It had been a quiet day at the Hardy home in Bayport. Frank was sitting on the couch watching his favourite TV program, Baywatch. His father was in his office working on his new case. Frank offered his help but his father said it wasn’t that big of a deal, and that he could handle it by himself. Fenton urged Frank to enjoy his summer holiday and try to stay out of trouble.

So, Frank decided to hang out and relax for a change. His brother Joe was still out, probably playing basketball or hanging out with his girlfriend, Vanessa. Frank’s girlfriend Callie was out of town with her family for some family reunion.

As Frank flipped through channels he could hear his mother come home.

“Is anybody home?” Laura said as she dragged a heavy bag of groceries into the house.

“Need some help?” Frank asked. His mother handed him one of the bags.

“Yes please honey, could you take this to the kitchen for me? I have eight more bags in the car.”

“You go sit down, have some coffee.” Frank said to his mother  “I’ll take care of them.”

Laura paused then nodded her head and went to the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee. She was exhausted. Shopping for groceries was the most boring thing she ever did.

“Are your father and brother home?” Laura asked taking a sip from her coffee.

“Dad’s in his office, but I haven’t seen Joe. He’s probably out with Vanessa.”

“Have you gotten your report card yet?”

“Yes, I have. I did well.” Frank said smiling.

“Like you always do sweaty! Can I have a look?” Frank nodded his head and went to his room to get it.

His mom read it over and smiled. Frank had always done well at school and was a straight- A student. She was really proud of him.

“Fenton get in here. Have you seen Frank’s report card yet? We have to celebrate; maybe take the boys out for dinner or something nice.”

Fenton came out of his office and took a look at the report card.

“I’m very proud of you son! This is outstanding work. With these grades you can do whatever you want to do and you’ll get into any college you want to attend. Very good Frank, very good.”

 Frank was glad to get the complements from his father but something in his voice wasn’t right.

“Is something the matter Fenton?” Laura asked, sensing the same thing as Frank.

“Well… the school called. Joe didn’t do as well as Frank. As a matter of fact --he did lousy. If he keeps that up next semester his teachers say that he won’t get to graduate.”

“Oh my God! That’s awful.” Laura frowned.

“So that’s why he isn’t home,” Frank thought, “He’s to aafraid to face mom and dad.”

“Yes this is bad. We will have to talk to him when he gets home. Get him to see the reality in this. Maybe even force him to make some changes in his life.”

“What kind of changes?” Frank asked.

“We’ll talk about it as soon as Joe gets home.”

“Talk about what?” Joe had already arrived at home and was standing in the doorway of the living room.

“How you are doing in school Joe. Mrs. White called earlier this day to talk about your grades.”

“Oh,” Joe said, and took a seat. “It’s not as bad at it looks. I can make up the grades. It’s just been a hectic semester and it’s been hard to stay on track.”

 His father sat next to him and put his arm around Joe’s shoulder.

“I know son, but school is important. School comes first. Do you understand what I am telling you?”

Frank could sense what was coming up and he didn’t like it one bit.

“I’m not sure I’m following what you’re saying dad.”

“I am saying, Joe, that school comes before cases. I am saying that until your grades are better I don’t want to you doing any detective work at all.”

 Joe pushed his father’s arm off his shoulder and stood up.

“I can’t believe you’re saying that!” He was getting angry.

“Easy Joe.” Frank said. He knew his brother’s temper.

“I am serious Joe.” Fenton said. “I don’t want you to do anything for the next eight months except studying. Maybe some form of summer school or summer lessons might be a good idea.”

“SUMMER SCHOOL! No way, dad.” Joe yelled, “I am not going to summer school. I am going to the beach with my friends and I am going to have some fun.”

“No you are not Joe.” Fenton was also getting mad. “You are going to have to take school more serious.” Fenton was about to say more when Joe stormed out of the living room and slammed his bedroom door. Frank sat still on the couch in sheer shock. He hadn’t seen his father yell at either one of them since they were kids. Laura stood up and was going after Joe but Fenton stopped her.

