the house part 6

CHAPTER one in which a conspiracy is formed
NOVEMBER 8st
“Matt, wake up.” Thomas March said, shaking Matthew January awake. “Come on man, you know that we have a meeting.”
“I'm up,” Matthew said, “Tom, I'm up. You can stop with the shaking. Lord!” Matthew got out of his bed and walked over to the closet. He changed into some clothes and turned to face Thomas.
“Are they here?” He asked running a hand through his hair.
“They're in the Outer room.” Thomas answered, pulling several books off the book shelf next to his bed, “Come on.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Since Thomas March had moved into Room 1232 things had gotten a lot more organized. It was Thomas who first suggested forming the October Conspiracy. The October Conspiracy was a group of Philip October's friends that Thomas got together to discuss possible options. Nobody was totally sure what Thomas meant by “Possible options” but they had all turned up to see what was going on.
Matthew and Thomas walked into the outer room where about 20 of Philip's friends were waiting. Thomas stepped forward and began to talk.
“Hello everyone. I'm sure you all are wondering why I asked you to come here.” Everyone nodded. “Well I, like I think everyone else here, was shocked and appalled by Philip's death and also Marcus and Madeline's deaths. I wondered what secret could possibly have been worth all those lives. But then I realized that the only people who know the secret are the 16s and they will never reveal their secrets. Which, for those of you who were wondering, is why Margret is not here. After I realized that we can never find the answers to our questions through traditional means I then decided to explore other options.”
“Other options?” Matthew repeated, his eyebrows raised.
“Yes,” Thomas said, smiling a little, “Other options. Now I quickly decided that we had two other ways of getting the information. The first is that one of us becomes a 16, which is probable considering both the number of people in our group.
“Which group would that be?” John June asked, John had never really liked Thomas and, in Matthew's opinion, was a little jealous of his power in the Under 20 community.
“Us!” Thomas replied, grinning from ear to ear. Matthew did like him but he thought that John was far more intelligent than Thomas. However Thomas was a much better public speaker than John was.
“We,” Thomas continued, “Are Philip's closest friends and we all want to know what he was about to reveal. But, as I was saying, we have two options. The first option is that one of us becomes a 16 and then they tell us the secret. That's option one, but since that has already failed in a dramatic and tragic way, with Philip's death, I decided to eliminate that option which left only one option. Revolt. What we should do, what we need to do, is stand up and take over the House!”
“Take over the House?” John asked, “Are you joking?”
“Not in the slightest.” Thomas said, still grinning
“So,Just to be clear, You're saying that a bunch of teenagers.” Janet December said, disbelievingly, “should overthrow, by force, the government of The House?”
“I know it sounds crazy.” Thomas replied, pacing up and down.
“Good,” John shot back acidly, “Cause it does.”
“But why not?” Thomas continued ignoring John,“Why can't a bunch of teenagers overthrow the government?”
“Well...” John replied, counting off the reasons on his fingers, “Number one, they have guns. Number two, we don't have any guns. Number three, traditionally in a military conflict the people with guns beat the people without guns. Number four, They have a huge number of supporters. Number five, We have a small number of supporters. Number six The people with a huge number of supporters normally win when they face people with a small number of supporters. Shall I go on?”
“But we could get guns!” Thomas said, slapping his hands together, “We could get supporters and we'd have surprise on our side!”
“Ok,” Matthew said, he liked Thomas more than John did so he was giving his idea more thought than John was, but he did think that this idea was a little crazy “But what then. So we get guns, we get supporters. We surprise the Foremen and we take over. Yippe, woohoo and what not.”
“Go on.” Thomas said interested, “What's your point?”
“Ok so after we take over.” Matthew continued, “What in God's name do we do?”
“We make this place right!” Thomas said, excited “We make everything public record, we hold open elections. We get rid of the 16s, we get rid of the Teachers, we get rid of the Foremen, we make everything open and free!”
“So,” Ava January , who was the only member of the October Conspiracy not to have actually known Philip October personally, asked. Nobody was totally sure why she was there, but she had always had a reputation for being the smartest person under 20 in the whole House.
“What you're saying is that, after we get weapons and fighters and take power by force, we will get rid of the educators and get rid of the officers of the law?” Ava asked doubtfully.
“Yes.” Thomas said, a fire dancing in his eyes, “Let's end the corruption, let's break down the walls! LET”S CHANGE THIS PLACE!!!”
“Matt,” John said with a forced smile plastered on his face. “Could I speak to you for a few moments, please?” He gestured toward Matthew's bedroom.
“Sure.” Matthew said and followed Joh. John swung the door shut and turned to face Matthew.
“Thomas.” John said, speaking very, very slowly, “Has. Gone. Insane.”
“Now I know you don't like him...” Matthew began but John cut him off.
“You're right I don't like him. But, setting his annoying personality and total lack of substance and shameless manipulation of people's emotions aside, saying that we not only need to overthrow the government but also that we are able to overthrow the government is total and utter insanity”
“True.” Matthew said, “but...”
“No,” John interrupted him again, “There is no but. This is craziness. It is also totally and completely illegal. Now that the Foremen have dissolved the council who knows what will happen! My God! This could get us all killed!”
“You might have a point.” Matthew agreed, “It is a little out there.”
“A little?!” John hissed, “It's madness, it's craziness, it's disastrous, and all those people in there are going to go for it and get themselves shot.”
“Come on,” Matthew disagreed, “They're smarter than that.”
“No they aren't.” John said angrily, “They're angry and they want to strike out. And they think that Thomas is smart and always has the right idea. So they'll go along with it. And then Brien May will find out and they will all get arrested and probably be executed. This is a disaster!”
“So,” Matthew said, “What do you suggest we do?”
“We have to protect ourselves.” John said, “The Foremen will suspect us first and foremost because of Marcus and Philip. We, we, we should go to the Foremen.”
“What?!” Mathew said, totally and completely shocked. That was probably the last thing that Matthew has expected John to say. “Why?”
“Because when they're caught, and they will certainly be caught, who do you think the foremen will suspect first? Thomas March, who doesn't have a black mark to his name and has never been involved in anything important, or you and me who had two of our roommates shot by foreman. Who do you think will arrest? Who do you think they will charge and, probably, execute?”
“You have a point.” Matthew admitted, “But can we, or rather should we go to the Foremen? I mean, they could be executed by the Foremen. Is it right for us to do that?”
“Yes.” John said simply, “Yes I do believe that It is right for us to do that.”
“Really?” Matthew asked.
“Yeah.” John sighed and sat down on his bed, “It's just the more I think about the more I think that Brien May...I think that he made some good points.”
“What?”Matthew asked, totally shocked by this, “You think he was right?! But he...he shot Madeline!”
“By accident.” John said, all the fire had gone out of his voice, he sounded resigned and tired, “He was trying to shoot Marcus, who had already killed a foreman and had just thrown a cup at Allison's head, she's still in the hospital by the way, and Madeline jumped in front of him. It was tragic, but it was kind of her fault.”
“Kind of her fault?” Matthew asked, he was angry now, Madeline was a close friend of his. “Really?! You really think that?!”
“Yeah,” John said, sighing, “Matt, I'm sorry, I know you liked her but....she did jump in front of a gun as it was being fired she must have known that she probably wasn't going to survive.”
“Maybe if the foremen actually looked before they shot she wouldn't be dead!” Matthew said, his voice getting high and shrill, “Maybe if they didn't want to shoot us all then she wouldn't be dead! Maybe...”
“LOOK!” John said, harshly as he jumped to his feet, “You don't understand, ok, you don't understand at all! Our society is on the tipping point, ok, we are literally this close to total and utter anarchy. I don't like what the foremen are doing anymore than you do but you have to admit, The Head Foremen made some good points. There has to be order, and nasty and violent order is better than no order at all”
“He dissolved the council!!” Matthew yelled, “He's persecuting the teachers, the man is a megalomaniac! We have to do something before he comes for us!”
“THIS ISN”T HOW TO DO IT!!!!” John screamed, “IF WE REBEL THEN WE CAN”T HAVE THAT FOOL LEADING US!!!”
“Then you do it!!” Mathew snarled, they were nose to nose now, spitting in each other's faces, “You've always talked about the problems in the charter, now is your chance to fix it up!! The public is angry and they want change. If you're so freaking smart than you lead a rebellion!”
“Fine!” John said, “I will, but we do it my way! Not Thomas' way!”
“Fine!” Matthew said, “But you can't kick him out because you need as many people as possible.”
“I know that.” John said, calming down considerably and staring off into the distance. He was like this whenever he got a new idea. “We'll tell them that as Philip's only surviving roommates we think that we will give a better and more sympathetic public face for the movement. They won't be able to argue with that. I'll but Thomas in charge of getting weapons..no! I'll put him in charge of getting new recruits, he's so well spoken...Yes that's what I'll do.”
Mathew opened the bedroom door and walked out to talk to the others.