Cheaters Never Prosper

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hardy Boys or any of the characters from the books. I do have some OCs but I don't anyone else would want them.

Rating/Setting: Rating is K+. Setting is probably pre-blue spine as it's elementary school or maybe Clues Brothers, but I never read any of them.

Author's Notes: So after reading a ton of great HB stories on HDA and FFN, I am attempting my first HB story and I decided to go with an "early HB" instead of the teenagers to start out and I tend to write story arcs, so there could be more to follow this one leading into late-teens' stories. I will not give a lot of background to characters as I figure most of you will know it already. And yes, I'm a "Joe girl" although I love Frank too. Hope you like the story and if you don't, please be kind…


Chapter One

Ten year old Joe Hardy watched as his brother, Frank, and his mother, Laura, left the house to walk to Strasmore Middle School. Frank was eleven and now in the sixth grade and for the first time since he started school, Joe wasn't walking to school with Frank. Joe's eyes strayed to the bay window at the front of the house and watched as Frank and Laura walked out of sight. It didn't look like Frank was worried about leaving his kid brother behind at all. His movements as he had walked past were animated. Joe was sure that Frank was probably talking about the computer class that was available to middle school students regarding networking and programming.

Fenton sat with his tablet and coffee in living room and watched his younger son with quiet interest. It was interesting because Joe was quiet. Not a word or state of being normally associated with the very active and talkative youngster. While Frank had enthused about his upcoming school year, Joe had been somewhat quiet as the time drew closer to start school. Sitting the tablet to the side and picking up his cup of coffee, he decided he'd plunge in and see what he could find out. After all, he was a detective. "You know that Biff, Tony, and Iola will still be at Coffer Elementary. Only Frank, Chet, and Phil will be at Strasmore and you'll join them next year." Fenton watched for Joe's reaction.

Taking a deep breath, Joe turned with a fake smile and said, "Yeah, Dad, I know. It's no big deal." He glanced at the clock and asked, "Mom said to wait fifteen minutes before we left, but is it okay if we go ahead now?" Seeing that his father was regarding him closely, he added, "It is the first day."

Fenton was processing Joe's response and comments quickly. Joe was never one to want to go to school early and Frank NOT being at the same school WAS a big deal. Why wouldn't Joe just admit to it that he was going to miss Frank? Unless there was more to it than that. Standing, Fenton moved to the kitchen with his coffee cup and called back over his shoulder, "Sure thing, Joe. Never hurts to be early." After putting his cup in the kitchen, he returned to the living room to find Joe already at the door with the book bag over his shoulder. Fenton set the alarm and then they headed out.

On normal days, Fenton or Laura would only need to walk Joe about three blocks before they would come to a group of kids that would walk together to the elementary school. For the past two years, Frank and Joe had walked by themselves to join the group. With the boys at different schools, the Hardy parents had decided it was safest to walk the boys to their respective spots where they would join a larger group of kids to continue on. Fenton pulled out his cell phone and texted Laura and the parent group of the kids who would walk together letting them know that he would be walking Joe all the way to school. It was a security precaution that Fenton had started the previous year after a scare with one of the kids arriving late. This way, everyone would know if someone wasn't going to be at the meeting spot.

Reaching the assigned meeting spot, Joe stopped and turned expectantly towards his father. "See you this afternoon, Dad."

Frowning, Fenton slipped his phone back in his pocket. "We're not stopping here, Joe, I'm walking you to school."

Joe's face paled slightly. "I- I thought you could just drop me off here. I can walk with the group."

Fenton sensed Joe's unease, but he wasn't leaving him on the street by himself. Not with the trouble target that seemed to be constantly on his son. "No, it's not safe and besides, I thought you wanted to get to school early?"

Realizing he didn't have a good answer to refute his father's logic, Joe turned and continued walking. "Oh, that's right. Well, let's go."

At the school entrance, Joe glanced nervously around as he told his father good-bye and hurried into the school.

