Thank you very much to Nobody has no body for reviewing. Emmy isn't actually in this chapter but after this it's all about her!

The next morning

"Hello Mr and Mrs Soren, and Caine," Principal Hamilton said Caine's name as if there was a bad taste in his mouth. Caine just stared back at him, showing how Caine wasn't the least bit intimidated by him. "We need to discuss what Caine did yesterday-"

"You mean, what Jamie did yesterday and now he's blaming me for it!" Caine interrupted. His parents looked at him, shocked and annoyed that he wasn't going to keep quiet.

"Why would Jamie have done such a thing to Randy?" Principal Hamilton asked.

"I don't know why people bully. I'm not a psychologist, am I?"

"Also," Mrs Soren added, "why would Caine have down such a thing to Randy?" Caine smiled at his mother, she always came to his defence.

"I hear that Caine and Randy were working on a class project," Principal Hamilton answered, "But Caine wasn't working so Randy told the teacher, resulting in Caine having to find a new partner and actually do some work. I'm sure this would have annoyed Caine."

"Yeah, it annoyed me that I worked hard but Randy lied to the teacher just so he could steal what I had done and join with his friend."

Principal Hamilton waited for a moment to reply and picked up a sheet of paper. "I spoke to Randy and I asked him who he thought could be responsible and he immediately said your name. He said you had told him after the class project incident that you were, and I'm quoting, 'going to make him pay'." Principal set down the sheet that he had read and looked at Caine, "Did you say that?"

Caine gulped. "Yeah, but I didn't mean it. I admit that I don't like the guy and I don't feel bad or anything for him. But I would never do anything like that to anyone."

"You don't feel bad for him?" Principal Hamilton barked. "Randy has been through quite an ordeal. Did you not see what happened?" Principal Hamilton replied. Caine remembered, and he knew that the sweet memory would be with him a long time. Especially the part where Randy wet himself. Sadly the memory caused a smile to creep onto his face, and he did his best to hide it. "See, he's not even sorry," Principal Hamilton pointed out.

"Why should he be?" Mrs Soren asked. "You have a boy who had the bottle of superglue in his bag, which a class full of witnesses says he used. The only reason you think it's Caine's fault is because this boy, who is obviously devoid of morals, is blaming Caine, which you can't prove."

"Liz, calm down," Mr Soren said as he placed a hand on his wife's shoulder.

"No Will, maybe you should actually say something rather than let Caine get into serious trouble for something he did not do."

Mr Soren removed his hand and looked away. "Well, how do we know that he didn't do it? I mean as if he would tell us that he did do it."

Mrs Soren was outraged at this, "If Caine says he didn't do it, then he didn't do it!"

"He also said that that Principal Hamilton didn't call the house." Caine couldn't believe that his dad was willing to sell him out.

"Mrs Soren," Principal Hamilton said, "we believe that it was Caine's ideas because terrible things have happened to others, all who have a reason to be an enemy of your son. Each time we find out who did it and they all say 'Caine Soren told me to do it,' either because it would make them look cool or impressive or whatever. And when we have strong reasons to believe that a student has done something as serious as this, they have to be punished. Regardless of them admitting to it."

Mrs Soren looked defeated. "So you're going to punish him just because you have a hunch that it was his fault?"

"Yes," Principal Hamilton.

"That's not fair!" Caine yelled.

"Be quiet, Caine," his Dad warned.

"How will he be punished?" Mrs Soren asked.

Principal Hamilton paused, "Well, sadly this is not an isolated incident so there will need to be serious repercussions."

"What do you mean?" asked Mrs Soren timidly.

"Well, it's like I said," Principal Hamilton said, "It's not just this one incident. Other things have happened to other children and the blame comes back to Caine each time. And Caine has been punished several times before. As well as this many of the staff find him mainly charming, but if they have to punish him they feel that he completely changes from a model student to a nightmare to teach. That is until they let him do what he wants, then he's back to behaving. This cannot be tolerated. Quite frankly, I have never seen a student so often sent to my office in one year, let alone in their first year at the school."

"So what are you suggesting should happen?" Mr Soren asked.

Principal Hamilton sighed, "We think that suspension is an option-"

"Suspension?!" Mrs Soren cried. "You can't suspend him on the last day of school. Where would be the sense of that?"

"No, we could. We could suspend him the first few days in September. Or…"

"Or what?" Mr Soren asked.

"Or, if in September Caine is no longer a member of this school we couldn't punish him at all, or tarnish his school record with a suspension. Caine is a bright, intelligent boy. Yet his dominant personality has a detrimental effect on his behaviour to an extent where he is too difficult for many of our teachers to handle. This not only hinders his own education, but also the education of others in his class. Perhaps another school would be better at addressing his behavioural issues."

