Chrissa's cell phone rang right when she was doing her homework. Glad to have an excuse to take a break from homework, Chrissa answered it. "Hey, Miley. Sure, sounds good. What time is it?"

"Okay, I'll do that." Kayla paused. "Thanks for everything, Jen. It's really good to have a close friend like you."

Jen felt a flush of warmth and joy go through her at Kayla's words. Last year, she didn't really ahve any friends and now she had Peter and a good friend who called her a close friend. "Thanks Kayla. Want to be here at 6:30? Want to eat dinner before you come over or when you get here?"
~~~~~~~~
Miley squealed. "It's at 7 o' clock."

Lyneya waited patiently for Jen to finish up her call. After a few minutes, Jen hung up.
"Who was that?" Lyneya asked. Then she added, "Oh, sorry! That was nosey of me."

Jen laughed, letting her londe blonde curled hair bounce around mid back. "Kayla is going with us to see Peter play soccer. Hey, wanna go to Nate's house where you two are staying?"

"Definitely!" Lyneya answered enthusiastically. "I miss him."
She linked her arm through Jen's and the two headed to Nate's house.

Jen laughed. "You mean you miss Peter? Nate hasn't come home form war yet." THere was a mischevious glint in her eyes and she rang the doorbell, hoping Peter was back form practice. When he answered the door, she gave him a big hug. "How was practice?"

Peter hugged her back. "It was ok I guess. I kicked the ball out right form under John's nose!" There was a hint of laughter in his eyes.

"I'll be there!" Chrissa promised. Then she added mischievously, "And maybe I can convince Ryan to come too." Her eyes twinkled, and she said good-bye and hung up.

She scurried down the hallway and into Ryan's room, where he was at his desk doing homework. "Yo, Ryan. I'm going to Peter's game tonight, and you're coming with me."

Ryan put his pencil down, looking annoyed at being interrupted in the middle of homework. "Can't I just stay home?"

"Miley will be there," Chrissa said.

Ryan's eyes brightened. "Oh, okay. I guess I'll come then."

Chrissa laughed. "That's what I thought you'd say." She turned to go. "It's tonight at 7," she called over her shoulder as she left the room.

Finally, it was almost time for the soccer game. Peter was excited to see Miley there, with Chrissa and Ryan. He rushed over to them and said "hi", then rushed back to the other players. It was their first game of the season and he was sure to win it. He stretched, then discussed the plays with the other teammates and the coach.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After her cousin had rushed to the field, Miley asked, "What happened to his hair? He hardly has any."
Jen answered, "Miranda and Nicole cut more of it off, so we had to get Maralyn to shave half of it to even it up."
Concerned, Miley asked, "How is he taking it?"
Jen said, "He was pretty upset but he's doing better. I think he's more focused on winning the game right now."

Chrissa watched Peter and heard Miley and Jen's conversation. "How long do you think it'll take to grow back?" she asked, slightly worried. At least Peter wasn't too upset about it.

Miley looked at her cousin, who was doing his best to keep the ball away from the other team by dribbling with his feets as quickly and swiftly as possible. "To get back to mid neck? probably eight months." She shook her head. How could NIcole betray them like that? Then, she noticed Ryan and was grateful his short hair was still there and flipped around his ears. She scooted closer to Ryan. "Looking forward to my cousin being in our school next year?"

Ryan put an arm around Miley's shoulders and smiled. "Yeah, it'll be lots of fun. He's grown up a lot in the past year."

Miley felt a burst of excitement at Ryan's hug and the warm feeling made her nervous. "Yeah. Oh look, he scored a goal!"
~~~~~~~~~~
Peter gave Zach a high-five, glad for the goal, which put them ahead by 20 points instead of 19. He was glad to be no longer overdosing on pills and that God helped him stay off them, so he could try out for soccer. Of course, there were more reasons than that. He also was glad he was not overdosing, because it was wrong of him to take more than he needed. He rushed down the field afterwards, ready for the kickoff at the center of the field.

After the game, Peter was thirlled that his team won. He rushed to Jen, giving her a big hug.

Jen rubbed the back of his head. It felt strange to feel only a thin layer of fuzz instead of the usual hair.
"Are you doing alright, Peter?" she asked.

Peter knew she was refering to what used to be his hair, and tried not to feel sad. "I think so. It will grow back, eventually. It looks awful, doesn't it?"

"You've been through a hard time! If someone makes fun of you, it's because they don't understand what you've been through. You shouldn't feel bad because they don't know what happened," Jen said.