Fenton watched as Joe's glow-in-the-dark orange book bag disappeared into the school. Something was up. Something that Joe didn't want his father involved in. Fenton shook his head as he headed back to his house. Joe seemed to have a problem and the school year hadn't even started. What was worse, Frank wouldn't be there to keep an eye on his little brother.… Maybe that was all it was. Maybe Joe realized his safety net of having Frank was gone. At least Fenton hoped that was all it was but with Joe, things were never simple.

As Joe walked up the steps to the school entrance he didn't look back. He had already given his father reason to question his behavior and he wouldn't add to it. He'd have to deal with Carson Fink all on his own. Entering the school, Joe let out the breath he had been holding. Until he walked through the door, he was sure his father was going to run up and demand to know what was going on. But now he was safe.

"Morning, Joe." Carson Fink said in a casual manner.

Joe took a breath and looked up at the taller boy who was leaning against the wall opposite of the entry. Carson hadn't repeated a grade, but he had what the teacher's called 'a late birthday.' Carson had missed being in Frank's grade by only three days. If his mom hadn't delivered him a week early, he would be in Frank's grade, not Joe's. Overall, except for his height, Carson didn't stand out. He had dark brown hair, blue eyes, freckles on his nose, and a lanky build.

"Hi, Carson," Joe responded with a normal tone. Glancing past the taller boy, and seeing the open hallway, he said, "Well, I need to get to Ms. Hendrick's class." A bad feeling settled in Joe's stomach as Carson smiled at him.

"What do ya know? I'll walk with you; I'm in Ms. Hendrick's class too."

Joe's eyes increased in size as he just stood and stared at Carson.

Joe regretted having teased Carson about his last name when they were in fourth grade last year. Carson had been new and everyone was just joking around on the playground when Joe had jokingly called him 'Stinky Finky.' That little comment had landed both boys in the principal's office after Carson had knocked him down. Carson had told the principal that he didn't like being teased about his name and Joe had sincerely apologized and promised not to tease him again. Both boys had received a punishment at school and Joe had received an additional one at home for the teasing. Joe had been true to his word and had never teased Carson again and had even tried to befriend the new boy. However, it seemed that Carson had made up his mind about Joe and wasn't willing to change it. From the day of the fight, Joe had noticed that Carson seemed to go out of his way to 'accidentally' trip him or bump into him. If they were playing a group game, a lot of the time Joe was left out if his friends weren't involved as Carson seemed to have influenced a lot of the other kids. Never did Carson say or do anything overt… at least not yet. Joe had been very aware that Frank had been watching out for him at the shared recess time for fourth/fifth grade and then Frank always walked with him before and after school. But that was last year and he had a feeling this year was going to be different.

Finally, Joe's feet started moving down the hall. He saw from the corner of his eye that Carson had fallen into step beside him.

"Yep, Joe. We're in the same class and I know we'll have a great year together."

Joe stared down at the alternating white and blue tiles of the hall floor. How he wished that Carson were in a different fifth grade class. Tony and Biff were assigned to other teachers. His only close friend in his room was Iola and while they were good friends, she wasn't Biff. He grimaced slightly and prayed that Iola didn't have to interfere on his behalf or he'd be in even more trouble with Carson. Having a boy like Biff stick up for you and having a petite girl like Iola do the same were worlds apart.

It was with these thoughts in his mind that he entered the class and looked for his seat. Thankfully, his seat was across the room from Carson. Looking to see who was assigned next to him, he read the name 'Iola Morton.' Just then he heard a squeal of excitement. He didn't need to turn around to know that it was Iola. He only lifted his eyes to meet Carson's as Iola excitedly said, "This is great, Joe! We're sitting next to each other!" Joe watched as Carson elbowed his friend Greg in the ribs and pointed toward Joe and Iola. Both starting laughing. Joe began unpacking his book bag as Iola kept up a one-sided conversation about the fun they would have their 'senior year' in elementary school. She didn't seem to notice that Joe was unusually quiet.