Biff Hooper scowled as he watched Frank and Joe pull into a parking spot in front of the school and get out. He wasn’t angry at Joe anymore; he was, however, very upset with himself.

Stupid Hooper, he chastised as he started towards the brothers, things should have never gotten this far!  He had been hoping to clear the air with Joe last night, but after his father’s stunning confession he’d been too shocked, and then it was too late; Joe had already left.

Biff had known about his uncle’s death and some of the details surrounding it, but he had never known, until last night, that it was his own father who had been behind that wheel when Gary died or that his uncle had died while still a teen. His father had always told him his younger brother died when Biff was a baby. It gave him a new insight into his Dad’s firm conviction about underage drinking.  And that wasn’t even mentioning his feeling about drinking and driving!!

Biff knew he should have never let his father draw his own conclusions about the beer, just so he could forestall the evitable.  But he had done it so that he could still go to Davis’ party – and what a mistake that had been, too!

Ten minutes into the party, Biff realized he didn’t belong.  And he was no longer sure he even wanted to belong.  All he knew was that he needed to apologize to Joe because he missed his best friend.

“Allan!”  Biff cringed when he heard that name even as he turned to see Davis, Evan and another friend of theirs walking towards him.  “We gotta talk, now!”

Biff glanced across the parking lot to where Joe and Frank had stopped to talk to Chet and Iola, and then sighed.  He’d have to catch Joe later, as he got the very distinct impression that he had no choice about this ‘talk.’

Forcing a smile on his face, Biff shrugged, “Sure, what’s up, Davis?”

“Not here,” Davis growled, grabbing Biff’s arm and leading him around to the back of the school and away from the other arriving students.  The younger teen suddenly got a very bad feeling about this….

* * *

“Hey, Hardys!”  Chet Morton called out to his friends when he saw them getting out of their mother’s car.  “Wait up!”

Frank and Joe stopped and waited for their friend and his sister to catch up.

“Hi Joe,” Iola greeted shyly, and the blond teen gave her a strange look before he answered:

“Hey, Iola.”

Frank turned away so neither would see the barely concealed chuckle.  Iola was so obvious….

Chet didn’t bother to turn away, he grinned even as he said, “Heard your date with Ms. Getty got a bit heated and required half of Barmet Bay to cool it down!”

Immediately Frank turned on his brother, but Joe was one step ahead of him. The younger boy backed away and held up his hands, in mock horror.  “Don’t look at me!  I didn’t blab anything!!  Scout’s honor!”

“You were never a Scout,” Frank growled, embarrassed by Chet’s insinuation.

“Relax, Romeo,” Chet consoled, “Joe didn’t tell me anything!”

“It was Tony!” Iola quickly put in, stepping up to Joe’s defense.

“It was Tony, what?” the Italian youth asked as he crossed the parking lot in time to hear his name mentioned.

“Tony who blabbed about what happened yesterday,” Iola continued as everyone now turned to look at him.

“What?” Tony grinned.  “It happened.  Deny it!”

Frank scowled but before he could say anything, he saw a silver Mustang pull into the parking lot, and Lily waved at him as soon as he saw her.

“Excuse me, guys,” he said as he quickly moved over to her.  She had been badly shaken up by what happened with the speedboat yesterday, and he wanted to make sure she was all right.

“Ah, love is in the air,” Chet quipped as he wrapped one arm around his sister’s shoulders, the other around Joe’s shoulder, and started walking them towards the school. Tony walked beside them, grinning.

Joe just frowned and didn’t say anything.

* * *

As soon as they got behind the school, Davis released Biff’s arm with a shove against the brick wall.  “You whiny little shit – do you have any idea what I do to little boys like you?”
”What are you talking about?” Biff asked, not knowing what was going on.

“Don’t give me that!”  Davis snarled at him, “You turned on me!  Allan, I gave you a sacred trust and what the hell do you do? You betrayed me!!”  The enraged teen grabbed Biff by the shirt and pinned him painfully against the wall.  Evan and Seth, another senior and good friend of the Gettys, stood on either side of Davis, backing him up, and Biff knew he’d stand no chance against the three of them, in a fight.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Biff managed to get out again, before Davis sunk his fist into his stomach, doubling the muscular teen over and knocking the breath out of him.

“Well let me explain it to you.  I’ll use small words so you can understand!” Davis sneered, bending over to talk to Biff.  “I can’t buy beer! In fact, none of my friends can, now – thanks to you and your big mouth!!”

With a sudden clarity, Biff understood!  The guy who had sold him the beer had been busted.

“You told!” Davis continued, pulling Biff back up and bringing back his fist for a follow up punch, but Biff shook his head even as he put up his arm to try and block the blow.

“No…” he gasped, “No…I didn’t tell…” and that was the truth.  He hadn’t, and curiously enough his father had never pressed him about that.  “On my honor…I never told!”

Davis put down his fist and Biff let out a sigh of relief.  “If you didn’t tell, then how’d the police find out?”

Biff shook his head although he already knew.  Joe must have told his father, and Fenton took care of that part of this whole mess.  That would certainly explain why his father never asked him about who had sold him the beer; Ross Hooper already knew the vendor was being shut down….

“Who told?” Davis demanded again, and when Biff still shook his head, he punched him one more time in the stomach, hard, and then let him crumple back down to the ground.

The dark-haired teen eyed the gasping youth and then he looked at Evan and said quietly, “Joe Hardy.”

Evan nodded.  “He was with Biff.”

“And he’s got an annoying knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Davis continued, and then he crouched down next to Biff.  “You wanted in my gang, you’re in….Now get up.  We need to get to class.”

Painfully, Biff hauled himself to his feet and followed Davis and his friends.  He needed to talk to Joe even more now, than ever….

* * *

Joe’s mood did not improve by the time the got to his first class.  He didn’t like feeling jealous but he couldn’t help it.

You’re being childish, he scolded himself as he sat down in a desk, childish and unfair….

He was still thinking about this when the teacher came into the class and smiled, “Good morning, boys and girls….”

Joe grimaced; he hated that greeting.

“I have a special announcement to make.” The teacher gestured towards the door and Joe knew it was going to be a new student even before he saw her.  And he was right.

“Class,” the teacher continued, “I want everyone to make feel welcome our new student.  Callie Shaw.”

A petite, pretty-faced girl with chocolate brown hair and equally brown eyes smiled nervously at them.  Joe heard a few appreciative whistles from the other guys in the class, and had to admit she was very pretty.

“Callie and her family have just moved to Bayport, and I know you will all help her feel comfortable and get settled in. Now Callie, if you would like to take a seat, we can get started.”

The girl looked around, a bit unsure, and then took the empty seat next to Joe.

“Hi,” she said, turning to look at him.  Her smile was friendly although he could see a hint of reservation on her face; she was obviously not very comfortable being the new kid.

“Hi,” he said back, and then sighed and gave her a real smile as he extended his hand.  “Joe Hardy.”

She shook it and then turned to face the front of the class as the teacher began to speak.

Joe did the same, and within minutes the frown was back on his face as he thought about Frank and Lily again.

* * *

Frank was on cloud nine.  He smiled and said hello to everyone as he headed towards his locker to dump his books before going to lunch; he could already see Lily waiting for him there.  And she was the reason why he was feeling so elated.

Except for this last morning period, he and Lily shared the same schedule and she had chosen to sit by him in every class.  She called him ‘her hero’ for keeping his cool during yesterday’s escapade; and left no doubt in anyone’s mind, that she and he were an item with the way she fawned over him and paid attention to everything he did and said.

She made him feel very special….

“Hey hero,” Lily whispered as she gave him a hug and then a soft kiss on his cheek.

Frank blushed, very pleased. “Hungry?” he asked.

“Starved!” Lily admitted and then looped her hand through his arm as they made their way to the lunchroom.

However as soon as they got into the cafeteria, Frank realized he had a dilemma…where was he going to sit?

* * *

Joe got up from his desk and saw the new girl frowning down at her schedule.  So far, except for second period, she had been in all his classes.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as he passed her desk.

The girl sighed and looked at him, giving him a smile when she recognized him from her first class.  “Nothing.  My next period is lunch, that’s all.”

“What have you got against food?” Joe asked, taking in her slight figure and wondering if maybe she didn’t eat!

Callie laughed.  “Nothing!  The food isn’t the problem…” her voice trailed off and Joe caught on right away.

“Ah,” he said, and then smiled, “Come on.  My next period is lunch too. You can sit with me and my friends.  We’re fairly harmless and a step above eating by yourself!”

The girl looked at him, and Joe saw a hint of suspicion cross her face that he couldn’t place, and then she shrugged.  “Sure, why not?  I haven’t exactly got oodles of people lining up to be my lunch date.”

“I don’t know if I’d call this arrangement a lunch date,” Joe teased, “unless you’re into groups and girls!”  Her indignant reply was cut off with a laugh as she realized he was teasing.

And then she stunned him when she just blurted out, “You’re such a flirt.”

“Excuse me?”  He was caught totally by surprise.  “A flirt?”

“Yes,” she admitted, having no trouble looking him in the eye, “I thought you were coming on to me…but you’re not.”

Joe blushed and sputtered, “C-Coming on to you?”

Callie nodded.  “Yeah, but you weren’t.  You were actually just being nice.”

“And nice is bad?” Joe was now totally confused as they left the classroom.

“No, nice is good.  It’s refreshing, actually.”  Callie smiled, her brown eyes twinkled at him.  “But when a good-looking guy is nice, that usually means he’s flirting!”

Joe shook his head, dumbfounded.  He didn’t intend to flirt!

Callie saw the look and bit her lip.  “I’m sorry.  I made you uncomfortable.  I just thought…oh never mind!”

“It’s okay,” Joe said after a moment, “I guess I never really thought about it before.  Might explain a few things, though…” he ended with a mutter, as a sudden vision of Iola Morton popped into his mind.

