Later that night, everyone was gathered together at the Croker household. It was only then that Holly and Alex abandoned their card game to come downstairs and see everyone, apparently they had been drawing for three hours now without a clear winner, which Holly was disappointed about. Alex and Damon were also enthusiastic to share their so-called brilliant plan which was yet to be revealed. All gathered in the living room, the families watched as Alex and Damon paraded around infront of the television, listening to the conversations waiting around for the oportune moment. Lyle had offered to call in the take out, and hung up the phone with a sigh.

"Just as I thought. The phone's tapped." He declared.

"How can you tell?" Holly asked.

"Trust me, Princess, just don't ask." Charlie said. "He knows."

"Steve's getting bolder." Michael revealed. "He's definately up to do something."

"Yeah, he tried to do us during third period." Nick said absently, as if it were nothing.

"Why weren't you in your lesson?" His mother, Kelly, demanded, but he ignored her.

"What do you mean 'tried'?" Alex asked him. Stella watched her son with his thoughtful expression, rubbing his chin every now and again while he was thinking deeply. Again, she revelled in his likeliness to Charlie.

"He never managed to finish his sentence," said Nathan, "due to the fact that we forced him headfirst into that cupboard on the first floor beside the auditorium."

All of the women, including Holly, looked very shocked. The men and boys just looked extremely amused. "But you'll get into serious trouble!" Holly spluttered.

"That all depends on how long it is before someone lets him out, because judging from the intelligence shown so far, he isn't getting out himself." Nick said cooly. "Anyway, we've decided that we don't care about getting into trouble anymore."

"Have you ever?" Rob asked, astounded.

"Course we have." Nathan said. "We've never been expelled after all." It was true, they had never even been threatened with expulsion or suspension, whereas Alex was frequently reminded how close he was to both of those ideas.

"We might have put a toe out of line occassionally." Nick said innocently.

"But we've always stopped short of causing real mayhem." Nathan said in a voice that sounded unlike his own.

"And now?" Alex asked.

"Well, what with our Holly in danger-"

"We reckon a bit of mayhem-"

"Is exactly what old Steve deserves."

The twins humourous attitude towards this did seem like a good idea. While the others concentrated on the details, they set out to annoy Steve in as many ways as possibly. And to Charlie especially, the idea if Steve locked in a cupboard by two schoolboys was insulting not to laugh at. The mothers, however, didn't approve of this.

"Ok,Alex, what's this big idea?" Stella asked, dreading the answer.

"Well," He began professionally. "As you may remember, Mom, a few years ago, me and Damon united a following of students to overturn Mr Davis." He prompted. Mr Davis had been a teacher that was out of order to all students, so Alex and Damon had formed a kind of club where they had arranged to get him sacked basically. The worrying thing about it was that it had worked rather well.

"And," Damon continued. "In light of recent events, we decided to host an emergency meeting of all still loyal to the SPS."

"Of course, we won't be revealing any details to them, only us guys will know that, but we'll give them Steve as the target." Alex informed.

"Hang on a minute." Left-ear intervened. "The SPS? What the hell does that mean?"

Alex smirked at him, and all the children answered together. "The Self-Preservation Society."

Damon continued on with their plan. "Even at the least, we can get him so distracted that he won't even notice Holly's in the building."

Charlie nodded. "How many people do you think you can get?"

Alex calculated in his head. "Well, Mark Cobalt went to England last year, Christian Moore dropped out - bit I'll see what I can do with him, Baz Hillman was expelled last week..."

"Don't forget Billy Sands." Michael piped up, "He went with his parents to Australia."

"At least thirty." Alex came to a conclusion.

"Wait a sec," Lyle said, holding up a hand. "Charlie, are we really putting all of this into the hands of kids?" He said. "Our kids?"

"Being our kids makes them the best kids for the job." Charlie said.

"Yeah, we learn from the masters." Nick said with a small laugh.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lyle asked.

There was a silence in the room and everyone looked to Charlie. "I don't know." He said. "It might work, besides, it's the only idea we have. If we all disappear, he'll find us, no mistake about that. Until we can think of another plan, we have to put our faith in the Self-Preservation Society."