When Laurie Saunders got to the publications office the next day, she found a plain white envelope on the floor. Early that morning, or late the afternoon before, someone must have slipped it under the door. Laurie picked it up and closed the door behind her. Inside the envelope was a handwritten story with a note attached. Laurie read the note:
Dear Editors of The Grapevine,
This is a story I have written for The Grapevine. Don't bother looking for my name because you won't find it. I don't want my friends or other kids to know I wrote this.
Scowling, Laurie turned to the story. At the top of the page the anonymous author had written a title:
Welcome to the Wave — or Else
I'm a junior here at Gordon High. Three or four days ago me and my friends heard about this thing called The Wave that all the seniors were getting into. We got interested. You know how juniors always want to be like the seniors.
A bunch of us went to Mr Ross's class to see what it was. Some of my friends liked what we heard, but some of us weren't sure. It looked like a dumb game to me.
When the class was over, we started to leave. But this senior stopped us in the hall. I didn't know him, but he said he was in Mr Ross's class and asked did we want to join The Wave. Two of my friends said yes and two said they didn't know and I said I wasn't interested.
This senior started telling us how great The Wave was. He said that the more kids who joined, the better it would get. He said almost all the seniors at school had joined and most of the juniors too.
Pretty soon my two friends who said first they didn't know changed their minds and said they wanted to join. Then the senior turned to me. "Aren't you going to stick with your friends?" he asked.
I told him they were still my friends even if I didn't join. He kept asking me why I didn't want to join. I just told him I didn't feel like it.
Then he got mad. He said pretty soon people in The Wave wouldn't want to be friends with people who weren't in it. He even said I'd lose all my friends if I didn't join. I think he was trying to scare me.
But it backfired on him. One of my friends said he didn't see why anyone had to join who didn't want to. My other friends agreed and we left.
Today I found out that three of my friends joined after some other seniors talked to them. I saw that senior from Mr Ross's class in the hall and he asked if I had joined yet. I told him I didn't intend to. He said if I didn't join soon it would be too late.
All I want to know is: Too late for what?
Laurie refolded the story and put it back in the envelope. Her thoughts about The Wave were beginning to come into focus.
As Ben left Principal Owens office he saw several students putting up a large Wave banner in the hall. It was the day of the pep rally — the Wave rally, Ross had to remind himself. There were more students in the halls now, and he seemed to be making The Wave salute non-stop. If this kept up for much longer he was going to have one sore arm, he thought.
Further down the hall, Brad and Eric were standing at a table handing out mimeographed pamphlets and shouting, "Strength Through Discipline, Strength Through Community, Strength Through Action."
"Learn all about The Wave," Brad was telling passing students. "Here's a pamphlet."
"And don't forget the Wave rally this afternoon," Eric reminded them. "Work together and achieve your goals."
Ben smiled wearily. The untethered energy of these kids was tiring him out. There were Wave posters all over school now. Every single Wave member seemed to be involved in some activity — recruiting new members, disseminating information, preparing the gym for the rally that afternoon. Ben found it almost overwhelming.
A little further down the hall Ben had a funny sensation and stopped. He felt as if he was being followed. A few feet behind him stood Robert, smiling. Ben smiled back and kept going, but a few seconds later he stopped again. Robert was still behind him.
"Robert, what are you doing?" Mr Ross asked.
"Mr Ross, I'm your bodyguard," Robert announced.
"My what?"
Robert hesitated slightly. "I want to be your bodyguard," he said. "I mean, you're the leader, Mr Ross; I can't let anything happen to you."
"What could happen to me?" Ben asked, startled by the notion.
But Robert seemed to ignore that question. "I know you need a bodyguard," he insisted. "I could do it, Mr Ross. For the first time in my life I feel ... well, nobody makes jokes about me any more. I feel like I'm part of something special."
Ben nodded.
"So can't I do it?" Robert asked. "I know you need a bodyguard. I could do it, Mr Ross."
Ben looked into Robert's face. Where there had once been a withdrawn and unconfident boy, there now stood a serious Wave member, concerned for his leader. But a bodyguard? Ben hesitated a moment. Wasn't that going a little too far? More and more he'd begun to recognize the position of importance his students were unconsciously forcing upon him — the ultimate leader of The Wave. Several times over the last few days he had heard Wave members discussing "orders' he had given: orders to put posters up in the halls, orders to organize The Wave movement in the lower grades, even the order to change the pep rally into a Wave rally.
Except the crazy thing was, he'd never given those orders. Somehow they'd simply evolved in the students' imaginations, and once there, they automatically assumed he'd given them. It was as if The Wave had taken on a life of its own and now he and his students were literally riding it. Ben Ross looked at Robert Billings. Somewhere in his mind he knew that by agreeing to let Robert be his bodyguard, he was also agreeing to become a person who required a bodyguard. But wasn't that what the experiment required as well? "All right, Robert," he said. "You can be my bodyguard."
A wide smile appeared on Robert's face. Ben winked at him and continued down the hall. Perhaps having a bodyguard would be helpful. It was essential to the experiment that he maintain the image of leader of The Wave. Having a bodyguard could only enhance that image.