The Rise - Chapter 27

The chapter continues on after this little recap

Previously on The Rise: Leon has just met with one of the most powerful individuals in the nation – Gideon Faraday at the rally of his father and must choose whether or not he should accept his offer of getting help from the shadow council since it would mean hiding their meeting from his parents. The election is just one day away (Tomorrow Monday) and Leon is trying his best to find problems to solve for the rich and powerful children of Unitare highschool.

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After the end of the rally, Leon went backstage to meet his father. Alexander was surrounded by his campaign team when he noticed Leon coming. He signalled to Leon to come over. He then introduced Leon to two of his men.

“Should I win, Jackson here will be my minister of transportation and Hank will be the minister of foreign affairs” said Alexander

Leon shook their hands and noticed a young boy and girl with a similar age to him standing by the two men. The two of them moved forward and shook hands with Leon.

“I’m Kimberly, and this is Tom, if you need any support in the election let us know” said the young girl pointing at the young boy next to her.

“They’re the children of Jackson and Hank” said Alexander “They go to Unitare”

Leon doesn’t remember ever seeing them in school, but then again his circle of friends was small and the school had a large number of students for him to remember everyone.

“Thanks, I appreciate the support” said Leon.

Tom and Kimberly gave their phone number to Leon then left with their fathers.

“That was a fast introduction” said Leon to his father as they left

“Keep all things brief” replied his father “How did you find the rally?”

Leon pauses as he remembers he barely paid any attention to his father’s rally due to his meeting with Gideon.

“Your command of the crowd is masterful” said Leon recalling the beginning part of his father’s speech.

“Why haven’t I met with those kids before?” said Leon changing the subject

“There are hierarchies even amongst the rich and powerful” replied Alexander

Even in Unitare, there was segregation between the students despite them being the elites of society. Leon’s friends such as Taylor Prone and Justin Tundra meant he was much higher on that hierarchy. Kimberly and Tom, who’s fathers are only important as a consequence of Alexander’s rise to power, lie much lower in that hierarchy. Leon and them were simply never going to cross paths.

“Use them wisely, people are assets when used properly but can easily become a burden if mishandled” said Alexander as he and Leon were making their way out of the rally from the back.

“You should get home soon, your mother will be waiting for you. I’m glad you were able to come today.” said Alexander as he got into the back of a car preparing to go to another rally further away in the city.

Leon opened his mouth as if about to say something but quickly retracted – his father noticed Leon wanted to say something, but ignored it.

After his father drove off, Leon went into his car and sat motionless for a moment staring straight forward. He takes out Gideon’s card and looks at it, throws it onto the passenger seat and then sighs. He then suddenly bangs vigorously on the steering wheel with the heel of his hand in frustration several times. As he pants he turns on the car and starts driving carelessly out of the parking lot and into the road. He continues to speed as he intensely stares at the road.

Leon suddenly hears police sirens and sees the lights flashing him from behind in the rear view mirror. He quickly slows down and pulls over to the side with a dejected look on his face. He pulls down the window as the police officer shows up.

“You rich kids think that just cause you’re driving a car like this you can do whatever you want. Not on my watch kid. License and registration please.” said the officer recognising the brand of the car. Even though most officers would not bother to pull over these types of cars to avoid unnecessary trouble – there are a few that will take the risk, especially in the case of severe reckless driving.

Leon flustered, stays quiet for a while.

“What is it kid? Don’t make me take you out of the car.” said the officer

“I don’t have a license…” he said quietly

“Oh boy, right, get out of the car immediately – you’re in a lot of trouble. Let’s hope your rich parents can bail you out of this one.” said the officer moving away from the car window

Leon opens the door and slowly gets out of the car, the officer quickly searches the car for any drugs or alcohol when he suddenly finds Gideon’s metal card, he picks it up and Leon notices the officer’s face turn pale. He slowly puts the card back down. The officer looks at Leon with a nervous smile and scratches his head.

“I-I actually don’t remember why I pulled you over. So, there’s really no reason for there to be any problems. You’re free to go, take care sir.” said the officer as he nervously tipped his cap and quickly walked away into his car and drove away.

With the car door open and Leon on the side of the road, he stared right at the card in awe. It was right at that moment, that it finally hit him. He finally understood the true seriousness and magnitude of this little high school election and of all the players involved.

Sorry I’ve been away for a while. I have been travelling. I’ll be making it up by trying to post 7 chapters this week starting with this one.

I have also had another drawing made. This is just a upper body shot of Leon from when he was preparing for school in Chapter 2: