CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

Wednesday morning blossomed into one with awful weather. A wind chill threatened to numb people's bones and the damp smell of rain lingered in the air. This type of weather affected the majority of the townspeople's attitudes for the worse, but there was an irregularity. One man's mood was an utter contrast to the majority of the neighbourhood residents and that man, was the Headmaster.

Striding down the corridor, arms of his gown billowing out like wings, the Headmaster had a triumphant smirk on his face. And it was all due to the fact that his plans were almost complete and ready to be put into place. The plans that had taken years to put into fruition, were finally going to be played out. Everything was set and the Headmaster's smirk widened as he entered his office. All he needed was confirmation from the producers of the Eddy Hair Show that his school had been selected to compete on the programme, then the country would be his for the taking.

Unless, by some slight chance, his carefully chosen team did not win.

As the Headmaster settled into his chair, his smirk transitioned into a frown, which warped his features into a face that was even more intimidating than his usual expression.

He doubted that his team would lose, for he had three of the most intellectual pupils participating. His Head Prefect, who was utterly loyal to him and ruthless in competitions. Miss Green, who simply by the looks of her, did not seem to hold any intelligence at all, yet her IQ stated the opposite, an occurrence which the Headmaster had been surprised about. Albeit, overall, he had been pleased at Lucy Green's vast knowledge, finding it amusing how the girl was more intellectual than Rose Carter.

The two girls already knew in confidence that they were going to be on the team, but the final member did not. The smirk returning to his pale face, the Headmaster started to muse about his newest pupil.

Dinah Glass was the other member of the quiz team and the Headmaster was satisfied that Dinah could win the show for him. In fact, he considered Dinah being able to win even if she was in a team, alone. He hadn't informed her of his decision yet, just in case, she blabbed to her horrid foster brothers.

Once again, the Headmaster's smirk vanished, the narrowing of his green eyes, the only indication of how utterly furious he was. Those Immune brats were the only opposition to his plans. However, he knew that none of them had any idea about the true state of his school and that they simply thought that they were just 'troublemakers' and out-casted for that reason, instead for them being, to his mind unfortunately, Immune against his hypnotism.

His eyes creased to slits. Although, Harvey Hunter was one to watch. It wasn't even the end of the winter term and already, the pathetic little boy had been causing him trouble, especially by spying on Assembly. The Headmaster was tempted to clench his fists, but a sudden thought eclipsed his growing anger, a sinister smile tainting his lips.

'Ah yes. Because he has been causing me all of this trouble since the beginning of the school year, I can set Jeff on him… I can set Jeff on him, FOREVER.'

Upping his sinister smile, the Headmaster quickly made plans in his head. If he promised Harvey Hunter to Jeff Morgan, then the pathetic weakling would be out of the way forever and he would never have to deal with him again. The Headmaster chuckled, scribbling down the notes of his fiendish idea onto a pad of paper. Until the Eddy Hair Show, he would need to sway Harvey Hunter off of breaking any more rules as he couldn't have the boy working out the truth and thus, potentially stopping his excellent plans.

'Though, I doubt it. The boy is so idiotic, that he makes someone like EDDY HAIR look more intellectual than him.'

Setting the pad of paper to one side, the Headmaster titled his chair back a little bit, becoming engrossed in his thoughts.

The Glass girl was getting more and more suspicious every day. Apart from her failed attempts at averting her gaze from his eyes, he knew that even when she obeyed his orders to stare into his eyes, that she was still hesitant. And to him, no matter what he made her forget, the girl would continue to be a nuisance and allow her wariness regarding his school and particularly his Assemblies to stand in her way of achieving great accomplishments and potentially, to his horror if it occurred, the girl would uncover what his power really was.

'I need to keep her suspicions about my school at a minimum… Ah, I know how. From now on, I shall make sure that Miss Clever Glass is staring at me before I take my glasses off. That way, the girl will be under my power at once.'

His smirk returned, this time tinged with malice. He whispered lowly under his breath: "Yes… I will not allow her to disobey my orders. Once she is under, she can fulfil what is expected of her and she can be obedient."

Chuckling, the Headmaster straightened up once more, laughter cutting off at once as a firm knock was applied to his office door.

"Enter."

The door opened, revealing his whitecoats. The men and women that he had gathered together, due to their vast knowledge and high positions in their former employment areas, and all of them were hypnotised to do his every bidding.

Upon closing the door and assembling before him, the six of them in two neat vertical lines, the Headmaster raked them with an approving look before addressing them.

"I have gathered you here, this morning, in order to inform you on what shall be happening once the country is in my grasp."

He plucked a small remote from the top drawer, then jabbed a button and inclined his head towards the timetable displayed behind him. For a few seconds, the timetable remained, before it suddenly slid aside to reveal the contents of the screen hidden behind it.

