CHAPTER 7

Nancy took Christensen's hand in hers. She leaned over and ruffled his hair. Frank stood behind Nancy. He thought about the previous events had affected Nancy. He looked at her as she passed Chris a glass of water. She was smiling, not something you'd do after an argument.

After the argument with Ned, she went straight up to her room. Frank sat there uncomfortably there. He was sure that she would come down red-eyed later. After ten minutes or so, Nancy came down looking cheerful and she had on a fresh change of clothes. Frank, shocked, just stared at her.

"Well, what are we waiting for, Frank?" she said, "Chris is expecting us."

And that's how he ended up here.

"When will I get to go back and stay with you?" asked Chris.

"The doctor said that you can go back by tomorrow morning," replied Nancy.

Chris punched the air. "YES!"

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He awakened to find himself by Gina. She stirred in her sleep as he shifted on the bed. The sun had risen hours ago and he had to put his plan into action. Brown-haired Gina turned to him and smiled. "Good morning, dear."

"Good morning, Gina," he said, kissing her.

He got out of the bed and put on his trousers. She lay on the bed, resting on her right elbow while watching him. He put on his crumpled shirt, her eyes still following him. He sat down on the chair and turned to his master plan. He tapped his pencil on his chin. Aha! A brilliant idea. Excitedly, he penned it down, grinning. Suddenly, he felt two hands on his shoulders. Frightened out of his wits, he whipped around. To his relief, it was Gina. She had showered and dressed. She leant over and rubbed her warm cheek on his from behind. He gave her a peck on her cheek.

"Hey, when are you done, honey?" asked Gina, huskily.

"In a short while, hold on," he said. He continued to scribble down his "brilliant" ideas while she sat on the bed and applied lipstick. He folded the paper, pushed the chair back and got up. He stuffed the paper into his pocket and turned to her. She was admiring herself in her mirror.

"You're beautiful enough," he said praising her. "Now, I need your help…"

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"Dana, Dana!" called Joe. Dana lay motionless on the ground, her face a huge bleeding bruise. Some curious pedestrians stopped by and crowded around the two of them. Joe took out his handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed the skin around Dana's bruise. The white of the piece of cloth turned into a deathly red. "Dana, Dana, come on…"

Then, there was a professional voice of a man addressing the crowd, "Step aside please. Yes, that's right, move back for the girl."

Joe looked up from his squatting position. Standing there was an elderly man in a blue shirt. He bent down and checked Dana for any other wounds. He opened his doctor's kit and took out a cotton bud. He applied some ointment on it and carefully cleaned the bloody wound. Dana's eyelashes started to flutter a little and she stirred. "Dana, Dana?" She aroused from her unconsciousness and looked warily around. The crowd slowly began to disperse after seeing that she was alright.

"How do you feel?" asked the doctor gently.

"My cheek feels awfully painful, a stinging pain," she said grimacing.

The doctor probed the side of her head. Then he chuckled a little. "Look's like you're going to have a nasty little bump here."

"Anything's much better than being in the hospital," joked Joe.

The doctor chuckled heartily. Then, he got up slowly as though it pained him. Joe immediately got up and helped the elderly man up. "Well, I've got to go now, duty calls. Take care of your girlfriend here."

"Thanks, doctor?"

"Randall Grenstein." With a raise of the hat and a wave, he was gone.

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Ned walked down the little hill and kicked a pebble. The afternoon sun was scorching and the trees around the path weren't helping much. His skin was boiling on the outside and he was boiling, too, in the inside. He had walked around the Oval Park thrice trying to recuperate from this morning's event. He picked up a pebble, threw it up and caught it, threw it up and caught it. He was fuming inside. "Nancy Drew, I hate you!" he shouted, the veins in his head on the verge of popping. He flung the pebble with great force at a tree. It flew straight and hit the tree trunk. A little of the bark chipped and fell of. Suddenly, there was a rustle of leaves from somewhere near the tree.

"Who's that?" asked Ned, alert. "Come out, I'm not afraid of you."

A beautiful young lady stepped out from behind the trees. She had long brown hair and she wore a red mini dress above her knees. She wore high heels and she had long legs. Ned studied her from top to bottom.

"So, are you afraid of me?" she asked, her voice husky, walking towards him.

Ned gulped as she put her arms around his shoulders from behind. "Uh… well… I… I… don't… I mean I'm not," he said, not meaning it at all.

"Follow me, then," she said, as she led him into the woods.