HDA - Classified Secrets by Cherylann Rivers Introduction

Vanessa Bender sat in her bedroom the next morning and looked out the window, lost in thought. Late last night, Callie had spoken with her and told her the coincidence of the death at Elmwood High School and the fact that the first girl who had died there had written a response to the "Prince Charming" ad. Personally, Vanessa wasn’t too worried at all about it. She was sure that the two weren’t connected in any way. She had even told Callie that she was actually glad that someone else besides her had written to this guy!

Vanessa shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, and turned to the picture that sat on the top of her dresser. Slowly, she lifted it into her hands and gazed at it, her own eyes filling up with tears. It was a picture of her and Joe last New Year’s Eve, at a party they had attended together. Whenever Joe looked at that picture, he’d always laugh and say that night was so special because it was the first time he’d actually gone out and bought a new suit for any occasion, and clearly he had been the best looking guy in the room. Vanessa would always roll her eyes at that, but she couldn’t help but to laugh back at Joe’s infectious, if silly, brand of humor. The real reason that picture was so special was because it was the first time that Joe Hardy had told Vanessa that he loved her. Every time Vanessa had seen that picture, a warm feeling had come over her. Now, however, it simply broke her heart to look at it.

Vanessa took a few minutes and allowed herself to cry alone in her room. Never in a million years would she tell anyone how devastated she was that Joe wasn’t with her anymore. She had always prided herself on be guarded, and Joe was the one person with whom she had let that guard totally down. Now, as the sorrow made her heart ache, she realized that walls were built in the first place for a purpose-- to last. She hadn’t wanted to love Joe Hardy. Quite frankly, she hadn’t even wanted to like him at first. He seemed too cocky, too vain, and too sarcastic to want to get to know. It had taken her less than a week, though, to realize that was only a front. Joe had been one of the most fun-loving and upbeat people she had ever known, and all his talk of how "hot" he was or what a great athlete he was served only to make others laugh. Now, though, she wished she hadn’t tried to get to know that side to him.

As Vanessa continued to cry silently, she held a pillow to her face and wiped her tears on them. No, Joe hadn’t come to her and told her that he was with Iola, but his evasive behavior and lack of communication made it all too obvious. "I’m an idiot," she muttered raggedly to herself, trying to catch her breath. Vanessa was learning that nice guys did seem to finish last. She had helped Iola at Lazarus. She hadn’t asked Joe to make a decision. She had offered friendship and support, and all she had asked for in return was honesty, which is the one thing she hadn’t gotten. She’d even told Joe, "I can understand why you still love Iola, and I can’t interfere with that." "Idiot!" she said quietly, again. "Why didn’t I just throw him into her arms? It would have been less painful."

Suddenly, Vanessa sat up straight. She inhaled slowly, and rubbed her eyes dry of tears. "No!" she said loudly, to assert herself. She knew she had to convince herself of her own words, so she could move on. "I will not be mean. Joe can have Iola. I hope they are both happy." Vanessa stuck out her tongue in disgust at the thought, but she really did believe positive affirmations made a difference in one’s life. It wasn’t working. So, she said the one thing that she finally did allow herself to believe. "Vanessa Bender, you deserve better than this." She paused. "Now go get it."

Vanessa grabbed this morning’s newspaper from her bed and flipped immediately to the Classifieds section, which she had done for the past several days in a row. She knew it was silly. Her chances of being contacted by this guy were slim to none. Still, she had tried it to get her mind off Joe. Since that tactic hadn’t worked, she then looked at this as a kind of amusement. Now, though, she felt herself daydreaming of her Prince Charming, whomever he may be, and hoping that someone would come and rescue her and treat her like a princess. She knew this was a fantasy, but she needed something to keep her going in these bleak days. Her handsome prince’s face, though, kept blending in with that of Joe’s , and her dream gown kept fading into the numerous advertisements on these pages for Prom dresses, which she obviously wouldn’t be needing. Still, she kept reading, wondering what the new "requirements" would be. Today’s ad was a little different. It read:

"SWM seeking SF.

Prince Charming has not yet found his Princess!

Tell me that someone fits my requests:

511 red roses in your dream garden

11 times of 12 you give smiles for no reason

love French fries and English muffins?

believe in secret chambers of the heart.

Are you my Cinderella?"

Vanessa found herself fascinated by these cryptic descriptions. This guy must be incredibly exotic, she couldn’t help but to think to herself. Blushing again at actually doing this, Vanessa sat down to write her request to the mystery man. Maybe this time, she surmised, I’ll send a picture. Slowly, she began, in her neatest handwriting, "Dear Prince Charming…."

Later that evening, the Hardys, Callie, and Iola returned back to Bayport from Texas. Iola kept chattering to Joe about how nice the trip had been, and how lovely it had been to get away, and Joe was soaking in every word, just glad to have spent time with her. He was a little anxious to get back to what was turning out to be a pretty interesting lead in their case, but he knew that he couldn’t ask Iola to stop talking. After all, he had missed the sound of her voice for so long. So, he sat with her in his living room, listening to her stories and trying to concentrate on every word.

