There was a moment of silence from the group. Terry and Sim joined them and noticed the long looks, becoming solemn as they asked what the matter was. It seemed that one by one, everyone went silent. Finally, after a minute of near complete silence, Louise and Kitty revealed the details of the incident. Everyone was in shock that some random pilot tried to crash into the Sanford students!

"Oh, oh, my," said Arden. Her legs felt weak and backed up a bit. A pair of arms gently helped her into a chair. She glanced up into the concerned, blue eyes of Andy Lane. Peggy stepped up to her other side and rubbed her shoulder before going towards Louise and grasped her hand. Terry stepped up and held Arden's hand. Arden squeezed tight.

"Good thing they have someone investigating this," muttered Bart.

"Cedar Ridge and Sanford take the safety of their students very seriously." Everyone turned their heads towards Aramon. "I'm sure Sanford has put their best men on the job. However, I hope you don't mind, but I would like to take this moment to announce that Saturday will be a full day. There will be a pool party from eleven am to three pm, then a dance party from five-thirty pm to eleven pm. If you feel up to it, there will be a movie at eleven-thirty. The movie is a surprise. That all being said, if you don't feel up to the party tonight, I quite understand given what we've just heard." He turned to Louise and Kitty. "And your friends are alright?"

Louise nodded, a single tear falling. "Y-yes sir, they are, thankfully. Not a scratch, only shaken. But they are not allowed to leave the campus tonight due to the investigation, but can attend tomorrow."

Aramon nodded. "Understandable given the circumstances. What would you all like to do now?"

"Something to drink, please? I'm too shaky to walk back right now," replied Louise.

Aramon glanced over the crowd. "Will that work for everyone?"

"Yes," said several voices.

"Very well, drinks all around. We'll save the dancing for tomorrow." Aramon went to the bar, then came back with several of his employees to serve drinks. The place began to buzz again, this time with speculations about the near crash.

"Who would do such a thing?" asked one fellow.

"A better question is, why?" said another.

"It's certainly never happened in the history of Sanford, that I can tell you," remarked yet another as he pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Being pushed into the pool definitely doesn't seem as bad in comparison," quipped Eileen.

"Which could mean the guy we're dealing with just wants us to quit looking for the treasure and isn't out to harm us," stated Josie. "The guy they're dealing with … it sounds serious." She knitted her brow. "I think we had better start keeping our eyes open around them. I'm sure the investigators will do a good job, but I wouldn't feel at ease until they caught this guy and put him behind bars."

Arden nodded with determination. "Me too."

"Do you think it could be the same guy that tried to run them down the other night?" asked Mary Louise.

"It has to be. Two near crashes in a matter of days? Someone is out to get them. We might not be able to get all the clues, but we can help where and when we can," replied Josie.

"Besides, doesn't half the group, at least, assume it's this guy named Rod?" said Eileen.

Arden nodded. "Yes, they think so. Well most of them, in fact, except Mike."

"He might as well, he's just taking a logical stance," remarked Josie, "innocent until proven guilty. They have no proof to tie him to these incidents. But if their instincts … Louise!"

Louise blinked as she glanced at Josie. "Yes?"

"How are Tom's and Linda's instincts?"

Louise blinked some more. "Uh, they're fine, I guess. Why?"

"Would you say you trust them?"

"Perfectly," Kitty replied without hesitation.

"Yeah, Linda certainly does," Ralph replied, "but Tom …"

Louise interrupted him. "Tom understands what he's picking up on faster than Linda does, but they're basically picking up on the same things."

"So, basically, if they both are uneasy, better go in the opposite direction."

"Pretty much."

"Except Tom doesn't always know what he's talking about," muttered Ralph.

"Ralph Clavering, you take that back!" shouted Kitty.

"Not another word from you about Tom, Ralph," said Maurice, his once chipper voice lowered. Everyone glanced at him. He was glaring at Ralph. "He's had to put up with all your junk growing up and we … and we went along with it to keep the status quo. No more, Tom's been right on far too many occasions for you to belittle him now, in his absence."

