At Warwick’s Pilgrim High School yesterday, the mood fell as the news spread.

Former student Anthony Gemma, 17, was killed in a car wreck Friday night in Johnston as he made his way home.

He’d just started working as a cashier at Brigido’s Fresh Market in North Scituate and was returning to his mother’s house on Welfare Avenue in Warwick when a sport-utility vehicle driven by Dawn Simas, 29, of 60 Read Ave., Coventry, crossed the center line and collided with Gemma’s car

The teenager was pronounced dead less than 30 minutes later at Rhode Island Hospital.

Dennis Mullen, principal of Pilgrim, yesterday described Gemma as a “forthright person” who was “very open about his feelings.”

Gemma, he said, had some difficulties in school that led him to drop out last year.

“But he was a good kid who decided to move on with his life,” Mullen said. “I talked to Anthony quite a bit when he was here. I think we had a good rapport. He was very open about his feelings and forthright about what he wanted. He was adamant about getting his GED.”

Pilgrim’s school psychologist was on hand yesterday to help students and teachers cope with the loss of the teenager who had been their classmate and friend.

Mitchell Martin, manager of Brigido’s, said Gemma had started the company’s training program several days before Friday’s accident, preparing to be a part-time cashier. He hadn’t even gotten out on the floor of the store yet.

At Gemma’s grandparents’ house, where Gemma’s mother was staying yesterday, Christmas decorations covered the front lawn and a delivery truck arrived with flowers.

A man who identified himself as the boy’s grandfather said the family did not wish to talk.

According to the police, Gemma was traveling east on Hartford Avenue near Reservoir Avenue and Simas was headed west when her vehicle crossed into the eastbound lanes and struck Gemma’s car, the police say.

Officers found the end of a marijuana cigarette in Simas’ car and several others in her possession, according to Deputy Police Chief Gary W. Maddocks Jr.

Simas was treated at Rhode Island Hospital and released into police custody Friday night. She has been charged with possession of a controlled substance, operating a motor vehicle in possession of a controlled substance and refusing to submit to a chemical blood test, Maddocks said. She is free on $5,000 bail. She is scheduled to appear in Kent County District Court tomorrow.