"I can't believe Joe would do this," Chet Morton sighed. His friend's faces mirrored his shock; and grief.

Vanessa wiped her red eyes and tried not to tear up again. Callie handed her a tissue.

"Okay, so we're all shocked, and we're all upset, and if you're anything like me we're all kicking ourselves. But enough of that. Time to think like…" Callie paused, the name hurting to say, "Frank."

Everyone fell silent upon hearing the name. Vanessa shivered; moments like this, she could swear the dead boy was nearby.

I wish you were Frank. Give us a sign. Tell us how to fix Joe. You're the only one who knew how.

Tony broke the silence.

"First things first then. We should all call Mrs. Hardy and tell her that we'll do anything to help out. Then we should call Joe."

"I've tried that," Biff Hooper broke in. "He won't call back, or he won't come to the phone."

"We've all tried," Callie said. "But I guess we have to try harder."

"How? We can't force him to spend time with us."

"We'll stalk him, so to speak. We'll call every day, each of us. We'll go to his dorm room. Anything. Guys, whether Joe knows it or not, he needs us right now. And we owe it to him to try. We owe it to Mr. and Mrs. Hardy to try. And…you know what I mean."

But as everyone nodded their agreement, Chet sat silent, looking dazed. Vanessa noticed.

"Chet?" she asked softly. "You okay?"

The boy slowly shook his head. "I don't think so."

"What's wrong?"

He grinned half-heartedly, a nervous half-hearted gesture. "It's hard…you know…I don't like losing people."

Silence fell on the group, paying quiet tribute to their first loss; Chet's sister, Iola.

Biff patted his friend's arm. "None of us do." He turned back to the group. "Okay guys, let's admit it; we've all had a rough time. And we all ditched Joe because he reminded us of Frank."

Vanessa wiped her eyes with a trembling hand. "I never ditched him," she whispered.

"I didn't mean it in a negative way, Van. We just kinda did."

Callie sighed. "All right, we established that. Now what are we going to do about it?"

"I agree with you, Cal. We'll call him every day. And show up at his dorm. And just keep showing him that we haven't really forgotten about him."

"But none of that worked in the past," Tony pointed out. "Why should it work now?"

"We'll make it work," Callie said firmly.

Chet sighed. "Anyone else ever wish Frank and Joe weren't so close?"

Everyone hung their heads; it was another offense they were guilty of.

A/N: sorry it's a little short, I'm getting back in the swing of things.