Foreword: I should stop making such dumb mistakes. Better proofread multiple times before submitting... Thanks for telling me, as usual... Please review, by the way...

3

Together Once Again

Instantly, fear rushed into Nancy's mind and she turned around abruptly, putting her arms up to defend herself. But what she saw behind her was not a hunky man planning to attack her; after all it was the lady's room. What she saw was a dark-haired girl with twinkling eyes and a tall stature. Also being an eighteen-year-old girl, she was taller than Nancy and had the height of five-eight. She was slender, yet very athletic, and she carried a duffle bag that had "Sports 4 Life" printed on it. When Nancy saw that, she immediately knew whom the girl was.

"What a surprise!" she said with a smile. "I didn't know I could meet you here, George."

The girl smiled back. She was called George Fayne from her friends, even though everyone knew that was a masculine name. With her athletic body and her short brown hair, she was certainly a tomboy, as anybody would assume from first seeing her. Even though she was a tomboy, she did have some feminine side; she liked to shop with her friends and talked on the phone for a long time. Ever since getting her first cell phone when she was fifteen, she had been using it practically everyday. She always told her parents that it was important to keep up-to-date on the world and that she needed it to practice her communication skills when they were upset when they got their monthly phone bill. Ever since the time she had used up her battery when she talked for two hours on the phone, she had been careful not to let that happen again and turned the power off every time she had finished talking with her friends.

"I didn't know you would be here," George said. "And I saw that cute brown-haired guy out there waiting for his date to come out of the washroom. So, are you and Ned having a good time?"

Nancy nodded cheerily. "Of course! It's been super."

George observed Nancy's face for a moment, and an even bigger grin spread over her face. "Let me guess. A new case?"

The girl detective nodded once again. She knew she couldn't hide anything from her best friend, who she had met in preschool when they were in the same class. The two girls, along with Bess Marvin, were best friends for more than ten years, and they no each other better than anyone else. George could always tell if Nancy was on a case or not simply by looking at her face.

"But let's go outside and talk about it, okay? I don't want to make Ned wait too long," Nancy added.

As George and Nancy got out of the bathroom, Ned looked up in surprise. He obviously did not notice George's entering the restroom. "Hi, George," Ned called, folding the menu in half. "How were you?"

George grinned. "I'm excited because Nancy here has gotten herself another mystery!" She then turned to Nancy as the two girls sat down. "So will you tell me about this new case now?"

Nancy took a sip from the glass of water the waitress had put on the table and started, "Well, this isn't like my usual case, George. It's a murder investigation."

"A what?" George was truly surprised to hear that. "But… who? Why? Where? When?"

"A murder, my parents' friend Mr. Chandler, because he didn't think the police were trying hard enough, in Florida, next week," Nancy answered, taking another sip, and grinned. "You forgot 'how'."

George shook her head. "You shouldn't be investigating a murder, Nancy Drew, even though you are the best detective I've ever met."

"Since when did you start acting like my dad?" Nancy said with an unbelieving look in her eyes. "Come on, it's in Florida! We can call Bess and go there together! It'll be a blast! And this time of the year is the best season to go swimming and get a tan and…"

"She's not coming," George interrupted.

"Why?" Nancy asked.

"Because she had to go to New Mexico."

"Huh?" Ned interrupted. "Bess? New Mexico? Why—"

"Let me guess," said Nancy. "She wanted a tan and conveniently found a boyfriend who offered her a trip to New Mexico?"

"Mmm…" George was thinking. "You are half right. She did go there because she wanted a tan. But she didn't get a trip to New Mexico from a new boyfriend, even though it seems really likely."

The reason George said that was because Bess had been flirting with every single man she could meet ever since Dave Evans left her because he flew to England in order to study biology there. She had been extremely sad for a few days until she met a handsome young man when traveling in a case with Nancy. But her new relationship did not last long, either. Because of this, she had been dating numerous men for a short time and kept looking for the one she felt passionate to.

"Then… how did she get the money to go to New Mexico? I don't think she can afford this ever since her allowance has been cut."

Bess was very interested in computer and programming, since she was not as athletic as her cousin and didn't feel like playing many sports. Nancy remembered the time when Bess was trying to fix a problem on her computer and ended up destroying all the data, including the ones Mr. Marvin needed for his job. Mr. and Mrs. Marvin got very angry, obviously, and cut her allowance in half, thinking that it would make her think of what she did. This was a month ago, and Bess complained numerously to Nancy that her allowance was not enough to even go out to get some popcorn and movie tickets every Friday.

"You see, she was really into writing," George said. Nancy knew of that, since Bess had been joining the writing clubs when they were still in high school. She even boasted that she wrote one full-length romance novel starring (you guessed it!) a beautiful girl named Elizabeth Marvin and a handsome boyfriend David Evans. Of course, George found it to be too "touchy" and makes her "sick to the stomach." Nancy thought it was okay, even though what she really liked to read was some action-filled mystery.

"Yeah, so?" Ned wanted to know.

"So she entered this mystery writing contest. She gave it the title: Missing in Action. And it was based on the most recent mystery we were working on. She wrote it and submitted it. Sure enough, her novel got one of the two first prizes. And the prize was two tickets to anywhere you wanted to go in United States."

"Who won the other first prize?" Nancy asked curiously.

