Jen opened the door to see Peter's frantic face. "What's wrong? What happened?" She opened the door wider and let him in.

Peter fell into her arms. He sobbed. "Jen it's awful. Remeber Brad and June who were in the wedding with Justin and Maralyn? They...died. Then, the news.." Peter started breathing heavily, crying harder. "The guy Justin killed was a news reporter. He could get life in prison or..." Peter could barely finish. "No! They can't kill my cousin!" He cried into Jen's shoulder. He turned, to find Nate. "We have to visit Justin at his house! We have to help him. This could be our only chance. He was just trying to protect otehrs. He didn't mean to hurt anyone and he will have to be in jail for the rest of his life or die." His voice was clouded by sorrow, and so much clouded that one would think he was watchigng his cousin get burnt at stake before his very eyes. "No, no, not Justin." He collapsed onto the floor, hugging his knees. "Why Justin? Why?"
Jen turned to Nate, tears in her eyes as well. "Let's go to Justin's. SHe whispered to Nate, "Help me get him up."

Nate grabbed him under the arm pitts and picked Peter up "Peter, have you noticed this seems a little fishy?" he asked "It was right after Kevin visited the news paper man and the thug worked for the newspaper guy? Seems a little strange to me" he tried to trail off the topic of Justin being killed.

On the way to Justin's house, Peter stopped cold. "They set my cousin and your brother up?" His blood started to boil. Well, I will teach anyone to consipre against them!" He rusehd towards Justin's house.

Nate once again had to speed up to reach Peter "Woe there buddy you have nothing to prove it yet, its just a suspicion right now"
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Kevin was shocked by what he was hearing "The question is Kevin, are you willing to help me track these guys down?" Kevin replied "Yes Chuck I am"

Jen was trailing after Peter and Kevin to catch up with them. A governemnt conspiracy? This was horrible! Why go after Kevin and Justin? She clenched her fists, wanting to knock out any probation officer who may be near by.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Justin had recooperated from his tears and Maralyn was well rested, when the door bell rang. Maralyn tunred to him, "Want me to get that for you?"
Justin sighed. "I'll get it. I have already been wimpy enough." He rushed to the door, and opened it happy to see Peter, Jen and Nate. Peter suprised him by giving him a bigger hug than he could ever imagine being given to him by his cousin. He wrapped his arms around Peter, rubbed his hair and was happy to find the bald spot was replaced by a shadow of hair. "Peter! You're hair is growing back!"
Peter looked at him with a grin. "Thanks! I'm not bald anymore!"
Justin fluffed the rest of Peter's hair. The sides were to his ears and the back was at the top of his neck and stuck out a little bit. "It's geting a little thicker too. In three months, it will look like it never was pulled out."

Maralyn heard the exciting news and rushed to Peter's side. She looked at the kids, "I am fixing supper. You kids want any?"
Jen said, "I already ate."
Peter said, "Depends on what happens to Justin."
Confused, Maralyn asked, "What does eating have to do with Justin?"
Peter said, "I saw what new information they found out. I believe my cousin and Nate's brother have been framed by corruption in the government."
Taken aback at a young teenager knowing all these terms, Maralyn asked, "What do you mean?"
Peter said, "Right after Kevin went to visit the newsdpaper guy, some thug jumped him and turned out to be working for the newspaper." THe paused, then turned to Justin. "But why would he do that?"
Justin told teh whole story of what happened. This caused Peter to kick at the couch. "They set you two up because you two were defending me?"
Jen felt tears in her eyes. "If anything, it's my fault."
Peter groaned. Not again. "It's not your fault your dad pulled out my hair and made up some lie about it. It's not your fault they put my name and picture in the paper."
Jen groaned. "Amazing how that has messed up lives. Miranda put on her facebook that it was Ally and Stacey's fault. I can't argue with it being Ally's fault but I do not think it's Stacey's fault. She's too air-headed to cook up a scheme like that and actually has been developing a softer side."
Peter asked, "So it is my fault me cousin is about to die?"
Justin said, "If anything, it's my fault. I could have defended Kevin and Nate differently."
Jen said, "No it's my dad's fault! It's Lyn's foster parents fault. If they hadn't acted like that none of this would be happening!"

(Heh...sorry Ryan wasn't answering, eg )

"Definitely! I'm really looking forward to the dance as well," Ryan said. He looked closely at Miley. "Have those mean girls been bothering you any more, though?"

Kayla had turned on the TV while talking to Nicole on the phone, and was absently flipping through channels. She stopped when she saw the news. How on earth... "Oh, Nicole!" Kayla wailed.

Nicole heard the terror in Kayla's voice and jumped. "Kayla! What on earth is wrong? Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine," came Kayla's shaky voice. It sounded like she was crying. "Nicole, are you sitting down?"

Nicole lowered herself onto her bed, her heart pounding and hammering. "I am now. Kayla, what's happened?"

She heard Kayla take a deep breath. "You know Brad and June, right? Remember their wedding?"

"Of course." Nicole held her breath and braced herself for Kayla's reply.

Kayla broke into tears again. "They were killed! Turn on your TV and see it."

Nicole's heart jumped.

Miley nodded, tears in her eyes. "Pam said you would never want to date me because of my family."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Maralyn put a hand on Peter's shoulder. "You should eat. If you starve yourself for too long your hair can become brittle and fall out." She brushed back Peter's bangs with her hand. "We don't want that."
Peter smoothed out his bangs. "Okay. I can have a little something."
Maralyn smiled. "Okay. I will let you know when it's ready. Nate, you want anything?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amanda had finished shopping for the party with Diane, when she turned on the news to find her brother and sister in law were dead. Tears in her eyes, she called DIane and asked her to come over. She could not be alone right now.

Ryan was upset. How could someone say something like that? "That's not true! You know it isn't, Miley. Just ignore Pam, don't pay attention to a word she says."

Kayla sank against the couch, tears still streaming down her cheeks. She wondered what would happen to Vicki Mae.

Nicole's breath caught in her throat as she saw the news on TV. "Nicole?" she heard Kayla's husky voice over the phone. "You okay?"

Nicole swallowed. "Yeah. I wonder how everyone else is taking the news. Poor Amanda."

"Um, sure. I'll be right over," Diane said into the phone, but Amanda had already hung up. Diane wondered what was wrong. Her stomach churned. Amanda had sounded like she was sobbing. Diane dashed outside, jumped into her car and started it, and drove as quickly as she could over to Amanda's. Something was dreadfully awful, she could feel it.

Miley felt relief go over her, and she hugged Ryan. "Thanks."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amanda opened the door and hugged her friend. "The governemt killed my brother and my sister in law." She burst into tears.

Ally raised her eyebrows. "Miranda what?" she said, logging into Myspace, found nothing, and then logged into Facebook.

"She WHAT?" Ally gasped again, this time angry. "That's not true, first of all," she began to justify herself and Stacey.

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