were the items that were bought, the date, and the cashier. The date was yesterday, so that meant the cashier who had seen the thief would have information.

She showed Samheed. He let out a whoop. His face was determined and excited. "Eh Meg, we're pretty good at this detective thing."

"Who said we weren't?" Meghan said with a light laugh. She was excited, maybe nervous, to catch this thief. But they couldn't do it alone. If she could get Lani, Alex, and Sky together with them, her three other great friends, they would be totally unstoppable!