"A guy named Chet Morton," George said, taking the cup of cold water and putting the ice into her mouth. "Oooh, that's cold!"

Nancy's eyes got larger. "Chet Morton?" She knew that name! She heard the name from Frank and Joe Hardy. Chet was their friend, and he won the first prize as well?

"But what happened to the other ticket?" Ned asked.

"She went to New Mexico with her cousin."

"Cousin? But you are still here!" Ned exclaimed with surprise.

George rolled her eyes. "Hey, I'm not her only cousin, you know. Nancy, do you remember Carol Wipple, I mean, Carol Boonton?"

Nancy nodded. Carol was involved with one of the cases she solved. She called it The Sign of the Twisted Candles. She was between the family feuds concerning Asa Sidney's estate. "How can I forget? And I guess she was glad to go with her?"

George nodded. "Well, she knew that Carol had never traveled out of state in her life." She was working in the secluded inn called The Sign of the Twisted Candles and went living in the boarding school. But in the summers went to live with the Marvins and during the winters the Faynes. So she had been with Bess during the entire summer vacation and with George during the Christmas break. "And Bess suggested that she do so. Carol was nearly crying with joy when she heard the news. So I just let those two go to New Mexico. But…" She turned to Nancy. "…I see that my other best friend got a mystery on her hands, so I think I should stick with her as her second body guard!"

Ned chuckled and so did Nancy. She knew that George learned karate and had brown belt. Nancy also learned karate but couldn't compete with George, who was far better, taller, and stronger.

"Then that's settled," Ned said. "I'll ask my folks if I can come with you, Nance."

"And so will I," said George, standing up. "But first, I must go get the dry cleaning to pick up my mom's dresses. See ya!"

Leaving two one-dollar bills for the snack she ordered on the table, George went out the restaurant door and disappeared out of sight.

Frank and Joe Hardy looked at the tickets they had. "Let's see…" Frank murmured, reading the terminal number. "The plane will take off in less than an hour."

"Well, have fun, you two. You deserve it," Callie Shaw, Frank's girlfriend, said, waving her hand with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, Joe. Don't make a new girlfriend there," Iola Morton, Chet's younger sister and Joe's girlfriend, said teasingly. "I know how your looks can attract a thousand women."

"See you two later! Have fun and hope you won't have to solve another mystery!" Chet said. They were all behind the security area watching as the Hardys went through the security check and getting their bags and suitcases.

Frank and Joe waved back. Frank had an uneasy feeling in his mind. Was he just worrying too much or did he feel he was going to face more danger in Miami?"

"By the way, Joe," Frank started as they saw that their friends were out of sight, "why did you choose Miami?"

Joe rolled his eyes. "It's the city with a lot of sunlight. I'd like to swim in the gulf, not just in Atlantic Ocean."

Frank looked at the brochure he was holding. "Joe, Miami Beach is between the Atlantic Ocean and the Biscayne Bay, not the Golf of Mexico. You might want to study more geography."

Joe looked at his older brother with the what-a-know-it-all-he-is look.

Frank ignored it. "I hear that they have the most delicious oranges sold in this particular farm," he said. "It's pretty famous."

"We didn't come here to eat oranges, Frank," Joe said pointedly. "Boy, do you know how to have fun," he added sarcastically.

The Hardys went to the terminal and looked at the clock. It was still eight-thirty. The plane wouldn't arrive for thirty more minutes. Frank stood up and looked at the message board. It said: "Miami International Airport 9:00 A.M."

Suddenly, a thought came to Frank's head. Miami International Airport… MIA… Missing in Action!

Frank suddenly remembered. Yeah! Chet was talking about this. He said that the second first-prize winner wrote a story named Missing in Action! And he said that the story was just like the one we told him. He said that the main plot was just like the most recent mystery Nancy, Joe, and I solved. But could she be here?

No, Frank thought, shaking his head. That's not possible. Chet said that the name of the author was definitely not Nancy Drew, even though he can't remember who it was. But… what if she was here? I haven't heard from her in months. But what if…?

Joe looked at his eighteen-year-old brother. "Hey, Frank. What's on your mind?"

Frank looked up abruptly. "No, nothing… I was just—"

Frank's sentence was interrupted by the announcement made by one of the ladies at the podium. "Ladies and gentlemen. Flight 642 has arrived. If you sit in the section one or two of the plane, please come up."

"That's us," Frank said, standing up. He grabbed his suitcase and his bag and went to the man at the machine. He gave him his ticket and the man put it into the machine. In less than a second, the ticket came out from the other end of the machine and the man took it out, then handing it to the dark-haired detective. He and Joe went into the plane. Their seats weren't at the first class or business class. Joe got the window seat while his older brother got the one in the middle. After putting their suitcases and bags on the compartment above their seats, Frank and Joe sat down and took out the magazine.

In less than five minutes, a girl came to the seat next to the Hardys and stopped. She grabbed her suitcase and bags, but it was heavier than she thought. Frank noticed this and put his magazine down and looked up. "Would you like me to—?"

Both of them stopped. The girl's eyes got larger and Frank's mouth was open with shock. The girl had the familiar titian-colored hair and the eyes as blue as the Atlantic Ocean. In an instant, Frank felt happy, shocked, and confused at the same time.

"Nancy Drew! Why are you here?"