Chapter 1, And there goes one...
The night before Spring Break started, 17-year-old Joe Hardy sat in the middle of his overly messy room, feeling both overwhelmed and undeniably excited. Now, Joe would never say he was the cleanest of people or the most organized, but his room didn't usually look this much like a tornado of unfolded clothes had just hit him full-force, leaving clothes hanging off his floor lamp, sitting in bunched up piles on his unmade bed, and surrounding him on the floor where he was now, like a maze of brightly colored fabrics.
Next week Bayport High School's juniors and seniors were headed out on the school's annual trip over spring break, only for upperclassmen. Last year, when Frank was a junior and Joe was a sophomore, Joe had been forced to stay behind as his older brother had joined the other upperclassmen on a trip around England.
Those 2 weeks being stuck at home alone without Frank were the 2 most boring weeks of Joe's life so far. It was weird going down to breakfast in the mornings and having to listen to Aunt Trudy's dramatic stories over toast, without being able to share eyerolls with Frank, or getting halfway through the day and looking for new mysteries to solve on his own, again without the normal appearance of Frank by his side.
It was embarrassing, really, when Joe stopped to think about it he realized that besides the year previous, he and Frank hadn't ever spent more than a week apart.
This year Bayport High's school trip was on a cruise around the North Atlantic Ocean, stopping in South America and even Africa for a few days! Joe had been looking forward to it for months. The only thing he wasn't thrilled about was…
"The bermuda triangle, huh?" Frank interrupted Joe's thoughts, walking into his younger brother's room without knocking.
Ok. Creepy, Joe thought, Is Frank reading my mind now? I was just thinking about the Bermuda Triangle.
"Huh?" Joe stumbles out, unintelligibly.
Frank just chuckles at him, "We're passing over the Bermuda triangle on the first night of the cruise."
"Yeah Frank I know, don't remind me." Joe deadpanned. Bad things happened in the Bermuda Triangle.
"Don't tell me you're still superstitious about the Bermuda Triangle Joe?" Frank asked, but by the sharp smile he wears, Joe knows Frank is teasing him.
Deciding the best way to deal with the situation was to defend himself, Joe responds, "Yeah Frank! I am! You've heard the stories of people going missing in the Bermuda Triangle!"
Frank laughs again… annoying.
"You mean those stories Chet told us? Come on Joe, get real. There's no rational reason to be worried." He laughed.
Joe's brows furrowed with petulance, "Yeah? Well you're the rational one of the two of us Frank."
He immediately regretted saying that as Frank burst out into full fits of laughter.
"I think you just insulted yourself Joe." He said between breaths.
Joe sighed and looked down with a frown, mumbling, "It's not that funny Frank."
Laughing for a moment more, Frank sobered when he saw the look on Joe's face that Frank knew was his little brother's 'unamused look'. He patted Joe's right shoulder with his left hand.
"Ah, you know I'm just teasing Joe. This trip is going to be great. It was weird not having you, Biff and Phil around last year in England."
Biff and Phil were also juniors like Joe, all their other friends, other than Iola, were seniors like Frank. And, speaking of Iola…
"Yeah, I'm excited too," Joe started, "But I'm not looking forward to seeing Iola this morning."
Frank frowned, "Are the two of you still not speaking?"
"No. I mean, I've been trying to call her for the past week, but she still won't answer the phone. I was thinking about going over to the Morton Farm to see if she was home, but Chet told me not to."
If possible, Frank's frown grew even deeper.
"What do you mean Chet told you not to go over?" He asked.
Joe sighed, ugh, when had this night turned so somber?
"I think Chet's on Iola's side, he seems upset at me."
Last week, Frank and Joe were on a pretty intense case for their father, involving a kidnapping of a young girl. On friday night, Joe had been so exhausted from sleep deprivation, having not slept since the case started, that he had slept right through a date he had with Iola, and accidentally stood her up.
Iola hadn't talked to him since, and all the interactions he'd had with Chet had been off. Usually, Chet couldn't seem to stop talking when he and Joe texted. He'd always send paragraphs of texts like he was writing some sort of essay. Now however, most of the texts Joe got back from him were one worded or straight to the point. So un-Chet like.
Frank didn't really know what to say to this, it upset him that Chet might be trying to get in the middle of what was happening with Iola and Joe, when he himself was trying to stay out of it.
Chet was their best friend, and had been ever since they were little. What would this trip be like if not only Iola and Joe were on bad terms, but so were Chet and Joe?
Joe seemed to read Frank's mind this time, and just shrugged.
"It's fine Frank. I'm sure I can make it up to Iola soon. Besides, I've been waiting a year to go on this trip with you, so I'm not going to let some stupid high school drama ruin it for me."
