In an instant, Jason was down on the field with his mother right behind him. Kara stayed with Alyssa in the bleachers. By the time they reached the field, doctors were already examining Adam along with Coach Donald. Laura pressed her way through the mob to find her son lying on the ground with a slight smile on his face.

"Hi Mom! Did you see my touchdown?" He said weakly. Jason and Mrs. Kramer could not believe their eyes, but were relieved that Adam seemed to be okay despite the blow to the head.

"Yes, but you were not supposed to run with the ball. You were supposed to kick it," Jason chimed in. Now the relief was turning into anger.

"I know, but there is no way that Eric is going to call me a chicken," Adam said as they got him an ice pack for the lump on his forehead.

"What do you mean?" Coach Donald asked. He was upset as well even though his team had just won the game. Adam explained the play that Eric had set up.

"I really do hate the guy, but we are a team and he was not going to put me down in front of MY team," Adam said with an even tone.

Jason was infuriated. Usually he was the calm brother, but his emotions got the best of him. He turned around and peered through the mob. It was then that the image of Eric Peterson came into view. He was talking to a couple of the other team members. Before anyone could react, he stormed up to Eric and pushed him down to the ground in front of the whole crowd of spectators that were still seated in the bleachers. Eric was very stunned by Jason's behavior, but got up to confront him.

"What was the big idea?" Eric fired back.

"You could have killed my brother with that stunt that you pulled out here!" Jason yelled. By now a crowd had assembled around the two boys. "You knew that he was not allowed to do that."

"It was his decision so don't go blaming things on me," Eric said, getting up into Jason's face.

"You knew what you were doing," Jason said back.

"Hey, it is not my fault that your brother is stupid," Eric said, pointing his finger into Jason's chest. Jason lunged for Eric, but a very strong set of hands stopped him and dragged him back.

"Do you want to end up suspended like Adam?" Chuck said to him as he loosened his grip on his friend. Jason looked towards Eric with an icy glare. "Just let it go. Everything is fine."

With that Jason stopped to think and realized that Chuck was right. He gave Chuck a grateful look and made his way back over to his brother.

By then, Adam was standing on his own two feet, but leaning up against his mother. Jason and Chuck quickly put him between them to help steady Adam.

"Maybe we should take him to the hospital to have him checked out, " Mrs. Kramer said to the coach.

But Adam immediately protested. "Mom, I am going to be just fine. I just have a bump. There is no need to go to the hospital."

Mrs. Kramer looked to the paramedic. "What do you think?"

The paramedic stood up and faced her. "Well, I do not know the history of his injuries. But if you would want to wait and see how he is doing later, that should be okay. His eyes seem very bright and he seems to be fine. But do not allow him to sleep for awhile and he had better get home and just hang out tonight."

"But the after the game dance is tonight?" Adam whined. He had promised to take Alyssa.

"OH NO! You are either going home or to the hospital!" Mrs. Kramer said with a stern voice.

"But mom, Jason can-" Adam started to say, but was interrupted by his brother.

"Don't' get me involved in this. We are taking you home or you can choose door number two?"

Giving his brother a very dirty look at the mention of the hospital and then seeing that his mother was not giving in, Adam agreed to go home. While Adam and Mrs. Kramer along with Chuck made their way to Adam's car, Jason went back to get Alyssa and Kara. He walked up the bleachers and was immediately bombarded with questions about Adam.

"He is fine, but we have to take him home and watch him. I know that we promised to take the both of you to the dance, but I thought maybe if you would like we could order pizza and hang out at the house," Jason said. Alyssa said that would be just fine with her, but he could tell that Kara was disappointed.

After loading Alyssa into Adam's car with Adam and Mrs. Kramer, the young couple made their way back to the van. It was a silent walk until Jason broke the silence.

"Kara, I am sorry. I will make it up to you."

"That is what you always say. Ever since the accident, you have put me on the back burners and I don't like it," Kara said as she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. Her arms were crossed. "Besides, why do YOU have to go home? Your mother is with him."

"That is not fair. Don't you ever make me choose between you and my brother," Jason yelled back.

"I'm not! But I do want to know why we have to go to your house and not to the dance?"

Jason was trying to think of an explanation. He knew that his mother would not care if he went to the dance, but he felt that he should be there since his father was away in case something did happen. Kara knew that the silence was from a lack of a good answer.

"Just as I thought. Adam is a big boy. You have become his bodyguard ever since the accident. The accident is the past, let it go Jason!"

Jason was immediately upset. "Look, I almost lost him in that accident. Don't you think that I know that things are never going to be the same again! You act like it should have no effect on me. That is my only brother and we are a team. I am going to stand by him and help him recover no matter what!"

"I know that Jason, but sometimes I wonder who is effected by the disabilities the most, you or Adam?" Kara said back with tears in her eyes. Both of the teenagers stood quietly by the van.

"I am sorry Kara, but it is just going to take some time," Jason said grasping her arms. "I really do care about you and I need for you to just understand."

Kara let out a sigh and hugged her boyfriend of three years. "Okay, I will back off. But there is one thing I want you to remember?

"What?"

"You should not feel guilty because you were not the one to go over the side of that mountain, instead you should be grateful that we decided to go out on our own that night."

