The Geek Revolution ✓

20 | punishment

BENJAMIN, DREW AND I KNEW that there would be a punishment when we set out to do this.

One didn't just hijack school facilities and equipment and emerge unscathed. We went into this willing to accept the consequences — which, in four years of being the model student, I knew was a big personal sacrifice on Benjamin's part. Drew is more carefree, and I believe that anything is worth shaking off the shackles of the Monarchy.

Though currently, I am securely in their grasp. Drew and I walk side by side, occasionally exchanging rueful smirks. Reece and Derek walk behind us, silently, like prison wardens escorting us. The four of us don't walk through the auditorium, seeing as it's still too crowded and frantic.

Reece leads us out the way Drew and I snuck in, which makes me think we've been watched. When we reach Principal Fisher's office, I almost sigh with relief to see that Benjamin isn't there. He must have played off his academic crisis as an unrelated development to Mr. Weston.

However, Brittany is here, which is bad enough to stamp out any silver linings.

This is a very different Brittany to the one that struts the school corridors with a confident manner and superior mind set. She is slumped in her chair, holding a tissue in her trembling hands. Diluted eyeliner runs down her face like raindrops. She looks like she has been crying, very much.

But looks can be deceiving and I know Brittany too well to believe that innocent facade she is wearing. A gut-wrenching sob wracks her body and she dabs her eyes, taking deep, dramatic breaths. When the tissue in her hands passes between her face and Principal Fisher, she stares at me knowingly.

No-one is buying this, are they?

Principal Fisher leans back his chair, hands clasped awkwardly on his desk. He gives me a solemn look before gesturing to the two empty seats next to Brittany. Drew and I each take a seat. Drew looks a bit pissed he has to sit next to a blubbering Brittany.

Derek and Reece don't leave the room. Instead, they take their places on each side of Brittany, like her personal, menacing bodyguards.

"We all know why we're here."

Drew and I nod in a meek response. Brittany cries and tries to look a little more pathetic in her seat. I roll my eyes at Drew, who stifles a laugh. Even Derek and Reece look tired of her act.

"Miss Olsen and Mr. Allory, you two were found creating and spreading harmful propaganda against Miss Stanson and her friends. Is this true?"

"Yes, sir," Drew says chipperly. Utterly... proud of the accusatory statement.

"And do you want to say something to Miss Stanson?"

"Yes, in fact, I do," Drew speaks up.

Principal Fisher gives a go-ahead gesture.

"Brittany—"

She perks up at the mention of her name. While her eyeliner is running, she hasn't shed one tear since I walked in.

"—your eyeliner is a little smudged," Drew finishes.

A laugh threatens to burst through my lips but I bite my tongue until the pain dampens it. A quick glance beside me reveals that the corner of Derek's lip twitches, and he is concentrating heavily on the wall. Reece coughs and hacks a bit, trying to surreptitiously muffle the sounds in the sleeve of his Letterman jacket, the remnants of what would have been a fit of laughter fading away.

Brittany looks murderous for a split second, eyes glinting with an icy menace, but then remembers she is supposed to be upset and dissolves into a pile of tears again.