The 16-year-old girl was beautiful and she knew it. Translucent, pale blue eyes, the color of the heavens; long black hair, its palette borrowed from a raven; fair, perfect complexion, and a figure given to her by the gods themselves…. Lily Getty had everything.

Well not quite everything.

There was only one thing missing, but after today, she’d have that too.

Frank Hardy.

* * *

“No,” the voice of 16-year-old Frank Hardy could be heard across the lunchroom as he moved towards a table, badgered by his 15-year-old brother, Joe.

The table's other occupants looked up at the brothers and grinned. This particular battle of wills had started before class this morning and the other teens were amused to see just how persistent Joe could be and how patient Frank was.

“Why not?”

“Because I said so…”

“Frank!”

“Joe.”

Tony Prito shook his head and moved over to make room for the siblings.  He grinned at Chet Morton, Frank’s oldest friend, and asked, “So how long do you think they’ll keep this up?”

“It’s almost over now,” Chet assured him, and then turned back to his sandwich.  Next to him sat the other two boys who were part of their close-knit group of friends - Biff Hooper and Phil Cohen - and Chet’s younger sister, Iola.  Sometimes Iola’s best friend, Liz Webling, sat with them, but not today.

So the dark-haired beauty was the only girl sitting with them.  And although she was considered very lucky by many a wistful girl, as there were some definite ‘hotties’ at that table, she only had eyes for one….And right now that one was pestering the bejeebers out of his older brother!

Frank sat down across from Chet, and picked up his sandwich. Before he took a bite, he looked at his brother and sighed, “Look little brother, I know you’re anxious to get in some more practice behind the wheel, but not today.  Dad’s car is bigger and doesn’t handle like Mom’s.”

Joe opened his mouth to protest, but Frank cut him off, his voice low but curt.  “And that’s final.”

The blond boy scowled but didn’t say anything.  He recognized his brother’s tone and knew this particular conversation was over with. 

And Frank did have a point. Today, they had taken their father’s car to school, as their mother needed hers for errands and their private investigator father, Fenton Hardy, was out of town on a case.

“Well now that the world is right again,” Chet said as he finished his sandwich and licked his fingers, “anyone interested in giving me a hand tomorrow?”

“Depends,” Biff admitted - although only sixteen, the blond teen was already a powerhouse of muscle and loved to do anything that required physical exertion.  “What would we be doing?”

“Painting, mostly,” Chet said.  “My Dad threw his back out last night and could really use the help.”

“What happened?” quiet, serious, Phil Cohen asked. The least athletic of the group, his strength lay in academics and analytical thinking.

“He started painting the cow barn and slipped on the ladder, throwing his back out when he managed to keep from falling by grabbing on to the eaves trough.”

“Ouch,” sympathized Tony Prito. The Italian youth had hurt his back the prior year doing something very similar but he hadn’t managed to grab anything, and hit the ground hard.  And although he was only sixteen, he still suffered from pains in his back periodically because of it.  “I would but I gotta work.”  His family owned Mr. Pizza’s Pizzaria, and Tony helped there on weekends or after school.

“Thanks, Tony,” Chet said, knowing his friend meant it when he said he would help if he could; and then he looked at his other friends and grinned.  “Mom said she’ll provide the snacks and lunch!”  His mother was a fantastic cook and he was counting on this as added incentive.

Immediately Biff chimed in, “Count me in.”

Phil nodded. “I like painting…but your Mom was the cincher for me!”

Joe shrugged.  “Sure, why not?”  No one really noticed the pleased little blush that crept across Iola’s face when he offered.  And then he looked at his brother and said pointedly, “As long as I can get a ride.”

Frank rolled his eyes and swallowed the bite of sandwich he’d been chewing on.  “I’ll be there.  Someone’s gotta make sure this brat doesn’t paint himself into a corner.”  He was teasing and Joe knew it, and promptly replied by sticking his tongue out - this marked the official end of their ‘car trouble,’ for today, and everything was back to normal.

