Joe was already at his locker when he heard someone scream “FRANK”

Moving quickly towards the stairs, he pushed his way through the growing crowd of teens huddled around a still figure lying on the floor. It was Frank!

Dropping to his knees, he quickly checked his brother’s neck and found his pulse, strong and steady. Letting out a sigh of relief he gently shook Frank’s shoulder even as he heard shouts for the school nurse resonating around them. 

“Frank, bro? Come on, big brother…open your eyes!  Snap out of it!”  His voice was tinged with growing panic but all he got, in response, was a low groan.

He felt someone else kneeling beside them and glancing over, was shocked to see a very beautiful raven-haired girl with a pale face.  Of course he knew who she was, he just wondered why she was here.

“I’m so sorry,” she mumbled, reaching out to run her fingers gently across the unconscious teen’s forehead.  “Ohmygod - this is all my fault!”

“What are you talking about?” Joe demanded as the school nurse arrived, and he was gently pulled back so the nurse could assess his brother.  Lily stood with him and turned translucent blue eyes on the younger boy.

“I-I was on the stairs,” she stammered, “and I tripped--"

“You knocked my brother down the stairs!” Joe’s voice was loud and incredulous; his blue eyes flashing with anger.  He didn’t care how beautiful she was; she pushed his brother down the stairs!

“It was an accident!” she cried and then covered her face with her hands and broke down.

The blond teen watched in a horrid fascination as the girl fell apart, and, although normally he would have felt some need to ease her distress and try and console her…he didn’t.  Instead he knelt back down next to the school nurse and looked anxiously at his brother.

Frank still hadn’t regained consciousness.

“He’ll need to go to the hospital,” the nurse said, her voice gentle as she saw the distressed look on the fifteen-year-old’s face.  “You might want to call your folks.”

“Can - can I go with him?” Joe asked, his voice sounding small; but the nurse shook her head.

“I’m sorry, but you’re not old enough,” and then before he could protest, added, “I’ll go with him.”

Joe felt someone’s hand squeeze his shoulder, and glanced up to see Phil hovering behind him.  Frank’s best friend looked as shaken as Joe felt.

“I’ll drive you,” he offered.  He felt horrible for not being able to stop his friend’s fall.

Joe nodded and stayed next to Frank, offering him support with soft words, not caring what anyone thought - he was terrified that his brother was seriously hurt!  And only when he heard Biff’s booming voice directing the paramedics to them, did he stand and move away.

“He’s going to be okay, isn’t he?” Joe asked no one in particular and while he felt many sympathetic looks, no one answered him.

* * *

Lily watched the stretcher moving down the hall with the still unresponsive Frank Hardy securely strapped in it.

Brushing a tear from her cheek, she accepted a tissue and then moved to the girls’ bathroom to compose herself.  In all honesty, she was a little shaken….

She had pushed Frank down the stairs, but she hadn’t expected him to actually fall!  Lily had been positive he would either grab the rail or someone would grab him!  And then she could have thanked him for stopping her own fall, so gallantly, and that would have been the opening she needed.

But no, he had to hit his head and was injured - possibly severely!

Stupid Lily, she chastised, what good is a dead trophy?

Reapplying her lip gloss, she pursed her lips and stared at the reflection in the mirror, always pleased by what she saw; but then she frowned.

The younger brother’s reaction was a bit unsettling.  She had expected him to fawn all over her and comfort her, like most any of the other guys in school would have leapt at the opportunity to.  But he didn’t - instead he was angry at her!

Hmmm, she mused, that might be a problem.

“Oh well,” she smiled once again at the reflection, “little brothers…nothing I can’t handle.”

And then she left the bathroom.  She needed to get to the hospital.

* * *

“Joe? What happened?”  The blond teen stood up from where he was sitting, seeing his mother hurrying into the hospital waiting room, and towards him.

Blond haired and blue-eyed like her younger son, Laura Hardy’s pretty face was pinched with worry.

