Peter answered, "Yeah. I think you met him when he came back and visited for a while before going back to war when Ian was arrested." He shook his head. "And when Justin started getting stalked and threatened with jail." He rested on his elbows, which he placed onto the table. "Anyways, I think you'll like him. He's pretty cool."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Micah quickly wrote back, "I can't tell you. " Then, he looked towards to Ian when Ian responded. He asked, "So, she's a girlfriend?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Miley was also thrilled she made the cheerleading squad and could not wait to tell Peter.

"Just got back from Rotia" he replied with a polite grin, what was left of his leg twitched as he did and kicked the counter "Darn leg" he said, dead tone. He hadn't felt anything.

The sound of metal hitting the wood of the counter ringed through the room "Lost it from my knee down" Nate explained "Yeah interview" he said checking his watch "I have to eat something soon, but I can be back by five thirty" he continued "If that's good for you"

He had to hurry if he was going to make it to the dinner on time. He really hoped this man hadn't had any other plans for the time when he wanted to meet with him, he really needed the job.

---

Skylar found himself thrown out the door of a local pub, totally drunk and out of gambling money. At that point the owners of the low life bar decided he wasn't worth letting him stay in the bar and threw him out.

He had successfully freaked out the the other tenants with his horror war stories, enough to make them want to leave. That was the other reason he had gotten thrown out. He was chasing away the money.

How does a decorated war hero end up like this? Like so many other soldiers he suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD. He tried to hid his condition in a bottle.

Skylar stood up and attempted to walk away from the pub when he hurled and then collapsed. He had conked out, and by the looks of it he wasn't getting up for a long while.

One month ago...

A caravan drove along a deserted desert road. It consisted of three HUM-V's and a troop transport truck. They were going slow because they had sent a scout out a ahead to look for road side bombs. Skylar at twenty two years old was a Second Sergeant, second in command to his Sergeant.

His sergeant was a lifer named Jack, at thirty eight years old he was by far the oldest of all the soldiers in the squad so they called him Uncle Jack, or just plain Uncle.

Charlie was fifteen, he was the baby of the group. The entire squad treated him like a younger brother, picking on him constantly. Jimmy was nineteen, he claimed he could shoot a quarter from a mile away with his sniper rifle.

The rest of the squad claimed it was the rifle not the man that made the difference, this hurt he ego which was as big as his head. Levi was the chaplain and the doctor in one. Officially he was the Field Medic but he served as the chaplain after the unit's one got killed, he was just known as Doc.

Then there was Nate, Corporal, good kid, brave. Just a bit inexperienced, but in a few years he would make a great soldier. However that destiny was cut short because Skyler missed an IED and the front Hummer fell prey to its explosion.

Nate who was on the machine gun was the only one to survive, he was rocketed from his perch on the top of the vehicle, shrapnel lacerating his left leg. Skylar was devastated, torn to peices. He blamed himself for the loss of the squad and his best freinds.

"You play the piano?" Johnny shifted a pile of assorted papers over and began rifling through the next stack. I should probably clean out all my sheet music sometime. "It's a Yamaha; real nice stuff."

"So you and your sister are close, I take it?" He smiled. "Sounds like quite the sacrifice: 'I'd lay down whatever'."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Hi, I'm a post break, and I always switch forms.

Ally crossed the final street and passed a boy who just looked at her and winked (she obliged him with a wink of her own) and then let herself into Stacey's house. That girl really needed to learn how to lock doors.

She stuck her phone inside her purse, noticing the zipper was opened. Meh, must have been more of that bubble brain, like forgetting what day it was.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Really, Boss? We don't have to take it out, y'know," Alec tried, making his way down the sidewalks of Ditto. "I can always just bring it out...of circulation." It sounded like a conversation between librarians, except that "it" was "Micah", "Boss" was Micah's father, "take it out" was "kill" and "bring it out of circulation" could possibly be anything in Alec's rapid imagination. "C'mon, Boss, it's your own son, and blood is thicker than water, eh?"

As he walked, Alec passed a girl who was attractive, while not pretty. You didn't have to be gorgeous to be attractive to him. Just rich, and oblivious. As the girl texted away busily, he slipped a hand inside her purse and brought out a thin wallet. And the funny part was, she probably wouldn't notice until she tried to buy something from Tiffany's.

"And that's how it's done," he whispered to himself, forgetting he was still on the phone. "Huh? Oh sorry, Boss. Just talking to myself."

He liked to call Micah's father (note to eusy, he seriously needs a name ) "Boss", despite the fact all members of the group could call him virtually anything. "Superior" was a favorite of Alec's too, after playing a video game where the leader of a certain black-cloaked group was always addressed as such.

(Name Micah's dad Frank)
Stacey greeted her BFF with a hug. "OMGOSH! I AM SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU!" She motioned Ally to her laptop and showed her a pic of the skater on Facebook. "Look, there's Logan's page. And I friend requested him! I wish they allowed you to boyfriend request. Anyway, all we need to do is find out where he lives."

"I used to. My mother made me, and my siblings, take lessons, until she realized that I was more book-inclined. Sydney, however, took to it like a pig to mud. She doesn't play much anymore...ever since...a few months ago." Bridget ended her monologue with by gently hitting a few keys on the piano and a shake of her head.

"Sydney and I are close." Bridget stood from the piano bench. "Right now, though, she's pretty upset with me for moving here. She didn't want to leave our old house, for various reasons."

