Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

As Joe had predicted, the pizzas and pop were enthusiastically received by all at the Youth Centre. Even the more reserved of the kids were suddenly laughing and talking as they dug into the bounty of food and drinks. As Joe watched the happy scene before him, he could not help but wonder whether some of the kids were making up for the supper that they had not had, considering the gusto with which they polished off the pizzas.

"Man, I thought I was a fast eater," Chet said. "Some of these kids put me to shame."

"Some of them probably haven't had their dinner yet, even though it's well past dinner time," Biff said, voicing what Joe had been thinking.

"Yeah, I was thinking of the same thing," Joe said rather quietly.

Chet winced. "Wow, had I known about this beforehand, I wouldn't have eaten all that I did. Looks like these guys need it more than me."

Biff clapped him on the shoulder. "Noble thought, Chet, but it's not just tonight. It's an ongoing problem."

"Biff's right," Joe said. "I just wish we could do this on a regular basis."

"Even doing this for one night, you have brought many smiles to their faces," a voice said beside them. The three boys looked and saw that Carl had joined them. "Joe, I can't thank you enough for what you and your friends did."

Joe shook his head. "We just did the delivery, the real hero of all this is my friend's dad, Mr. Prito. He's the owner of Mr. Pizza and he's the one who donated all this when he found out that I was doing volunteer work here."

"That's very generous of him. Please thank him for me, and on behalf of the kids. I wish there were more people like him in the community," Carl said. "And you boys deserve credit too, for taking time to do this on a Saturday night. I know what a busy schedule kids your age keep these days."

"Glad that we were able to help," Biff said. "Ready to go yet, Chet?"

"Ready when you are," Chet said.

"Thanks Biff, for the ride and the help," Joe said as his friends got ready to leave.

"No problem. I'll be around at home if Frank can't pick you up so feel free to give me a call," Biff said.

"Don't worry, Frank will be here," Joe said. "Thanks again, guys."

"Well, I better go and get some garbage bags to collect up the trash," Carl said. "Looks like the pizzas are nearly all gone."

"I'll help you," Joe offered quickly. He suddenly looked around. "Is Jason here tonight? I don't see him."

Carl shook his head. "No, haven't seen him tonight. That's too bad. He would have liked the pizzas." He suddenly grinned and clapped Joe on the shoulder. "Looks like your admirers are coming to thank you personally, Joe. You better deal with them than help me with the garbage. Good luck with them."

Joe saw the two girls heading in his direction and silently groaned. The psychedelic Bobbsey Twins. That was what he had secretly named the two girls whom he had met on the very first day at the Youth Centre. The two girls, one with shocking green hair and the other with flaming red hair and both well tattooed and with enough piercings that would send a metal detector into sonic heaven, had made no secret of their obvious infatuation with Joe right from the start. Watching the two girls approach, Joe suddenly felt like a deer caught in the headlights of a speeding car. It was certainly not the first time that girls had been attracted to him, but Joe found it hard this time to feel any sense of flattery from the interest shown in him by the psychedelic duo. He looked frantically around for a means to escape.

"Hi, Goldilocks," Bella, or was it Brandie, called out a greeting. She had red hair.

"Hi, girls," Joe forced a smile to his face. "Enjoy the pizzas tonight?"

"Yeah, and now we want dessert," the green-haired one said, smiling at him with lips blackened with lipstick.

Joe stepped back as much as he could. "Uh, sorry, but didn't bring dessert this time."

The red-haired one suddenly had her arm through his. "You will do just fine, sweetie."

Joe freed his arm as gently as he could, only to find his other arm trapped by the green-haired one. "Uh, you girls have the wrong guy."

"Don't think so, sweetie. Aren't you supposed to be here to help us? Then help us," the red-haired one said.

"Uh, Bella --" Joe began.

"Brandie," the red-haired one corrected.

"Sorry, Brandie, why don't we all sit down and play Monopoly?" Joe suggested brightly, freeing his other entrapped arm from Bella.

"Boring!" Bella said. "Why don't we do something more exciting?"

Suddenly a familiar figure came through the door and Joe could have cried with relief.

"Look, there's Jason! You will have to excuse me as there is something I need to talk to Jason about. Sorry, girls." Joe mustered a smile for them before ducking under their entwining arms.

"You'd dump us for that scrawny loser?" Bella cried. "Are you nuts? He wouldn't know a good time even when it slams him in the face."

