A/N: I'm sorry if you think that this is out of character, but this is how I see it. They're about 15 or 16 years old and they have their crushes on each other, for the first parts. I know that whenever I've had a crush, I get kind of nervous and I don't act exactly like myself. I thought that it would be a fun idea to have Nancy be a bit nervous and I've always seen Frank as somebody who's awkward when it comes to relationships and girls and everything in between.
I got a review, by Caranath, saying that I should edit this chapter, add a few things, make everything more clear, etc. so I'm adding a few things. But the things that I'm adding don't really change anything so you don't have to reread this chapter unless, of course, you'd like to. It's pretty much the same deal though.
If I get any more reviews I may add another chapter, depending on whether the reviews are positive feedback or negative feedback. If there's anything that is unclear to you, please do not hesitate to ask for an explanation or to ask if I could change something.
Thank you for putting up with me and my stories. :) Please review!
Nancy had just opened up her locker when she heard a bang. She quickly closed it and looked in horror at the sight before her. A handsome kid, who looked about her age, lay sprawled on the ground on top of his backpack.
"Not again," she muttered quietly to herself. She shrunk down and let her backpack slip off of her arms. The boy started to shake his head and she readily stuck her hand out and apologized. "I'm so sorry."
The teenager grabbed her hand and Nancy pulled him up. "You must be the new guy," Nancy concluded.
"Word sure travels around here fast, doesn't it?" he chuckled.
"Yeah. I mean, that's what you get for living in a small town and going to such a small high school," Nancy laughed slightly, slinging her backpack over one shoulder. "Where are my manners?" she asked herself, hitting her forehead lightly with the palm of my hand. "How are you? Are you alright? I can see that you don't have a concussion, but I can't exactly tell if you're hurting because, if you are, you are a fabulous actor or you lie a lot."
"Nah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it," he smiled, looking into her eyes with a dazed glint in his own. "How do you know what a concussion looks like?" he asked curiously.
Nancy opened up her locker, this time carefully, and the boy flinched. "Again, I'm sorry," she said, trying to comfort him. She looked into his dazed, glinted eyes and then shook herself back to reality. She started to cram her books and papers into her locker and take out the ones that she needed. "As to your question," Nancy started, "my father is a lawyer and he lets me help on some cases." Nancy started smiling at that thought. "I've gotten into a load of trouble before. I have a knack for finding and solving mysteries. Some people actually say that they follow me around! How crazy is that?" Nancy sighed and sidetracked. "Anyways, my doctor has seen me with a concussion before and I asked how he knew. He told me a bit about it, not wanting to freak me out. When I assured him that I could handle it and told him that he should know better than to keep information from me, he told me about the symptoms of the beholder, otherwise known as the person with the concussion," she explained and laughed. "You may become confused, you may not think clearly, you may not be able to concentrate, you may be extremely tired, or you may see everything all blurry. Of course, you could just have a headache or dizziness. But I usually go by the look in the people's eyes, even if they don't have any of the normal symptoms. Their pupils could go around, almost as if they have lazy eye. Luckily, I don't seem to notice any of those symptoms so I doubt that you have a concussion. If you do have any of those symptoms, please tell me and we will go to the school nurse to have her check you out." Nancy realized that her last sentence sounded weird so she corrected it by saying, "Not in that way!"
"Whoa, I feel as if I'm listening to my English teacher," the boy said. "Well, I don't exactly feel like it because you aren't talking about what we would talk about in English, but I feel like you gave me a lecture." The teenager rubbed the back of his neck, "I feel like my brother, Joe, right now, saying what I said. Maybe I do have a concussion."
Nancy giggled. "I don't even think that you hit your head hard enough to have a concussion. And I'm sure that if you spend time with somebody, like living with them, you'll act like them sometimes. My dad and I both like to solve mysteries and help people so we're alike in that way."
"It's great to know somebody else who enjoys mysteries," he mused.
"What do you mean?" she asked. But, just then, the bell rang.
"Wanna hang out at lunch?" Frank asked. "If you'd like, we can talk about mysteries later."
"Oh, yeah. Totally," she replied, grinning.
They were each about to go their separate ways when he asked, "What's your name?"
"Nancy... Drew... Nancy Drew," she answered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "And yours?"
"Frank Hardy," he replied easily. "See you at lunch, Nancy."
Nancy was whisked away by the crowd of buzzing high schoolers, running frantically to class so, instead of replying to Frank directly, she whispered to herself, "You too."
"Oh my God, Nan. You're totally in love!" Bess squealed, in the cafeteria, delighted after Nancy relayed to her two best friends, Bess Marvin and George Fayne, what had happened today between she and Frank.
"Now that is untrue," Nancy laughed. "He's just a sweet, good-looking boy."
"Who just happens to love mysteries," George joked.
"Now you're in on it too, George?" Nancy asked, disbelief lacing her joking words. "What's with you two?"
"Well, I, for one, enjoy annoying you and Bess," George laughed. "And Bess just enjoys dating, shopping, clothing, sparkles, sequins, glitter, shiny things, makeup, guys, love, and all of the other girly things you could think of. In fact, I'd say that she has an unhealthy obsession with it all. But, right now, I am interested in you and this guy, 'Frank Hardy'. You know almost nothing about him! This isn't going to work out."
