The head of Brooklands liked his office. It was unlike the rest of the musty, unattractive yellow rooms in the school. It boasted large, floor to ceiling, one way windows across one side, with the rest of the walls being a clean white colour. The carpet used to be creamy beige but had recently been replaced by black; too many times had kids walked in with muddy trainers or swept his coffee to the floor in a hormonal rage.

He kept his office clean and tended not to have anything too sharp or heavy inside other than his desk and computer- another precaution against wild children.

Speaking of wild children, Mr Bray began reading the school file on his computer. The child in question was Alexander J Rider who was due to be arriving in a moment to discuss the consequences of his actions earlier that day.

Alexander Johnathan Rider:

- 15 Years

-Poor attendance since the beginning of this year due to health issues.

-Recently lost Uncle (car crash) and close friend (house fire abroad)

-Consistently good grades until beginning of school year.

Those were the main details Mr Bray were reading over as Mrs Bedfordshire knocked on the door. He called for her to come in and she entered, followed by Alex. 2:30, right on time.

The head motioned towards one of the chairs opposite his desk.

"Take a seat Alex." As the boy at down, Mr Bray noticed how calm he was, even though he was (probably) about to be suspended for attacking Miss Millet. Most students no matter how 'cool' they were, always seemed at least slightly nervous in front of him but Alex didn`t even seem worried.

Mr Bray studied the boy in front of him for a moment; straight back, serious face with one or two scratches on it. His wrists also sported injuries, he saw the bruises when Alex had sat down and his sleeves pulled up. Alex noticed his teacher`s stare and quickly pulled down his too short sleeves.

He had got the injuries in Cairo. Whilst watching Jack die He had thrashed around so much that the ropes tying him to the chair had ripped the skin. Those wounds had been particularly slow to heal as Alex had kept picking at the scabs and re-opening them. Kyle had to force Alex to wear bandages to stop the nervous habit but there was still bruising that Alex found hard to conceal.

He watched as Mr Bray quickly typed something into his computer then clasped his together and looked Alex in the eye.

"I'm assuming you know how much trouble you should be in right now Alex."

"Yes Sir."

"You attacked a teacher with a high level karate move and it is only fortunate for you that there was a door between you and her. According to Tom, the kick was high enough to have reached her neck and if you hadn't hit the door, Miss Millet would have come out with a lot worse that a broken nose."

"Yes Sir."

Mr Bray sighed. He knew Alex was a good kid. He'd seen him in the corridors, on sports days and his records. He'd never caused (much) trouble and had been a great asset to the school's football and athletics teams, so he just wondered- "Why Alex? Why did you kick her?"

Alex had been dreading that question. He didn't know what to say. He could reply with the truth and say he was scared, panicking, but that would open up a whole plethora of new questions he didn't know how to answer. Or he could try to skirt around the question.

"Have you called my guardian?" he asked, trying to sound worried. He wasn't, but he knew that most other kids wouldn't want their parents to know about events like this and as much as he didn't want Kyle to know, he would have to find out sooner or later. The worst part would be if he told MI6 about this (if he was working with them at all) and they decided to try and 'help' him.

"We tried to call him earlier but he wasn't at your house and we don't have his mobile number or email address, so we weren't able to contact him."

"He doesn't have either." That was a lie. In actual fact Kyle did have both an email and mobile but they were both 'work' contacts and he had told Alex not to let the school use them to contact him.

Mr Bray knew what Alex was trying to do. Many students had done it before and he had become quite skilled at recognising question dodging, so he always made sure to go back to the original question.

"Why did you attack Miss Millet Alex?"

Alex mumbled something in response.

"Please speak up Alex, or do I have to lecture you on my feelings on mumbling?"

Alex ground his teeth. "I don't know Sir." He didn't know why he was suddenly so angry but there was something in Mr Bray's condescending voice that had reminded him of so many of the villainous people he had met this year. Especially Mrs Rothman. Alex dug his nails into his hand fighting back the memories he had tried so hard to control. Breathe Alex, he told himself, you've done this before you can do it again.

"I don't know why I did it Sir. I was overreacting and it was extremely stupid. I am very sorry Sir." He hung his head, genuinely ashamed of his actions. He had thought he had more control over himself but that apparently wasn't true.

Mr Bray realised something was off. He didn't know why this hadn't occurred to him before but now he was thinking about it, he knew some things didn't add up. 1) Although this had happened before, (Brooklands had some 'problem children') most students of Alex's intelligence did not just attack teachers out of spite. 2) Alex had supposedly been in hospital for the majority of the year, recovering from one illness or another, however minus the injuries, he seemed in better shape than ever. Not like he had just spent half a year in bed. 3) Each time Alex had come back to school after a long period of time off, he always had a new injury, whether it was just a small scratch or a severe limp.

The teacher made up his mind. He would try to find out what was really happening behind the scenes in this boy's life because it clearly wasn't what he was telling everyone. However right now he had to deal with the current situation of Alex's punishment.

"Alright Alex, I can see from your attendance records that exclusion would definitely not help with your current academic situation, but I can't just let this slide. Instead you will come into school but be in isolation for the rest of the term."

Alex looked up, slightly shocked. "You're not excluding me?"

"No, I try to be reasonable and I can clearly see that you can't afford to miss even more school. Perhaps your grades will even improve without constant distraction in the classroom."

"So I don't have to go to any lesson? Not even PE?"

"No, you'll do PE theory instead or something like that."

Alex did a little victory dance inside his head, but was careful not to look even a little bit pleased. This had turned out the best way it could have- he didn't miss school, but swimming was no longer a problem.

Mr Bray noted the almost smile that flickered across Alex's face then continued to speak. "I'm going to write a note for your guardian seeing as we have been unable to contact him- Mr Evant was it?"

"Er, yeah I think so, I'll get him to ring back later." He took the note and got up to leave, "I guess I should thank you for not suspending me…so thankyou Sir."

"That's fine Alex, but where do you think you're going?"

Alex pointed with his thumb over his shoulder towards the door, "To class…"

"Oh, did I forget to mention? Isolation starts today."

/AN/

I feel like this story is going at a really slow pace. Should I try to make things actually happen next chapter?

idk

AND who is excited for the new Scorpia graphic novel coming out on the 4th? I can't wait!