Joe teased Biff the rest of the day – Biff took the ribbing good naturedly. The blonde teen laughed the loudest when Joe retold what happened to Chet and Vanessa during lunch.

“You have to admit Joe, she is hot!” Biff leaned over to lightly punch Joe on the shoulder.

Vanessa raised an eyebrow as she gave Joe a mock glare. “Is that true, Joe?”

Joe noticed the new teacher had walked into the cafeteria. He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, what do you think?”

“Oh man,” Chet sighed. “I had to get Mr. Lawson for English! You two have all the luck!”

Almost every male in the room had turned to stare at the pretty young woman. Her blonde hair fell loosely around her face – she wore a cream colored blouse with light brown dress slacks. Although she dressed like the other teachers at Bayport High, there was something about her that made the young teacher different from the others. It could have been the leather ankle boots or the man’s watch that she wore.

Charlie bought a ready-made sandwich and some juice. As she was leaving the cafeteria, she caught sight of Biff and Joe. Charlie smiled at them and gave them a slight nod in greeting. Biff felt his ears burning and knew he was blushing; hearing Vanessa giggle he guessed that he was right.

“I wonder if I could transfer out of Mr. Lawson’s class?” Chet pondered out loud.

“I have to admit – she is pretty! And she has great taste in footwear! Did you see those boots?!” gushed Vanessa.

“She was wearing boots?”

Joe and Vanessa glanced at each other before they threw their empty milk cartons at Biff.

*****

When Frank walked into his English Lit. class he was surprised to see Roger Covington. The young man was sitting at a small desk in the corner that was facing the students. As Frank took his seat, Roger looked up.

“Hey – Frank, isn’t it?”

“Yes it is, Mr. Covington.”

“Roger – please call me Roger. We’ll be seeing a lot of each other. I’m Professor Wells’ teaching assistant.”

Frank just smiled as more students came into the room. A few minutes later Professor Wells walked in and class begun. Once again Frank’s mind wandered. He barely heard the lecture as he kept glancing over at Roger Covington. He didn’t know why, but Frank thought it was too much of a coincidence to find him here.

Roger pretended to be working, every now and then he would glance over at Frank. At one point he caught the Hardy boy staring straight at him. He had to suppress a smile – they were right – Frank Hardy was definitely someone to watch.

*****

Her first day of teaching was finally over and Charlie had a feeling she was going to be a popular teacher. She knew that she was the only one who didn’t assign any homework. Charlie always hated it when teachers handed out homework on the first day of school.

As she walked to her car, Charlie noticed Joe waiting by the curb, a pretty girl with ash blonde hair standing next to him. A black van drove up, and she watched as Joe gave the girl a kiss before they both got into the van.

The van drove past her; Joe leaned out the window and waved to her. Charlie laughed as she returned the wave.

“Who was that?” asked Frank his voice filled with curiosity.

“That’s my new English teacher! Ms. Pratt finally retired!” Joe replied with a grin. “Ouch!”

Joe rubbed his arm where Vanessa had hit him.

“That’s what you get!” Frank laughed. “You shouldn’t look so happy to have such a pretty new teacher when your girlfriend is sitting right behind you!”

“I’ll be sure to remember that!” replied Joe as he continued to rub his arm.

*****

When Charlie entered her apartment she found that someone was already waiting for her.

“Did you make contact?” Arthur Gray asked as he walked out of the shadows.

“Not yet – I wanted to check if you wanted me to confront them both or just Joe.”

“Both – I think you’ll find Frank to be an immense help in these kind of matters.”

Charlie paced the small room. “I just don’t understand – why do they think Joe is such a great threat? He just seemed like an ordinary teenage boy!”

“Trust me Charlie, Joe is not your ordinary teenager and for that matter neither is Frank!”

The Gray Man took out a packet of cigarettes from his jacket pocket. With the cigarette dangling from his mouth, he searched for his lighter when suddenly a small flame sparked lighting the cigarette. He stood still for a moment before taking a long puff.

“I really hate it when you do that!”

*****

Frank and Joe were setting the table for dinner, and the younger Hardy was telling Frank about his day.

“I have a long day tomorrow so you’re going to have to find another way home, Joe.”

“Okay, I’ll call Vanessa. I think she said her car should be back from the garage.”

“What was wrong with her car?”

“Nothing major – it needed new spark plugs but Jake was backed up, otherwise she would have been driving it today.”

Fenton walked out of the kitchen carrying a large plate full of pork chops. Laura followed behind him with a large bowl of salad. Joe took the salad from his mother and set it on the table, Frank went into the kitchen to help bring in the rest of the food.

The Hardy family was soon seated at the dinner table enjoying their meal, with Frank and Joe recounting their day.

Fenton was relishing a rare day off. A famous private detective, Fenton Hardy didn’t always have time to spend and have a quiet dinner with his family. When he was able, he savored every moment. Fenton didn’t have any cases to work on at the moment so he knew that he could enjoy a few more of these occasions in the days to come.

Dinner over, Laura was in the kitchen putting away what little food was left over. Although, she thought, why she even bothered! Laura suppressed a smile as she watched Joe nibbling on some of the leftovers.

Joe was putting the dishes in the dishwasher while Frank washed a few of the pots and pans. Their work done, the two brothers headed upstairs to finish the little homework that they had.

“Don’t forget to call Vanessa,” Frank reminded Joe as he headed for his room.

“I won’t, don’t worry!” Joe replied before he closed the door to his room.

Joe took one step and stopped in his tracks, not believing what he was seeing.

“Uh, Frank!”

“Yeah?”

“Could you come in here please?”

“Why, what’s the matter?”

“Well – either I’m dreaming or one of my fantasies just came true.”

“What—?!” Using the door connecting their rooms, Frank hurried inside. He stood in shock when he saw a pretty blonde woman reclining on Joe’s bed.

“Hi, I’m Charlie Manders, or as Joe knows me – Miss Manders.”

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.