The Wave

"Oh, that's terrific," Laurie said sarcastically. "Do we all score a touchdown?"

David stepped back and studied his girl friend. He hadn't expected anything like this. Not from Laurie.

"Don't you see," Laurie said, mistaking his hesitation for a glimmer of doubt. "You're so idealistic, David. You're so intent on creating some kind of Utopian Wave society full of equal people and great football teams that you don't see it at all. It can't happen, David. There will always be a few people who won't want to join. They have a right not to join."

David squinted at his girl friend. "You know," he said, "you're just against this thing because you're not special any more. Because you're not the best and most popular student in the class now."

"That's not true and you know it!" Laurie gasped.

"I think it is true!" David insisted. "Now you know how the rest of us felt listening to you always giving the right answers. Always being the best. How does it feel not to be the best any more?"

"David, you're being stupid!" Laurie yelled at him.

David nodded. "All right, if I'm so stupid, why don't you go find yourself a smart boyfriend." He turned and walked away towards the gym.

Laurie stood behind and watched him. It's crazy, she thought. Everything is going out of control.

From what Laurie could hear, The Wave rally was a giant success. She was spending the period in the publica­tions office down the hall. It was the only place she could think of going where she would be safe from the questioning looks of kids wondering why she wasn't at the rally. Laurie did not want to admit that she was hiding, but it was true. That was how crazy this whole thing had become. You had to hide if you weren't part of it.

Laurie took out a pen and chewed on it nervously. She had to do something. The Grapevine had to do something.

A few minutes later the turning of the doorknob shook her from her thoughts. Laurie caught her breath. Had someone come to get her?

The door opened and Alex bopped in to the beat of the music coming through his earphones.

Laurie sank back in her chair and let out a big sigh.

When Alex saw Laurie he smiled and pulled the earphones off his head. "Hey, how come you're not in with the troops?"

Laurie shook her head. "Alex, it's not that bad."

But Alex just grinned. "Oh yeah? Pretty soon they're gonna have to change the name of this school to Fort Gordon High."

"I'm not amused, Alex," Laurie said.

Alex scrunched up his shoulders and made a face. "Laurie, you must learn that nothing is above ridicule."

"Well, if you think they're troopers, aren't you frightened of being drafted too?" Laurie asked.

Alex grinned. "Who, me?" Then he swiped through the air with several fierce-looking karate chops. "Anyone hassles me and I'll kung-fu them into chopped suey."

The door of the publications office opened again and now Carl slipped in. Seeing Laurie and Alex there, he smiled. "Looks like I've stumbled into Anne Frank's attic," he said.

"The last of the rugged individuals," Alex said.

Carl nodded. "I believe it. I just came from the rally."

"They let you out?" Alex asked.

"I had to go to the john," Carl answered.

"Hey, man," Alex said. "You got the wrong place."

Carl grinned. "This is where I went after the john. Anywhere but that rally."

"Join the club," Laurie said.

"Maybe we should give ourselves a name," Alex said. "If they're The Wave, we could be The Ripple."

"What do you think?" Carl asked.

"About calling ourselves The Ripple?" Laurie said.

"No, about The Wave."

"I think it's time we put out that issue of The Grapevine," Laurie said.

"Excuse me for injecting my own not always serious opinion," Alex said, "but I think we ought to put it out fast before the rest of the staff gets carried away by The Mighty Wave."

"Pass the word around to the other staff members," Laurie said. "On Sunday at two o'clock we'll have an emergency meeting at my house. And try to make sure only non-Wave members are there."

That night Laurie stayed alone in her room. All afternoon she'd been too preoccupied with The Wave to allow herself to feel anything about David. Besides, they'd had fights before. But earlier in the week David had made a date to take her out that night, and here it was ten-thirty. It was obvious he wasn't coming, but Laurie couldn't quite believe it. They'd been going together since sophomore year and suddenly something as trivial as The Wave had broken them up — only The Wave wasn't trivial. Not any more.

Several times during the evening Mrs Saunders had come up to her room to ask if she wanted to talk about it, but Laurie said she didn't. Her mother was such a worry-wart, and the problem was that this time there really was something worth worrying about. Laurie had been sitting at her desk trying to write something about The Wave for The Grapevine, but so far the page of paper before her was empty, except for a few water marks where a tear or two had fallen.