I still do not own anything except Ivy and Diana
Please enjoy!

~Frank

I woke up to the quiet household, Joe's words replaying in my head over and over. I could escape the nightmares that were bound to come. The truth was harsh, and even a second of thought dedicated to it made my insides burn with sorrow and anger.

Maybe I should honor Joe's wish. Maybe I should let him disassociated himself from me. He already told people that I was of no relation to him. Wonder what would happen if I did the same.

There was a hidden reason for this too. I refused to acknowledge it, but it was down deep inside of me. The core of my actions, I guess.

You see, I still cared for my brother. Even after the sadness wore itself out and the anger took its place, I still cared for Joe. I was his older brother, after all. I didn't want to end up hindering him with my choices.

"Okay," I whispered to myself. "Today, I am no longer Joseph Hardy's older brother. I'm just Frank. Yeah…"

The beginning of the day sailed by after that. That is, until I bumped into Ivy and Callie before lunch.

"Do you hear what Joe is saying?" Ivy asked as she stood in front of my locker.

I answered back with "Is it really that important?"

"Frank, he's saying you two aren't brothers anymore!" Callie said, waiting to see my reaction.

"So?" The simple word startled the two, as they both stared at me with confusion controlling their facial features.

"'So?' That's it? Frank, that's wrong. You guys were like… well, brothers! Why don't you care?" Callie asked, giving my shoulder a little shake. "This is Joe and you we're talking about, not some other pair of brothers. You guys could be twins, with the bond you had before this!"

"Cal's right, Frank. I know you don't want to deal with this after what happened, but enough is enough." Ivy crossed her arms in both annoyance and anger. "Why are you letting him get away with this?"

"Because I don't have a brother." This time, my words shock the two. It took a few seconds before they could register what I had said, but when they did, it was not pretty.

"Frank! What is wrong with you?! How can you just let this go so easily?"

"Not cool, Frank. Joe has no right telling you all of this crap, and yet you're going along with it!"

"You guys… gals, I meant." I shook my head. "It doesn't matter to me anymore. Joe's right, for once in his life. It would be better for me to try and forget about him."

"Better for you, or for him?" Callie asked.

"Both, I guess. Just believe me, okay? It'll be better off this way."

The two girls eyed me suspiciously, before Ivy finally broke the silence. "I hope you know what you're doing Frank." With that, she turned and walked away.

Callie, on the other hand, just stared at me. "Frank, are you sure-"

"Positive, Cal."

"Okay, then…" Callie gave me a brief hug, before turning away. "Just be careful."

"Yeah…" I mumbled. A few minutes later, I was in the art room again. The tears came out silently, but I reasoned it would only take another day at max before I stopped crying over the loss of Joe completely.

I had finished wiping away what was left of the tears when Diana came into the room. "Hey, I thought I drop the stuff here so you can look at it."

"Thanks." I looked into her chocolate brown eyes. "Did you get another threat?"

"We all did. Kate's making fun of me for worrying, but she might be actually starting to believe me. And she also told me that I really have no enemies, if that helps narrow the list at all."

"Not by a lot, but it's still good to know." I took the scrapbook she held out towards me. It was a giant, square book with a black cover decorated with rhinestones and glitter. It felt very heavy, which made my hopes of finding something today go up a bit.

"Yeah. Hey… were you crying?"

"Huh?" Crap, she heard me earlier. "What are you talking about?"

"I thought I heard… Never mind. If you need any more info, you can call me later, okay?"

"Okay." Diana was just starting to walk out of the class when I made a hasty decision. "Diana, wait."

She turned back. "Yeah?"

"The gemstones on the cards… they're the real deal."

"Wait, you mean…"

"Yeah, they're real gems." I sighed, silently cursing myself for dragging Diana even deeper into this case. "I… had a friend check them out for me. He thinks the gold writing could possibly be real gold too."

"What? Why would someone spend so much for this?" Diana began to shake a little. "Is it like a psychopath or something?"

"I dunno. I mean, there are probably a lot of explanations-"

"Frank, just tell me the truth. I need to know if we're in danger or not."

I slowly nodded my head. "There is a great possibility that we are dealing with someone who's not fully sane."

"I knew it." She sat on one of the tables, her face buried in her head. "Frank, I don't want to get Kate dragged into this. I love her, and I want to protect her. Let me help you, please?"

"You've already help a great deal, Diana. I really don't want to put you in danger, though."

She gave a weak laugh. "Frank, whoever is behind this has already targeted me. I'm probably in more danger than you are. Might as well add on until my luck runs out."

"Diana-"

"Please, Frank. I can't stand the thought that someone might really try to kill us. I can't stand by the sidelines, either. Let me be your 'partner in crime.'"

"Not the best words to use, Diana."

"Yeah, I figured. But I don't know what else to say, especially…" She looked up into my eyes, her face stuck in a sad expression. "I just can't let anyone get hurt. It's been my goal in life to help people, and this might be a good place to start."

After a few moments where silence was passed in between us, I said "Okay, Diana. I really hate to do this, but Valentine's Day is next Saturday. That gives us a little more than a week. I really have no leads at the moment, so I don't know how I'll do this without your help."

"Alright. Thanks, Frank." Diana pushed herself off of the table. "Should we tell the others about this, though?"

"Yes. The sooner they know, the better they can prepare."

"For what?"

"At this point, anything."

Diana nodded. "So, no fingerprints found on the card I gave you?"

I shook my head. "A criminal mastermind in the making, I guess."

"Yeah. See ya, Frank." She gave a little wave, and left as quickly as she had entered.

I sighed. What have I done? She was getting dragged deeper in this whole case. I had a feeling that, before long, she would become someone the mastermind of this whole thing would have to kill.

I opened the first page of the scrapbook, and read the words "Best Friends" in bright, colorful paper. A picture of the original six targets was pasted underneath, all of them grinning and hugging each other.

I couldn't help but wonder about my own friends. Chet, Biff, Phil… and Joe. Joe was like my best friend and brother before this whole thing.

What now? Am I doomed to be alone for the rest of my life? Will I always be deprived of the friendships that had once laid the foundation to my very existence?

The jokes that shot at me like arrows no longer stung. They just hurt, before I rolled my eyes at the childishness that everyone was displaying around me. It was all stupid. But still, it tore away at me. Maybe I lied to myself before. Maybe I would end up crying again, silently screaming at the cruel world.

I passed Joe before he left to get a ride from Biff. Once again, our eyes met. We hadn't talked to each other since Saturday. It was now Wednesday, four whole days later. His eyes had softened since Monday, but I could still see the ice behind the blue color some people were so fond of.

He mumbled a single word. "Bro."

In return, I looked at him in shock. He's been telling everyone that I was not related to him, and he turns around and calls me "bro"?

"I have no brother." I saw the shock register on his face before I walked away. The scrapbook weighed me down a bit as I traveled through the halls.

Was I sorry for what I had said? I didn't think so. But maybe I was, as I walked home again with a few tears falling to join the ice that had froze my heart.