The Wave Read Free Page B

burger, he finished off her fries, salad, and ice cream as well. Laurie looked in his direction, but her eyes were distant.
    “Hmm.” David wiped his lips with a napkin.
    “Would you like anything more?” Laurie asked.
    “Well, to tell you the truth …”
    “Hey, is this seat taken?” someone behind them said.
    “I was here first!” said another voice.
    David and Laurie looked up to find Amy Smith and Brian Ammon, the quarterback, both heading for their table from opposite directions.
    “What do you mean you were here first?” Brian asked.
    “Well, I meant I wanted to be here first,” Amy replied.
    “Meaning to be first doesn’t count,” Brian said. “Besides, I have to talk to Dave about football.”
    “And I have to talk to Laurie,” Amy said.
    “What about?” Brian asked.
    “Well, about keeping her company while you talk about boring football.”
    “Stop it,” Laurie said. “There’s room for two.”
    “But with them you need room for three,” Amy said, nodding at Brian and David.
    “Hardy har har,” Brian grunted.
    David and Laurie slid over, and Amy and Brian squeezed in next to them at the table. Amy was right about room for three—Brian was carrying two full lunch trays.
    “Hey, what are you doing with all this food?” David asked, patting Brian on the back. Althoughhe was the team’s quarterback, Brian was not very big. David stood a full head taller than him.
    “I gotta gain some weight,” Brian said as he started to wolf down his lunch. “I’m gonna need every pound I’ve got against those guys from Clarkstown on Saturday. They are big. I mean, huge. I hear they got a linebacker who stands six three and weighs two-twenty.”
    “I don’t see what you’re worried about,” Amy said. “No one that heavy can run very fast.”
    Brian rolled his eyes. “He doesn’t have to run, Amy. All he has to do is squash quarterbacks.”
    “Will you have a chance on Saturday?” Laurie asked. She was thinking about the story they would need for The Grapevine .
    David shrugged. “I don’t know. The team’s pretty disorganized. We’re way behind on learning our plays and stuff. Half the guys don’t even show up for practice.”
    “Yeah,” Brian agreed. “Coach Schiller said he was gonna throw anyone who didn’t show up for practice off the team. But if he did that we wouldn’t even have enough guys to play.”
    No one seemed to have anything more to say about football, so Brian bit into his second hamburger.
    David’s thoughts drifted to other pressing matters. “Hey, is anyone here good at calculus?”
    “Why are you taking calculus?” Amy asked.
    “You need it for engineering,” David said.
    “So why not wait till college?” Brian asked.
    “I heard it was so hard you have to take it twiceto understand it,” David explained. “So I figured I’d take it once now and once later.”
    Amy nudged Laurie. “I think your boyfriend is strange,” she said.
    “Talk about strange,” Brian whispered, nodding toward Robert Billings.
    They all looked. Robert was sitting alone at his table, engrossed in a Spider-Man comic book. His lips moved as he read and there was a red streak of catsup on his chin.
    “You see him sleep through the whole movie?” Brian asked.
    “Don’t remind Laurie,” David told him. “She’s upset.”
    “What, about that movie?” Brian asked.
    Laurie gave David a dirty look. “Do you have to tell everybody?”
    “Well, it’s true, isn’t it?” David asked.
    “Oh, just leave me alone,” Laurie answered.
    “I can understand how you feel,” Amy told her. “I thought it was just awful.”
    Laurie turned to David. “There, you see? I’m not the only one that it bothered.”
    “Hey,” David said defensively. “I didn’t say I wasn’t bothered by it. I just said it’s over now. Forget about it. It happened once and the world learned its lesson. It’ll never happen again.”
    “I hope not,” Laurie said, picking up her