Callie, however, was sitting on the back porch of the Hardy’s home trying specifically not to listen to Iola. She knew Iola was excited to be spending time with Joe, but there was a very important potential case here, and she wanted to sort things through with Frank and Joe. Now was not the time for chitchat, but if Joe wasn’t going to say anything, neither was Callie. She was already on Joe’s bad side. She had excused herself and gone to the back of the house. Although dark out, she could see the starts twinkling in the distance, and it calmed her. She closed her eyes and inhaled the sweet scents of the spring season.

The next thing she knew, she felt arms enclose her waist from behind, and, without opening her eyes, she knew immediately that it was Frank. She placed her hands over his and leaned back against him. Callie gave herself an instant to enjoy the moment, and thought, "Now this is how is should be all the time. No detective work, no danger. Just us."

Finally, Frank spoke. "Penny for you thoughts?" he asked quietly.

Callie opened her eyes, leaned her head upward against Frank’s shoulder, and smiled. Then, she turned around, stood on her toes, and kissed him. She again allowed herself a few minutes to stay in the moment and to enjoy the warmth and comfort of her boyfriend, but, finally, she forced herself free of Frank’ arms.

"Hey!" he said jokingly. "I was enjoying that!"

Callie sighed contentedly. "MMMM…." Then she covered her mouth as Frank laughed at her. "Did I just sigh out loud?!" she asked. Then she grinned back at him. "Yeah, I enjoyed it, too."

"Well, then…." He continued, reaching out for her again, "come here!"

"Sorry, buddy. No can do!"

"Why?" Frank pushed.

"Because I just had a "Callie is your girlfriend" moment of weakness. But now we need to have a "Callie is a friend" moment of detective talk."

Frank playfully ruffled her hair. "Okay, partner, pal, buddy…. Let’s talk, then."

Callie couldn’t help but laugh, as much as she wanted to talk to him. "Okay. Let’s go up to your room. I want to show you something."

"Now we’re talking!" Frank joked with her.

Callie retorted, "We’re in FRIENDS mode, now, remember! And what I want to show to you is on your computer!"

Together, they walked into the house and up the stairs, both of them passing by a still smiling Joe and a still talking Iola.

In Frank’s room, Callie sat on the bed while Frank booted up his computer. She spoke up first. "Frank, I’m kind of upset about what we found in Texas. Do you… do you think there’s more?"

Frank sighed. "I hope we’re wrong here, Callie, but you know I need to check this out."

In Texas, they had visited the site of the first Meningitis case in Stockton West Maynard High School. It turned out that the first student to die there, and the one who had initially contaminated the others, was a seventeen year old student. After some investigating, they found out that the girl, Ami Woodson, had recently broken up with a boyfriend. Frank and Joe had visited one of the girl’s friends, who had supplied them with that tip. She had also inadvertently added wistfully, "That’s why she had even started answering those stupid personal ads." With that, it hadn’t taken long to find out that Ami, too, had ‘gone on a trip with a friend’ a few days before her return to school. The "Prince Charming" ad now had a connection to two of the four high schools hit. They were both concerned.

"Frank, log onto the internet. Maybe we can trace the names of the first people to die in the other two schools. That will at least give us a lead before we know what course of action to take next."

"My thoughts exactly," he responded.

As soon as the screen popped up, both Callie and Frank could only stare. The first headline read, "Breaking News…. Quebec, Canada hit by Terrorism!" Frank clicked on the mouse to get the story. It took him only instants to realize that this was his father’s case again. This time, there were two major bombings, again involving several hundred people, that had been set to go off in a busy museum at noon. The mysterious Latin inscription had again been found nearby.

"Oh, Frank," Callie said softly.

"Something’s wrong," Frank responded, quickly. He looked at his girlfriend. "Callie, there have been too many bombings too close together. At this point, well over one thousand people from all over the world have been killed by some crazy terrorist group!" His voice raised. "And my father is right in the middle of it."

"Frank…"

"No, Callie!" He stood up. "This is crazy. I’ve got to try and reach him!"

"Shhhh…" she said, standing up next to him and giving him a hug. "I’m sure your dad will call. The best thing you can do now is to try and help a totally different set of people- kids our age. I think we’re onto something here, Frank. I really do. Although…" she hesitated, "I am getting really scared about these attacks. I mean, who knows where terror could strike next?"

Frank gave Callie a gentle squeeze, and sat down again. He was really frustrated, but Callie was right. There was nothing he could do for his father except to pray, and he’d be sure to do a lot of that. Shaking his head in disgust, he proceeded, along with Callie, to look up the names of the other High Schools that had been afflicted with Meningitis. Much to their dismay, they found that the first other two victims had both been Senior girls. It took Frank only about 20 minutes or so to hack into the attendance records of the high schools. To his horror, he found out that both girls, again, had been absent only days before their return to school with Meningitis.

"That means…" Callie began, trembling.

"Yeah," Frank cut in. "It means that if we were to go to those High Schools, chances are excellent that both of these girls probably would have responded to the "Prince Charming" ads.

They looked at each other.

"We should tell Joe this, right away," Frank began.

"I agree."

As they were about to log off, Frank saw that another headline was flashing. Underneath the announcement for the terrorist attacks in Canada, Frank read the latest news flash.

It read, "Fifth High School Horror occurs! Five Dead in Florida High School."

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation, The authors 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 them without express permission of the authors.