The Headmaster's Master Plan.

Rising to his feet, the Headmaster set the remote down onto his desk then drew his cane up, tapping it against the screen as he spoke.

"As you can see, this is my school's team for the Great School Quiz on the Eddy Hair Show. Although that show is utterly despicable, I will lower myself to their standards, just this once. Besides… I have a hefty reward at the end."

Lips curling into a malevolent smile, the Headmaster tapped the names of the three candidates, their IQ's listed underneath their names.

"These three girls will help secure my victory. At the end result, Lucy Green shall be one of the children under the tutelage of the Prefects. Which Prefect, I do not exactly know yet. This one, Rose Carter, is my Head Prefect. Therefore, she shall be my second in command. If I am… unable to fulfil any of my plans once I am ruling the country, then all command shall be turned over to her."

Smirk broadening, he tapped the last name, declaring: "Dinah Glass is my newest pupil and one of the most intellectual ones I have, if not the best. Although she is staying in a residence where two of the Immune group live, she will not be swayed by them and if they do manage to form any bond before the show, then I will break it as soon as possible. Due to her intelligence, she shall become my Chief Advisor. I need someone like her by my side, in order to aid me on any issues that form from my plans…. Not that ANY will form."

As the whitecoats stared blankly back at him, the Headmaster tucked his cane under his desk, standing to his full height once again. He did not need to take his glasses off at any moment during this meeting as the whitecoats were utterly submissive to him and no distraction would wean them off, providing their utmost attention towards their leader.

Pausing briefly to gather the notes that detailed what the people before him would be doing after the country's takeover, the Headmaster glanced at them from time to time as he spoke in his cold, brisk tone.

"The six of you shall be in charge of the rest of the whitecoats. At the moment, there are few of you, but once I have taken over, I shall appoint more. My plans require for you to assist in splitting up the population, according to age and strength. For instance, a young, strong individual would be set work in the form of heavy lifting, whereas an elderly and weak person would be set work, more aimed for them. All children from the ages of four and above are to be educated and they will reside in large public buildings, such as museums and banks that will have been converted into living quarters for them. As family units will have been separated, as I cannot abide emotions being prioritised over work, infants and babies will have their own place to develop and once they have reached the certain age and development, they will be moved. You are to make sure that my servants are well cared for and have all the requirements they need. The majority of the adult population will be staged at the numerous work camps that will be set up over the country and I have a person in mind to run that operation."

A scowl flitted across the Headmaster's face as he concluded: "The other aspect on your agenda is Immunes. When you are sorting out the population into groups, I want any Immunes to be separated with no hesitation and placed in the holding centre which will be set up for them. I cannot have any of THEM ruining my plans."

He shuddered. Those Immunes were pesky and he had only encountered five of them so far! Well, once he had his Immune pupils save Harvey Hunter, for he would be shipped off into the arms of Jeff Morgan, in the holding centre, then they would not plague on his mind any longer. He glowered at his whitecoats, barking:

"Do you understand your orders?"

Six flat voices replied in unison. "Yes, Sir."

"Good. For now, go home and rest."

"Yes, Sir."

After concealing his Master Plan and filing away his papers, the Headmaster sat down in his desk, dismissing his whitecoats with a sharp order. As the whitecoats began to file out, the Headmaster commanded one of them to enquire after the Prefects about whether they understood their orders for today. The whitecoat nodded, closing the door after them and leaving the Headmaster to dwell in triumph.


Half an hour later, the air was thick with tension. The whitecoat had obeyed his leader's orders and discovered that the Prefects, per usual, did understand the Headmaster's orders and in fact, they were about to deliver the news very soon. The delivering of the news required the Prefects to assemble on the steps above the playground earlier than usual, so when SPLAT entered the playground from the street, an icy chill shot down their spines at the scene before them.

All of them instantly wondered if they were in trouble and that the Prefects had come to punish them or that there was a big piece of news that upon being delivered, could make or break their lives.

Thankfully for them, it was the former.

As soon as everyone had assembled into the playground, Rose glowering at the few stragglers, she snapped:

"School! Form lines!"

"Yes, Rose."

All of the 'goody goods', including Dinah, whose body seemed to march to her line before her mind even willed it to, assembled, SPLAT hurrying into their individual lines, panic radiating from them.

'It must be big news if they're skipping the stupid study circles.' Lloyd thought, gaze on Rose as the tall girl surveyed the children slightly below her and her fellow Prefects.

Rose's haughty voice drifted out across the silent playground. "Today, your lessons before Morning Break are cancelled."

Harvey and Ingrid shot each other a look of uncertain happiness from afar, Lloyd and Mandy's wariness heightened and Ian whispered under his breath. "Get in…"

"Instead, you shall be in the Hall, awaiting your turn." A smirk curled her lips. "That is right, school photographs are taking place in the Hall today."

