Minor Conspiracies (part 1)

 

 

 

 

"No! Please, no!" Herb shouted after opening the door.

 

Saying nothing, the dark figure encroached into Herb's room until only the pistol was visible. Trying desperately to hide his fear, he quietly stood waiting for the figure's next move.

 

"I knew I would find you alone eventually!" proclaimed the figure that was finally visible in Herb's room.

 

"You back-stabber!" shouted Herb as the dart gun fired.

 

The dark figure smiled and ran quietly out of his hotel room.

 

 

 

 

"Another one?!" cried the obviously disgruntled fifteen-year old blond.

 

"Maybe we should just capitulate, Barry. We are down to only forty-two people. Herb was one of the best, too," said Kaye in an almost inaudible voice.

 

Turning to the short, quiet girl, Kaye, Barry shouted while in a commander's stance, "No!"

 

Kaye, Barry, and four other people in Herb's room noticed how Herb chafed in an uneasy mien. With all his effort, he tried to communicate with the most impatient and dumb Barry. Unfortunately, his attempts were to no avail. The simple game rule was to have no speech or writings from he proclaimed "dead".

 

"I hate this game! If Herb just told us how he was shot, we could know how to fend off Lily's team! Just tell us who!" Barry shouted to Herb.

 

Immediately shutting Herb's mouth Derrick yelled and looked to Barry with disdain, "No! You signed the student doctrine before we even came onto the trip with Lily, remem..."

Derrick shut his mouth immediately as the cheerfully old Mr. Febly stuck his head into Herb's room.

 

"It will be time to go to your rooms in half an hour, so don't let me catch you children in this one. Remember, tomorrow, we will be visiting New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty, so go to sleep quickly. You will need to save all your fervent energy for tomorrow!"

 

All the students in Herb's room nodded. Actually, Barry, Derrick, and Frank were sharing the room with Herb. It was two days into the weeklong trip to New York. None of the students had stinted on buying souvenirs on their visit. All the students brought an extra bag to convey all their brought items on the way back home.

 

In the corner of the room, Kate, who had just watched the whole conversation, spoke up, articulating, "I remember before, hearing Herb's voice saying something about a spy or something."

 

Herb, in a volatile manner, had nodded as he stared at Kate, who turned her head to avoid Herb's gaze.

 

"If we have a traitor, we'll find him!" Pausing to contemplate the other gender, Barry added, "Or her. From now on, I want every remaining team member to be notified and on the lookout for one."

Looking at his watch, Barry's eyes widened. It was already late. Leading the three girls in the room out to the hall, he noted, "I'll need you three especially to watch for any suspicious activity. All you have to do is find our Benedict Arnold."

 

Turning to Kaye, Nima said, "That may be a little too hard," and she reached into the pocket of her denim jeans.

 

 

 

 

 

           

Instead of going to a baseball game, the ninth grade students of the Lomplin Middle School dressed in formal attire for a dance on the desk of a cruise ship. Of course, this was after their visit to the New York Harbor. There was a myriad of stars appearing as the student filed onto the deck, listening to the safety instructions of the captain.

 

"I don't get how we have to hear about boat safety when I doubt this boat will really sink tonight! We're not even going into the ocean area!" Lily whispered.

 

"Don't forget the Titanic! What I don't get is how Barry is taking this game too seriously. He told me to bring my dart gun in case of emergencies!" laughed Kate.

 

Strangely, Lily became very staid through the rest of the captain's speech. As the captain spoke, Barry sent a very threatening glare to Kate, who immediately ignored him, since Lily was her best friend. When the talk was done, music started and there were many that danced jubilantly, yet skeptically. The dance was mostly divided between the two teams of students: Barry's and Lily's.

 

"Can I talk to you?" asked Barry to Kaye.

 

Sighing "Yes." As she walked from her table, Kaye knew her leader had the game on his mind.

 

"There is something about Kate and Nima I can't trust, he whispered, "Do you think they were in on Herb's attack and the other seventeen?"