"Nice. But you can do one of those 'in a relationship with' things, right?" Ally leaned over Stacey's arm and clicked the edit button on her friend's profile.

"Well, obviously, you'd have to be Facebook friends first."

Ally opened her purse and rifled through for lip gloss. It seemed a little...light. Empty. Something was missing. Ally's head shot up. "Stacey! Have you seen my wallet?" She zipped and unzipped the various pockets. Who could have possibly taken her wallet with all her money and--

"Stacey, Stacey!" Ally yanked away from her friend and pulled towards the door. "I have to get my stuff back. I'll be right back; promise."

Ally sprinted down the sidewalks and retraced her path. She slowed to a jog as the cramp in her right stomach pulled back. He couldn't have gone far at all. And plus he was on a phone. And people tended to walk slowly through Ditto Town when they were distractedly in another conversation. Ally engaged all her boy-seeking senses through the center of Ditto. At least that was one of the advantages she had over him.

"Excuse me? I believe you have something I need." Ally bounded over and tapped his shoulder once she'd noticed him.

Micah quickly wrote back, "I can't tell you. " Then, he looked towards to Ian when Ian responded. He asked, "So, she's a girlfriend?"

"Oh..." Grace wrote back. "Okay... Um, I just made the cheerleader team! That's kinda cool... I guess. Are you going to be playing football this year?" Grace was trying hard to think of something to say, but after he said "I can't tell you" she felt awkward. Now she knew something was wrong with him and she was trying to change the subject.

Micah adjusted himself in his seat, not sure of how to explain it to her. So, he typed: No. I'm not much of a football player. Sighing, he knew that was not completely a lie. He never had time to play football before, so why would he make the team?

Bridget motioned to the papers on the piano. "Are you organizing, or something?"

Justin noticed Weydon was looking upset, so he sat next to her in her room and asked, "What's wrong?"

She looked up at him. "Nothing... why?"
She wondered why he had come up to her room to talk to her at all. She wished he hadn't. Weydon wished she wasn't at his house, or anyone else's.
If only she was with Karver again...

Justin hesitated for a second, fatherly instincts about to kick in. "You seem a little upset."

"Aw, that's no good." Johnny tugged a teal-covered brochure from the pile. "No, organizing scares me." He laughed. "I'm just putting everything together before I...before I leave."

Johnny held up the brochure triumphantly. "I knew I had it. Here, the address and everything is listed."

-----

Alec smiled at her. "So do you..." He flipped open her wallet and read the name inside, "...Ally."

Ally's eyes narrowed but her mouth opened. "You give that back to me!" she snapped, reaching for it.

Alec flipped it into the air and caught it again. "Want to call it a trade?"

She reached for her phone, realizing she left her purse on Stacey's bed. "I can call the police on you," she threatened. Ally crossed her arms, trying to prove that she wasn't scared...not the least bit, she reminded herself.

"Hey, all I wanted to ask was, any new kids at your school? Innocent question. Just tell me and you get your wallet back." He waved it above her.

Ally chewed the inside of her mouth before answering, "And what if I don't?"

"Then we'll both be very unhappy." Alec made a pouting face to demonstrate. "An end neither of us would enjoy."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, Mr. Genius, in case you're a school dropout of something, when you're a freshman, everyone is new."

"But most of them you know live here. Or went to junior high with you. Who's new to the neighborhood?" Alec persisted, attempting to even the ties on his hoodie.

"Well, there's Andrew, if you want to start with 'A'," Ally sighed, helping herself to the park bench beside them.

"Oh? And what's Andrew look like?"

"Hey, I don't know why you're looking for a newbie, but if he's your friend, I should think you'd know his name." She glared at Alec again. "Are you a kidnapper or something?"

"The thing is, Ally, I know his name, but I don't know what name he'd be using." Not a lie.

"Oh. So it's a kid on the run." Ally crossed her legs too.

"No, he's not running. But the aunt who has custody on him is." Okay, that was a lie.

"Complicated," she muttered. "That would explain it all for Micah."

Alec's eyebrows lifted ever so slightly. "Does said Micah have dark hair?"

Ally shrugged. "Do you want it that way? Yeah."

"Yeah, I do want it that way." Alec smiled again, having abandoned the lost cause of straightening his hoodie strings and now evidently satisfied. He handed Ally her sparkly pink wallet and gestured to the green paper sticking out of a pocket. "Some tip. For your time."

Yeah, it was a pleasure, Ally wanted to say, but she unfolded the bills and stared at two twenty's. She looked back up at him, wondering what the heck he was planning to do, or not do.

"Behind you! A double rainbow! Wow!" He pointed.

Confused, Ally turned around to see...basically nothing. Same old streets, same old empty park, and definitely no promised double rainbow. She turned back to him, but he was gone.

Justin hesitated for a second, fatherly instincts about to kick in. "You seem a little upset."

Weydon looked at him strangely. "I guess any kid would be upset if they were foisted on a family they didn't know."

"Oh...Do you mind me asking where you're going?" Bridget asked, but then she shook her head. "Ugh, sorry, I'm so nosy."

Bridget took the brochure from him. "Which is why I became a lawyer..." She laughed, shaking her head and looking at the teal-colored paper. "Hmm..."

Bridget looked up, "I...uh, still don't know what to get her..."