"Ah, honey," Angelic drawled, swinging her once again raven hair over her shoulder. "Don't look so surprised. I told you we belonged together." She reached out to touch Joe's face through the bars.

Joe jumped back out of her reach. "Don't be that way," Angelic begged. "It's been a long time since I've seen you."

"Not long enough," Joe asserted.

"You don't mean that," she pouted.

"You know I do," he insisted. "If you hadn't known I would feel this way, why did you change your appearance and pretend to be someone else?"

"I did that so your family and friends wouldn't chase me away before you got a chance to know me better," answered Angelic.

"You let Biff fall in love with you," accused Joe. "You surely can't think you're still in love with me?" he demanded in disbelief.

"Of course I let Biff fall in love with me," she replied. "And then I let him believe that you made a pass at me. He doesn't like you anymore. Neither does Vanessa," she added, smirking. "Once she saw you kissing me, that was enough to send her packing."

"We didn't kiss," Joe corrected her. "It just looked that way."

"Whatever," Angelic replied in a bored tone. "It worked. And as for Frank and his girlfriend, well, that was so much easier than I thought it would be."

"Why did you get Frank to turn against me by linking me to Callie?" queried Joe. "You knew she was his girlfriend."

"After catching you two in that classroom at school, I wasn't sure," she admitted. "I mean, she could have seen how wonderful you are and wanted you for herself."

"You think I would steal my own brother's girl?" Joe demanded in disbelief.

"No, but she could have made the move on you," Angelic said. "Look, let's not ruin our first evening together," she begged. "I'll go and make some dinner and we can talk some more, of if you'd rather, we can kiss?"

"Not interested," responded Joe, his features turning stony.

"Why not?" Angelic pushed. "It's not like there is anyone out there who cares about you anymore. They treat you like you have the plague," she pointed out and Joe knew it was the truth. Jeanine, Angelic, had done her job well. No one wanted anything to do with him. He had been in exile for the past two days. At least when his parents returned home, they would be worried about him.

Frank will be worried about you tonight, a voice nibbled away at him. Joe frowned. Would Frank be worried about him? Frank believed Joe had tried to steal Callie away from him. Would he care if Joe vanished? He might think his competition was gone. Joe kicked himself mentally. Frank would never let a quarrel come between them when it meant he might have been hurt or kidnapped. Joe knew that with all his heart and he was ashamed of himself for doubting his brother even for a minute.

But he doubted you, the voice in his head said. She made him, Joe argued back. But how hard was he to convince? The voice persisted. Joe growled out loud, causing Angelic to look at him funny. Joe turned away and sat down on the bed.

Angelic left the basement, closing the door behind her once again and went upstairs to prepare dinner, unaware that Joe was already being missed.

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"Joe?" Frank called out as he entered the house. Frank paused in the foyer and waited for Joe's answer. When none came, he shouted again. "Joe, get down here! We need to talk!"

Still no movement could be heard from above. Frank ran up the steps and into his brother's room. He wasn't there and from the look of things, he hadn't been since leaving for school this morning. Frank went downstairs to the kitchen. No sign he had been there either.

Frank frowned. Where could Joe have gone after their argument earlier? Frank left the house, locking the door, and headed to Callie's.

He parked in the drive, took a deep breath, and got out. Going up to the house, he knocked on the front door. When Callie opened the door, she let out a scowl and started to slam it in Frank's face but he put his foot in the way. "Please? I need to talk to you."

"I think you've said quiet enough," she snarled. "Now move your foot!"

"Please? It's very important?" he begged, his puppy dog eyes working on her.

Callie nodded, closed the door and led the way to the porch swing and sat down. "I'm listening," she said.

"I'm sorry," he began. "I know you have every right to hate me and I doubt you can understand but well, I have always been jealous of Joe and when I thought you and Joe were an item, I...well...I lost it."

"You honestly thought I would cheat on you?" she demanded.

"No," he denied, reverently shaking his head.

"Oh, so you thought Joe would try and get me to go with him behind your back?" she asked, just as angry for Joe's sake as she had been for her own.

"Look, you know how Joe's been this week," Frank tried to excuse himself. "First he cheated on the history test and the he tried to steal Jeanine from Biff. I thought he was just trying to get you for spite."

"I've been thinking about him," Callie said, forgetting her anger and looking worried as she leaned forward and cupped her chin in her hand, resting her elbow on her knee. "How could Joe have cheated? I know Harmon said someone had broken into his trunk and gotten in his briefcase and copied the answers to the exam, but Joe didn't even know there was a test, remember? That's why he hadn't studied."

"But he admitted he cheated," Frank pointed out.

"He was upset," Callie argued. "That's why he said it. You know Joe better than anyone. Do you honestly believe he cheated?" She waited until Frank shook his head before continuing. "And besides, Vanessa called me Monday night and told me Jeanine had told him about the battle before class that day. She said he was amazed that everything she had told him had been on the test."

"I just don't understand what's going on with Joe. I mean, I know he has been upset because..." he broke off, biting his bottom lip because he knew he had said too much.

"Because?" Callie prompted him.

"Because I said I wanted to marry you," confessed Frank.

"You...what?" she began by screaming but ended up in a whisper. She shook her head. "When did you tell Joe that?"

"Monday."

"Then that couldn't be the reason," Callie informed him. "Joe and I worked through our problems Tuesday morning. Biff and Jeanine caught us in the detention classroom right as we had come to terms," she ended.

"Jeanine again," Frank murmured thoughtfully. "Didn't Vanessa get mad at Joe because she said Joe was kissing her?" he asked.

"That's right," Callie confirmed. "I was with her when we saw them. What are you getting at?" she asked, her own resentment at Frank's earlier outburst gone.

"Everything bad that has been going on recently around Joe has had Jeanine somewhere in the background," Frank stated his observation.

"What are you implying?" Callie asked, looking at him curiously.

"What if she is instigating these events?" Frank asked. "What if she has it in for Joe?"