The Geek Revolution ✓

19 | message

FROM THE ELEVATED VANTAGE POINT of the sound booth, I can see the exact moment when the projector begins to hum and flicker. The lights dim; Drew's handiwork. Our video begins to play on the auditorium wall.

Puzzled faces are, by far, the most common. I can understand that. But no-one can stop it, and I don't think anyone wants to stop it. There's a large portion of students still inattentive as the shock spreads and melts. When the song starts, almost every head snaps to the wall. The soft indie song with a good bass line is a more inviting sound than mentions of Homecoming Week, the Court and all its events.

The music plays on, softening a bit to draw attention to the words that flicker on the screen. Leah's choice of music is very ironic; the song talks about wanting to be like the cool kids, and under pressure from society to be so. I've watched the video so many times that I've memorised the song and text.

Call it what you want, but we all know what this is.

It is a robbery. They pocket our freedom like a thief would pocket jewels.

It is a murder. They make drastic action the only way out for some.

It is a war zone. They force us to grow in the cracks of their pavement.

It's sick, and twisted, and wrong.

I know it.

You should know it.

The words die away, and a video clip slots in. The frame is grainy, and jolts with the hand movements of whoever shot the video. Brittany is throwing her food at a freshman, screaming about how worthless and powerless he is. We've censored his face from the video. All her angry moving and hand-waving sort of obstructs his face, all her white rage is on display to the whole school.

Then it cuts short, paused just when Brittany's voice was reaching a tone only bats would be able to hear. It's like Brittany's glare had the same effect as Medusa's eyes. Every soul in the auditorium looks petrified, skin turned to marble and sandstone.

The video must strike a chord with them; it reassures the thoughts they already have. It tells them they are not alone in their suffering. The phones have long since been discarded and their attentions are glued to the screen, where another series of photos are starting.

We are the focus of these photos. I know people will be more likely to trust us if they have an image of the people protecting them. Just like having the Monarchy's faces associated with bullying works a charm to keep people afraid of them.

We have Leah playing the violin, our recently-official Unofficials behind her. They all have GEEK scrawled across their foreheads in Sharpie.

Benjamin is in a scene hunched over a piece of paper; scribbling the working for whatever equation he was trying to solve. You can't see from the slanted angle of the shot, but that paper had the most difficult math questions for his grade. I particularly like that one, because his eyebrows are furrowed, which distorts the script printed over his eyes.

Drew's pictures are of him and his sister — I was reluctant to put Sasha's face in this — sitting around a computer screen with consoles in their hands. Sasha looks like a miniature, female, angrier version of Drew. Their looks of frustration are the same, they even hold the game consoles the same way. It would have been cute, if not for the pictures of brutal murder and warfare on the screen. Sort of ruined the wholesome family aura.

Delaney's shots are of her in a heated argument with Callum, in English. She's looking pretty fierce in them, eyes ablaze and calculating. No-one other than Callum, Delaney and I will ever know that the argument was actually pretty stupid. On film, it looks serious, maybe about religion or politics. All it was Callum and Delaney fighting over whether it was most commonly called a pencil holder or a pen holder. I'm not even joking.