Gah! It's 11:04 pm where I am so I'm 56 minutes in danger of updating late!

That being said, I would love some encouragement! I'm kind of on a road block on the story (but I still have two or three more chapters tucked away, don't worry) but nice reviews always make me more enthused for the story :)

On that topic, thanks to my AWESOME reviewers of the last two chapters, wolfgirl1221, no-oneimportant, VerityD, Guest#1, cameron1812, hlahabibty, ILoveMom, Caranath, Claudia Donovan, Smithy, j, max2013, Shani8, Wondering Snow, FreshKicks, erinjordan, and NF fan! *gives out virtual vanilla milkshakes*

Disclaimer: I do not own Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys. Unfortunately.

Nancy was afraid her limbs were going to fall off. She had always been careful about remaining in shape, and had considered herself very fit.

Not anymore. This had only been a warm up and she was exhausted. They had run, done pushups, pull-ups, abs work outs, and basically exercised every muscle possible.

At least she had been able to keep up with the guys, Nancy reminded herself with some satisfaction. Not just kept up, she was pretty sure she did better than most of the boys. She pulled out her keys, pausing in front of her door.

Was that crying? Nancy stopped, her brow furrowing. She quickly unlocked the door and stepped into the dorm room. Tessa was leaning against the wall, her knees pulled towards up against her chest. At the sound of the door opening, Tessa jumped and turned her large green eyes towards Nancy. They were red and slightly puffy.

"Tessa, are you okay?!" Nancy dropped her bag in alarm.

"I'm fine," Tessa bit her lip and looked down. Suddenly Nancy noticed the blood trickling down the other side of her face from a long gash above her left eyebrow.

"Tessa, what happened?!" Nancy's eyes widened, and she crouched in front of the tiny girl to examine the cut.

"I tripped and banged it on a desk. I'm sorry, I've just had a really sucky day," Tessa sniffed. "It's fine." She covered her face with her hands, tears leaking from her eyes.

"Come here," Nancy said gently, helping Tessa up from the floor and guiding her to sit on the bed. "I have a first aid kit, I'll grab it." She dug through a half unpacked suitcase and grabbed it, along with the tissue box that was sitting on the dresser.

"You don't have to," Tessa sniffed. "I'm sorry, I'm acting like a little kid, I…"

"Tessa, don't even worry about it!" Nancy told her firmly. "Want to tell me what happened?" She grabbed a disinfectant wipe. "This might sting a bit," she warned before starting to clean the cut.

"I tripped in class and hit my head on the corner of the desk." Tessa's brilliant eyes didn't quite meet Nancy's.

"And nobody stopped to help you?" Nancy frowned.

"Almost everyone was gone, and I kind of ran out because I was so embarrassed," Tessa admitted. "Nancy, I don't know if I can do this. The first day was killer; I didn't know any of the stuff anybody was talking about! Especially that Psych 101 class, I'm so behind…"

"It's just the first day," Nancy told her soothingly.

"But I have to keep up my scholarship," Tessa said quietly. "Otherwise I'm out of here. This is my only chance. I'm from a tiny town where nobody goes to college, and my high school wasn't good, which is why I got the scholarship. But I'm not prepared like the other kids." Tears welled up in her eyes again. "If I can't keep a 3.0 GPA, then I'll lose the scholarship, and end up living in my little town for the rest of my life. Which would be like torture," Tessa's face crumpled and Nancy felt her heart go out to the girl.

"I'll help you," she promised. "We'll get you through these classes, I promise." She touched Tessa's shoulder gently and was surprised when she recoiled at the touch. "Tessa?" Nancy's brow furrowed. The girl quickly relaxed.

"You would do that?" she asked breathlessly. "But… you barely know me."

"What are you talking about?" Nancy allowed herself a small smile. "I thought we were going to be like sisters."

A smile slowly spread across Tessa's thin face. Nancy pulled her into a hug. Thank goodness Bess has trained me in girl comforting! "Alright, let's get you some food and then we'll look at that work of yours!"

Agent homework would just have to wait.


"So what did he say?" Joe pulled his shirt off and grabbed a fresh one, tossing the sweaty one on the floor.

"Dude! Put it in the laundry basket!" Frank huffed, poking the t-shirt with his foot.

