Vibes Read Free

when he's mad his face shortens until you have to wonder how his brain isn't getting squished. He's a weird-looking dude, but everyone pretends to revere him, including the parents, because he founded the school. I've even heard people refer to him as a pedagogical genius. I think he's more like one of those traveling professional hypnotists who mesmerizes entire crowds. He talks in a really soothing voice and always holds his hands out in a calming gesture while he smiles his way through a speech about love, common values, and inner peace.
    Slowly Brian walks to the center of the circle and smiles at the floor for a while. We're all supposed to quiet down, but everyone keeps talking. It's easy to take advantage of a nonauthoritarian principal. Soon he begins to laugh as if he's absolutely delighted with the way we are enjoying ourselves, but I sense a twinge of frustration beneath his tight smile. Then he starts waving his hands at the floor and walking in a little circle. He looks so freaky, people stop to watch him. The murmuring peters out and everyone focuses.
    "Good morning," he cries, as if he were the first person to come up with just the right words to describe a perfect day. He holds out one hand to someone in the crowd. "Mallory, come join me."
    A super tall guy wanders over to Brian in the center of the circle. He looks shaky as he scans the crowd. His hair is neon orange, and it's bushy and very long. He has it crammed into a ponytail, but it looks like any second the rubber band will explode and his hair will escape to roam the earth, staging military coups and taking high-profile hostages. He has the absolute worst acne I've ever seen, and the redness of it vibrates against the orange of his hair so that he's almost difficult to look at. He's quite grotesque. But I like his white jeans and his white T-shirt and his white bomber jacket. He's clearly a reject from some other private school. Journeys is the stopping-off spot for a lot of kids on their way to juvenile detention.
    "This is Mallory, everyone, who's come here from the Learning Center. Let's welcome him to our community."
    "Welcome, Mallory," everyone drones.
    Mallory scratches at his neck just where the pimples are the most swollen. Brian stares at him until Mallory clears his throat and mumbles, "Hi." Then he practically runs for the outer rim of the circle.
    Brian smiles kindly at Mallory and then calls to the ceiling in joy: "Does anyone have something special to share?" My ex-friend Hildie Peterson raises her hand, and Brian smiles warmly at her. "Yes, Hildie?"
    "I just wanted to say that I noticed the tree at the edge of the schoolyard is blooming." She twinkles her slanty eyes at Brian, who twinkles right back.
    "Yes! We're so lucky to have an autumn cherry tree on our campus! I think everyone should make it their business during Afternoon Personal Time to go and enjoy those gorgeous blooms! See how they smell, stroke them, lie under the tree and notice how the sun dapples your body with light." He stretches out his arms as if the entire universe is giving him a massage. "Let's all thank Hildie for this wonderful reminder of how beautiful our world is!"
    I'm not kidding. This is Morning Meeting. This is my daily hell.
    "Does anyone else have something to share?" Brian trains his eyes on the crowd. (Well, he trains one eye on us, one at the wall, but I'm pretty sure he's trying to look at us.) Most of us look at the floor, but to my disgust and horror Jacob raises his hand. Brian smiles at Jacob with a mixture of revulsion and pity. "Yes, Jacob?" he coos. "What do you have to share?"
    "I've decided on my individual project for this year." Jacob sprays the poor girl standing next to him, but she's too nice to wipe it off right away. "My individual project is me."
    "Oh?" Brian asks, raising one eyebrow with delight. I guess he isn't delighted enough to raise both eyebrows.
    "Yes!" Jacob says eagerly. His entire skinny body practically vibrates with