"Ah, Mr. Hooper. Just in time for the end of class,’ commented Ferguson as Joe entered the classroom. Frank’s initial relief at hearing those words evaporated when he saw his brother. Joe was a few shades paler than he had been 45 minutes before, he was trying to conceal a limp, and his blue eyes were startled. What on earth had happened?

Joe didn’t trust himself to look at Frank. He collected his books and began walking out with AJ the moment the bell rang. In a split second, Frank made a decision. Striding quickly to the door, he called out to the two boys:

‘Joe! AJ! Could you stay back for a few minutes? You need your disks re-formatted.’

Both boys stopped but AJ shook his head and dismissed Frank with a wave of his hand.

‘Forget it! I’m dying for a smoke.’ He looked sideways at Joe.

‘I’d better stay,’ muttered Joe. ‘Darcy said he was ringing my brother. I’m gonna be in enough trouble as it is.’

‘Catch you later man,’ said AJ. ‘We’ll talk okay?’

‘Yeah,’ replied Joe as he trudged back into the classroom.

‘Lock up as you leave, Mark,’ called Ferguson, tossing Frank the room keys as Mark Franklin and Joe Hooper sat in front of one of the computer terminals.

The brothers were alone and safe to speak.

‘What happened?’ asked Frank in a hushed tone. ‘You look awful!’

‘That’s ironic coming from you in that disguise,’ quipped Joe lamely. He felt terrible. He realised his hands were shaking.

Frowning, Frank peered at his brother’s throat.

‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Spill. We can’t stay here too long.’

Joe gave Frank a brief account of what had happened. Frank’s eyes widened in surprise but then he quickly became angry.

‘He can’t use physical force against a student!’ he exclaimed.

‘Tell him that,’ Joe retorted grimly, getting up.

‘Frank, I’d better go. AJ might get suspicious. See if any of the teachers are talking about what happened.’

Frank placed his hand on Joe’s arm.

‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, I’ll live. I might wag last period though. Talk to you later.’

Frank watched Joe pull his uniform collar up to hide the marks on his neck as he left. The Deputy Principal getting heavy with students. Joe, and possibly AJ, being framed for theft.

He didn’t know what it meant, but he didn’t like it.