No. We don't own Belinda, and we don't own the monster crush either. They are all stolen from the Undercover Brothers series.

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Chapter 3:

Joe went to look for Frank after the girls had wandered off. He found his brother in the classroom already, chatting with Biff Hooper. Three of their other friends, Tony Prito, Phil Cohen and Perry 'Slim' Robinson, had graduated from Bayport High last year and gone to college, being Frank's age. Joe took the seat on his brother's left and saved a seat for Vanessa. No, better make it two, he thought. Vanessa would probably want a seat for Katie as well. Just then, another friend of theirs, Chet Morton, came in to the room and sat down in the seat next to Vanessa's empty one. Joe poked the stout boy with his pen.

"Move over," he told Chet, but his friend only shrugged.

"It doesn't make a difference. Jerry can sit next to me here. Or he can sit next to Biff on the other side."

"I'm saving two seats."

"Whatever for?" Chet asked nonchalantly. "Callie's not sitting with us. She's sitting with…"He stopped abruptly in mid-sentence, suddenly realizing that Frank was with them. Biff shot over a warning glance. Chet swallowed.

Frank gave an exasperated sigh. "What's the matter with you guys? Go on, say it," he challenged them. "She's sitting with Steve. What's so wrong with that?" His friends looked at one another, unsure of what to say.

"So, who's sitting with us?" Chet hissed. "Belinda?" Joe coughed. Belinda Conrad was a schoolmate of theirs who once had a monster crush on Frank and their last case involved her kidnapping. While working on the case, Joe was abducted by the people who kidnapped her, and subsequently, Frank was almost killed trying to rescue both Joe and Belinda, and missed his exams as a result. It was partly why Callie got so furious about the case, especially when she learnt about that monster crush. She did not feel it justified that Frank should almost lose his life and messed up his future because of another girl. Not to mention the fact that he had lied to her about it…

A year ago, there was a girl named Holly Strand, who had made it no secret that she loved him. Then, there was Belinda who, more than once, tried to flirt with him in the school hallways. Frank felt that he couldn't really fault Callie for being jealous…

"Don't be daft," Joe hissed back. "Belinda isn't in this class." Then he switched back to his normal voice. "What's our first subject? English?" he asked. Frank smiled rather languidly. It was obvious that his brother was trying to change the subject. Almost all of them had their History books on their tables by now.

"You alright, Frank?" He thought Frank still looked a bit subdued.

"Yeah," Frank nodded. "As right as rain." Joe shot him a disbelieving look. No, you're not alright, big brother. Even the blind can see that you're not.

Just then, Callie walked into the room with Steve Taylor, hand in hand. Callie looked slightly awkward when she saw Frank. Steve gave a friendly smile, which faded instantly when Joe shot him a death glare. Together, they chose some desks slightly down in front. Frank felt a stab of agony in his heart. He felt like leaving the room immediately, but he held himself, not wanting to make a big deal out of it. Groaning inwardly, he shifted his attention to his book. He was not making a good show in pretending to study, he knew, but he had no choice. He just had to keep his eyes off them.

The class soon swung into a full motion, with Mr. Wilson's voice booming from the front.

Frank was still rather silent. The first ten minutes of the class was a torment to his already depressed mind. He had a clear view of Steve and Callie from where he was seated, though he kept pretending not to see them. He tried his best to concentrate on the board, but he found his eyes kept wandering back to the couple. Finally, he looked down and channeled his mind on his book instead. Sensing his distress, Joe doodled on his brother's book to cheer him up.

"Stop it!" Frank hissed at his brother. "How do you expect us to concentrate if you kept doing this?"

Joe grinned and shrugged. He wrote something on his notepad. "Does it matter?" he scribbled. "You aren't concentrating anyway."

"I want to," Frank wrote back.

Joe reached for the paper once more. "No one is, I think," he added.

Joe kept adding to the note. "Wilson is a terrible bore. I wonder how he became a teacher." He twirled his pen in his hand; then added a rude caricature of a bald-headed man with black-rimmed glasses.

Frank choked down a grin that was beginning to show itself, trying to keep a straight face. Joe grinned back.

Frank looked at his brother gratefully. He felt much better now. Joe could be a tad ridiculous and idiotic at times, but he really knew how to lighten a somber mood. Many a time, Joe had stood by him and cheered him up when he was on the verge of breaking down, albeit through ridiculous jokes and teasing.

Frank scrawled a thanks. He was about to slide the note over to his brother when someone gave his chair a light kick. Mr. Wilson snatched the paper up before he could hide it. The teacher's eyes narrowed when he saw the offending remark.

"Wilson is a terrible bore. I wonder how he became a teacher," Mr. Wilson read aloud. The class broke into a loud guffaw, but the teacher's expression was stern. He narrowed his eyes on Frank.

"An hour detention after school, Hardy," he said coldly.

"But…" Frank began to protest, but stopped himself as he realized that protesting would mean giving his brother away. Mr. Wilson looked at him sharply.

"You may have been an honored student, but you will get nowhere if you continue fooling around. I thought you should've learnt your lesson after last year." Mr. Wilson was a new teacher in the school, having only come to Bayport recently. He knew nothing of Frank's illness, nor of the Hardys' involvement in mysteries. He merely assumed that Frank's failure was due to lack of studying.

"And if you want to know, I consider that plain rudeness."

Frank reddened to his ears. Joe looked most apologetic. "I was the one who wrote that," he confessed to the teacher. "Not Frank."

"You can join your brother for an additional history lesson then. An hour after school. Both of you."

"Yes, Sir. But Frank…"

"It takes two to scribble notes. If you spend your History hour playing about, then you should spend an hour after school on History to make up for it. Does this make sense? Now, any more of these nonsense and you shall both leave the room."

The class fell silent. Joe looked indignant, but Mr. Wilson took no further notice and resumed teaching the class.

Right, thought Frank gloomily. Just my luck to get on my teacher's bad books on the first day. He debated whether to fool about a bit more or not. After all, he badly wanted to leave the room.

A knock sounded on the door and the secretary peered in. "Katie Ryan. She's a new girl in your class," the secretary informed the teacher, as she showed Katie in. After checking off her name in his register, Mr. Wilson nodded for her to sit down.

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(shrugs) They were naughty to cheek Mr. Wilson. They deserved the detention.