"Right," Callie congratulated her. "And Frank, Joe, Chet, and Tony are all on the baseball team."
"Wow!" Jeanine said, looking at Joe. "You play all the sports at Bayport High."
"Except soccer," Joe agreed. "Biff and I are also on the wrestling team."
"Phil, do you play in any sport?" Jeanine asked.
"Basketball," he answered, grinning at Joe. "With Joe and Frank."
"Oh man," Jeanine said, shaking her head. "So many athletes. Maybe I should try out for cheerleading."
"No! Please?" begged Callie.
"Definitely not," agreed Vanessa. "They're a bunch of airheads."
"I think it would be great," Joe cut in, frowning in displeasure at Callie and Vanessa as he thought about Chet's sister, Iola, who had died almost a year previously. Iola had not only been a cheerleader, but also Joe's girlfriend.
"Yeah," Chet agreed. "It would be great to have a cheerleader in the group again."
It wasn't too long after this discussion that Frank announced it was time to head home. "So soon?" inquired Jeanine, looking at her watch in disappointment. "Oh my, it is getting late," she added, noticing almost two hours had passed since they had arrived.
Biff stood up and smiled down at Jeanine. "Where do you live?" he asked.
"Willow Drive," she replied.
"You're close to Frank and Joe, then," Callie said. "They can drop you off at home."
"No, no," Biff quickly interjected. "I promised to take you home and I will," he insisted, smiling down into Jeanine's eyes.
Jeanine blushed as Biff sat back down. "If you'll excuse me, I need to visit the ladies' room," she rose and excused herself.
"She seems nice," Vanessa commented as they exited the building.
"Yeah," Callie agreed. "Now if Joe will just stop talking to her when he should be studying."
"What do you mean?" Frank asked, casting a frown at Joe before looking at Callie.
"Before history this morning, Joe was talking to Jeanine," Callie explained. "And since he hadn't studied all weekend, he should have been trying to study for the test."
"When did you turn into my mother?" demanded Joe angrily.
"Joe," Frank looked at his younger brother pointedly. "Callie's right. You should have been studying."
"I aced it," Joe assured him. "Stop hassling me."
"How?" Frank demanded. "History is your worst subject anyway."
"I cheated," snapped Joe, taking Vanessa's elbow and stalking away. Joe practically ran out the door and to Vanessa's Explorer, his grip firm. Fortunately, Vanessa was almost as tall as Joe and easily kept up with his pace.
"You cheated?" inquired Vanessa, crossing her arms and staring at Joe after they had reached her car and Joe released her.
"No, of course not," denied Joe. "Jeanine was telling me about the battle and almost everything she told me was on the exam," he explained.
"That was lucky," Vanessa said with a laugh.
"Wasn't it though?" Joe asked, smiling sheepishly at her. "Give me a lift home?" he begged, not wanting to walk home.
"Mmm, I'll think about it," she replied, looking at him through her lush lashes.
Joe grinned and touched his lips to hers. "Please?" he whispered, kissing her with more force.
"Since you ask so nicely, how can I refuse?" Vanessa said after Joe had pulled away. "Why did you get so mad at Callie?" she asked after they were on their way.
"She's too bossy," Joe replied despairingly. "She's gotten to where she is always telling Frank what she thinks I should be doing."
"Frank does that," Vanessa observed.
"Frank's my brother," Joe pointed out.
"So...Callie's treating you like her little brother."
"But I'm not. And I don't ever want to be," Joe stated firmly.
"I thought Frank was in love with Callie," Vanessa said with a little frown.
"He is," Joe admitted sourly. "But that doesn't mean I have to like her," he added, scowling.
"You used to," Vanessa reminded him. "Why are you so down on her lately?" Joe shrugged his shoulders but made no answer. "Frank and Callie are graduating this year," she added. Joe looked out the window, ignoring her. "Are you going to act this way until they go to college?" she demanded, getting tired of Joe's attitude.
"Frank's planning on asking Callie to marry him," Joe said quietly.
"And you're jealous," observed Vanessa.
"That's not it," denied Joe.
"No?" Vanessa asked, glancing over at him with one eyebrow raised. "Then why don't you want Frank to marry her?'
"She's not right for him," Joe replied. "She's too interfering."
"What do you mean?" demanded Vanessa.
"She keeps butting in on our cases," was Joe's reply. He continued, unaware of the hardening of his girlfriend's features. "If we have a mystery to solve, she thinks she should know all about it. And if there is leg work involved, she wants to be involved."
"I see," Vanessa said, her icy tone sending a chill down Joe's back. "Mysteries are exclusively yours and Frank's territory. You want no interference or help from anyone."
"N..no," Joe stuttered, realizing what his tirade had sounded like. "No," he repeated, more forcefully, scowling again. "I am jealous, aren't I?" he asked and shook his head. "I guess I owe Callie an apology. She can't help it if Frank pays more attention to her than me anymore."
Releasing her anger as quickly as it had come, Vanessa took Joe's hand in her own. "Just because Frank loves Callie doesn't mean he loves you any less," she assured him. "Just accept her place in his life and things will go back to the way they used to be."
"Except that I'll have one more person who thinks they have the right to tell me what I should or shouldn't do," Joe said miserably.
"Talk to her," Vanessa suggested.
"I can't," Joe told her. "Frank hasn't asked her yet and I would probably say something I shouldn't."
Vanessa gave Joe a sympathetic smile as she pulled to a stop in front of the Hardy home. "Try not to be too rough on her?" she begged. "Callie only says anything because she is concerned about you."
"I know," Joe admitted. "But I still wish she would mind her own business." Joe kissed Vanessa goodnight and got out of the car.
"Frank? Joe?" asked a deep voice as Joe entered the house.
"Just me, dad," Joe said, going into the living room.
"Where's your brother?" asked the tall, lean brown haired man whose features strongly resembled those of his eldest son.
"He's dropping Callie off," Joe told him. "Vanessa brought me home." Joe went further into the living room and stood by the chair his father occupied. "Is something up?"
"No," denied Fenton Hardy with a shake of his head. "It's been a quiet evening. Actually, it's been a quiet week," he amended, frowning a little.
"Isn't quiet good?" Joe asked, seeing the frown.
"Usually," agreed Fenton. As a former member of the NYPD who had resigned when his sons were toddlers to become a private investigator, Fenton was used to both the quiet times in investigating and the times when it seemed one criminal mastermind was trying to oust another. At this point, however, he had the uneasy feeling that this was a quiet just ahead of a storm.