"But," began Ralph, but Maurice raised his hand.

"Have you ever wondered why Linda prefers his company to yours? Even now, you're not exactly doing a very good job of keeping in her favor. If you want her to like you, you need to shape up, or ship out. Enough of this. She has told you on multiple occasions that Tom is nothing more than a brother to her. Is it any wonder she doesn't like you? Not only do you refuse to believe her, you are constantly trying to tear him down. In little ways, grant you, but you are still trying to tear him down. Well, allow me to be the first to claim that Tom will be famous. I'll wager he's going to outshine you not just at Sanford, but in space too!"

Ralph's nostrils flared. "Why, you little traitor!"

"Traitor nothing! Not to you, anyways. I betrayed Tom to keep your lousy friendship, and I'm right sorry for it. I only hope Tom will forgive me."

Louise leaned forward and patted his hand. "I'm sure he will, Maurice, I'm sure he will."

"Yeah, well, if he doesn't, I understand. It only took me until hearing that he nearly died before realizing that."

"Now listen here!" began Ralph, but he was interrupted again.

"Ralph, would you be a dear and get my pearls from the bank for me? I want to wear them to the party on Saturday," said Kitty, sweetly.

"Uh, um, yeah, uh, I suppose."

"And get someone we trust to accompany you," she added.

"Like maybe Tom," mumbled Maurice.

"Hmm, Tom might be good, you need to spend more time with him without being so mean to him." Kitty wrinkled her nose. "But I'm not sure I want to put Tom through that after nearly dying."

"I can't believe this! What is up with you guys?"

"Maybe it's because we're no longer under your boot, Ralph," snapped Maurice, "or your mom's."

"Why you …!"

"Ralph! Maurice! Enough! Tonight's been stressful as it is!" shouted Kitty.

"You know, a shopping trip at the mall might help relieve some of that stress," said Louise. "What do you say, ladies? Shall we all go to the mall tomorrow, say, after breakfast, and shop for our Saturday outfits?" Everyone answered in the affirmative. "Then let's meet up with Linda, Dot, and Martie tomorrow at the mall and have some fun!" The girls all cheered. Except Arden, though she did smile. While shopping was fun, she was in agreement with Josie, she would feel better knowing whoever was trying to kill them was caught and arrested.

Ralph sighed. "I guess I'll get your pearls to you at the party tomorrow."

Kitty smiled and patted his hand. "Thanks, Ralph, you're a good brother."

Ralph smiled, though there was a hint of annoyance in his eyes. "I do my best. And, since we're on the topic of relieving stress, dancing helps with that too. No use going to bed all tense." He glanced at the bar. "Mr. Aramon, we'll dance! At least for a bit!" Aramon gave a nod and in a moment, the upbeat music was playing. Everyone paired off and began to dance, but there was an odd number of guys that there were five girls sitting at all times, including Eileen. Yet, after the third dance, everyone was starting to ease up and joking again. Ralph's suggestion worked.

Arden was one of the girls who was sitting quite often. She had danced with Pip once, and then with Andy Lane, but was sitting the next two rounds. Then Ralph showed up and offered to dance. She tensed, she really didn't want to, after all the mean things he had said about Tom. But Eileen nearly pushed her up, and Arden soon found herself walking to the dance floor with Ralph Clavering.

"If you're worried that I might be interested in you, don't be, I'm only interested in Linda," remarked Ralph after they had danced for an awkward minute.

"I already knew that."

"Then what's your problem?"

"You said some rather nasty things about Tom."

"Wait, you don't mean to say … you like Tom Corbett?"

"Yes, I do, he's a nice fellow."

"But, but how? Mom said no one would like him one bit when we got here!"

"Well, I think you should stop listening to your mom about Tom and start listening to your sister, Linda, and Maurice. He really is a swell guy."

"Do others like him?"

"Well, yeah! Astro likes him! And Mike, Johnny, Orin, Martie, and so many others!"

"You've only known him a couple days!"

"And I would like to know him for many more days." The dance ended and they stopped. "Thanks for the dance, Ralph, but allow me to let you know, unless you apologize to Tom, I won't dance with you ever again."