“He was pushed down the stairs,” the teen admitted sourly - still very angry at Lily.

Laura put her arms around the angry youth and gave him a tight hug.

“I’m sure he’ll be okay, sweetie,” she whispered reassuringly, as much for herself as for him, and then released him and hurried to the triage desk to see if there was any word on Frank.

Still upset but feeling better now that his mother was here, Joe sat back down beside his other friends who had shown up at the hospital - Phil, of course, but also Biff, Chet and Iola. Even Tony was there, after calling his father and telling him what happened, and that he’d be in to work as soon as they got some word on Frank.

It felt like an eternity before Dr. Greenland, a large black man, came out to talk to them.  He pulled Laura and Joe to the side so he could speak with them privately.

“Well, the good news is that he is awake, lucid and will be fine,” he smiled at them and Laura looked at her son and gave him a relieved smile.

“And the bad news?” Joe ventured, noting the doctor’s choice of words implied a ‘but’.

“But the bad news is that he did sustain a concussion, a mild one - but he is concussed either way,” he admitted, “So I want to keep him overnight for observation, and provided nothing comes up - and I am anticipating nothing--" he rushed to assure them, “he can go home in the morning.”

“Thank goodness,” Laura said, smiling brightly.  A mild concussion was getting off rather lightly from a fall down the stairs.  “When can we see him?”

“He’s being moved to a room as we speak, so if you want to come with me…” he was already starting to walk away, and the Hardys followed him but not before Joe called back to his friends.

“Frank’s all right!  Mild concussion - he’ll be home in the morning!”

The blond boy heard the loud exhalations of relief as he followed the tall doctor through the double doors that automatically shut behind him.

All he wanted to do was see his brother.

* * *

Lily smiled as she walked into the waiting room just in time to hear Joe’s announcement.  Her relief was genuine - Frank was going to be all right!

* * *

“Hey big brother,” Joe grinned down at the pale figure lying on the bed.  “You scared the crap out of me!”

“Sorry,” Frank mumbled, his voice sounding weak but clear.  “Watch that last step… man, it’s a doozy.”

“Always the funny man,” Joe muttered, and then grinned as he reached out and squeezed his brother’s hand, relieved to hear Frank’s attempt at a wise-crack.

“Oh sweetie,” Laura gushed as she leaned over and gave her son a gentle kiss on his forehead, “you gave us a nasty fright.”

“I gave myself a nasty fright,” Frank admitted, and then winced as talking did nothing to help the pounding in his forehead.  He smiled weakly at the concern he saw on his mother and brother’s faces.  “I’m okay…bit of a headache.”

“I bet,” Joe chuckled softly - always amazed at his brother’s ability at understatement.

“What happened, anyway?” Frank asked after a moment.

“What do you remember?” Joe asked first.

The older boy screwed up his face and then shrugged, regretting that action almost immediately as everything seemed to shoot new pain through his head.  “Stairs…being pushed…falling.”

“Well that pretty much sums it up, in a nutshell,” Joe admitted and then sighed, “It was Lily Getty.”

“What?” Frank didn’t know if his brother actually said what he thought he said, or if it was because of the concussion - did his brother just insinuate that Lily pushed him?

“She says it was an accident,” Joe scowled, not sure whether to believe her or not, “that she knocked into you when she almost fell down the stairs.”

“You don’t sound convinced,” Frank said, closing his eyes.

Joe shrugged and said casually, “I’m always suspicious when my brother gets hurt.”

Opening his eyes again, the older boy gave him an affectionate look but didn’t say anything.  While he and Joe were close, they weren’t normally given to open displays.

“You look exhausted, honey,” Laura said when Frank closed his eyes again and let out a heavy sigh.  “Why don’t you try to get some sleep while your brother and I grab a bite to eat in the cafeteria.”

“S’good idea,” the older boy mumbled, already half asleep.  And then he was asleep before they even left the room.