Was that why Iola acted strange around him sometimes?  Did she think he was flirting with her, when he was being nice?  And then a more disturbing thought entered his mind: Am I flirting with her??

“I’ll understand if you don’t want me to sit with you now…it’s okay,” Callie said, misreading Joe’s silence, but he shook his head.

“Huh? Oh no, that’s okay.  I was just thinking of something.  Anyway, we better hurry or else we’ll get stuck with all the picked-over stuff!” 

Agreeing, and very relieved that she hadn’t offended the first person to be nice to her at Bayport High, Callie hurried to keep up.

“Hey guys, this is Callie Shaw, she’s new to Bayport,” Joe introduced the brunette to his friends as he sat down across from Tony.

“I’m Tony Prito!” Tony greeted first with his most charming smile.  She was pretty.

Callie smiled at him.

“Chet Morton,” Chet said, between mouthfuls of his sandwich.

“I’m Phil,” Phil said, a bit nervously, “Phil Cohen.”

“Hi Phil,” Callie said with a nod.

“And this is Iola Morton, Chet’s sister, and Liz Webling.”  Joe introduced the two girls at the table.  Iola frowned, not sure she liked how familiar this girl seemed to be with Joe…while Liz laughed and indicated the empty chair next to her.

“Here, sit down Callie.  I see you’ve already met the Bayport High unofficial Welcome Wagon.”  When the brown haired girl looked confused, Liz clarified, “Joe Hardy!”

This made everyone laugh, except Iola, as Chet piped up, “He has this way of finding the darndest strays and bringing them home!”

“Hey!” Joe protested indignantly, “I do NOT bring home strays…only lost causes!”

“I think I’m being insulted,” Callie said, even as she sat down next to Liz and laughed. 

“Well, less thinking, more eating,” Chet advised.  “We only have an hour!”

This made everyone laugh, even Iola, as she couldn’t help but quip, “My brother…the mouth.”  She looked directly at Callie.  “One time Joe asked Chet if he could go a whole hour without eating and do you know what my beloved brother said?”

Callie shook her head, relieved that the pretty dark-haired girl was talking to her.  For a few minutes, she picked up some rather unfriendly vibes from her.

“He said, ‘I don’t know, I’ve never tried!’”

“Iola!” Chet grumbled, but then paused as he saw Frank come into the cafeteria.  “Hey there’s Frank!” Joe turned around to see his brother, and Callie followed his gaze.

“Joe’s older brother,” Liz said for Callie’s benefit, but the new girl hardly heard her as she saw the young man coming towards their table – was that Frank?

Tall, dark hair, dark eyes, strong athletic body....Callie gave a little gasp as she felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room; she glanced around the table quickly to see if anyone else noticed.  But they didn’t.  In fact, except for Joe, no one else seemed to be looking at Frank at all, and she couldn’t understand that – he was drop-dead gorgeous!

“About time—” Joe started, and then groaned as he saw Lily was with Frank. He stood up to meet them.

Callie felt her heart plummet when she saw the raven-haired beauty attached to Frank’s arm….

* * *

Davis saw Lily and Frank start towards the table with Frank’s friends,, and he watched in anticipation. This should be good.

Sitting next to him, Biff Hooper found he had no appetite for his lunch.

* * *

“Hey”, Frank greeted Joe, “How were classes?”

“Okay,” Joe said, but before he could say anything else, Lily pulled on Frank’s arm.

“Come on, Frank,” she cooed, giving the others at the table her most charming smile.  “I’m starved.”  She looked back towards her usual table.

“There’s room here,” Joe said quickly, indicating two empty seats, the ones usually occupied by Frank and Biff.  “Sit down and stay awhile.” His tone was cool but not unfriendly.  He didn’t want Frank sitting at the Getty table….

Lily ignored him and looked at Frank, flashing her bright blue eyes.  “Please sit with me…”

“Why don’t we just sit here?” Frank asked, but the beautiful girl just shook her head.

“I can’t,” she admitted, “I’m supposed to sit with Davis…a Daddy rule,” she added apologetically, giving him her most endearing look.

Frank was torn.  He looked at his friends and his brother, and then he looked at Lily and bit his lip.  He wanted so badly to sit with her….

Joe snorted softly and shook his head.  “If it’s really that hard for you to decide, let me make the choice for you.  Go and sit with them, Frank…we don’t care.”  And even though he knew he was lying, Joe turned away and sat back down with his friends, leaving Frank standing open-mouthed behind him – stunned by the vehemence he heard in his brother’s voice.

Lily tugged on his arm. “Come on, Frank,” she whispered, “People are staring.”  And she was right.

Numbly, Frank followed Lily back to her table, too shocked by Joe’s outburst to do anything else.

* * *

Callie frowned as she witnessed what happened.  She came to a couple of quick conclusions: first, she didn’t like this Lily girl, and, secondly, Joe and Frank were not very close brothers.