We've been holding founders' meetings almost every day at this point.
It used to be a weekly thing.
But now things are getting so heated, we have to discuss everything every day.
Factory 24 feels so different now.
When school got out, it was just a fun hangout spot.
Now it's been over a month.
Factory 24 feels like a child's version of a military base.
We have makeshift weapons all over the place.
Everyone is tense.
We're all ready to fight if we need to.
The founders are strained, though.
While the members are just tense, the founders are carrying the heavy work.
Keeping communication with John and Alex.
Watching for the scout inside Factory 24.
Keeping the members calm without giving too much away.
Organizing scouting shifts.
Settling arguments before they spread.
Making sure people actually follow the new rules.
There's too much happening.
Even holding a meeting each day is hard enough.
George is in a basketball club.
Leo's family doesn't always let him out.
Liam is always watching the members.
Melanie has her own friend group, so she usually doesn't work with us as much.
Mel likes walking around and talking to people, while Melanie makes sure things are running smoothly whenever she's there.
As for me...
I do pretty much everything.
I'm at Factory 24 from morning to evening every day.
And even then, there's still too much happening.
Too many people.
Too many decisions.
Too many ways for information to leak.
The founders aren't equal anymore.
Those of us who stay more are seen as having higher standing than those who don't.
Meaning Mel and I have the highest standing here.
You can tell the members think Leo and George are slacking off.
The members still don't trust Liam after he beat me up that one time.
They also don't really consider him a founder, since it was never announced publicly.
Whenever we try to hold founders' meetings, there's always one of us who is either late or doesn't show up at all.
When we vote on decisions, we argue and disagree for too long without getting a clear answer.
My public standing has gotten too high.
When anyone has a problem, they all look at me.
It's like they all think I have the answer to everything.
When a decision comes up, people look my way.
When a report comes in, they wait for my reaction.
When there's confusion, they want me to make sense of it.
I hate it.
Stop looking to me for validation.
Think for yourselves.
———————————————————————
Today we had two founders' meetings.
The first one only had Leo, Liam, Mel, and me there.
It was simple.
Just a recap of what happened the previous day and a few smaller updates from John and Alex.
Later in the day, we had our second meeting.
All the founders were able to make it.
The first one everyone had made it to in a while.
It started with logistics.
Members were unhappy with having to switch every hour while scouting.
They thought it was too quick and wanted longer rotations.
Other members thought the opposite.
An hour of scouting, an hour of rest, then do it again.
We decided to group the scouts into three groups instead of two.
Each group would rotate every hour and a half.
When a group finished scouting, they'd get three hours of free time.
Of course, we couldn't account for every member being there at all times, so certain people would have to fill in for each other.
Then we moved on to how much we should update everyone with what we knew about The Claim.
The scout inside Factory 24 was still our biggest problem.
If they found out how much information we knew about The Claim, it would only hurt us.
Liam also told us John and Alex had figured out how many groups there were within The Claim, along with all of their leaders.
There were six groups.
Andrew's group: 13 members.
John and Alex were the last two.
They were also still the most worrisome of them all.
Travis's group: 9 members.
They were the group that had recently lost to Andrew's.
They seemed to be gaining influence again, though.
They had somehow stolen four members from Andrew's group.
Not even John and Alex knew how.
Michael's group: 8 members.
William's group: 9 members.
Robert's group: 7 members.
Thomas's group: 5 members.
After Liam told us all that, everything went quiet.
How were we supposed to tell Factory 24?
We voted on it.
Liam, Leo, and I all voted no.
Melanie and George voted yes.
Then Mel voted no, after seeing mine.
George got heated, saying we shouldn't keep hiding so much from the members of Factory 24.
Leo shot back, saying it would be suspicious if the scout caught wind of how much we knew.
They kept going back and forth for a few minutes before Liam finally yelled:
"Guys! We can't keep doing this!"
"These meetings take way too long because we keep arguing over everything."
George didn't like that.
"Stay out of it, outsider!"
"Woah, chill out," Liam said. "I just think if one person had the final say, things would go smoother."
