The Geek Revolution ✓

39 | persuade

"BJ! I NEED THE FINAL layout of pages eight to eleven!" Delaney's yell permeates every corner of the press room.

"I'm not doing page eleven, Leah is!" A moment passes, "Don't call me BJ!"

A roar of frustration can be heard even from here, where Kyler and I are stitching together all the individual components of the newspaper. The copies were supposed to be printed by now, so we could deliver them after school but there was a delay with Leah's Scenic column — and here we are, at school on a Sunday, trying to get the final copies printed and in the racks for tomorrow morning.

If I'm being honest, the more I try to help the more I get in Kyler's way. I think he just appreciates having me around for moral support and the occasional aesthetic consult. Drew finished his entertainment reviews astonishingly quickly and went to more shops yesterday and got a few more coupons to put in. Delaney is also done, she finished both her Honestly, Delaney Morrison and advice column yesterday.

So they're both in a similar position to me: bored, sore and cranky because Kyler, Benjamin and Leah won't let us leave. Drew and Delaney are spinning absentmindedly on the swivel chairs that overpopulate the press room, stopping and twirling the other way when the circular motion becomes too dizzying.

I think none of us anticipated Carsonville to be so full of things for teenagers to do. Leah found so many things to write about and now she's having trouble deciding what to put in and leave out. Kyler told her to only write about one place at a time, otherwise Carsonville's youthful hideouts would get exhausted pretty quickly.

As per request, Benjamin decided to put in more riddles, jokes, crosswords and word finds into the games pages. He and Kyler even came up with more features to put in, to the point of it becoming like an activity book.

Finally, the three old, bulky print machines start whirring and the big roll of blank newsprint attached to its many mechanisms begins to move along the conveyor belt-like contraption, coming out the other side with black ink on it. Kyler comes out of the computer room, with Leah and Benjamin, rubbing his hands over his face and hair.

"Okay! Good work, team! Now we just have to deliver them," he says cheerfully.

Simultaneous groans emerge from all of us, as the machines keep spewing paper.

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Come the start of a new school week, my eyes are flickering from student to student, looking for any of the newspapers.

I am not disappointed. For every group I see, at least one newspaper can be seen between fingers or spread across knees. After ensuring that none of the Monarchy are around, a smile nestles onto my lips.

Everyone can tell the newspaper has changed drastically, and employed new students — but no-one knows exactly who is now working for the Chronicle. I'd like to keep that anonymity, actually, because it means I can comfortably watch the impact we've had on the school without too much spectacle.

My good mood lasts through homeroom class, until I walk into AP Calculus. A peculiar sight greets me. Benjamin hunches over his workbook at his usual desk, dutifully reading even before Mr. Weston has arrived. Preparation is a trademark habit of his and seeing that would calm me down on a regular day, if not for Derek.

The first thing to alarm me is how close Derek is to Benjamin, a palm on the wood and leaning over him so as to talk without being heard. The second is Benjamin's reaction: tense shoulders that flinch almost imperceptibly each time Derek's mouth moves. Benjamin clutches a pencil, knuckles white and clenched. It seems to me that more than just the pencil is on the verge of snapping.