“Let him be Laura. Let him think about this for a while. You too Frank- don’t meddle in this. I know you two are close but this doesn’t involve you. Your mother, you and I are all going out for dinner tonight. Joe can stay at home and reflect on the way he behaved today. Hopefully he will realise that summer school is actually not a bad idea.”

In his room Joe was lying on his bed. Tears were streaming down his face as he wallowed in his pity. A part of him knew that his dad was only acting out of concern for his future. However, forbidding Joe to be who he was, a detective, was too much for him to handle. The only feelings going through his system at that point was anger and frustration.

Joe could hear Frank walk up the stairs, but instead of coming to his room to see how he was doing Frank went straight to his room and closed the door.

Joe sat up on his bed, shocked. Frank had abandoned him as well- Frank of all people! Joe heard Frank turn on the shower in the bathroom the two boys shared.

Joe was feeling very alone at that time-not even his mother came to see him.

“I’ll show them.” He thought as he put his stereo on.

“Are you two ready? We have a dinner reservation in twenty minutes and if we don’t leave now we will be late.” Fenton was waiting for his older son and his wife to join him on a night out. He had made plans to invite them to Galileo for a gourmet meal.

“I am ready!” Laura said as she walked down the stairs and took her husband’s hand. She looked just as beautiful as the first time he saw her, with her blonde hair and blue eyes-- she was stunning.

“I am ready, too.  Let’s go.” Frank joined his parents as they walked out of the house and got into Fenton’s car.

As soon as Joe was sure his parent’s were gone he came out of his room. He walked to the kitchen and made himself several sandwiches.

 He also took out some fruits from the fridge and a bottle of water and shoved it all into his backpack. He decided to travel lightly. He only took with him the clothes on his back, one for a change, all the cash he could find in his room and his father’s credit card just in case he’d get into trouble.

As soon as Joe got everything he thought he might need he looked over his home one more time. On the bookshelf Joe saw a picture of his entire family taken last Christmas.

They were sitting under the Christmas tree smiling. Joe felt sad. He didn’t believe he was doing this! He never thought he would ever run away, but there he was- all packed up filled with hatred towards his father and his mom and Frank, for that matter, too. It’s not like they tried to help him or comfort him in any way. No-- they just ignored him and went on to their nice family dinner, their perfect family dinner and left the black sheep at home. He knew that he was behaving like a five -year -old, but he didn’t care. The only thing he could see in all of this were them being mean to him.

“Summer school?! Hell NO. I am not going to open a book this summer. They’ll see!” he said to himself and walked out of the house.

It was getting dark outside and he knew that he didn’t have much time. The bus to New York would leave from Bayport station in 30 minutes and he had to walk. He thought about taking the van but his father wouldn’t have much trouble finding him if he did. All he would have to do is have it reported stolen and someone would pick him up sooner or later.

As he walked down the street he thought about the movie Dead Man Walking and smiled. Although no one was around he felt as though thousand eyes were on him. Every step he took was a heavy one. As he walked past Vanessa’s house he looked up at her window. The light was still on and he could see Vanessa sitting in front of her computer. He wanted to say goodbye to her, but he knew that if he would imply to her what he was doing she would talk him out of it. He just couldn’t take the chance. When he would get to see her again he didn’t know, but for the first time since he decided to runaway he felt guilt piling up.

The dinner out wasn’t what Fenton had in mind. Frank was feeling sad the entire time and Laura was worried. After receiving their dinner they ate it as fast as they could, paid the check and headed to the car. On the drive home Frank was wondering if his brother was still up. He had a bad feeling in his stomach that something was wrong but he didn’t want to say anything to his parents.

“Why don’t we see is if Joe is awake when we get home and we can all talk about what happened? I don’t want to go to sleep with this still hanging over my head,” Laura said and looked at her husband.

“No let’s leave him alone.” Fenton said, and Frank and Laura got the impression that this subject was not to come up again. So when they got home they each went to their room and fell asleep.

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.