As T comes from a middle-class background, he knows he needs to do something out of the ordinary if he's to be accepted by the guttersnipes of the Wormsley Common gang. And what better way to do that than to make the outrageous suggestion that Old Misery's house should be razed to the ground. The Wormsley Common gang are no angels, that's for sure, but even they wouldn't dream of engaging in such a mindless act of destruction without T's prompting.

T has some major issues, not the least of which is a deep resentment of society for his family's coming down in the world. Destroying the old man's house is a way for him to get back at a society he holds responsible for his genteel poverty, to attack the values on which that society is based and in which he no longer believes. T needs to find a place in society, a position of leadership that allows him to assert his alleged social superiority over others. The other boys in the gang go along for the ride as they don't know any better. They're happy to follow T as he offers them fun and excitement, which are both in short supply in this bleak, bomb-ravaged neighborhood.

Trevor, or "T" as the gang calls him, is the newest recruit, yet he becomes their leader likely because he possesses "an odd quality of danger, of the unpredictable." He was from a social class above the others, but due to his father's career-related reverses, he had come to reside in their neighborhood.

Blackie, the erstwhile leader of the Wormsley Common gang, has not provided enough challenge for the other boys; under his leadership, their exploits include only bouncing a ball to annoy a neighbor and pointlessly stealing rides on the city buses. When the boys learn of T's audacious plan to take down Old Misery's house, built by Sir Christopher Wren, they are intrigued and up for the challenge. When a vote is taken, T's plan is adopted, Blackie steps aside, and the boys set to work on a significant crime.

T. becomes leader when he suggests destroying Old Misery’s house and the group votes to do it. 

The story takes place after World War II, where a group of misfit teenagers meet in a carpark to make trouble. Their leader is a boy named Blackie. The gang is joined by Trevor, who is called T. He should be ostracized because his parents come from money, but he has an air of mystery. They boys do not tease him. 

T.’s rise to power comes with the information he has about Old Misery. Old Misery is a grumpy old man with a big house that needs repair from the war. Old Misery is trying to do it himself. The house doesn’t even have operational plumbing. On the day the group is voting what to do, T. is late and it turns out he was looking at the house. He tells them it is beautiful, and proposes they destroy it for their next project. 

Blackie is opposed to the plan. He doesn't think it is possible for a dozen boys to do. T. disagrees, and suggests it be put to a vote. It is voted on, and T. wins. 

T. said, “It’s carried.”

“How do we start?” Summers asked.

“He’ll tell you,” Blackie said. It was the end of his leadership. He went away to the back of the car-park and began to kick a stone, dribbling it this way and that.

Since Blackie was opposed to the plan, and T. seems to know what he is doing, the group willingly follows him. There is nothing Blackie can do. He has lost his credibility with the group. T. has a plan that appeals to everyone, and Blackie opposed it. He is obsolete. The project is T.'s so Blackie has nothing to lead.