Although the rest of the school stayed silent, simply nodding in acceptance, six members reacted in various ways. Deep within her mind, Dinah was irritated at not attending lessons and slightly annoyed at herself for not being observant as usual. For if she had been, then she would have spotted the photographer's car at an earlier point in time.

Lloyd's eyes widened. He always hated school photos, but he was more occupied over the fact that they were going to be taken in the Hall. A place, where he and the rest of SPLAT were banned from. Before this year, the school photos had taken place in the Sports Hall, and Lloyd wondered why the setting had changed.

Mandy was biting her lip, wishing that she had known about it beforehand so that she could have styled her hair more, but also kept it within the school guidelines concerning the hairstyles that female pupils were allowed. Ian groaned. He hated having his picture taken in a serious manner. Though school photos were meant to show the children smiling, barely any of Them did so and SPLAT rarely did either. As they were so miserable at school, they had decided to showcase their misery through their facial expressions.

Harvey and Ingrid were also annoyed at this situation, but ultimately, both were glad that they were missing lessons. Rose started telling the children, what classes were to head to the Hall first and what ones were to linger in the playground before being called.

In the end, Ian and Mandy were the only SPLAT members heading into the Hall for the first photography session, whilst Lloyd, Harvey and Ingrid stayed in the playground, the three of them huddled together, isolated like normal. Dinah stayed in the playground as well, her voice blending with the others in the quickly formed study circle.


As Ian and Mandy ambled at the rear of the group heading to the Hall, they started to chat in quiet voices.

"Oh man, I hate this! I always shut my eyes whenever the flash goes off!"

Playfully slapping his arm, Mandy whispered: "Well, don't then! Besides, we miss two hours of lessons, which I think is quite good. Especially today, I hate having geography and history within the space of two hours!"

"Ouch. Oh man! I had Drama and I was looking forwards to that as well! Damn, where's my comb?"

Ian rifled through his schoolbag as the group halted outside of the Hall doors. Quickly locating it, Ian started to drag it through his dark hair, licking his index and middle fingers on his right hand and streaking them over his eyebrows.

Mandy giggled, taking out her own hairbrush. She brushed the end of her plait, inspecting the plait itself to make sure that it was secure, then dropped her hairbrush back into her bag. The pair of them followed the rest of the group's actions by smoothing down their uniforms, adjusting their ties and checking each other to be certain that they looked immaculate.

Once the rest of the group had done, they all entered the Hall, the doors swinging shut behind them. Ian and Mandy had not moved at all during this march into the Hall and as the doors ceased swinging, Ian snorted.

"Nice. Even if we had followed them, we would have received a whacking to the face because those ungrateful pricks wouldn't have held the doors open for us."

"Ian! Don't call them that!"

"Alright, alright… I just despise the whole photo thing. Sitting still enough, having to time everything. Then the whole wait over what the picture looks like… Urgh, effort."

"Says the model."

"Oh, you think I'm a model now?"

Ian pulled a pose, which had Mandy guffawing.

"S-Stop, you look r-r-ridiculous!"

Grinning, Ian waited until Mandy had recovered before exclaiming: "I wish they did a group one! We could have all five of us in it!"

Mandy smiled. "That would be great. Instead, we simply get one lousy photo."

"Oh no!"

Her smile dropped, confusion and worry blustering through. "What's the matter?"

Ian shut his eyes, hand slapped to his forehead. "I've got to have two photos done! Remember, one for my Dad and one for my Mum and her boyfriend. Oh man, why did they have to get divorced?!"

He opened his eyes, mellow suddenly. "Oh yeah… they didn't love each other anymore."

Mandy smiled sadly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's alright, Ian and hey, look on the bright side, at least you get two chances to perfect it."

"Yeah, you're right." In an instant, Ian was back to his usual self. "And if I mess one up, then I can decide via a game, what one will be sent to my Dad and what one will be sent to Mum and Michael."

"That's the spirit!"

"Hey…" Ian swiftly glanced round before taking his phone out of his pocket. Unlocking it, he pressed the camera and held it aloft, the screen facing them.

"Let's take a selfie! Commemorate our school days!"

Fear vanishing in her eyes at Ian's words, Mandy struck a pose, chirping:

"Nice idea!"

Ian pulled a ridiculous pose, quickly snapping a picture before they could be interrupted. Checking it, he laughed, fingers tapping the screen as he muttered:

"I'll save this as my background. M, I never knew duck lips suited you!"

"And that tongue, Ian? Amazing how pink it is!"

Ian slipped his phone back into his pocket, the two of them struggling to hide their laughter. Hastily, they checked themselves over again then took a deep breath, Ian pushing open the Hall doors and leading the way into the place that they never ventured into.