Although Frank didn’t delude himself; he had no doubts Joe would start again tomorrow.  But who knows, he thought to himself, maybe I will let him drive to the Mortons'.  It’ll be early on a Saturday morning…not much traffic….

The rest of the lunch hour was spent grumbling about the morning classes and deciding to meet at the Mortons' farm by eight a.m.  That got a groan from Joe - he hated mornings, especially early Saturday mornings. There should be some weekend law about the day not being allowed to start until noon!

But he said he’d help, and he really didn’t mind.  He did like Mr. and Mrs. Morton and felt bad that the older man had injured himself.  So he’d get up…well, to be more exact, Frank would get him up, he’d grumble, eat breakfast and they’d go.  And if he was lucky, his brother might even let him drive….

* * *

Frank’s last class of the day was Chemistry, and as he tried to focus on what the teacher was saying, he suddenly got the feeling he was being watched.

Glancing over his shoulder he was surprised to see Lily Getty looking at him.  He smiled, suddenly very self-conscious, and glanced away.  But that was it - his concentration during the rest of class was shot to all bloody hell!

Why is Lily looking at me? He wondered.  Not that he didn’t enjoy her attention…the raven-haired girl was undisputedly the prettiest girl in school, and even seniors embarrassed themselves around her; he was just surprised by it.

At sixteen Frank was already what the girls in school considered a ‘major hottie;' with his looks, combined with his athletic prowess and sharp mind, he was definitely top sought-after boyfriend material. But he was too modest to know it, and actually felt himself somewhat uncomfortable around any girl he found attractive….So he was frequently uncomfortable, and Lily’s current attention was doing nothing to help!

Now Joe was completely different; extremely self-confident to the point of being cocky at times, the blond fifteen-year-old knew he turned heads - he just didn’t really care about it much…yet.

Glancing back at the girl to see if she was still looking at him, Frank felt his face heat up, and then when she smiled at him…oh my, he thought, did it suddenly get hot in here?

“Mr. Hardy?”  The sound of the teacher’s voice forced him to focus on his class again, and he realized that Mr. Sikes must have asked him something because everyone was now looking at him. If it was possible to die of embarrassment, Frank would have welcomed death right now!

Instead he just stammered, “Y-yes Mr. Sikes?”

“I was just going to ask you if you were all right,” the teacher said, coming to stand next to his desk.  “You’re looking a bit flushed.”

Please God, open a hole and swallow me whole, right now!

Frank was saved from having to answer by the resounding ring of the school bell, and the students were out of their desks, dismissing his discomfort immediately.  Well, except for Frank’s best friend, who was also in his class and still looking at him worriedly.

“I-I’m okay,” the older Hardy finally managed, wondering if he looked at stupid as he was feeling.  So what, a girl was looking at him…who cares? Even if it was Lily….

“You sure you’re okay?” Phil demanded when the teacher left, apparently satisfied that his student was not about to have a heart attack, no matter how red his face had become.

Frank stood up from his desk and started to move out of the classroom, shaking his head as he did so.  “That was so embarrassing!”

“Which part?” Phil asked, “The teacher pointing it out to the whole class, or whatever caused it in the first place?”

“Both!” Frank cried exasperatedly.

Phil chuckled.  “So you want to tell me what happened?”

“Lily,” Frank sighed, his face taking on a strange dreamy look for a moment before he added, “I got the feeling someone was watching me and I was right….Lily Getty.”

“Ah,” the shorter boy said, in understanding.  Not only did he understand how Frank felt, because it mirrored his own feelings around members of the opposite sex, but also because it was that particular girl.  “What do you think she wants?”

“I have no idea,” Frank sighed as they headed towards the stairs to go down to the first floor where both their lockers were, “but man oh man…one look from those blue eyes…."  His voice trailed off, and Phil shook his head.  Like almost every other guy in the school, his best friend had it bad for one Ms. Getty.

Frank was halfway down the stairs when suddenly he got a hard shove from behind! He heard Phil yell his name as he made a lunge for him… but it was too late!

He was falling!!

His head hit the bottom step… with a sickening crack….!