Unfortunately, the next morning, Joe wasn't in much of a mood to talk either. He stirred around his breakfast and finally got up to leave when Frank picked up his bag.
When the were almost to the door, Laura said, "Frank remember you have a dentist appointment after school today, and Joe I made you an appointment to have the doctor look at your arm again since you hurt it yesterday. That appointment is at the same time as Frank's unfortunately and I won't be back in time to take you. Can you drive yourself in the van?"
"Yeah, I can manage fine," Joe said, not entirely thrilled with going back to the doctors.
Frank said, "I'll throw the motorcycle in the back of the van and I'll take it to the dentist."
Soon they were at school and Joe was packing his backpack for the day. "Shoot," he thought, "I must have left my notebook in my jacket pocket, and that's at home."
Joe made it through the day without incident, though as the people associated with the play were called out of class for pictures for the advertisements, Craig flashed Joe a nasty smile, "I know you're jealous." Craig turned and walked away followed closely by Alan.
Joe knew Alan worked backstage but couldn't think of why he would need to go. He does all of the lighting, so they must need him for the pictures, he thought. He sighed and went back to trying to focus on history though it quickly turned into daydreaming.
When the day was finally over, Joe went quickly to his locker and packed his bag. He just wanted out of there, even if that did mean going to the doctors.
Joe finally made it to the car and sat through all of the traffic caused by too many cars trying to exit the lot at the same time. Soon he was on his way.
He turned up the radio when his favorite song came on and drove along Shore Road towards the doctors. He really didn't want to see the doctor again, he had narrowly avoided getting a sling last time and he didn't want to give Dr. Bates another chance at it.
As Joe approached the turn off from Shore Road, he turned the wheel of the van to the right, but realized abruptly that the van wasn't responding well. The van was not turning quickly enough to make it around the corner.
Joe rounded the corner heading diagonally across the road and over the median, he tried frantically to pull the wheel to the left so he would be going in the right direction, but his shoulder protested. When the van's front wheels hit the gravel on the side of the road, the steering wheel was ripped from his hands and the van ran head-on into a tree.
The force of the impact caused Joe to slam into the doorframe before the airbag deployed. He saw the brilliant flash of white and then all went dark.
A small blue motorcycle pulled up beside the van. The boy made sure his motorcycle was hidden from view by the side of the van. He peeked through the van window and was relieved to see that Joe wasn't moving at all.
He opened the side door of the van and quickly located Joe's backpack. He only had a minute to find that notebook. The zipper on the backpack jammed as he tried to quickly unzip it. "Just my luck," he thought to himself. He pulled harder and the zipper ripped apart, but he could finally get inside it. He pulled everything out of the backpack, but couldn't find it.
"Nothing is going to ruin my plan. I will get revenge and he is not going to stand in my way. I will get that notebook," he mumbled as he threw everything back inside the backpack, thinking it was a good thing that Joe's bag was messy to begin with. He quietly retreated to his motorcycle and pulled away when the road was empty.
Con Riley heard the 911 call that came over the police frequency. Any time he heard mention of a black van, he cringed. The Hardys had been friends for years and he really worried about those boys. Once more, he found himself responding to a call, hoping he wouldn't have to call Fenton and Laura. When he pulled up next to the crash scene though, he knew it was not his lucky day.
Con was one of the first responders. He ran to the van and saw Joe hanging limply in his seatbelt. He checked his pulse and made sure he was breathing. So far so good, he thought. "Joe? Joe?" Con said and paused, waiting for a response. Nothing. "Come on Joe, talk to me."
"F-Frank?" Joe muttered without opening his eyes.
"Joe it's Con. Help is on the way. Just stay still," Con said soothingly.
"Couldn't…steer. Anyone…h-hurt?" Joe asked still with his eyes closed.
"Just you, Joe," Con said.
"Lemme out… I need t' check…van...Somm'n wrong," Joe said as he pulled his eyes open partially and tried to get out of his seatbelt.
"No! Stay still. I'll check out the van in a few minutes," Con said, gently restraining him.
Just then the ambulance and fire truck pulled up and Con cleared out of the way in order for them to do their work. He took that opportunity to call Fenton.
Frank had just left the dentist when his cell phone rang.
"Frank, it's Dad. I need you to go to the hospital. Joe's been in an accident," Fenton said in a rush.
"Is he okay?" Frank said as he took off at a run for the motorcycle.
"Con said his pulse was steady and he was able to get Joe to respond but he was kind of out of it. Joe did tell him he wanted to go check over the van himself. Con said he was slurring his words though," Fenton said.
"I'll meet you there. Got to go," Frank said as he started the motorcycle.
Frank paced endlessly around the emergency waiting room despite his parent's repeated requests for him to sit down. Finally, the doctor arrived. "Are you here for Joseph Hardy?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm Joe's father" Fenton said as he stood to greet the doctor.
"Please have a seat," the doctor said. When everyone was seated, he continued. "Joseph is extremely lucky that the airbag deployed in the car he was driving. He bruised his hip where it hit the door, he has bruising from the seatbelt, and his head and neck are likely to be sore for a few days. He lost consciousness in the ambulance, but has since regained consciousness. He does not have a concussion though, which is good news.
"One injury is inconsistent with the others though, it looks like he has a shoulder injury on his right side. Was this injured before today?"
"Yes Doctor," Laura said. "He hurt his shoulder in football practice and then re-injured yesterday."
"Well, that makes more sense," the doctor said. "I went ahead and immobilized it. You can go up and see him in room 851. We'll keep him overnight for observation, but as long as he does okay through the night he can go home tomorrow."
Frank stood up quickly as his parents were thanking the doctor and took the elevator up to the eighth floor. He cautiously entered Joe's room and peeked around the corner. Joe was laying there with his eyes closed, a few bandages here and there, and his right arm in a sling. Overall though, he looked like he would be okay.
"Hey Joe," Frank said softly. Joe's eyes fluttered open.
"Hey Frank," Joe replied groggily. "Sorry I messed up the van."
"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're going to be okay. Are you up for telling me what happened? Did someone hit you or run you off the road?" Frank asked.
"No, it was just me. The van became too hard to steer and I couldn't control it." Joe continued explaining as much of the accident as he could to Frank.
"I should have just taken you to that appointment," Frank said shaking his head. "You shouldn't have been driving with your shoulder hurting as much as it is."
"That's my fault, I should have asked for help. But I think there is something wrong with the van though to have made it so hard to steer," Joe said.
"I'll look at it Joe. The doctor said that you should be able to come home tomorrow, but no dice on getting away without a sling this time. The doctor already told Mom and Dad he gave you one," Frank said with a smile.
Joe grimaced slightly and closed his eyes again. "Sorry Frank. I'm just tired."