What is difficult situation does Gene confront in the Butt Room? How does he deal with it?

Once they are in the "butt" room , Brinker proclaims Gene's guilt before everyone in the room, setting up a mock-trial kind of situation for Gene. The others in the room immediately start playing along, asking Gene questions about the "crime"; Gene jokingly participates, disguising his real guilt with a kind of far-fetched, sarcastic humor. He believes that none of them are actually suspicious of him after the incident, but the incident and Brinker's accusation still trouble Gene a great deal.