For the last three years during the football season, sitting with Amy at Saturday afternoon games had become a habit for Laurie. David, of course, was in the team, and while Amy didn't have a steady boyfriend, the guys she dated were almost always football players. By Saturday afternoon, Laurie couldn't wait to see Amy; she had to tell her what she'd learned. It had surprised Laurie that Amy had gone along with The Wave so far, but now Laurie was certain that as soon as Amy learned about the boy who was beaten up, she would quickly come to her senses. Besides, Laurie sorely needed to talk to her about David. She still couldn't understand how something as dumb as The Wave could have made David break up with her. Maybe Amy knew something she didn't know. Perhaps she could even talk to David for her.
Laurie got to the game just as it was starting. It was by far the best turnout of the year, and it took Laurie a moment to spot Amy's head of curly blonde hair in the crowded bleachers. She was way up, almost at the top row. Laurie hurried to an aisle and was about to start up when someone yelled, "Stop!"
Laurie stopped and saw Brad coming towards her. "Oh, hi, Laurie, I didn't recognize you from behind," he said. Then he did The Wave salute.
Laurie just stood there without moving.
Brad frowned. "Come on, Laurie, just give me the salute and you can go up."
"What are you talking about, Brad?"
"You know, The Wave salute."
"You mean I can't go up into the stands unless I give The Wave salute?" Laurie asked.
Brad looked around sheepishly. "Well, that's what they decided, Laurie."
"Who are they?" Laurie asked.
"The Wave, Laurie, you know."
"Brad, I thought you were The Wave. You're in Mr Ross's class," Laurie said.
Brad shrugged. "I know. Look, what's the big deal? Just give me the salute and you can go up."
Laurie looked up at the crowded stands. "You mean everyone in the stands gave you the salute?"
"Well, yeah. In this part of the stands."
"Well, I want to go up and I don't want to give The Wave salute," Laurie said angrily.
"But you can't," Brad replied.
"Who says I can't?" Laurie asked loudly. Several students near them looked in their direction.
Brad blushed. "Look, Laurie," he said in a low voice. "Just do the stupid salute now."
But Laurie was adamant. "No, this is ridiculous. Even you know it's ridiculous."
Brad squirmed slightly. Then he looked around again and said, "Okay, don't salute, just go ahead. I don't think anyone's looking."
But all at once Laurie didn't want to join the people in the stands. She had no intention of sneaking anywhere to join The Wave. This whole thing had just gone insane. Even some of The Wave members like Brad knew it was insane. "Brad," she said. "Why are you doing this if you know it's stupid? Why are you a part of it?"
"Look, Laurie, I can't talk about it now," Brad said. "The game's starting, I'm supposed to let people into the stands. I got too much to do."
"Are you afraid?" Laurie asked. "Are you afraid of what the other Wave members will do if you don't go along with them?"
Brad's mouth opened, but for a few seconds no sounds came out. "I'm not afraid of anyone, Laurie," he said finally. "And you'd better shut your mouth. You know, a lot of people noticed you weren't at The Wave rally yesterday."
"So? So what?" Laurie demanded.
"I'm not saying anything, I'm just telling you," Brad said.
Laurie was aghast. She wanted to know what he was trying to say, but there was a big play on the field. Brad turned away, and her words were lost in the roar of the crowd.
Sunday afternoon Laurie and some of the staff of The Grapevine turned the Saunders' living room into a newsroom as they put together a special edition of the paper devoted almost entirely to The Wave. Several members of the newspaper were not there, and when Laurie asked those present why, they seemed reluctant to answer at first.Then Carl said, "I have a feeling a few of our comrades would prefer not to incur the wrath of The Wave."
Laurie looked around the room at the other staffers, who were nodding in agreement with Carl's assessment.
"Snivelling, spineless amoebas," Alex shouted, jumping to his feet and raising his fist above his head. "I pledge to fight The Wave until the end. Give me liberty, or give me acne!"
He looked around at the puzzled faces. "Well," he explained, "I figured acne was worse than death."
"Sit down, Alex," someone said.
Alex sat and the group returned to the job of putting together the newspaper. But Laurie could sense that they were all acutely aware of the absent members.
The special edition on The Wave would include the story by the anonymous junior, and a report Carl had done on the sophomore who'd been beaten up.
It turned out that the boy had not been hurt badly, only roughed up by a couple of hoods. There was even some uncertainty over whether it was over The Wave, or whether The Wave was just an excuse the hoods had used to start a fight. However, one of the hoods had called the boy a dirty Jew. The boy's parents told Carl they were keeping him out of school and planned to visit Principal Owens personally Monday morning.
There were other interviews with worried parents and concerned teachers. But the most critical article was an editorial Laurie had spent most of Saturday writing. It condemned The Wave as a dangerous and mindless movement that suppressed freedom of speech and thought and ran against everything the country was founded on. She pointed out that The Wave had already begun to do more harm than good (even with The Wave, the Gordon High Gladiators had lost to Clarkstown 42 to 6) and warned that unless it was stopped it would do much worse.
Carl and Alex said they'd take the paper to the printer first thing the next morning. The paper would be out by lunchtime.