Hey, everyone. I'm so sorry this story took so long to post. Unfortunetly, I had no way to transport it to a computer where I could upload, so it took longer than I expected to get a flash drive and all. Thanks for your patience & I hope you review.

Midst Ride

LiNe

Nine years earlier…

Hands grabbed at Frank, who had fallen into the woods. "Let me go!" Frank hollered. "I won't tell anybody, please, please, I won't tell anybody! Just let me go!" he yelled, kicking at the hands that tried to grab him.

He heard a rough voice scream at him, but he paid him no mind – all he wanted to do was get away! "Stop, please, don't hurt me, I didn't do anything, let me go!" he yelled as he attempted to crawl further into the woods. A stick scratched him, and he flew over a pile of wood.

"Come on, buddy, we ain't gonna hurt ya," a mocking voice said. Frank tugged away from it, not believing the voice for a moment.

"Somebody shut him up," hissed another voice. "We can't have people hearing us."

"It's the middle of the woods… nobody will hear him, just get the stupid kid back into the truck!"


LINE

Frank awoke in the middle of his room. He grabbed his pillow and pulled his knees up to his chin. The memory was from nine years ago, the last time he'd seen anybody from his family. Frank was now 17, and he missed them terribly. Still, every time he tried to escape, he was severely punished. Even so, he still tried.

He still remembered the day he had been abducted like it was yesterday. His mother, Laura, had had an affair… and through the affair, had Frank. Frank had found out on the day he turned 8. Fenton had found out on the same day.

Fenton had yelled at Laura, screaming at the top of his lungs about how this was going to look in the public eye.

Joe had been only 7, and that morning, was sleeping in -- what had originally caused the argument. After unleashing a torment of words on Laura, Fenton had turned his anger on Frank. Frank still remembered Fenton's hurtful words: "I knew you weren't my son."

The occasion was Frank's eighth birthday. His legal father was suing for custody, and was supposed to arrive for a supervised visit that day.

Instead, the man had decided that a legal suit was too risky, and kidnapped him that afternoon, on Frank's way home from school.

Before that day, Frank had had no idea that he was unrelated to his father and only a half-brother to his real brother, Joe.

He rolled over in his bed and grabbed his clothes. He was expected to go to school like any other kid – after all, they couldn't look abnormal, now could they? He had tried to tell other people, but was always beaten or locked in a closet if he so much as breathed funny – his dad took no chances.

He sighed as he slipped on his thrift-store clothing. His father was one of the richest men in America, but still forced Frank to buy used things, unwilling to give him basic necessities – such as food – unless he worked for it.

Frank grabbed his books and headed out the door, wondering if there would be any transfer students. It was the interim grading, and if transfers were going to come in then, that's when they'd come in. No acceptations.

Frank wolfed down his breakfast, grabbed his bookbag and headed for school. It was only a block away and Frank didn't bother riding the bus. He loved to walk; it was his chance for freedom throughout the day.

He slumped into his social studies seat just as the bell rang. He passed in his homework, hoping he'd at least have some of the answers right – he was sure he hadn't done a good job of studying. Social studies just didn't relate to him this year, and he was pretty sure it was because of his teacher.

"Excuse me!" the teacher said, slamming her ruler on her desk. "We have a new student this year. His name is Joseph Reynolds… Joe, why don't you tell us about yourself?"

Frank's eyes widened. Joe? His real brother's name was Joe! This looked like Joe! Could it be Joe? No… that was impossible. There was no way…

"I'm seventeen and I liked my old school." Joe slumped down into the desk. The teacher smiled nervously and turned back to the board.

Frank sank back down in his desk. Joe would be 16 now, not seventeen. So much for hope. "Frank?" the teacher asked. "Are you on the same planet as us? I asked you if you had done your homework."

"Yeah, I turned it in with the stack, Mrs. McCarthy," he said. "It should be there."

"Oh, here it is. I knew I'd gone blind. Okay… Class… We're going to be working on discovering groups of people today… specifically, we're going to be debating about Christopher Columbus…"

Frank snorted. Christopher Columbus was for babies. Everybody knew about him. Every little detail. She'd been going over him for the last five weeks and he was sick of it.

"Today," the teacher said in a fake-happy voice, "we're going to be discussing about how Christopher Columbus thought it was not America. Any comments?"

Joe raised his hand. "Yeah. I think that in social studies, you should stop studying Christopher Columbus. I mean, we've heard about him from the time we were… what? Ten?"

"I'm so glad you've expressed your opinion!" the teacher said. Several of the football players gave Joe an amused look. "Today is the last day we're doing Christopher Columbus… Tomorrow, we embark on a new person… and guess what, class, we're doing someone so exiting, that you all might just die of the excitement!"

"Paris Hilton?" one of the guys in the back asked.

The teacher smiled. "Nope… Guess again!"

Frank rolled his eyes. His teacher should have gone for the "early childhood" degree program. "We're studying PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS! It's a new day, people; we'll be studying famous people – who existed in this century! Can't you believe the excitement? What did they do to become famous? Why are they famous? And guess what -- anybody who does a report on the most famous PI of all, FENTON HARDY, will get an extra credit… FIVE POINTS!" She smiled and turned to the blackboard. "Now, Christopher Columbus…"

Frank's face paled in sheer horror. She just had to pick an interesting topic that had to involve him! If his dad found out, he'd move in a heartbeat, before he got a chance to investigate the new kid, who he was positive was Joe… even if his name was Joseph Reynolds and was "17."

"I think I'm gunna be sick," he as a thought hit him, and he raced out the door to the nurse's office.

Fenton Hardy was famous?!