hardy boys fan fiction
MAKE A WISH
hardy boys nancy drew fan fiction
by
Cherylann Rivers
Chapter 8
hardy boy fan fiction
THE CHAPTERS
From the outfield, Joe Hardy watched his big brother get yanked out of practice and sit on the bench. Ordinarily, Joe would've loved the opportunity to tease his brother about what a terrible pitcher he was in his old age. Then again, ordinarily, Frank wasn't terrible, or even average, for that matter. Joe was seriously worried about Frank. Ever since Frank and Callie had split up, Frank had really been a basket-case. His normally top-notch grades began to slip, his pitching went down the tubes, he began to withdraw from his friends, and he didn't seem to care about anything. The night that Frank had come home from Callie's was the strangest night that Joe could remember in a long time. Frank looked like he had been crying, and Joe had been shocked. He honestly couldn't remember ever seeing his brother cry; well, other than that time when they had been kids and Joe had had rigged trip wire to the basement stairs to see if it would work. And it had.
In any case, when he asked Frank what had happened, Frank told him, basically, that Callie and Jeff were together and that their relationship was over. Joe had, of course, flipped out, and had gone on a long tirade in which he had cursed out Callie with as many adjectives as he could possibly remember. Strangely, Frank almost started to defend her, but then had said quietly, "Enough, Joe. It's over. That's it" and had gone upstairs. In the following weeks, Frank had literally said nothing else about it, so that was where Joe decided to interject his brotherly duty and to talk for Frank. Pretty soon, the whole school was aware of Callie's actions. Joe had to admit that he did feel a little guilty for spreading the rumors, because, despite their differences, Callie had always seemed to be a good person and a friend. Then again, Joe had learned all too often that appearances were often deceiving.
Joe hadn't been the only one to get on the anti- Callie bandwagon. As he looked around the field, he thought wryly that it was basically a good part of the entire baseball team that had added to a lot of this. Chet was the catcher, and even before the breakup, he had been attacking Callie. Joe didn't like the mention of Iola's name, though, where Chet had implied that Callie had used her death to get sympathy. Iola's name was sacred to Joe, and he was surprised that Chet would bring his sister into it. However, Chet obviously wanted to defend his friend, and if nothing else, Joe could appreciate his loyalty. Joe had noticed, though, that Chet had been spending a lot of time with their relatively new right-fielder, Graig Saunders. Joe only knew Graig in passing- sometimes literally in the outfield- but he had seemed alright. Joe had almost confronted him when Callie and Jeff suddenly disappeared from school, but he had held himself back. He decided that you couldn't be responsible for the actions of your family or be judged by them. At least that's Frank always told him, Joe reflected.
Biff, on the other hand, was acting really strangely. He was a designated hitter for the team, and occasionally played the outfield. Football was really his first love, but he played baseball to keep in shape for the upcoming season. In any event, Biff had, at first, gone along with all the talk about Callie. He had even joked that Frank didn't have to kill Jeff; Callie's father would. Throughout the rest of the week, though, he had kept fairly silent and in the presence of conversation about Callie, he appeared to get angry or upset. Right now, he was throwing around a baseball with Graig. All of a sudden, Joe heard, "Hardy! You better call it!" and he looked up into the glaring light at what appeared to be the world's tallest fly ball. I could probably jog around the field and have lunch by the time this sucker gets down, he thought. Much to his surprise, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Graig running in and trying to call him off. Immediately, Joe's competitive streak hit him and he began to call Graig off. Well, at least something interesting was happening in practice today.