"Well, I was planning to get to know him later, when we eat lunch together," Nancy said, hopefully.
Just then the handsome Hardy came up to the table. "Hey, Nancy," he said. "And who are these two ladies?"
Bess giggled and George rolled her eyes. "They're my best friends, Bess and George," Nancy replied.
"Are we going to sit with Bess and George or do you want to go eat outside?" Frank asked. Although he could tell that he was going to enjoy Bess and George's company, he really wanted to spend time with just Nancy.
"Um..." Nancy was thoughtful.
"You two go out and get some fresh air and eat lots of food. Me and George are fine in here by ourselves," Bess answered for Nancy.
Nancy grabbed her paper bag,, in which she had her lunch that was brought for home, and came up to Frank. The two were standing abnormally close to eat other for just close friends and Bess and George knew instantly that something was going to happen between the two. The way they swayed back and forth as they walked in unison and the way they looked into each other's eyes and then gazed away nervously was enough to show that they had an obvious attraction toward each other.
"This reminds me of Back to The Future. Marty's Grandfather hit George McFly with the car and then Lorraine McFly fell in love with him. Well, that was before 'Calvin McClain', otherwise known as Marty McFly, went back in time and was the one who got hit by the car," Nancy heard George say.
"Only you would bring that up at a time like this," Bess answered. "But isn't it so dreamy how they are already so close?" That was the last thing that Nancy heard either of the girls say and she really hoped that Frank didn't hear either of their statements.
Frank saw that Nancy's cheeks were red so he asked, "Are you okay? Your cheeks look hot." What he didn't know was that Nancy's cheeks were flushing red with embarrassment.
"I, uh..." Nancy didn't know how to respond to what he had just said.
"Oh, sorry. That came out weirdly," he said, rubbing the back of his neck again. "I just wanted to make sure that you were alright because your cheeks looked like you were burning red."
"Oh, yeah, that," Nancy laughed awkwardly. "I-I just... I'm fine, thanks for asking."
"So do you want to sit down or just keep strolling around?" Frank asked casually.
"How about we sit down over there?" Nancy asked, pointing over to a tall oak tree.
"I don't see any problem with that," Frank shrugged.
For the remainder of their lunch period, the two talked about cases that they had solved, their friends and family, where Frank had lived before moving to River Heights, and Frank entertained Nancy with stories about what he and his brother had done which had mostly consisted of what had gone wrong for his brother as he kept to himself about the things that went wrong for him because he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Nancy.
"Okay, so when you hit me with your locker door today, I heard you whisper to yourself, 'Not again'. Does that mean that I'm not the first person that you've hit with a locker?" Frank asked jokingly.
"Well, I did it to another person; the school's cheerleader. Of course she is the typical school bully. She has the captain of the football team as her boyfriend, she's the head cheerleader, she has her own clique, she likes to scream at people, and she's really sassy. So of course her posse had to come and be jerks about what happened. I got sent to the principal's office and then I got suspended. I kept pleading, promising that it was an accident, but nobody would hear of it. Luckily, my father knew that what I was saying was the truth and I just got to stay home, having fun."
"So she's stereotypical, 'eh?" Frank asked.
"Pretty much. I absolutely hate it, y'know? Saying that somebody is stereotypical and making judgments on people and comparing them to others. It's rude and I know that I shouldn't, but I can't help the truth," Nancy explained and then shrugged.
It had been a few months since that summer day, seeing as how it was now October (one of the rainiest seasons in River Heights, Illinois). Under that tree was now Nancy and Frank's spot. Whenever it was supposed to rain, they packed an extra set of clothes. They would go under that tree until they either got caught or until they finished eating. Then they went to change into their extra set of clothes.
At this point, Nancy and Frank barely solved any cases. Well, they had had many but most of them were about "who didn't pay for their ice cream?" and such.
They were in the middle of a kiss on a rainy day. Frank was lying against the tree with Nancy on his lap. Her whole body was making a plus sign, or cross, shape alongside his, except for her head. Her hand was behind her and the other was touching his cheek lightly while his hands were cupping her face.
Just then the bell rang.
"Dang it," Frank cursed, really not wanting to be late.
"At least it's our first time being late," Nancy tried. "If we run now we will only be a minute or two late."
They got up and grabbed their bags. They gave each other one last, quick kiss before running off to change and then to go to class.
It was after school and Frank was going over to Nancy's house.
They had just gotten home when they heard chattering in Carson Drew, Nancy's father's, study.
Nancy knocked politely on the door and, when Carson gave her consent, she and Frank entered the office.
"I hope that we haven't interrupted anything," Frank said.
"I just wanted to tell you that Frank and I were going to do homework together," Nancy said, giving her father a quick peck on the cheek before turning to leave.
"Wait one minute," Carson said. "Just where do you think that you two are going?"
"We were going to do homework?" Nancy replied, questioning her answer and her father.
"Not yet. You two have gotten yourself a case," Carson exclaimed, his smile beaming. And then he added, "Alongside Joe."