The Rise - Chapter 30

Layla helped Leon and George bring the cat down to safety. George briefly introduced Layla to Leon. Layla didn’t wait long before she began breaking comfort zones

“Why did you decide to run all of a sudden?” said Layla with a intrusive smile to Leon

“Layla!” said George in a loud whisper

Leon looked away still unsure about the answer to this question. His mother told him one thing, his grandmother told him another – was he running out of fear or for the thrill?

“I think I just want to give this politics thing a try” said Leon giving any answer that would do.

Layla sunk her head into her shoulders visibly not entertained by the answer

“That’s it?” she said

She abruptly walked away taking George with her by the hand. She then stopped and turned her head around slightly.

“If that’s your only reason for running – then you won’t win.” she said as she continued to walk away.

Around a half hour after the incident with George and Layla, Leon was in his empty homeroom class with Taylor and Justin looking down at the entrance of the school from the window. They were waiting and watching students come to school in waves. At the entrance of the school was a large white board that had the words ‘Leon Listens – Write and vote on your biggest concerns with the school’ written on it. However students simply read it and walked past without showing any interest.

“This isn’t going to work – these kids don’t care about anything.” said Justin nibbling on his nails

Leon remained silent. This was possibly the most important step of the election – the shift from a popularity contest to an actual election where policy change and the ability to make the change matter. This will disorient all candidates and give Leon a huge edge – but failure here will mean Leon is even more behind and the end of the line.

Two of the students in Leon’s homeroom enter the room and Leon can hear them whispering

“There he is” said one of them in a low whisper

“A board? Really is that it? There’s no way he’s going win” said the other

“Can’t help but feel sorry for him, this is just kind of sad.”

Justin was about to turn around and snap at them but was immediately cooled down by a gentle grab by Leon and a shake of his head.

Within the waves of the students coming into school was one of the seven boys who met with Leon yesterday. He goes up towards the board and starts writing in large letters:

‘Change these back-breaking heavy textbooks with tablets!’

Then walked away.

Leon, Taylor and Justin all watched in anticipation. Leon looked across the other building were Veronica was looking from her homeroom window, then looked back down at the entrance.

Suddenly one of the students read it and moved towards it squinting his eyes

“Hell yeah!” he shouted and then voted by adding a small thumbs up sticker that was nearby on the board.

Before Leon could even notice, several students started flocking around and adding the thumbs up stickers. Another one of the seven boys working with Leon had to shuffle into the crowd that was completely covering the board to start writing another suggestion.

‘Add ATMs to school!’

Then walked away. It immediately received votes from the crowd.

The commotion was so large the entrance was blocked causing the vice principle, Elizabeth, to show up. Before she could break up the commotion another one of Leon’s friends walked up and wrote another suggestion

‘Valet parking at the car park!’

By this point several other students that were not planted by Leon started writing their ideas and the stickers started running out. Students started writing ‘+1’ instead of adding a thumb.

The two students who had entered Leon’s homeroom earlier, ran to the window to see the commotion with a baffled look – they sneaked a look at Leon who didn’t even notice they were at the window next to him. Veronica was looking at Leon who was still fixated completely on the entrance of the school, she smiled to herself. Justin and Taylor had their mouths slightly open, speechless. Elizabeth looked up and noticed Leon looking down at the commotion and Leon locks eyes with her accidentally and kept staring.

She looked back at him with an annoyed look, but didn’t want to do anything to break the commotion just yet. She was the vice principal, but Leon was Hilda’s grandson. She couldn’t wait any longer, Elizabeth went up and began breaking up the crowd. As soon as she did Leon nodded at another one of the students working with him. The student nods back and begins chanting:

‘Leon Listens! Leon Listens! Leon Listens!’

All the other students working with Leon did the same – the chants started off weak as students were unsure why Leon’s name was being chanted. But several students joined in, turning it into a roar as Elizabeth tried to break the crowd up.

Leon immediately walked away from the window, sat at his seat quietly pretending as if nothing had happened. It didn’t matter if the crowd couldn’t become larger or if all the students didn’t see the board. All that mattered is the idea will fester in the school that these things don’t exist and students will question how they lived without them. Then, they will see it as the duty of the student council to bring these changes. Leon has released an epidemic disease and shifted the game completely – but he must be the one to promise the cure or his efforts will all be in vain.