The next morning, Joe drove the van to school since Frank’s ribs were still sore. He was looking forward to being with his friends even it is had to be at school. After pulling into a parking space, they climbed out and made their way inside. Classmates greeted Joe welcoming him back. Even through the greetings, Joe and Frank were on alert knowing that someone had come close to seriously injuring them both. They had to be careful until they found the person.

"There you are," a voice said behind them.

Turning, Frank and Joe saw Vanessa and Callie coming toward them.

"Good morning," Frank said as Callie stepped up beside him and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Good morning to you," Callie said.

Joe pulled Vanessa close and gave her a kiss making up for their time apart. Joe said when they broke apart, "Good morning, beautiful."

"I like these kinds of hello’s," Vanessa said breathlessly. She looked at Frank. "Good morning."

"Hi," Frank said with a smile."

"How are you feeling?" Vanessa asked weaving her arm with Joe’s.

"I’m doing all right," Frank admitted. "I’m just looking forward to moving without hurting."

"Give it some time and you’ll be fine," Callie said.

"I know." Frank looked at his watch. "We should get going or we’ll be late."

Vanessa kissed Joe on the cheek. "I’ll see you at lunch."

"Bye," Joe said.

As the girls hurried to their homerooms, Joe turned to Frank. "Do you really think someone here tampered with the van and the baseballs?"

"I don’t know, but we need to be on our guard."

"All right."

"Be careful, Joe."

"You too."

The brothers parted and headed for their homerooms.

*****

By the end of the day, Frank was ready to go home. His ribs were hurting since the pain medication had worn off and he was tired of telling everyone he was all right. He made his way toward the van hoping Joe wouldn’t be too far behind. Reaching the parking lot, he saw several of the classmates already at their vehicles ready to head home.

Looking at the van, he saw some movement by the passenger side. Someone wearing dark clothes was trying to move about, unnoticed. Moving as quickly as his body permitted, Frank made his way quietly to the van hoping to catch the person by surprise.

When he reached the back of the van, he dropped his backpack to the ground as he continued toward the passenger side. Rounding the back of the van, he saw the person crouched down by the passenger side front tire facing away from Frank. The person was in black pants and sweatshirt.

"What are you doing?" Frank asked.

The person slowly stood up without turning around. Before Frank could react, the person quickly turned and ran at him knocking him backward. There was nothing Frank could catch himself on and he couldn’t regain his balance. As he fell, he saw the person’s sneakers had a blue star on the side as the suspect passed by him. He fell to the ground hard, jarring his body, knocking the breath out of him.

Hearing a car horn, he turned to the right and saw a black sports car coming toward him. He knew he needed to move, but his body wouldn’t respond. The car was going to run him over. Frank closed his eyes waiting for impact.