Project Smile

Fourteen

I open my eyes to the sound of my phone, Pete's ringtone blaring into my ear. Groggily, I blink and pick up the phone while looking at the clock. It's seven fifteen, and I've overslept. Usually, I'd kill him for waking me up, but I'll save that for later. He actually saved my butt today. "Hello?" I ask, and I can hear the exhaustion in my own voice.

"Cassidy, you need to get over here right now." The seriousness in Pete's voice immediately sets me on edge. What's going on? Where is he?

"Why? Where are you, Pete?" I swing my legs over the bed, fully alert now. Heading over to my closet, I quickly pick out a random t-shirt and jeans, putting Pete on speaker while I change. "What's going on over there?"

"I'm at the school. Cass, this is bad. It makes me sick just looking at it. You need to get here right now, before everyone else does. No one...no one else needs to see this." At these words, my heart begins to race. What's happened?

I dash down the hallway, phone still in hand, and head to the bathroom. Quickly, I brush my teeth and my hair, hoping that I won't be too late. Pete continues talking, and his voice is shaking. He's terrified, though I don't know what he's scared of. "I got here today and it was just everywhere, Cass. I'm working on getting some of it down, but there's no way I can do it by myself. Dang it, I probably should've started in the main hall before I begin working on the Circle."

"Pete, you're not helping," I say. "You're scaring me now."

"You have Gabriel's number, right?" he asks, ignoring my statement. I hear the faint sound of tearing in the background.

"Yeah. Do you want me to call him?"

"Please. Just call him and tell him to stay away from school today. Maybe even the rest of the week if he needs to." My heart drops down to my stomach. Whatever is happening, it must involve him. And from the urgency in Pete's voice, it's gotta be bad. My hands shake as I grab my backpack and run outside, hopping inside of my car and starting it.

"Okay. I'm heading that way and calling him right now." I hang up before Pete can answer and type in Gabriel's number. There is no dial tone. It immediately goes to the automated voicemail. Throwing my phone down in the passenger seat, I run my hands through my hair, the worry spreading throughout my chest. His phone is either off or dead, and I don't know of a way to contact him through a home phone number. Backing out of the driveway and speeding down the street, I fight down the urge to scream.

It usually takes me about ten minutes to get to school, but today, it takes less than five. There's no traffic, and I'm speeding like a madwoman. I'm just lucky that there are no cops out today. When I pull into the school's parking lot, I jump out of the car and begin running towards the entrance. There are already about ten cars here. I just hope that I'm not too late. Whatever it is, I hope they haven't seen it yet.

I open the main entrance door right as I see Pete running towards me, out of breath. Torn sheets of paper are in his hands, dangling limply. "Cass, I'm so sorry. I've been trying everything to get them all down. I never realized how large this school actually was." He keeps rambling as we walk through the main entrance to the hallway. When I look up, I see exactly what he's talking about. My jaw drops in horror.

Photocopied sheets of Gabriel's notebook are plastered all over the hallway for everyone to see. They're all there, not including my notes, meaning that they were printed before last night. They hang all over the hallway, at least one taped on every locker. Some of them sport spray paint or colored pencil, the words FREAK and LOSER scratched crudely across them. There are even copies dangling from strings on the ceiling, and the entire thing looks like some sort of sick party. More and more people begin filing in with mixed reactions. Some of them ignore the messages, others stop to read them and laugh. But no one makes a move to pull them down.