As both boys ran for the ball, Joe reached his glove up and almost caught it in the tip of his glove. Almost. At the same moment, Graig literally stuck out his foot and Joe went flying into the air and onto the ground, allowing Graig to make a nice-looking diving catch. Far away in the infield, Joe heard first the applause for Graig and then the laughter at his expense, and he suddenly jumped up and shoved Graig hard in the chest. "What the hell did you do that for?!" he yelled. Graig, infuriatingly, didn't fight back, which made Joe look like the aggressor. He just appeared to feign shock, and said easily, "Well, I don't know what you're talking about. I guess both you and your brother have issues today. You both have no game - with baseball, or girls, I hear. Didn't Chet's sister run off on you before she died, like Callie did to Frank? Man..." With that, Joe threw a hard punch at Graig's face, sending him reeling back.
The next thing Joe knew, about four of his teammates were on top of him holding him down, and the rest were gathered around Graig, who of course, acted every bit the innocent victim. From the infield, it probably did look like Joe had started this. As Joe started to protest, he heard the coach exclaim, "Practice is over! Go home. Be prepared for a long one tomorrow. We'll be looking for a new center-fielder!" With that statement, Joe Hardy found himself off the team.
***
At Vanessa's later that night, Joe couldn't be consoled. It's not like he could tell Vanessa exactly what comment had made him so angry, but he could express his anger and frustration about the fight and being kicked off the team. The coach had given him a suspension "indefinitely" until he could decide a punishment adequate enough for his satisfaction. One person, though, could understand his frustration, and would believe him. Turning to Vanessa with an apologetic look, he said, "Vanessa, I've had a horrible day. I really need to talk to Chet. I can't believe that he would side with Graig over me. Do you mind if I go? I swear, I'll make it up to you."
Vanessa shook her head slowly. Things were going from bad to worse. First Callie, then Frank, now Joe. Was everyone going crazy? Then, seeing the look on Joe's face, she melted a bit. "All right. Go ahead. I'll help you think of ways to make it up to me." With a smile, Joe leaned over and kissed her. "You're the best." "I know," was the response.
About ten minutes later, Joe found himself in Chet's living room, making small talk with Chet's mother. A few minutes later, Chet appeared in the doorway, and Mrs. Morton made a graceful exit out of the room. The two boys looked at each other warily.
Finally, Joe broke the silence. "Look, Chet. I have to know- you do believe that Graig started the argument, don't you? I have to tell you what he said before..."
Chet cut him off. "Joe, I want to believe you, but Graig said that you made up some story about" -he hesitated- "about Iola, and I mean, he's been a good guy so far, and I can't believe you'd do that."
Joe stood shocked. Iola's name was the one subject that they had both avoided in the past year. Joe shuddered. It was almost as if Iola's presence was around more than ever these past few weeks. Still, Joe managed to continue. "You're right, Chet. I wouldn't do something like that. Believe me if you want to, but it was GRAIG who talked about Iola, and how she left me before she- you know- that day" he faltered
Chet sighed, and the anger seemed to melt away from him. He suddenly looked like the old Chet Joe had known since kindergarten. "Alright. I'm sorry, Joe. I have to believe you, I guess. I mean, you've seen me through my jalopy days. I guess you're telling the truth. It's just that things have been so weird lately. I mean, it was Iola's birthday, and then Graig and his cousin show up, and then Callie and Frank break up. I don't know. Callie turned out to be pretty miserable, didn't she? I mean talking about Iola, cheating on Frank..."
"Talking about Iola? What are you talking about?" Joe was puzzled.
"Oh, never mind. It's a long story. Let's just say that Graig and I decided to protect Iola's memory and to teach Callie a lesson. I can't believe she'd hurt me like that. Oh, well. It's taken care of."
Joe had rarely been so confused in his entire life. "Teach her a lesson? What are you talking about? Callie and Jeff are who knows where, but... did you have something to do with this? What lesson? What do Callie and Iola have to do with one another?"
Before Chet could respond, there was a sudden ringing of his doorbell. Joe followed Chet to the door, and there, right out front, stood a very confused looking Frank Hardy and a pale Biff Hooper. Biff stepped though the doorway and said, in a voice altogether unlike him, "Guys, we all need to talk. Now."
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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.