"That's fine by me," mumbled Ralph. "Like I would ever want to be seen with your kind again."

"And what did you mean by that?" said Arden, her voice rising with every word. But Ralph merely turned and walked away. Arden's fists balled up as she let out a growl. He was insufferable! Nothing more than a rich, spoiled brat! She turned and stomped away, walking past the table her friends were sitting at and out the door. She walked for a while before her arms were grabbed.

"Don't think you could get away that fast," quipped Terry as she looped her arm around Arden's.

Sim looped her arm around Arden's other arm. "What was that dance with Ralph Clavering all about?" Arden told them what was said.

Terry gasped. "That was so rude! You'd think that for someone so rich he would have better manners. He certainly is wealthy enough to be taught that much, at least."

"But it certainly sounds like his mom spoiled him. I wonder why Kitty isn't like that?"

"Oh, I'm sure she's just as used to having her way, she just treats people better than he does," replied Terry with an indignant shake of her head.

Arden sighed. "I'm sure his mom was the one who pushed the idea of him and Linda being together. It certainly sounds like she pushed the idea that Tom was his rival for Linda, probably simply because Linda did prefer Tom's company to his."

"Linda probably asked him to be her date to a lot of local social functions to avoid Ralph, and his mom thought they were seriously considering dating," replied Terry.

"That's still no reason to treat Tom poorly," muttered Arden.

Terry moved her arm to drape it over Arden's shoulders. "No, it's not, but I'm sure Linda, Louise, Dot, and others stood up for Tom when they could. Now, he gets to add the ever lovely you to his fan list."

Arden's face went bright red as she blurted out, "Terry!"

Sim laughed. "Don't tease her too much, Terry, I'm sure we'll find guys we'll like too."

Terry waved her hand. "Oh, alright, you have a point." She then noticed the look on Arden's face. "What are you thinking about?"

"I, well, I was kind of wishing my little fairy was real and that I could wish that Ralph would learn a lesson and treat everyone better."

Sim scoffed. "Oh man, I wish I could be a fairy and grant you that wish!" They laughed.

"Are you two sure you wanted to head back to the dorm this early?"

Terry shrugged. "It's fine, besides, I need my beauty sleep."

"Right, she has to save up her energy for shopping and partying tomorrow."

Terry flipped her hair. "Oh, you know it." They all laughed.

Later, they had all changed into pajamas and crawled into bed, but Arden stayed awake, looking up at the ceiling. Tom Corbett was starting to make a little more sense to her, at least in regards to his shyness and why Linda practically hovered around him like a mama bird. If Arden could, she would fly over to Sanford herself and attempt to get to the bottom of these two incidents. As Josie said, twice in only a matter of days, someone was out to get them. But why? Could Johnny and Martie's suspicions be correct and that it was their old teammate Rod Harger just wanting Mike Mars out of the way, and the others were constantly caught in the line of fire since they hung out together so much? She didn't think Ralph would stoop to something so low, despite how much she disliked him. In fact, it seemed, until that night, that he thought he had the whole world eating out of the palm of his hand. The mystery of the bell seemed less as important. Besides, no one had heard it the past couple of nights. Maybe they had scared away the mysterious bell-ringer. But as she would soon find out, that would not be so, and things would take a drastic turn.

(Author's Note: And things thicken! Don't worry, classes will soon start and they will have to focus solely on their mysteries here soon. They will solve them fairly quickly when they do, well, at least from our perspective, in just a few chapters. A few more days will pass before they do figure everything out. And then it will be off to plot the next mystery! Well, provided I finish Jewel Box and Secret Panel soon too. I want to finish those before I get started on anything else. Man, I have so many ideas, and not enough time to write! I mean, I am glad of it, this means the block I had earlier is dissipating, but now with transitioning from one vendor to the other for the bookstore, still a bit rough. But, finally going on a train ride at the end of the month! Whole family's going! Looking forward to it! Will let you know how it goes come July! Thanks for reading and hope you all have a great day! God bless!)