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person you were hurting.’
    ‘I owned him. There was nothing he could do, no matter how much I hurt him.’
    ‘You went from a situation with your teacher, where you were powerless and had to do what you were told, into the toilet where you saw someone weaker than yourself and exercised your power over him. That must have been satisfying.’
    ‘You could put it like that,’ James said.
    ‘It’s a frustrating situation at your age, James. You know what you want but you have to do what you’re told. You go to school when you’re told, go to bed when you’re told, live where you’re told. Everything is controlled by other people. It’s common for boys your age to enjoy sudden outbursts where they have control over someone else.’
    ‘But I’ll end up in loads of trouble if I keep getting in fights,’ James said.
    ‘I’ll teach you some techniques to manage your anger over the coming weeks. Until then try and remember that you’re only eleven years old and nobody expects you to be perfect. Don’t think of yourself as being a bad person or that you’re sick in the head. In fact, I want to do something we call Positive Reinforcement. I want you to repeat what I just told you.’
    ‘Repeat what?’ James asked.
    ‘Say I’m not a bad person .’
    ‘I’m not a bad person,’ James said.
    ‘Say I’m not sick in the head .’
    ‘I’m not sick in the head.’ James smiled. ‘I feel like an idiot.’
    ‘I don’t care if you feel like an idiot, James. Take a deep breath, say the words and think about what they mean.’
    James had thought that seeing the counsellor would be a waste of time, but he did feel better.
    ‘I’m a good person and I’m not sick in the head,’ he said.
    ‘Excellent, James. I think that would be a positive note on which to end the session. I’ll see you again on Monday.’
    James slid off the couch.
    ‘Before we finish, there is one detail on the notes from your school that made me curious. What’s one hundred and eighty-seven multiplied by sixteen?’
    James thought for about three seconds.
    ‘Two thousand, nine hundred and ninety-two.’
    ‘Very impressive,’ Jennifer said. ‘Where did you learn to do that?’
    ‘I just can,’ James shrugged. ‘Right from when they first started teaching me numbers. I hate it when people ask me to do it, it makes me feel like a freak.’
    ‘It’s a gift,’ Jennifer said. ‘You should be proud of it.’
    *
     
    James went down to his room. He started doing some Geography homework but his heart wasn’t in it. He switched on the Playstation. Kyle came in from school.
    ‘How was your first day?’ Kyle asked.
    ‘Pretty good, no thanks to you.’
    ‘That was a good gag with the tie,’ Kyle said.
    James jumped up off his seat and grabbed Kyle by his shirt. Kyle shoved James away, sending him crashing into a desk. He was stronger than James had expected.
    ‘Jesus, James. I thought you were cool.’
    ‘Pretty nice thing to do. First day at a new school and you make me look like a tit.’
    Kyle threw his schoolbag down.
    ‘I’m sorry, James. If I knew you were gonna have a tantrum I wouldn’t have done it.’
    James wanted to start a major row, but Kyle was the only kid in Nebraska he could even put a name to. He didn’t want to fall out with him.
    ‘Just stay out of my face,’ James said.
    James sat on his bed sulking while Kyle did his homework. After a bit he got fed up and went for a walk. He saw the kid in the Metallica T-shirt he’d met at school. He was in a corner with a gang who all looked pretty rough. James walked over to them.
    ‘Thanks for helping earlier,’ James said.
    Metallica looked him over. ‘No worries, man. Name’s Rob. This is the gang. Vince, Big Paul and Little Paul.’
    ‘I’m James.’
    There was an awkward silence.
    ‘You want something else, squirt?’ Big Paul asked.
    ‘No,’ James said.
    ‘Piss off then.’
    James felt his face turn red. He started to walk away but Rob called him