The Riot Club Page #7

How far is that going to get us?

It got us bail, didn't it?

Well, can someone come up with something?

Cos I'd really like to have a career.

Self-defence. He came at us waving a knife.

What? Ten on one?

How about we give them someone?

You mean, the police?

We choose one person, ideally a volunteer,

we all say he was the one

who had the fight with the landlord.

What about the club?

Sticking together, all for one?

Wait. One man confesses,

takes a hit for the team.

Nine of us stay clean.

He'd be a f***ing hero.

And the rest of us do what we can

to help him in the future.

You don't leave a man out in the field,

- this is not what we do.

- Balf, it's not f***ing Dunkirk.

Surely, we don't get to choose?

Mate?

Surely it's up to the police

who gets punished?

The landlord can't remember who hit him.

So, we can decide that.

So?

Who is it going to be?

It's pretty obvious, isn't it?

Ryle...

Would you like to volunteer?

What?

You did punch him first.

I wasn't the only one.

The rest of you wanted

to, even if you didn't.

You did get everyone wound up.

What?

That stuff you said, "Stop apologising",

"Them and us"...

I was only saying what every other f***er

in here was thinking.

Incitement. It was incitement.

I mean, didn't your brother tell you

it was a dinner, not a rally?

Nothing like his brother.

It should be the president, shouldn't it?

What the f***?

If anyone's going to fall

on their sword, shouldn't it be you?

I, I didn't even touch him.

Man up and take it.

Boys...

Or we do the logical

thing, last in, first out.

What, the newest member?

But we've got two new members.

Yeah, but technically

you only become a member

once your room's trashed,

so it depends on which order we did that.

We did Ryle first, so technically...

Technically, it's Miles.

I didn't do anything.

You did call the ambulance.

I'm not going to go in

there and say I did this.

What the f***?

We'll all rally.

Dimitri can get you a sh*t-hot lawyer.

You'd be doing it for the club.

F*** the club.

We're not still talking about that, are we?

I'm sorry, but I can't...

God, if it really kicked off...

We could all get sent down from college.

Yes, and that's the worst possible thing

you can imagine happening, is it?

Miles, I have holes in my pockets

and no one useful on speed dial.

I'm built for hiding in libraries.

I'm not gonna lie to the police,

so you can ponce around

- in a f***ing cape for the rest of your life.

- Thing is, mate,

it's nine against one.

Whatever you say.

Can I, uh, speak to you?

- Somewhere not...

- I've got nothing to say.

Please, I have to talk to you...

You let them humiliate me.

I'm sorry.

Really sorry.

And I will do whatever you want

to prove that to you, but...

I need your help, something has happened...

Why should I help you

after what you put me through?

I didn't do what you think,

I tried to stop them...

You were there.

You had a choice, Miles.

You chose to do nothing

and if you speak to me ever again,

I will report you,

all of you, for assault.

Please...

Alistair Ryle?

Uh, no.

This is his room?

No, we, we swapped.

He's in Cloister Quad, Walsingham,

number six, I think.

You got some ID?

Yeah, yeah.

Sorry to disturb you.

No, it's fine. Thank you.

Alistair Ryle?

They found bits of the landlord

under Ryle's fingernails.

Bits?

I don't know, skin and stuff. Skin.

And they've charged him?

Yeah.

Just him?

Yes.

And the rest of us pay a police fine

for the damage.

No criminal record.

And do we trust Ryle to...

Of course, we do. The man's a legend.

And what about college?

Are we gonna be sent down?

You're a f***ing p*ssy, Leighton,

you know that?

Were it up to me,

these boys would be sent down

for moral vacuity and unspeakable

thoughtlessness.

However, I have been outvoted.

Since the police have decided

to prosecute only one of the boys,

the council of colleges doesn't feel

justified in removing all 10.

Not with the roasting

we'd receive from the press.

Only Alistair Ryle is to be sent down.

Oh well, that is, my gosh,

that is very good news.

Time will tell if it was one bad apple

spoiling the rest.

Well, thank you.

Of course, if there's anything we can do

to say thank you to the college...

Anything?

No.

OK, Olly, let's go.

Your marvellous brother's got away

with it this time.

- What's that mean?

- He stays.

He's allowed back after the holidays.

Thank God.

Richards, mate.

I was just coming to find you.

Sorry.

Guy Bellingfield.

Wonderful to meet you, I've heard so much.

You're not a friend

from this club, are you?

Uh, from the history society,

Junior Historians.

Actually, I'm the new president

of the Junior Historians.

President?

The previous incumbent was shown

not to be up to the job, so...

I thought we could get together,

discuss next term's lecture series,

if you fancy coming along.

Maybe, it's not for me.

I'm done with societies.

I'll be fine on my own.

But thanks.

Well, good luck with that.

Um, good to meet you.

Tubes, mate, club meeting.

Operation Grasshopper, call me back, yeah?

Alistair. Good of you to come.

Harry said you wanted to see me.

Do you want some lunch?

Yeah.

You're with Johnny Drummond, right?

Dad trusts him.

He's a good lawyer.

What's he advising, self-defence?

Landlord was carrying a knife, I hear.

We're going with "I was bullied into it".

That the club scapegoated me,

which is pretty much the truth.

Forgive me, but wouldn't it be better

if the club could be kept out of it?

- I don't see how it could...

- Oh, with the right lawyer, certainly.

I know a man,

ex-member himself, very useful

at sorting out our scrapes over the years.

I don't give a sh*t about the club.

Smash it.

It's a bunker, isn't it?

Training up a generation

for a life in hiding.

We're not in hiding.

It's an adaptation.

We adapt to survive.

The dinners are just the beginning,

a three-year initiation, if you like.

Now, you might have lost your place

at college, but you're still in the club.

You can't afford not to be.

Look, why don't you come and

spend some time in my office,

see how we do things?

I don't want anything handed

to me on a plate...

I'm not giving you a constituency.

Maybe you've got it in you to

do something special one day.

And I'd rather you be doing it

in my camp than someone else's.

I'm not just offering you a better lawyer,

Alistair, I am offering you a future.

Good.

You know Lord Riot did not

spell his name R-I-O-T,

but R-Y-O-T?

Nothing to do with riotous behaviour.

Still, thank God, eh?

Thank God someone made the switch.

Could have just been a mistake.

People like us don't make mistakes, do we?

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