Benjamin Smalls -a student who was sent to TROD recently by his parents who did not want him growing up next door to a dictatorship- just finished unpacking all his inventory and had thoroughly moved into his uncles house when he decided he wanted to take stroll around town.
---
John asked "How did you guess? Yes I'm ready"

Uh-oh. Chrissa knew this was not good for Miley. "Oh, Miley..." she was at a loss for words. She gave Miley a long hug, then said, "Look, we might still be able to save Justin. It might turn all right in the end."

Kayla finished her homework in her room and breathed a sigh of relief as she finished the last problem on the page. Now that was done. She picked up the phone and dialed Nicole's number.

While they were on there walk, Miley asked, "How are we going to help Justin? Neither one of us knows a lawyer. Does Ashley know of any?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Miranda chuckled evily. "What's the plan? I say we tell everyone that what happened at the dance was their fault."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Justin was waiting for Brad to answer. He hope Brad could find him a lawyer, quickly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amanda called Diane. "Let's go get the decorations for our party."

"Hello?" Brad opened at the phone on the third ring. "Oh, hey, Justin!"

----------

"Whatever you say," Ally rolled her eyes. Stacey was calling herself corrupt? She was such a loser sometimes.

But sometimes... hey, she wasn't all that bad. "You're noble enough," said Ally, though that was hardly true.

----------

"Uh, sort of," breathed out Zach, pushing a corner paper back onto the posterboard.

Justin energetically said, "Hey Brad! How are you all doing?" Then, he turned somber. "I wanted to know if you know of any good lawyers?"

"Ashley..." Chrissa tapped her chin. "Hmm, I don't think so. You could text her later and ask her, but I don't think she knows any." Chrissa wished she had something positive to say.

"Okay. Christmas is coming up so fast! I'm thrilled," Diane giggled. Her face was flushed with excitement. "What kind of decorations do we need?"

Nicole picked up her cell phone and saw that it was Kayla calling. She put the phone up to her ear and said, "Hellooo?"

On the other line, Kayla giggled and tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear. "Hey, silly. I just finished my homework."

When Miley saw a boy their age, walking in their direction, she said, "Let's talk about something else." She did not want to comntinue talking about her brother and lawyers, when someone was walking nearby. She did not want to tempt anyone to say something bad about Justin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amanda squealed, "How about paper mache and streamers?"
She rummaged through the party items at the store. She found paper connected together in rings. "How abou tthis one?" THe paper was an assortment of green and red.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter picked up a magazine on the stand in Jen's living room. "Hey, look. It's the couples issue. Looks like romance time for the holidays", he said with a mischevious grin.

"Oh, definitely. Green and red - what colors could be better?" Diane teased, poking Amanda in the arm. "It's beautiful. Let's see, what else do we need?" She paused a moment before suggesting, "I thought it would be nice to set up a CD player and have Christmas music playing in the background. We could buy a couple Christmas CDs. What do you think?"

"No problem." Chrissa knew that Miley didn't want to discuss her brother with others around. "So, what are you doing for Christmas? You're going to the party that Diane and Amanda are having, right?"

Amanda squealed, "Oh yea! I think we should get Barlow Girl's Christmas CD!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MIley answered, "WOuldn't miss it for the world."

"Definitely! And maybe the Gaither Vocal Band's Christmas CD, too, ((couldn't resist it, eg)) since Kayla loves the GVB. I know she'd love to hear the songs," Diane said excitedly. "And Miley loves Barlow Girl, so that will work great too. We can play both CDs."

"Me either!" Chrissa replied. "I think it will be a wonderful Christmas." She thought silently, "And I hope Justin will be with us, and not in jail" but she didn't say it out loud.

Amanda gasped, "Miley doesn't like GVB."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Miley was hoping and praying that her borther would be with them for Christmas, also.

Ben was looking at a fountian in the middle of the town and wasn't watching where he was wallking when he bumped into a girl his age; knocking a book out of her hand "I'm so sorry, here let me get that for you" -he spoke with a slight british acent- he bent over and grabbed the book for her.
---
Nate had been out in the snow looking for Lyn all day but finaly came inside for a break, got some hot coco and went to his basement to try and write a christmas song.

"Well..." Diane shrugged. "Either way, doesn't matter."

Chrissa blushed. "Oh, thank you," she said, and took her book back. "I'm sorry about that. I wasn't looking where I was going."

Amanda smiled, "Yeah. She'll live. Or she could have so much fun rocking out to barlow girl or hanging with us that she wont know the difference."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Miley smiled when she noticed a boy tlaking to CHrissa. Still, she wondered if RYan was taking her to the dance, so she texted him, asking if they were still going together.

"Neither was I" said Ben nervously "My name's Ben, yours?" he brushed a strand of blonde hair out of his face.