Sandy looked at his watch in the traffic. It read 10:15 A.M. He was beginning to get worried that he might not make it on time. His hands were beginning to get clammy, as they did when he was nervous. He was almost late for his meeting with the Dean of Discipline and Dr. Kim. The two school officials had called Sandy yesterday, and told him that they wanted to meet with him to discuss Ryan's future at Harbor. Reluctantly, Sandy agreed to meet with them. He knew that there was no way that he could not meet with them.

At 10:30, Sandy walked into the school right on time. Although he was on time, he wished that he could have been early. As a wise music director once told him, back when he was in junior high school, in the Bronx, "Being early is being on time." He got to the Dean's office, and decided to sit down until someone called him in. He felt better now that he was at the office, and he was not late. Dr. Kim terrified Sandy, to an extent. She reminded him of Julie Cooper, in a way. That is when he saw her - Julie Cooper, that is. Julie looked at Sandy with as much surprise and he looked at her with. They both knew they were at the school for the same reason.

"You're here because the Dean and Dr. Kim called, right? Because they want to kick Ryan out of the school?" Julie asked, breaking the ice between them.

Sandy moved closer to Julie, so that they would not have to talk as loudly. They themselves did not want to start a rumor around the school that their own children were being kicked out. They had both just come from the office. Since Kirsten had been gone, Julie had been doing more work than she used to. Sometimes she would have to go in on the weekends, and other times she would have to stay late at the office in order to make sure everything got done. Not only did she have to do her job, but she had to do Kirsten's too. This impressed Sandy. A year ago, he felt that she was a shallow housewife who knew nothing about the working world, when in fact, it turned out that she was a very business savvy person.

"And you're here because they called you. Because they want to kick Marissa out of Harbor, right?" Sandy asked her, sort of rhetorically. Julie nodded at Sandy in a shamed way.

"I guess now... she 'isn't Harbor School material'," Julie told Sandy. She sighed.

"I'm figurin' they're thinking the same thing about Ryan," Sandy said, corroborating what Julie said.

It was then that Dr. Kim and the Dean came out of the office. Julie and Sandy stood up. The Dean and Dr. Kim greeted them, and ushered them into the office, where they could speak in private.

"Thank you both for being able to meet with us. I know that you both work, so we appreciate your flexibility," Dr. Kim started.

"Anytime, after all this is about our children, right?" Sandy replied. He sat down in the chair, and so did Julie. They were next to each other in the office.

"Absolutely," Julie told them, echoing what Sandy stated.

"We wanted to speak to you both about your children, Ryan Atwood and Marissa Cooper. We all know about what has happened in recent months. Everyone knows that Marissa shot and killed Trey Atwood, and she knows that they know it, as well. It is painfully obvious. We also understand about the relationship between Ryan and Marissa - their history, and we feel that with Marissa being at The Harbor School, she might... infringe on the education that Ryan and the other children here are receiving," the Dean of Discipline explained to Sandy and Julie.

"What?" Julie asked. She wanted to make sure she understood what she was hearing. "Are you saying that Marissa needs to leave Harbor?"

"Are you sure that is the right thing to do?" Sandy asked of the Dean and Dr. Kim. "I mean, her whole life is here."

"Exactly, and we have put an exorbitant amount of money into this educational institution," Julie told them. "Why should Marissa have to change schools now? It is her senior year!"

"We feel it would be in the interest of the other students, as well as the parents of those students if Marissa were to leave The Harbor School," the Dean of Discipline explained to Julie.

"Marissa has no other criminal background. She's never done anything to anyone here. She's a leader at this school," Sandy tried to explain to the Dean and Dr. Kim.

"As we said before, we feel it would be in the best interest of the other students, and their parents if Marissa discontinued her education here," Dr. Kim said, repeating what her colleague said before. She was firm about it. Clearly the decision had already been made.

"You're just afraid about the reaction from the community and other parents if you were to keep Marissa at the school!" Julie exclaimed. She was filled with rage.

"Honestly, yes, that is one of our concerns," Dr. Kim said, admitting it. She folded her hands on her desk.

"What about Ryan? If I'm not mistaken, I believe that is why I was called to this meeting?" Sandy asked Dr. Kim.

"We wanted to let you know that Ryan is going to be watched by myself and Dr. Kim. We know that he has been involved with some of the 'disagreements' here on campus before. We also know he was involved with what happened to Trey Atwood somehow," the dean told Sandy.

"Why not kick Ryan out, like you're kicking my daughter out!" Julie yelled at the administrative pair. They sat across from Julie and Sandy, showing no emotion.

"We considered that, but we felt that since Ryan has done so well since his transfer to Harbor; and the fact that he did not shoot Trey Atwood meant that it did not warrant his expulsion from this educational institution," the Dean of Discipline explained to Julie. "For Ryan, we are going to monitor him. He will have a meeting every day with Dr. Kim and me to evaluate him and discuss things."

"We will be talking to Ryan and Marissa later in the day about what we have just spoken to both of you about. We just wanted to make sure you knew before we told them of the school's decision. We thank you for your time and cooperation in the matter," Dr. Kim told Sandy and Julie. She shook hands with both parents, as did the Dean of Discipline. Sandy and Julie got up and left the room together, enraged. When they got outside of the office, they both stood there for a moment, not knowing what to think about what just happened inside the office.

Then, finally, Sandy spoke. He said, "I want you to know, that I will do everything in my power to get Marissa back into that school."

Julie looked up at Sandy and replied, "Thanks, but I'm not sure if any of it matters anymore. I'll talk to Marissa about it when she comes home today." She walked off towards her car, so that she could go back to the office. Sandy did the same.