 

Something clicked inside Kaye's mind. Barry was onto something, but she shrugged nevertheless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once Barry walked away to talk to his political advisors A.K.A his other pals, Kaye began to analyze the others, while placing herself in team conversations. Noticing how Barry's team member Chris occasionally looked to Lily's assistant Mary, the plot she was noticing thickened. Frank sat, talking with the same Mary, which made him an even greater suspect. Then, she looked to Derrick, who had an obvious crush on Lily. Nima, Barry's concern, was also suspicious, for she was secretly dancing with a guy on Lily's team, Gary. The more Kaye tried to understand, the more Kaye lost track of the motives of each suspect. She'd wished she had her team notebook to jot down her thoughts.

 

"Barry," Kaye tapped his shoulder as he was prodigiously eating the food at the refreshment table.

 

"What?" he turned to her.

 

"I think I know who it is, but I need to trap her."

 

"Her?"

 

She nodded, to the sometimes male chauvinist Barry, "But I need a witness in case I'm shot."

 

"Right, oh, I forgot to tell ya' we've got our own insider in Lily's team!"

 

"Who?"

 

"You'll see! Just set whoever up!" he said as he walked away to talk to Frank.

 

As Nima and Kaye walked towards the restrooms, Kaye felt quite skittish, since the hall for the restrooms was empty. Somebody from the shadows of the great potted trees in the hall could make a move there.

 

Suddenly, one attacked the other.

 

"What're you doing?!" cried Nima as she backed up.

 

"It's you! I know it. Who else was able to get Herb and the others so easily?"

 

"But it wasn't me!" Nima pleaded.

 

"Nima's right! It was me!" said a dark figure in a shadowy area of the hall.

 

Nima and Kaye both backed up, waiting for the trigger of the dart gun to be pulled.

 

"Why, Kate?" Kaye shouted to the figure coming out of the dark.

 

"I'm Lily's best friend, besides, it's pretty fun being a double agent."

 

"Wrong!" shouted Barry, who was next to Frank, both clutching their own dart guns.

 

Kate didn't move. Instead, she let two other people, Lily and Mary step into the scene.

 

"Both of you! Freeze!" shouted Lily, "Now it's time to win the game! With you, of course!" she pulled the trigger.

 

Suddenly, Mary pushed the dart gun to the side, making Lily just barely miss Barry. Then Mary had Kate back up into the wall.

 

"What's all this?" Mr. Odlen shouted, looking down to the dart on the floor.

 

All the people in the hall tried hiding their dart guns, but it was too late. Mr. Odlen began to confiscate their toys as he looked to Principal Ruth Poptis. Leading them to her, he wondered what they were up to in their odd skirmish. He'd seen things like that happen before in school, but not a weird dart gun game with traitors, allies, and unusually serious kids. Sighing to himself, he began to think of his retirement plans: anywhere with very little a population of teenagers.

 

In a very odd way, the principal was sympathetic to them and released them from punishment for the dart gun excursion. She even gave the guns back to the holders, smiling as if she knew something, herself. There wasn't anything frightening in her tone of voice when she warned them not to use the guns during the rest of the trip. Instead, she had the dance proceed as it was before she entered the room with the delinquents. Barry, Lily, and the other team members returned to the party.

 

"At least we know our inside spy!" Barry glared at the sheepish Kate.

 

Before Barry could speak any further, Mary sighed, "I think we should just end this game win-win, you know?" She directed it to both Lily and Barry.

 

Though many others around Lily, Barry, Kaye, Derrick, Kate, and Mary agreed with her, the opposing team leaders shook their heads. It wasn't until a few more songs played during the dance that Lily and Barry agreed to end the game. Though when they agreed to end the game, they both claimed the idea was their own. Of course, what could one expect of Lily and Barry?

 

"Sorry I blamed you Nima. I was just too involved in this mission, well, game," Kaye apologized.

 

First with a humorous glare, then a shrug, Nima laughed, "It's all right! I kinda suspected you were the traitor for awhile, anyway. The game really messed with our brains, eh?" Nima asked.

 

"Yeah! Especially Barry and Lily! So, what should we do now the game's over? What are the betting seventh and eighth-graders back at school going to do when they out no one won or lost?"

 

"None of em's gonna lose any money, and as for us, us ninth graders can finally feel the fun of New York"

 

They both smiled and the game was officially over.