"Hell no! We're all equals! We make decisions together!"
I agreed with George.
We are equals.
We don't need a specific leader.
But Leo agreed with Liam.
So did Melanie.
So did Mel, even.
That was rare.
Since the Josh incident, she would always stick close to me, and vote for whatever I wanted.
It was George and me against the four of them.
Then they used our own logic against us.
"Okay then," Leo said, "let's all equally vote on whether we should have a leader above the founders."
Shit.
We lost that vote too.
So I asked a question.
"So, who's the new leader, then?"
Everyone looked at me like the answer was the most obvious thing in the world.
Did they know something I didn't?
Even George looked surprised at the question.
He spoke up.
"Everyone who thinks ■■■■■ should be the leader, raise your hand."
Every single one of them did.
Immediately.
I rejected it.
"No! I think Melanie should! She's the oldest one here! She's the smartest!"
I didn't know what else to say.
I wasn't prepared for this.
"■■■■■," Melanie said, "I'm not even here half the time. How can I lead a group without being there for them?"
"Fine! Then as the new leader, I appoint Leo!"
Leo laughed.
"First, I'm in the same position as Melanie. Second, I appoint it right back to you."
Liam also laughed after hearing that.
"Then why not Liam!?"
"The members wouldn't like it," Liam said. "And I already have my hands full dealing with the scouts."
Damn it.
Someone please take it from me!
No one did.
The room went quiet.
Then Melanie spoke again.
"■■■■■, we know you don't want this. We don't even know why you don't want this, but we need someone who can take away the hesitation in our group. Someone with the final say."
"You're good at influencing others. I've seen it all the way back since first grade. You know the members second only to Liam. And you're here all the time."
"You're already like the protector of Factory 24."
Melanie was right on the dot.
I couldn't disagree with any of it.
I sighed.
"Fine... I'll lead Factory 24..."
I hate it.
Becoming the king of Factory 24.
Who would've thought.
I was so focused on making sure I didn't do this to myself, and yet here we are.
Everyone around me forced it on me.
I had no choice.
Except...
This time it was different.
I'm not cold.
I'm still hesitant. I'm sure of that.
But I will have to be more direct.
There's no avoiding that.
———————————————————————
I was standing on a table next to the office.
The founders and Liam were at my sides, standing on the floor.
Everyone else was sitting in front of me.
There were maybe sixty members ready to hear what I was about to say.
I cleared my throat.
"Ahem... um... the reason for this quick meeting has to do with a decision the founders and I have come up with."
Everyone tensed up when I said that.
If all of us had reached a decision together, it probably meant something had happened with The Claim.
Before they could start getting loud, I kept talking.
"We've all decided there was too much happening for the founders to keep up with."
"So... we decided to have one sole leader."
"And, um... well... they chose me."
I was nervous about their reaction.
At first, I thought they'd get angry.
I thought I'd hear things like, What happened to equality?
But instead, they just looked confused.
Sarah, one of the members—and Elaine's old friend—called out first.
"You weren't already?" she asked. "We've been calling you the Monarch of 24 for a while now."
"Huh?"
Another boy, Henry, spoke up.
"Yeah, I'm surprised you haven't heard us saying that!"
Wait.
What?
They already thought I was the leader?
"Monarch of 24?"
"Yeah," Henry said. "You're like our king."
What the hell?
Since when had they been thinking that?
I looked around.
No one was laughing.
No one looked like this was a joke.
Some of them looked embarrassed that I hadn't known.
Others looked confused that I hadn't known.
And somehow, that felt worse than if they'd argued.
Because it meant this hadn't started today.
This had already been true in their heads.
All we'd done was put a name on it.
I didn't really know what to say after that.
So I just stood there for a second, staring at all of them while they stared back.
Then I forced out the only thing I could think of.
"Well... I guess it's official now."
A few people laughed.
Not loudly.
Just enough to break the tension.
And that was that.
No shouting.
No resistance.
No dramatic objections.
Just acceptance.
Soft.
Easy.
Like it had been waiting to happen.
Monarch of 24...
Not a bad name.