The Geek Revolution ✓

13 | profile

BEFORE LUNCH ENDS, I WRITE a quick summary of the things I've been told. My friends filled in more gaps between the start of high school and now, until I essentially have a profile on each of the five Monarchs.

Brittany Stanson is the head of the operation, and she looks like a textbook Ivy League candidate on paper. Student body president, lacrosse team, volleyball team, bunch of AP classes. She chases the perfect high school life — good grades, large social network, boys lusting after her. "That last part," Leah adds, "—is only because they want to climb the social ladder." Brittany always has a plan, though half of it is riding the coattails of other people's work. She lashes out at people who interfere with that plan.

Madison Murdoch is a social media influencer with over a million fans. She has mastered the art of networking. There cannot be a better person to learn from when it comes to online power — if willing to pay her weight in secrets. She's catfished and manipulated dirt from half of the people at school. But for someone so talkative, her secrets are surprisingly well-guarded.

Terrence Hollister is a tactile person. If they need locks picked, things stolen, systems hacked, he's the one on the job. Though none of my friends cared enough to pay attention to the daily antics of the Monarchy, the general consensus is that Terrence is the newest addition. They can only say for certain that he was a Monarch come junior year, and since then he's used charm, sleight of hand and mischief to supplement Brittany's headstrong tendency to just start fights. "Terrence once burnt a girl's eyebrows off 'accidentally' for thinking she was prettier than Brittany," Benjamin recounts.

Money is power, and Reece Dormer's family is made of money. If the Monarchy needs anyone bribed, it's between Brittany and Reece that the money is pooled. Reece is a simple guy with simple motivations: use important people to get him into college on a sports scholarship. Beat up whicher unimportant people he so chooses. School is the last place he'd rather be, evident by his combative nature. He fights, drinks, he flirts, but there are limits to his behaviour when scouts come into the question.

Derek Hale steps in where all else fails. If Brittany's manipulation, Madison's contacts, Reece's brawn and Terrence's tricks can't get the job done, he will. Drew knows nothing about his life after they drifted apart in middle school. And somehow, I don't think the image of an antisocial band geek quite fits our current rebel. He keeps his cards close to his chest, but I'm told he has nothing holding him back. No admissions deans, public image, scouts or morals to consider.

I can't figure out how no-one stopped their rise to power. Or if they became friends organically, or Brittany selected people with a wide set of abilities. The Monarchy has only five people, but with those five, every sort of talent and skill seems to be covered. It's a perfectly-executed plan, personalities and skills woven into one another like an unbreakable chain mail.

Do things that convenient arise naturally?

I blink, and the image of Derek's rings, twisted, sharp edges, slash across my field of vision. But then so do Reece's fists. Terrence's coy smile. Madison's face obscured behind her phone, poised to film. Brittany's remorseless eyes. Who's the most dangerous?

Or are they most dangerous as a whole?

I sneak a look over to their table, the five of them conversing lazily over their lunch. "What about boyfriends and girlfriends?"

Delaney shrugs. "Nada. Some of them have dated in the past. Reece gets his kicks with one night stands. And maybe they could get away with dating someone at another school, but everyone at Carsonville knows that they're bullies. I'm kind of proud of our generation for being smart enough not to get mixed up with those sorts of people."