"Hi, Joe," Camille Lane greeted seventeen-year-old Joe Hardy as he entered homeroom at Bayport High School.
"Hi. Camille, right?" he asked, tilting his blond head and looking at her questioningly through intense blue eyes.
"Right," Camille answered, her green eyes twinkling. "Are you okay?" she asked. "I mean, you were absent Monday and Tuesday."
"I'm fine," Joe answered, sitting down in the vacant chair next to the pretty redhead. "I was helping my dad with some stuff."
"Oh. Then you have two weeks of after school classes so you can make up for them," Camille said, a look of disappointment on her creamy face.
"They were excused," Joe said, wondering why the new girl seemed to be so concerned.
"That's right," put in seventeen-year-old Callie Shaw from behind Joe. "They couldn't very well punish him for helping to stop a saboteur at NASA."
"What?" gasped Camille.
"Joe's dad is a detective," Callie explained. She knew all about Joe because he was her boyfriend's year younger brother. "Joe and Frank help their dad out on occasion and solve mysteries on their own too," she added.
Camille's interest in Joe may not have captured Joe's notice but Callie had spotted it the girl's first day at Bayport High. She knew Joe had been avoiding the opposite sex since his girlfriend, Vanessa Bender, had broken up with him and moved to Japan with her mother. Joe had dated one girl since Vanessa's departure but that had turned into a disaster when it was discovered she was the daughter of the head of the Mafia.
"Are you Joe's girlfriend?" Camille asked, looking at Callie.
Joe snorted as Callie laughed. "No," she replied. "I date Joe's brother, Frank," she explained.
"Then you don't have a girlfriend?" Camille asked Joe.
"No," Joe admitted.
"Are you gay?" Camille asked bluntly, not understanding why the best-looking, and most popular, junior in school was unattached.
Callie laughed hard as Joe turned a deep red. "No," Joe replied stiffly.
"Then why..." Camille began only to be interrupted by Joe.
"I broke up with my girlfriend at the start of summer," Joe explained. "She moved to Japan."
"Good," Camille said relieved. "I mean, I'm glad you're not gay and don't have a girlfriend. Look," she continued. "I'm not the shy type and I've been waiting for two weeks for you to notice me but you haven't."
"I've noticed you," Joe defended himself.
"Then why haven't you asked me out?" Camille demanded point blank.
"I never thought about it," Joe confessed. "I've only dated one girl since Vanessa left and that didn't go over very well."
"So, how about it?" asked Camille.
"How about what?" Joe asked, mystified as Callie tried desperately to hide her giggles behind her hand.
"How about a date?" Camille inquired, a bit exasperated. He was definitely cute, Camille thought. But not overly bright. "There's a new horror flick playing downtown. We could catch the early show?"
"He would love too," Callie answered for him. She knew Frank would push him into the date. He had been worried about the barrier Joe had been constructing around himself since Vanessa left.
"I didn't ask you," Camille said, frowning at Callie.
This time it was Joe who had to smother his amusement. "I'd like that," he said before the two girls could argue. "I can pick you up at five-thirty and we can grab a bite beforehand if you like?"
"Sounds good," Camille agreed. "I live at sixteen eleven Shore Road," she added in a softer voice as the homeroom bell rang and the teacher entered the room.
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"Want to sit with me?" Camille asked Joe, coming up behind him in the cafeteria.
"Love too," Joe answered. "But do you mind if we sit with my brother and our friends?"
"Of course not," Camille answered. "I still don't know that many people here. It will be nice to not have to sit alone."
"You've been sitting alone?" Joe asked in surprise. With flowing red hair past her shoulders, a gorgeous smile and barely a hundred and ten pounds, Joe was surprised she didn't have all the guys crowding around her.
"I'm kind of bossy," Camille confessed. "It tends to put people off."
"I don't think you're bossy," Joe said honestly. "Direct and open, but not necessarily bossy."
"That's what my dad says," Camille said with a grateful smile that flitted away as quickly as it had arrived. "But most people don't like that either."
"I do," Joe said. "Really," he insisted when he saw the skeptical look she wore. "I hate it when people beat around the bush. It's just a waste of time."
"Exactly!" Camille agreed, smiling up at him.
Joe led the way to the center of the cafeteria where his brown-headed brother sat between Callie and Phil. "Hey everyone," Joe said loud enough to be heard over the den of noise in the room. "This is Camille Lane," Joe introduced the girl. "Camille, this is Chet Morton," he began naming the table's occupants from left to right. "Helen Osbourne, Tony Prito, Callie...you know. My brother, Frank. And beside him are Phil Cohen, Karen Black and Biff Hooper."
"Hello," Camille said, sitting down in the vacant chair next to Biff as Joe pulled an empty chair from the table behind him and set it next to Camille's.
"You're in my creative writing class," Helen said, looking at Camille.
"That's right," acknowledged Camille.
"Mr. Freedman is a great teacher," Helen said. "I loved that last assignment he gave us, didn't you?"
"Yes," Camille agreed with a contagious smile. "And I like the fact that freestyle means free, too," she added.
"I know what you mean," Helen said. "I hate when they tell us to just write and then check for spelling and grammar."
"How do you like Bayport?" asked blond and beefy Biff.
"It's okay," Camille answered. "I really haven't seen a lot of it though."
"Why not?" asked Karen, Biff's ebony haired girlfriend.
"I don't have a car and we live pretty far out on Shore Road," Camille explained. "Dad and I have spent most of our time together unpacking so we haven't had a chance to explore."
"We can take care of that," declared Chet. His brown eyes twinkled with delight as he looked from Camille to Joe and back. He was pleased that his friend had found someone. "After school we can start by going to the beach."
"Sounds great," Camille said with an apologetic smile. "But Joe and I have plans for later and my dad is picking me up after school."
"Tomorrow then," Frank said. "Joe can run you home afterwards."
Camille turned to Joe. "Is that alright with you?" she asked him.
"Works for me," Joe agreed.
After lunch the teens headed their separate ways with Callie following Camille to English class. "You didn't have to get Joe's permission to go to the beach tomorrow," Callie told Camille as they made their way down the hall.
"I didn't," Camille replied. "I checked to see if it was okay for him to take me home."
"Frank said he would," Callie pointed out.
"But Frank doesn't have the right to tell Joe what to do," Camille retorted, turning on Callie with a scowl. "Just like you this morning," she continued. "Everyone acts like Joe can't make any decisions of his own."
"No we don't," objected Callie. "Do we?" she asked as she thought about what Camille had said. Camille nodded firmly. "We don't mean too," Callie apologized. "It's just we've been worried about him."
"Why?" Camille demanded. "Just because his girlfriend left? They parted as friends," she pointed out, remembering what she had been told during the course of the day.
"You don't know about Iola, do you?" Callie asked.
"Iola?"
"Chet's sister," Callie explained. "She and Joe were very close."
"Were?" Camille asked. "And why haven't I seen her around?"
"Because she died in a car bombing," Callie answered. "Joe was depressed for ages. It wasn't until he met Vanessa that he started getting back to normal. After Vanessa left, he wouldn't date or even hang out with us without Frank pushing him into it."
"Okay, I kind of understand where you're coming from," Camille stated. "But if you push Joe into a relationship he isn't ready for then he will just get hurt all over again when it ends. And if he isn't ready for one then it will end."