"Peter, clear your mind your thinking irationaly" he said while pulling his books out of his locker, trying to keep his expresions calm but inwardly he was screaming.

Miranda sauntered behind Nate, "They are also protesting for your borther to die also. They called him a disgrace to the military. I wouldn't be suprised if he was stripped of all this medals for serving."

Peter looked at Nate, tears still in his eyes. Then, glared at Miranda. "He is not a disgrace to the military."

Miranda laughed when she saw his tears. "Are you crying? Why, because John almost cut your hair? Your cousin and Nate's brother are about ot die and you are worried about your hair?"

Peter yelled, "That is not why I'm crying!" People's heads turned to look at him, causing his cheeks to turn bright red.

"Peter" warned Nate "Let me handle this" he shoved Peter aside and walked up to Miranda "My brother was one of the best soldiers ever, he was awarded the medal of honor by the president himself and he's heck of a lot more man then the troll that sired you Miranda" he said pointing his finger acusingly at her.

Miranda laughed. "Well, it looks like the President is going to strip him of his medal. He is actually having a PSA about it this afternoon."

Peter wanted to step in Kevin's defense, but Nate told him to let him handle it. He already embarrased himself a lot. He could hear a few gets snicker about how much fo a wimp he had become. Why can't i do anything right? WHay am I so weak and not brave

Nate set his teeth and growled "Your lucky your a girl" when he saw her mouth open to question 'why?' he cut her off "Because if you had been a guy a few seconds a go you wouldn't have had anymore teeth" he shoved past her as the bell rung "I have to get to class"

Nicole walked up to Miranda just as the bell rang. She stopped to check and make sure that Nate and Peter, or anyone else, weren't watching her. "I got your note you sent me in class," she said hesitantly, not knowing what else to say. "But I still think you shouldn't have made fun of Peter."

Miranda put her arm around Nicole, imagining that there was a dagger in her hand, ready to stab Nicole in the back. "Sorry," she lied. "It's jsut that everytime he talks about his hair, I want to scream. Look, this is how we will stop it. We should get pictures of him, put it into our computer and make it look like he's wearing a dress. Then, we will draw long hair on it and put it on facebook."
~~~~~~~~~~
Peter slumped into his seat the next class, hiding his face with the hoodie. His cousin was going to die and Kevin's medals were going to be stripped? He wished desparately there wa ssoemthing he could do about it. He texted Justin, telling him to be careful and told Nate to do the same thing for Kevin. THen, he got up and said to the teacher, "I have to leave early."

"What? I am mad at Peter, but I don't really want to hurt him like that...I mean, not really," Nicole hesitated. "But..." She stopped and looked into Miranda's eyes. Miranda just wanted to help her. Nicole believed that. But she wasn't sure what she thought about Miranda's plan to use the picture of Peter, change it, and put it on Facebook. "Look, I promise I'll think about it, okay? I have to go now, I'll be late for my class!" She waved to Miranda and then scurried off into her classroom, breathlessly sliding into her desk.

Peter stepped out of his classroom, to call Justin. "Justin, are you okay?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Justin was working on the lesson for next week, when his cell phone rang. "Yeah, Peter I'm fine" He was a little disturbed by Peter's worried voice.
~~~~~~~~
Peter blurted out, "Someone told me there were people at your house, with sayings saying you should die!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Justin was horrified. "When?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter cried, "This morning and told Nate his brother was going to be stripped of his medals?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shocked, Justin exclaimed, "What? No one was there this morning. Maralyn hasn't called saying anything."

There was some relief in the boy's voice. "Well, then it was a lie?"

Justin, however was disturbed at whoever would lie about such a thing. "Yeah, it was. Go back to class and try not to worry, okay?"

Peter answered, "Okay."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Relieved his Justin and Kevin weren't going to die, Peter told Nate teh good news after class. "It was all a lie! Miranda was lying the whole time! Your brother may still have his medals, after all!"

Nate shook his head "Dude, Kevin wouldn't care if he lost all his medals if he were dead. They can still be executed" he said with a sigh But then apoligised "sorry"

A wave of sorrow came across Peter. "What can we do to help them?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After talking to Peter, Justin started to think about how Brad would feel if he didn't go to the funeral. Brad would probably laugh and tell him to stop making a big deal out of everything. That's when he decided he would go and decided Peter and Nate should go with him. Feeling it would bring too much sorrow and foreshadowing for Maralyn and too much stress on the baby, he decided they should stay at home. He called Maralyn to tell her this and she agreed.

"Nothing Pete, just about nothing" Said Nate as he turned his attention back to his studys.

Peter sank back into his chair, hating that two lives were on teh line and there was nothing he or Nate could do about it. Fur crying out loud, Justin was his cousin and Kevin was Nate's brother! And there was nothing to be done? He could hear one of the bullies saying, "Alive cousin, alive brother. Dead cousin, dead brother." He thrust his hoodie over his head tighter, to block out the taunting.

Lunch time wasn't any better. Nicole had stopped sitting at their table. It was him, Nate, Zach, Jen and Kayla. Nicole was nowhere in sight. "Where do you think she is?" he asked.
~~~~~
Miley sat with Ryan, Chrissa, Ben and Chloe. "Well, it's good news that someone is willing to testify on my brother's behalf."

Kayla fiddled with the edge of her shirt, not wanting to answer Peter. "I don't know, well, I called her on the phone yesterday and she wouldn't talk. Didn't even give me a chance to say anything, hardly. She just hung up," Kayla explained. Her lower lip quivered. "I think..." She stopped and shook her head. "Never mind."

"That's fabulous," Chloe said cheerfully. "I'm sure everything will be okay in the end, you know."

Peter could tell Kayla was aboout to tell him something, and whatever it was, it was bad. He could tell by the look on Kayla's face, that Nicole was mad at them. He somberly took a bite of his sandwich, then asked, "Any of you going to Brad's funeral?"
~~~~~~~~~~~
Miley said, "Well, I'm going to go to Brad's funeral. Any of you going?"