"So let me get this straight," Mr Soren's voice was slow, as he tried to conceal his anger. "You want us to move Caine to another school."

"Yes," was all that Principal Hamilton replied.

...

No one spoke in the car home. Caine tried to make his way up to his room without his parents noticing. "Where do you think you're going?" his Dad asked, "Get in the living room, now!" Caine walked in and sat down on an armchair, and looked from his Mum, who was sitting and wringing her hands together, to his Dad, who was standing staring into the fireplace.

His Dad broke the silence, "You know what this means, don't you?"

Mrs Soren looked up at him, "No, give him another chance."

"Why? How many second chances have we already given him? Each time he does something we threaten, and give him another chance. Sure he behaves for a while, but soon he goes and does something else, and then it starts all over again. No wonder he keeps screwing up when he thinks we'll never actually do what we say. I'm sick of it Liz!" Mr Soren's face had quickly turned red during his rant. "He needs to move school anyway. He's going to Coates Academy!"

"No!" Caine protested. He stood up and stared at his Dad. "You can't send me to Coates!"

"Why?" his Dad asked. "It may be the making of you."

"Or," his Mum piped up, "It may ruin him, having to go to a school filled with horrible people away from his family."

Mr Soren sighed, "Caine go up to your room. Your mother and I need to talk." As Caine left his Dad closed the door behind him. Caine pressed his ear up against the door, to hear their conversation.

"Liz, we need to have a united front on this."

"I know Will, but if we send our son to Coates we are telling the world that we are terrible parents!"

"But Caine is our eldest-"

"So what?" Mrs Soren interrupted.

"So, the first one is always kind of messed up."

Caine couldn't hear a response so he tried to press his ear closer to the door. His Mum finally answered, "But what sort of education will Caine get there?"

"Actually Coates does cater for very smart kids, so Caine will do well."

"Maybe, that's the problem." Mrs Soren suggested.

"What?" her husband asked. "Maybe Caine's been acting out because he's not being challenged at school. He's just too clever."

Mr Soren laughed, "Are you serious, Caine's smart, but not THAT smart. He's no child genius."

"Will!" Mrs Soren sounded offended, "How can you say that?"

"If you think Caine's been acting out because he's too smart, will you agree to send him to Coates?" Caine's heart was in his mouth as he waited for his Mum's response.

"Okay," she said quietly. Caine couldn't believe it: he was being sent to Coates Academy. Yet there was still a way out of it.

...

"Caine! Dinner!" Mrs Soren yelled. He made his way downstairs. After the earlier events tension filled the dining room, with the sound of clinking cutlery replacing the usual conversation. "I wonder how Emmy is getting on at the sleepover?" Neither Caine nor his Dad replied. "What have you been up to this afternoon Caine?"

"I hope not using your phone or laptop or watching the TV," his Dad said.

Caine ignored his Dad and answered his Mum, "I was doing a general knowledge quiz in a magazine but it was totally messed up."

"Why?" his Mum asked.

"The answers were all wrong. Like, the chemical formula for water, obviously W."

"What? It's H2O," his Mum corrected him.

"No it has to be W. Water begins with a W."

"Caine, that's not how the periodic table works." His Mum looked seriously concerned.

Caine shook his head. "Next you'll be saying that we fought the Germans and the Japanese in the Second World War."

Mrs Soren was almost lost for words. "But, we did."

"No we didn't," Caine argued, happy that his Mum was buying it.

"Then who do you think we fought?" she asked.

"Mexico and Canada, of course."

Mrs Soren put her head in her hand. "Why would we fight Mexico and Canada?"

Caine sighed, as if he was exasperated, "Because they were trying to invade America. But then we dropped the Atomic bomb on Canada which made them both back off."

"Caine, do you seriously think that's what happened?" his Mum asked.

"Yeah," Caine answered, "but I'm not great at History, or any subject really. I guess, I should say sorry in advance for my report card. I just hope that Coates isn't full of geniuses because I'm already below average." Mrs Soren threw a terrified glance at her husband, whose face was still expressionless.

"Caine, when I sent you to your room earlier, you didn't hang around to hear your Mum's and mine conversation?" Caine looked down at his food. "Because if you did then you would have heard your Mum saying that she thought you were too smart for your school." Caine stayed silent. "I mean you weren't pretending to be an idiot just so that your Mum wouldn't send you to Coates, were you?" Mr Soren looked towards his wife. "Sorry to tell you Liz, but your son's an utter moron. Although definitely smart enough to go to Coates."

"I agree," Mrs Soren said as she glanced coldly at her son.