"Sure," Ryan replied. "Since we haven't hung out together for a while, I was wondering if you want to shoot some hoops, or ride bikes or something tomorrow?"

Chrissa finished her text message and hit the send button. She slid her cell phone back into her pocket and glanced at Miley. "Okay, I sent the message. Ready to go?"

Peter smiled. It had been a while since he and Ryan hung out. Also, he loved basketball. "Yea, I would love to."

Miley and Chrissa rushed to the car. On the way to Miley's she noticed police cars leaving the restaurant. "What the heck is that?"

"Great. Tomorrow afternoon, then. See ya then!" Ryan said, then hung up. He saw his text message from Chrissa, read it, then flipped his phone shut.

Chrissa squinted and leaned forward in her seat. "Police cars? Man! Who knows? Call Ryan and ask him if he knows what's going on."

Peter said bye to Ryan, then switched back to Johnny. "Still there?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Jen got home, she looked at the assignment her and Peter had to do: Romeo and Juliet!
She let out a giggle and closed her homework folder. She texted Meghan: U would not believe this! OMGSH Peter and I were assigned to be partners in English project and we are working on Romeo and Juliet. OMGSH!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Miley siad, "Let's go in and see."

Um...ok. Meghan replied. Ro & Ju? I did that freshman year of high school. You gonna film a 5-min parody of something of it?

----
"Yeah," snapped Johny. "Still here."

Jen texted back: Haha. We could just write our life story or do the Taylor Swift song. LMBO
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter said, "Oh, sorry. So..what are you doing?" He asked what Johnny was doing, because he was not sure what to say next. When he saw Miley and Chrissa walk inside, he rushed to them.
Miley gave him a hug and played with his curls. "Who are you on the phone with?"
Peter put a hand to the receiver. "Johnny. Do you think you could give me, Nate and Lyn a ride back to Nate's?"
Miley said, "Sure."
Peter thanked her and then said to Johnny, "Miley is giving me a ride back to Nate's, if you want."

Miley walked over to Justin. "So, how did everything go?"
Justin told her everything, then Miley gasped. "She tried to pull out the rest of Peter's hair?"
Justin teased, "What? You're not concerned about me hitting my head?"

Miley rolled her eyes and teased, "Well you are hard headed." Growing serious, she said, "Glad Lyn's foster parents are in jail. Peter told me they beat her for not meetign their high standards when it came to chores."
Justin nodded sadly.
Miley gave him a hug. "Glad you're safe. Can't stand the thought of losing one of my brothers."
Justin returned the hug back. He put an arm around his sister. ""Let's go check on Lyn."
When teh two fo them got near the kitchen, where Lyn and Nate were, Miley put a caring hand on her shoulder. "How are you holding up?

Ryan headed back home, bored. He wondered what to do. Sure, he had homework, but that didn't need to be done right away, did it? He decided to to go outside and shoot some hoops so he'd be warmed up for tomorrow.

"Peter, what happened to your hair?" Chrissa asked, wide-eyed. She quickly said, "Of course, you don't have to tell me."

Peter put his hand on the receiver again. He shuddered at the memory of Mr. Pole pulling his hair out. "Jen's dad pulled it out. Looks horrible, doesn't it?"

"Still a little shaken," Lyneya replied to Miley, "but what's to be expected?" she shuddered.

Chrissa's eyes were shocked and sympathetic. She gave him a hug. "Oh Peter, I'm so sorry. That's awful. No, it doesn't look horrible. I barely noticed it at all. It'll grow back soon, I'm sure," she rambled.

Miley gave her a hug, to feel that she was physically shaken. She rubbed Lyn's back and said, "It's okay now. You're safe."

While hugging Chrissa, Peter buried his head in her shoulder, so that she would not see the tears coming down his face. When he was done, he pulled away and siad, "It's been three days."

"It doesn't look too bad," Chrissa insisted. "You'll be fine. Don't worry. And if anyone touches your hair again, they'll have me to deal with." She balled her fist playfully, hoping to make Peter laugh.

Lyneya struggled with her doubt. Was she really safe? What if her foster parents came back? They would harm her, and those who had helped her. A sudden thought struck her. If she left now, they might not come back to Ditto Town, and they would leave her friends alone...

Peter smiled. "Thanks."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, Peter saw Lyn in deep thought. "How are you holding up?"
He was about to head out the door, when the paper caught his eye. "Well, your foster parents are being held in a cell at the police station," he said, relieved. He hoped they would go to jail for a long time. Then, he saw a very pshyco looking of Mr. Pole that talked about his excuse for pulling Peter's hair out. He put the artickle down. He did not not need to get mad or sad before church. He wasn't going to wear his hat, either because it was not that good for hair growth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jen groaned at the picture of her dad in the paper. She ripped up his picture and threw it in the trash. She rushed over to Meghan's house, so that they could go to church together. She did not care what his excuse was. There was no excuse .

Lyneya shrugged. "Okay, I guess..." she trailed off, thinking of the plan she had cooked up over night. Then she saw what Peter was looking at.
"Peter..."