A knock on Joe's door alerted the two boys to their Father's presence. The tall man looked just as tired as Joe had felt one week ago, he was currently working on a murder case that he refused to let the boys help him with. Their dad was 'technically' retired, but the Bayport police still pulled him in from time to time to get help on harder cases, and he worked as a private investigator.
They'd had many cases in their short amatuer detective careers, but their Father made sure to never let them in on anything as hard pressed as a murder case.
"Hey boys," He said now, leaning against the doorway, dead on his feet, "Your mom told me I had to come tell you to go to bed. You have an early morning tomorrow and she wants you to get some sleep."
"Gee Dad," Said Joe, "Don't you think you should listen to Mom and get some sleep too? You look exhausted."
Their Dad rubbed his temple between his fingers, "Yeah, I haven't gotten much sleep since this case started."
"Maybe we could…" Joe started again, but his Dad quickly interrupted him:
"No, Joe you know how I feel about bringing you to in on a case like this. Besides, you're about to go on a trip."
Joe groaned.
"Hey Joe, Dad's right. Besides, it's time we take a break anyways. We've been on case after case for months now with barely any time in between." Frank supplied.
Joe just gave him a look of mock betrayal that had their Dad chuckling.
"Well goodnight boys. And I mean it, I'll get in trouble with your mother if you two don't get some shut eye."
Nodding in agreement, both Frank and Fenton Hardy left Joe's room to get some sleep.
Needless to say, Joe's excitement kept him up all night.
The next day, the atmosphere inside the Hardy boy's convertible was buzzing with excitement as Frank drove the two of them to the school where a bus would take the students to the airport, and then to the harbor in South America where they'd be boarding the cruise ship.
Despite Joe's scrambling, the two of them were the last to arrive at the school, all their friends already standing in a group amongst the other students. Teachers with clipboards walked around taking attendance.
"Heya, Frank! Joe!" One of their best friends Tony called out to them, waving them over to the group.
The two joined the others with broad smiles on their faces, Joe's wavering slightly when he tried to make eye contact with both Iola and Chet, and neither of them seemed to be interested in anything but the concrete below their feet.
"Hey Tony." Joe said instead, swallowing down the hurt he was feeling. As soon as he was able to, he would talk to Iola alone and apologize again.
Frank's beautiful blonde haired girlfriend came up and kissed Frank on the cheek, her eyes barely flitting over Joe.
"Hey Frank." She smiled sweetly at the older Hardy.
Frank gave his girlfriend a half smile back, but he couldn't help but notice the dejected look on Joe's face.
First Iola, then Chet, and now Callie too? He was starting to feel really bad for his brother.
Usually, Callie would smile and say hi to Joe too, but it seems she was upset like Iola. It did make some sense, Iola was her best friend after all.
Still, Frank hoped things would get better between his brother and friends soon, before he was forced to take a side.
From the beginning, Frank would've taken Joe's side like Chet (clearly) did for Iola, if he didn't know Joe better.
Joe was the kind of guy who wanted to be able to handle things himself as much as he could, Frank knew he wouldn't be too happy to have his big brother step in to protect him.
Shaking off these negative thoughts, Frank joined the others as they got on the bus. Frank sat next to Callie while Joe sat next to Biff. The two of them were laughing about something within the first few minutes of the ride.
Chet and Iola sat in the seat in front of Frank, and soon the four of them were talking about what they were most excited about with the upcoming trip.
A few hours later, and well into the afternoon, the exhausted crew of Juniors and Seniors were beginning to load onto the cruise ship. Seating on the plane had been just as awkward as standing out front of the school had been, Frank was seated next to Chet, and he didn't know what to think as Chet babbled on like his normal self but changed the subject anytime Frank would mention anything about Joe.
By the time the 5 hour flight was over, Frank was ready to be off the plane, never before so anxious to not be sitting next to his best friend.
"Welcome Bayport High to the North Atlantic!" An overly cheery tour guide was saying to their crowd as they followed him through the main entrance to the ship.
They were the only school group on the cruise for this trip, and stuck out like a sore thumb against the other families, young couples, and old people also aboard the ship.
The tour guide showed them the different recreational areas such as the gigantic deck-top pool/water park, to the arcade full of screaming little boys. They ended their tour at the rooms where they'd be staying, their teacher chaperones telling them they had a few hours of down time to do whatever before it was time to meet up at dinner.
Students went their separate ways to unpack their stuff in their rooms and explore.