Joe flashed them his most charming smile. "Nothing personal, girls. See you around."

Breathing a silent sigh of relief, he hurried over to where Jason had sat himself at the back corner of the room.

"Hey, Jason! Why are you so late tonight? You missed the free pizza and pop," Joe said cheerfully as he sat down by the younger boy.

Silence greeted him in response as Jason slumped back in his chair, his face downcast.

"Hey, what's wrong? Something you want to talk about?" Joe asked gently, pulling his chair closer.

"Nothing's wrong. Everything is just fine and rosy," Jason muttered.

"Doesn't sound like it," Joe said. "Want to play cards?"

"Get lost! Go bug someone else!"

Joe was taken back. Though Jason was certainly not one of the friendliest kids at the Centre, he was never this blatantly rude before. Something was obviously wrong.

"Okay, then we will just sit here until you feel like talking," Joe said. "But you can't get rid of me that easily."

It was then that Jason looked up. "Leave me alone!"

Joe gasped. Before he could stop himself, he reached out to touch the colourful bruise that stood out starkly against the other boy's left cheek. "What happened? Did you get into a fight? Who did that to you?"

Jason swatted his hand away angrily. "Just go away! What's it to you anyway?"

"Hey, it matters to me," Joe said quietly. "I consider you a friend, Jason, so I care about what happens to you. Who did that to you?"

The other boy stared back in defiant silence.

"Who did that to you?" Joe repeated.

Suddenly Jason's shoulders slumped. "My old man."

"Your dad did that to you? What kind of father would hit his own kid like this?"

"Oh get real, Joe. Fathers beat their kids all the time, mothers too.," Jason snorted. "It's as common as broken beer bottles around here."

"That doesn’t make it right," Joe said angrily.

"What are you going to do about it? Beat up my old man?" Jason challenged.

"No, but I would like to talk to him,"

Jason laughed. "Oh right! Like he's going to listen to another kid."

"Why did he hit you?" Joe asked. "Does he do it all the time?"

For a moment, he didn't think Jason was going to answer. He waited patiently.

"He found out that I've been skipping school and he wasn't exactly pleased," Jason said grudgingly.

Joe frowned. "That still doesn't give him the right to belt you. What does your mom say to that?"

"Don't have one," Jason muttered. "She left us when I was just a kid."

Joe grimaced. Jason saw his expression and laughed. "Hey, that's normal around here. It's when you have both parents that you stand out like a sore thumb in this place."

Joe shook his head, knowing what Jason said was reality and yet it was still difficult to accept. "Why did you skip school?"

Jason shrugged. "It's so boring and dead-end."

"Dead-end? Not going to school is dead-end," Joe corrected.

"Says who? I see guys around me making money left and right and they certainly didn't finish no school."

"Easy money comes with a cost. There's no such thing as a free ride. Those guys will end up in jail," Joe said grimly.

"Only if they get caught," Jason said.

"And they will," Joe said confidently.

"Yeah, right." Jason made a face and then stood up. "Gotta go."

"Where are you going?" Joe asked quickly.

"Home. I'm not supposed to leave the place. If the old man finds out that I've snuck out again, I'll get a matching bruise on the other side of my face. 'Sides, I'm supposed to finish this project for school. Don't know how the hell I'm gonna do that as I haven't even started and it's way overdue, but yeah, I'm supposed to be working on it."

"Maybe I can help you. What's the project?"

Jason looked at him skeptically. "Help me? Why would you want to do that?"

"It's what I've volunteered to do here. So what's the project?"

The other boy seemed to be considering the offer and then finally relented. "It's doing this miniature motor thing with a battery. I'm supposed to hook up the thing so that this light bulb lights up."

"Hey, I did that in school once," Joe said excitedly. "It was cool. I can certainly help you with it."

"You can?" Jason looked at him hopefully.

"Sure, why don't we go to your place now and get started on it?" Joe asked.

"My place? You want to come to my place?" Jason looked at him with uncertainty.

"Why not? That's where you have the stuff, right?"

"Okay, but you gotta leave before my old man comes home. He might not like having a stranger in the house."

Joe nodded. "Sure, no problem. I'll go when you say so. I'll just go and let Carl know what we are doing and then we can be on our way. Sounds cool?"

Jason nodded, suddenly looking a little more relaxed than he had all night. Joe smiled to himself and knew that he had done the right thing.

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.