"Fine," Joe rolled his eyes but tossed it into the basket. "So what'd he say?"

"Who?" Frank grabbed his textbook out of his backpack.

"The headmaster, duh!" Joe slapped on some cologne, the smell permeating the air.

"What the heck," Frank coughed. "That stinks! Do you really need that?"

"Yep. The girls dig it." Joe mussed his hair slightly. "So what'd he say?"

"The headmaster is a woman," Frank told him, smiling slightly at Joe's surprised expression.

"Serious?" Joe turned to face Frank.

"Yeah. And…" Frank hesitated for a second. Joe was his partner. He kept no secrets from him. But this... The Headmaster of a secret agent training program had asked him specifically not to tell anyone. "She just wanted to make sure I felt comfortable with where I was since I'm a year ahead of the rest of the first years," he lied smoothly. Joe raised his eyebrows but didn't question it.

"How was she?"

"She seemed pretty down to business," Frank shrugged, pulling out a notebook.

"Alright, I'm headed out," Joe grabbed a packet of gum off the dresser and shoved it into his pocket.

"Shouldn't you be doing homework?" Frank couldn't keep the disapproval out of his voice.

"It's the first day, Mom. Relax. I have plenty of time." Joe was already halfway out the door. "Listen, if I run into Nancy, I'll tell her you say hi." He winked one blue eye and then was gone. Frank turned to his text book, pencil clutched so tightly in his hand that his knuckles were white.

Was Joe seriously going to treat this like high school?

Frank wanted so badly to give Joe a straight up lecture, but knew from experience that Joe hated it when he tried to tell him what to do. After all, Joe was an eighteen year old kid who thought he was an adult.

Giving up on focusing, Frank grabbed his work and headed towards the library. Why not use the best feature of college?

The large library was almost completely empty. First day of class, nobody is studying, Frank shook his head. All those freshmen were going to get a rude awakening. He had learned early on that deadlines were not to be messed with.

Frank scanned the large room, admiring the high ceiling with its impressive designs and large stain glass windows. Finally he allowed himself to look at the book shelves lining every wall. Years and years of scientific research, history, and creative genius were being stored in this room, and he let himself bask in the awe of that thought for a moment.

And he knew behind the shelves were classified documents. As an agent-in-training, he had been told he had access to some of those documents. Not all, and they had been informed that if they were caught leaking information they would be dumped on a corner and given a blot on the resume which would make any job other than making Big Macs impossible to obtain. It was almost a sort of lure for the dishonest; Frank was positive the 'classified' documents were a form of bait for rooting out students who were going to break the rules or even betray their country.

The only other students in the library were a couple students on the computers and a brunette and redhead mulling over a textbook together.

Hold on. Frank's pulse increased slightly as he realized the redhead was Nancy Drew. She seemed to feel his gaze and glanced up. They made eye contact.

Crap!

Now he was going to have to talk to her. If Joe was here, he would laugh hysterically at his hesitation and doubt.

Just be confident! They're just as nervous as you are, Joe's advice ran through his head.

I must be going insane if I'm seriously taking advice from Joe.

"Hey Nancy!" Frank raised a hand in greeting. "How's it going?"

"Hi Frank," Nancy smiled, looking up from the book. "It's going." There was an awkward pause. "Oh, this is my roommate, Tessa," Nancy introduced the small brunette.

"Nice to meet you Tessa, I'm Frank," Frank nodded to her with a friendly smile, noting the gash above the girl's left eyebrow.

"Nice to meet you," Tessa said shyly. "Nancy's helping me with my classes." The look she gave Nancy was almost adoring. Nancy shifted in her seat, pale cheeks flushing slightly in a way that Frank found incredibly attractive. It was basically the only time when he could tell there was emotion behind that hard wall he could already tell was up.

Frank opened his mouth to respond, but his words were drowned out with a deafening bang. He was knocked to the ground with the force, debris flying. Instinctively he curled into a protective position. Screams filled the air, the electricity blinked out, plunging the room into darkness except for the flickering of fire.


Pretty please hit that review button! I would love some encouragement/thoughts! Also, I will consider giving my reviewers a virtual kitten if you promise to take care of it! :D