Vicki Silver walked into her room and collapsed onto her bed. Her two friends entered behind her, carrying shopping bags. Vicki had simply dropped her one bag onto the floor by the door.

“That’s the last time I go shopping with you,” Vicki commented to Catlin Stage, “It’s too tiring.” Vicki had recently turned eighteen. She had long, light brown hair and blue eyes. She stood a total of three inches over her five foot five best friend.

“You’re just jealous that I found more outfits than you,” Catlin remarked. The sixteen-year-old had jet-black hair and dark brown eyes. The best way to describe Catlin was…fashion queen…or boy-crazy.

“Or maybe she just doesn’t like shopping,” Vicki shot back.

“We were only there for five hours,” C. J. Summers said, obviously teasing her best friend. C. J. was eighteen like Vicki and stood at five foot six. She had dark brown hair and deep brown eyes.

“Unlike you, I can’t handle two hours of looking for jewelry for Prom,” Vicki told her, “I’m as excited about going as you are C. J, but I shouldn’t have to make every accessory the exact same color.”

“Don’t you want the perfect outfit,” Catlin asked, “Joe’s going to absolutely love the dress you picked out.” Vicki couldn’t argue with her friend there. Joe Clark, her boyfriend, was going to love the dress that she had chosen and bought a few weeks before. She looked to where it hung behind her bedroom door.

“Sure,” Vicki agreed, “but three more hours of picking out outfits for you wasn’t my idea of a good time. Or did you not notice that you have ten times as many shopping bags as me? And also consider that you’re not even going to Prom. Besides, there’s still five days left until Prom anyway.”

“You know we should have gone shopping for everything else a few weeks ago,” C. J. pointed out. Tired of the arguing, Vicki decided to change the subject.

“Have you guys seen that new movie yet,” Vicki asked, “The one with Brian Timor?” Her friends groaned at this.

“That new spy movie,” Catlin questioned, “No thanks, I prefer the romances, no matter how cute Brian is.” Vicki was about to go into an explanation of the movie’s well-written plot when she was interrupted by the doorbell ringing downstairs.

“I’ll get it,” she told her friends. There wasn’t anyone else home, so she really didn’t have a choice anyway. She exited her room and rushed down the stairs.

When she opened the door however, no one was in sight. She was about to go back upstairs when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Reaching down, Vicki picked up a single red rose with a piece of folded paper attached to it. Looking around quickly, she saw only the empty street. Shrugging, she closed the door and went back upstairs.

“Who was it,” C. J. asked. The Silver family rarely got visitors and they were usually for her parents, who were both lawyers and were recently out of town on vacation.

“Nobody was there,” Vicki told C. J. and then held up the rose, “but I found this outside the door.” It was then that she noticed that ‘Vicki’ was written on the paper in gold lettering.

“Who is it from,” Catlin asked. Vicki could only imagine the romantic thoughts that were going through Catlin’s head at the moment, “Is it from Joe?”

“I don’t know, it’s not really his style,” Vicki replied, “He’d rather see the look on my face when I get it.”

“Aren’t you going to read the note,” C. J. asked. Vicki shot her a glare that clearly said that she was getting to it.

“Of course I am,” Vicki said, “I’m just as curious as to who it is as you are.” She carefully opened the note and read it quickly, “It says ‘Save the last dance for me’. There’s no name.”

“That doesn’t tell us anything,” Catlin complained.

“Why don’t you call Joe,” C. J. suggested, “I think he would have left his name on them, but I’m not sure. Might as well see.”

Vicki had no hesitation in calling her boyfriend. It was a few moments before he answered.

 “Hey Vicki,” Joe answered, recognizing her name on the caller id.

“Joe, did you deliver flowers to my house,” she asked, wanting to get the questions over with as soon as possible.

“No, I just got home,” he replied, “I had to pick up my tux for Prom. What’s this about flowers though?”
  “Someone left a single red rose with a note that read ‘Save the last dance for me.’ There wasn’t a name. I was hoping that it was from you.”

“Well, it wasn’t,” Joe told her, “I wish I could tell you that it was.” He was about to continue, but at that moment something sailed through Vicki’s window, “What was that?” Vicki slowly picked up the phone from where she had dropped it in surprise.

“I don’t know,” she answered, “Hold on a minute.” C. J. and Catlin stood from where they had dropped to the ground to protect themselves. Catlin appeared to be more shaken by the incident that C. J.

Vicki approached the small object that had been thrown. It was a small see through box. A closer look revealed that inside was a corsage weighted down with a rock. She was startled to see that the flower inside was dead, the now off-white petals falling off. A note was taped onto the top of the box. It read ‘This dance just may be your last.’

“Joe, I think we have a problem,” she spoke into the phone, “I think they’re after me…for keeps.”

 

 

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.