Hype

~Chapter 24~

            "So, did you guys hear anything?" Hope had a sneaky look on her face. 

              I stirred my balsamic dressed salad with my fork. "No.  About what?"

           She clapped her hands. "The senior prank.  I heard they're going to do something last period today."

            Senior prank? I'd heard about those before. The seniors a few years ago tried to do something like that. They snuck into Reverend's office, stole his personal Bible, and hid it in one of the girls’ bathrooms.  Let’s just say that it didn't work out too well.  But Newpoint is a whole different place though. You can get away with a lot more.  Like the PDA’s.  At Mercy, guys and girls weren’t allowed to even be near each other, except for at lunch when we were allowed to sit together.  At Newpoint it’s a lover’s free-for-all.  The hand-holding, the intense kissing in the hallway−I wish people knew that nobody wants to see that.  The moral code is…we’ll say, more lenient here.  I was expecting it to be though.    

            I sighed.  “Hope, you can’t go by rumors.  What did you even hear?” 

            She took a bite of her bagel and sneered.  “I only go by rumors that are true.  I saw this one kid putting a whole bunch of silly-string in his locker.  Plus, everyone knows that the senior prank is always supposed to happen on the Monday after prom.” 

            I finished chewing the last bit of lettuce in my salad.  “It could just be for a club party or something.  You never know.” 

            Mai looked up from her novel.  “The prank wasn’t even that good last year,” 

            Hope turned to me.  “It was so stupid.  A bunch of seniors put their phones in their lockers and made all their alarms go off at the same time.” 

           I brushed it off.  How immature and childish.  It’s like pulling pranks on April Fools’ Day.  We’re all eighteen.  This is just ridiculous.  I tried to go about the rest of my day without thinking about it.  However, there was still that tad bit of worry in the back of my mind.  Hope said that she saw people with silly-string.  What were they going to do?  Run through the halls and spray that on everyone?  I was just afraid that I was going to be a victim.  I can’t even imagine how upset Mom would be if I walked to the car covered in silly-string.  That would not be pretty−I can tell you that. 

           I figured that the library would be a safe spot.  I was planning on going there for my prep anyway.  I did what I normally do: walk in, find a table, spread my books and papers everywhere, and do my work.  We were having a test in history on Wednesday, so I was working on making a study-guide.  And so, that’s what I did.  I was just sitting at my table, doing my work, minding my own business, when suddenly, I hear this loud whisper. 

           “Freya,” 

            I looked up to see an unexpected visitor: Hope.  What is she doing here?  I know that she has a class this period.  She sat down.  It seemed to me like she was pretty anxious. 

            “Hope, what are you doing here?  Don’t you have a class right now?” 

            She giggled, and winked at me.  “I told my teacher that I had a music lesson−for orchestra−so I couldn’t be in class,” 

            Way to be a liar, Hope. “What did you lie for?” 

            She motioned to the window.  “I wanted a better view.” 

            I turned to see out the window.  Something suspicious was certainly going on.  There was a group of about ten people outside, a few of which were setting up speakers in the grass.  What in the world?  I was trying to figure out what they were doing, until I realized where they were moving into formation: right in front of the windows to the teachers’ lounge.    

           I glanced around our table, looking to see if anyone else in the library noticed what was going on.  Everyone seemed to be paying attention to their own work.  I kept on waiting for someone to say something−just to even notice that something was going on outside.  The seconds passed, and nobody said a word. 

           “Hope, should we do something?” 

            She shook her head.  “Just stay here. Don’t draw any attention to it.” 

            That’s when it happened.  An explosion of noise filled the library.  There was the blasting of hip-hop music from outside, quite similar to what I heard on Saturday.  Everyone rushed to the open window−including Hope.  I ran over too, I hate to admit.  I wanted to get in on the action, even though I was completely against it.  When I got there, even though I was behind everyone, I had my height advantage of being able to see over the whole crowd.  Outside, it was a group of mostly guys all trying to dance together, doing a routine that looked like it was semi-choreographed. 

           Everyone was cheering.  But then, I saw a whole bunch of other people, all of which looked to be seniors, run out from inside, and joining them.  It was quite a sight to see.  More and more people ran over and joined in.  The group of “dancers” had nearly doubled in size.  Out of nowhere, Hope decided that she wanted to join.  You won’t believe this−she jumped out of the window in the library (good thing it was on the first floor) runs over, and she starts dancing.  I was even debating myself if I should run out−but you know, I don’t want to risk getting in trouble. 

           They did about five songs, and the group had grown to about fifty people.  I couldn’t see the specific people, but I saw arms shooting silly string up into the air, causing it to rain down on the mass of crazy seniors.  When the music was finished, the entire group just kept on shouting “SENIORS!”  Then they cheered and whatnot.  I didn’t see Hope leave the crowd, but I ran into her on my way out.  She was on the sidewalk, going back into the school through the front entrance.  She came running over to me.

            “Frey, did you see that?  Best senior prank ever!” 

            I laughed and pulled a wad of orange silly string out of her hair.  “Let’s just pray that you don’t get in trouble,” 

            She sighed.  “Probably not.  They really can’t punish like, fifty people.  There’s no way,” 

            I smiled.  I had just witnessed a massive dance party during my prep period.  As much as I was missing Mercy, that’s something I wouldn’t have gotten to see.  Probably, for the first time, I was actually glad to be at Newpoint.  I can’t believe that I was considering home-school over something like this.