Chap­ter 27 of The Choco­late War reveals a piv­otal moment for Archie Costel­lo and The Vig­ils when Frankie Rol­lo, a rebel­lious junior, refus­es to com­ply with their expec­ta­tions. Rol­lo, known for his inso­lence, dis­miss­es Archie’s author­i­ty in a defi­ant and care­free man­ner, sur­pris­ing every­one around him. This moment of defi­ance catch­es Archie off guard, as he has nev­er encoun­tered such resis­tance before. The ten­sion in the room ris­es sharply when Carter, anoth­er mem­ber of The Vig­ils, los­es con­trol and strikes Rol­lo after he mocks their abil­i­ty to instill fear. Rol­lo, now sub­dued, is quick­ly thrown out of the meet­ing, and the room erupts in cheers. This reac­tion frus­trates Archie, who had intend­ed to use Rol­lo as a source of amuse­ment rather than a chal­lenge to his author­i­ty. This con­flict marks a sig­nif­i­cant shift, show­ing that even Archie’s care­ful­ly con­trolled envi­ron­ment is start­ing to unrav­el.

After Rol­lo is eject­ed, Carter steps for­ward, empha­siz­ing that The Vig­ils can­not allow indi­vid­u­als like him to dis­rupt their cred­i­bil­i­ty. He argues that the group’s asso­ci­a­tion with the choco­late sale has brought their efforts under scruti­ny, and Rollo’s defi­ance is a sign that their influ­ence is weak­en­ing. Mean­while, Obie, anoth­er mem­ber of the group, presents a poster that crude­ly express­es dis­sent, with the mes­sage “SCREW THE CHOCOLATES AND SCREW THE VIGILS.” This poster reflects grow­ing frus­tra­tion and resis­tance among the stu­dent body, high­light­ing the increas­ing oppo­si­tion to both the choco­late sale and the pow­er struc­ture that The Vig­ils rep­re­sent. The mood shifts as the group real­izes they are fac­ing more than just logis­ti­cal chal­lenges; their hold on the school is being ques­tioned. As ten­sion builds with­in The Vig­ils, the mem­bers begin to feel the weight of their actions, and their uni­ty starts to crack.

Carter’s frus­tra­tion with Archie inten­si­fies, and he con­fronts him direct­ly, sug­gest­ing that Archie is part­ly to blame for the group’s cur­rent predica­ment. He casts doubt on Archie’s abil­i­ty to main­tain con­trol over the sit­u­a­tion, forc­ing Archie to defend his lead­er­ship. Despite the cracks in his author­i­ty, Archie main­tains his com­po­sure and begins to devise a new strat­e­gy to regain con­trol. His plan is to make sell­ing the choco­lates more entic­ing, lever­ag­ing influ­en­tial stu­dents to help push the sale for­ward. Though some, includ­ing Obie, ques­tion the effec­tive­ness of this plan, Archie is deter­mined that it will suc­ceed. He believes that the suc­cess of the choco­late sale will not only restore the group’s pow­er but also help him man­age the grow­ing rebel­lion sym­bol­ized by Rol­lo. Archie’s con­fi­dence masks his under­ly­ing anx­i­ety, as he knows that fail­ure would sig­nif­i­cant­ly under­mine his posi­tion with­in The Vig­ils and the school. How­ev­er, he remains con­vinced that his abil­i­ty to manip­u­late the stu­dents and con­trol the nar­ra­tive will secure his vic­to­ry.

The con­flict between Archie and Carter remains tense, par­tic­u­lar­ly when Carter places Archie on pro­ba­tion con­cern­ing the suc­cess of the choco­late sale. This fur­ther high­lights the shift­ing dynam­ics with­in The Vig­ils and the increas­ing pres­sure on Archie to deliv­er. Archie, inter­nal­ly seething with resent­ment, forces a smile to mask his humil­i­a­tion, aware that the fail­ure of the choco­late sale could mark the end of his dom­i­nance. Despite the grow­ing ani­mos­i­ty and uncer­tain­ty, Archie con­tin­ues to push for­ward with his plan, con­fi­dent that he can ral­ly the school behind the sale. His goal is clear: neu­tral­ize the rebel­lious influ­ence of Jer­ry Renault and reassert The Vig­ils’ con­trol over the stu­dents. By refram­ing the chal­lenges as mere obsta­cles, Archie aims to pre­serve his sta­tus and keep the school under his thumb, ensur­ing that the appear­ance of suc­cess will over­shad­ow the cracks in the group’s struc­ture. This chap­ter high­lights Archie’s tac­ti­cal mind, his abil­i­ty to manip­u­late sit­u­a­tions, and the ris­ing ten­sion as his lead­er­ship faces increas­ing chal­lenges.