The next morning, Adam was feeling pretty good except for the nagging headache that had started the night before while watching "The Discoveries of King Tut's Tomb" on the Discovery Channel. Everyone had voted to watch the episode except for Adam, who just basically sat there during the whole show. The sun was streaming into his bedroom and he was glad it was Saturday. He was about to roll back over when he heard his mother call to him. Usually it took him a few minutes to get up, but fearing he may be taken to the hospital, he got up and slipped on some clothes. He went down the stairway to be greeted by his brother, mother and Chuck.

"Hey, Tigger! I got you the game ball. Coach said to give it to you and he said to never pull a stunt like that again," Chuck said handing the ball to Adam.

"What about Eric?" Adam asked back sitting down at the table. Mrs. Kramer had made cereal and was cutting the mushmelons.

"He is going to deal with him. In the mean time I have something for you to see," Chuck said as he motioned for the brothers to come outside. The boys followed him to the driveway.

"Wow Chuck, you have a babe magnet now!" Adam said as he was staring at a little red Volkswagen convertible bug.

"That is great Chuck! Where did you get it?" Jason asked. This car was a definite improvement compared to his old Dodge Omni.

"I checked out that guy that Eric was talking about yesterday," Chuck said with a smile. "He does have great deals. I am going to pay $4000.00 after trading my old car in."

Adam immediately looked down at the ground. Chuck noticed his best friend's dismay.

"What?" Chuck said with a little bit of attitude.

"You know what I told Eric," Adam said responding to his friend.

"What are you talking about?" Jason interrupted. Chuck immediately filled Jason in to the incident before the football game.

After thinking about the incident while Chuck showed them the rest of the car, Jason had to admit that he felt a little suspicious about the deal.

"Just let us look into it," Jason said. He knew that Adam knew his cars and if he suspected the something was up, then there was good reason. Even though he did not know much about cars, Jason had to admit that it sounded a little too good to be true.

"Why can't you just be happy for me?" Chuck said. He was noticeably upset.

"We are. You deserve a nice car, but a nice legal one," Adam said, but his comment did not help the situation.

"Well, I can see that this is pointless. Well I have work to do at the farm," Chuck said getting into the car despite the Kramer boys' comments and apologies. As Adam and Jason both stood in the driveway and watched their friend leave in disgust. Both brothers instantly felt bad, but knew that they had to check out the car dealer before their friend got in over his head.

Jason went into the house and called Florence Henderson, who worked at the Chamber of Commerce office for Emerald Beach. She knew everything and anything about what went on in the small community. Of course, she knew where it was and that the man over it was named Rodney Mills. Jason had to politely cut her off just so he could get off the phone. Soon the brothers were on their way to the car lot that was located just outside town on Cora Lane Road. When they arrived at the car lot they just browsed around the lot. It was apparent that no one was there and that the business was closed. However, the cars that were on the lot were not old restored cars like the ones that they had seen, but normal everyday vehicles like Escorts, minivans, a few Cavaliers and one sport utility vehicle.

"I don't see any sports cars and the prices on these cars seem reasonable," Adam said to Jason as they were on their way back to the van.

"Maybe we are over-reacting," Jason said as they got into the van.

"I still think that there are some things that are just not right. Eric and Chuck did not make up those amounts and those amounts are outrageously low. I know what I am talking about Jason," Adam said with a definite assurance in his voice. "Maybe they keep the other cars separate."

"Well, it sound like we will be coming back to talk to Mr. Mills in person on Monday after-school. It is strange though that he is not open on Saturday.

As Jason drove the van home, he started to talk about some of the car theft rings that his father had often commented on during his years with the state. Jason was rattling on, but Adam was staring into space.

"So it looks like if we may have a case here?" Jason said. But he heard not response. Usually he heard a sound that resembled English that at least let him know that his brother was listening, but not this time. He looked over and noticed the empty look in his brother's eyes.

"Hey, Earth to Adam!" Jason said a little louder, but Adam still stared into his own little world. Finally Jason playfully jabbed his younger brother in the arm. Adam immediately jumped and looked over at Jason with a bewildered look.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked with a slight chuckle. He had never seen his brother space out like that.

"Yeah, why?"

"I was talking to you, but you just stared out the windshield like a druggie," Jason replied. "What were you thinking about then?"

Adam tried to think, but he honestly could not remember anything that had occurred since Jason had turned off of Cora Lane Road. This startled him, but he did not want to alert Jason because he was afraid that he would possibly be taken to the hospital. He knew he had to come up with an answer and quick.

"I was just thinking about the party tonight at the pier," Adam said, remembering his date with Alyssa.

"Alyssa going to meet you there," Jason asked. Lately, Alyssa wanted to drive herself to get more practice with her specialized Cherokee. This drove Adam nuts because he liked the idea of picking her up, but she always insisted on trying to maintain her independence.

"Yes, of course! Are you guys going to be there?"

"No, Kara wanted a nice night together alone so we are going to go down by the beach. She loves it when there is a full moon and the moonlight lights up the ocean," Jason said with a little bit of disappointment. Adam knew his brother would rather go to the after-game party at the pier, but would do anything to please Kara.

Soon they were pulling into the Kramer family's driveway. Their mother who had a list of chores ready met them. So the boys spent the rest of the afternoon helping their mother with the yard work and gardening. After they had finished raking up the old tomato plants, Adam went in and got ready for the party. He quickly showered and threw on a pair of jeans and his football jersey with the #7 on it. After promising his mother to be in before 1:00am, he gave her a peck on the cheek, jumped into his car and left for the party.