Frank, Joe, Chet, Biff, Tony, and Phil shared one room with three bunk beds sitting against the walls, and windows overlooking what would soon be the open sea when the ship took off. It was a little crowded, but nice overall for a school trip's accommodations.
As soon as the door closed behind the boys, they each started throwing their stuff onto respective beds. Joe, much to Frank's chagrin, snagging the top bunk and leaving Frank with the bottom.
"Hey! Shouldn't I get the top bunk. You know, since I'm the oldest?" He quipped.
"Nah, you're a senior, and your back pain would make it too hard for you to climb up." Joe teased, Frank rolled his eyes.
Both Phil and Biff started laughing, the atmosphere in the room feeling light.
But then Chet let out a rude snort, and the room fell silent.
"What Chet?" Frank asked with exasperation lacing his voice. This whole mess was getting old, quick.
"Nothing." Chet responded with a half shrug, finishing pulling out his stuff and putting it away under his bed on the bottom bunk across from Frank and Joe, "Hey Frank, Biff, Tony, Phil, want to go check out the water park area?" He finished.
Frank did not miss how Chet didn't include Joe, or how Joe started to look dejected again for the fifteenth time that day.
"No." Frank said sharply, and the others looked at him with surprise, Frank wasn't the type to get upset, that was usually Joe's department.
"Joe and I are going on a walk." He finished, and stood up and left the room without another word.
It wasn't until he was all the way down the hallway that he looked to see if Joe had followed him. He had, but he was still wearing that same look on his face that really never belonged on someone so usually happy and upbeat.
"Joe.." Frank started.
"It's fine Frank. Let's not talk about it." Joe shrugged, "Why don't we go up to the deck? The boat should be taking off any minute now."
Frank sighed but nodded, realizing trying to push Joe into talking right now would be a bad idea.
Watching the ship leave the harbor turned out to be pretty cool, and then during dinner Joe sat next to Biff and Tony, thankfully nobody mentioning what had happened earlier in their room. Callie sat on Frank's left, and Iola sat awkwardly on Frank's right as Callie tried to engage them both in conversation. It was awkward to say the least, and Frank was beginning to worry their whole trip was going to be ruined at this rate.
Around midnight, most of the students gathered on the deck where Joe and Frank had been earlier, to look out at the stars and watch as they crossed into the Bermuda Triangle. Obviously, the Bermuda Triangle wasn't an actual landmark, but people were excited nonetheless.
Noticing Iola laughing with Callie and a few other girls in the corner Joe decided this was his opportunity to 1. Apologize again to Iola, and 2. Not have to think about the Bermuda Triangle.
"Hey Iola, can we talk?" Joe asked his girlfriend.
Yikes, maybe this was a bad idea… Joe thought when all the girls in the small group gave him nasty looks.
Well, there's no turning back now.
"Fine…" Iola answered. Never was Joe more thankful that Iola never liked starting a scene.
She grabbed his arm and pulled him a little ways away from the group.
"Make it quick." She crossed her arms.
Joe took a deep breath, "Look, Iola I really am sorry I stood you up Friday, I swear I didn't mean to. I hadn't gotten sleep in over a week because of the case I was on. I'm sorry Iola. Really." He made to grab her hand but she pulled away.
"Joe for someone so smart you can be really stupid sometimes. I'm not upset about you not showing up because you were exhausted. I understand that sometimes cases can work you really hard. I am upset because...:"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" An ear splitting scream from below deck interrupted Iola mid-sentence, sending icy chills down both Joe and Iola's bones.
Exchanging a quick startled glance, the two of them followed after the rest of the terrified people on deck as they went rushing to the door that led to the lower part of the cruise ship.
Pushing through the crowd, Joe frantically searched for Frank. Bodies slammed into one another as the high pitched scream kept going.
An elbow to the face almost sent Joe spiralling to the floor when someone grabbed him around the waist and hauled him back up. Frank.
"Frank! Frank! What's going on?!" Joe cried over the noise.
"I have no idea!" He yelled back.
They continued to push their way forward until they found the source of the noise. A junior girl from their school stood at the doorway to one of the rooms, screaming and pointing inside with a look of horror on her face.
There was a crowd of ashen faced people forming around her looking inside.
Wordlessly, both Frank and Joe pushed their way to the front of the crowd to see inside.
There, hung to one of the bunk beds by a noose, was one of Joe's classmate's Ben Stevens. He was dead, and his face held the look of pure terror.
All at once all the blood in Joe's body seemed to plummet to his feet, and he fell to his knees on the floor in shock.
All around him chaos continued, and somewhere in the back of his brain Joe registered Frank grabbing onto his shoulders from behind.
But Joe couldn't register anything.
To be continued...