My Stupid Girl (24 page)

I was surprised how comfortable I felt
sitting in this large room with all these people I didn’t know, waiting to hear
a lecture on something I didn’t care about in the least. 

“Hey girl. Hey David!” A voice rang strong
and clear from behind us. We both turned around and, like I expected, saw
Jennika ready to scoot herself into our row to sit next to us. What I didn’t
expect was to see Johnny’s uncomfortable face right behind her. 

“Hi,” Lucy said happily to her best friend,
moving over so she and Johnny could sit next to us. I poked my head behind the
girls’ backs and caught Johnny’s eyes. I raised my eyebrows at him and he
rolled his eyes back at me. He knew, I didn’t even have to say anything, all of
the ways they had been making fun of me for the last few months were about to
come back to him tenfold. 

I was really glad he was here though. Now I
wasn’t the only love-struck idiot sitting in the middle of church because of
some girl. I looked over at him again; he was saying something in a low voice
to Jennika. How had I not seen this coming? I knew that Johnny thought Jennika
was beautiful, but I had been under the impression it was more like a common
sense observation. They were an odd-looking couple, but look at Lucy and me. We
were about as opposite as a couple could be. Still, their appearance took some
attention off of me, at least. I knew Johnny could feel each look and see all
the questioning glances that people were throwing their way. Johnny was cooler
than I was, though, so he could shrug it off. Apart from his eye-lined eyes, he
didn’t look much different from everyone else here.

A tall slender man with dark brown hair and
a full goatee walked up on the stage and invited everyone to stand up with
him. 

“Good morning; welcome to Valley
Christian.” He spoke in a cheerful voice. “This is the day the Lord has made!”
Everyone clapped and a few shouted, “Amen!” 

I looked around, amused. It wasn’t bad,
don’t get me wrong, but I had to try not to laugh. Everyone was really gung-ho
straight out of the gate.

I looked over and saw Johnny staring down
at the ground with his shoulders shaking so I knew he was having the same
problem with hiding his amusement. Goatee guy read a few scriptures, said a
quick “opening” prayer and then the band walked up. Shock washed through me
when I saw Rachel go up to the microphone, an acoustic guitar in her hand. Lucy
shuffled uncomfortably so I put my arm around her, pulling her close to my
side. I was trying to imagine me in her situation, I didn’t even want her
hugging other guys and here she was, having to stare at the girl I kissed behind
her back. I kissed the top of Lucy’s head and I felt her body get softer. 

Rachel had a sweet voice that rang with
deep vocals as music began to fill the entire room. It was hard not to look at
Rachel. She was the main focus in the middle of a big stage; all lights were on
her. She wore a red dress that went down to the middle of her calves. The thick
strap covered her left shoulder, leaving the other one completely bare. 

I felt like I was standing up forever. I
didn’t sing along with any of the songs. Even though the words were on the big
projector, I didn’t feel like I should be singing just because everyone else
was. If I was going to sing these words, I wanted them to mean something.
Rachel had a beautiful voice but her skills on the guitar were limited. I was
assuming she was a beginner because all the songs she played along to she
played with basic chords, even when the other band members were going wild with
fancy strumming. It sounded pretty, though. But I would never say so, if I were
asked. Finally, we got to sit down and Goatee-man went up to the stage again. 

Apparently, that was the cue for everyone
to sit down.

“That’s Pastor Bray,” Lucy said in my ear.
I nodded, she put her warm hands in mine and I nestled in, getting comfortable
in my chair next to her. 

“Before we start this morning we have a
short play to enjoy, courtesy of our arts department.” As he said this I
imagined some kind of crucifix scene from the bible to scare the “hell out of
us.” I chucked at my own joke, but when Lucy looked over at me questioningly I
straightened up and kept looking forward like I didn’t notice she was eyeing
me. 

The lights went completely out. One
spotlight in the middle of the stage came on, slowly getting brighter and
brighter, shining on a man who was dressed in gangster clothing and kneeling in
front of another man. The man who was standing wore a white suit. He was tall,
and looked down on the man kneeling. 

Out of nowhere this deep booming came from
the surround system and an amazing beat started playing. Two more spotlights
illuminated two different people, one on the right side who was dressed in red
and another on the left who was dressed in black. Once the lights were at their
brightest, the kneeling man started to rap. By the time I got over my shock at
rapping in church, he was halfway through his story.

He rapped about how he had woken up that
morning, kissed his mother good-bye and told his younger brother he would be
back. He was on his way to his gang to tell them that he wanted out. They told
him he couldn’t leave, that he would have to fight. He refused and, when he was
walking away, they shot him in the back. Now he was kneeling before God. 

When that story was done the man in the
black came over with an angry glower and started a different rap. This rap was
filled with all of the things that the man had done in his life, he accused him
of murdering, selling drugs, stealing and using women. I was amazed at how
easily the words flew out of his mouth; he was really good. The words went
together and they were powerful. 

The guy in black (the devil?) was telling
“God” all of the things the man kneeling had done in this life and saying that
he belonged in hell. When the guy in black was done the guy in red rapped about
how the kneeler had repented and accepted Jesus as his savior so he deserved to
be in Heaven. The guy in red was, by far, the best rapper. At the end, of
course, the guy got to go to Heaven.

It was a good play, I particularly enjoyed
the music. At one point, I’d looked over at Johnny but he was sucked in,
nodding his head to the beat. When it ended, the room erupted in deafening
applause. The four of them got together in the front of the stage and waved to
all of us, and hugged each other, their faces instantly turning into the faces
of young, happy guys. I looked over at Lucy, who was clapping happily along
with everyone else.

“That was cool; I didn’t know Christians
were allowed to rap!” I wasn’t really trying to be funny, but she laughed.

“Oh, what do you think, we sit around
softly humming old hymns?”

“Yes, actually.” The rap had been a nice
change from my expectations. Being pleasantly surprised was becoming the norm,
lately.   

Pastor Bray came back on stage with his
bible in his hand and walked over to the pulpit. Everyone got quiet and he
started talking.

I ignored him, letting my mind slip back to
the play I had just seen. I don’t know what all the regular church people got
out of it, but I’d appreciated it because it was like something got explained
to me that I’d never really understood before. It kind of clarified why someone
as cool as Lucy would buy in to all this. All the raps had suggested that the
whole religion thing wasn’t necessarily about being perfect, or having a
perfect life and living like Mother Teresa, but about recognizing when you
screwed up, and about trying to do right. I liked it way better than the “look
good for God” version of religion.

Honestly, the combo of rapping, which had
been totally unexpected, and a new take on church stuff, which was also kind of
random, I was suddenly feeling much less defensive about the whole “God
thing.” 

Before I knew it, we were all being asked
to stand up again and everyone was clapping for the pastor. I clapped along
politely, hoping I didn’t get a quiz on what he had said because I had no clue.
When church was over we all headed out the big doors in the back to our cars.

Johnny caught up with me and murmured an
apology in my ear. 

“Dude, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” 

“Tell me what exactly?” I smirked at him.
“Are you two dating?” 

“No. I mean, not yet, officially, we
haven’t talked about it, but I really like her.” He stumbled over his words,
sounding ashamed but not looking it.

“It’s cool, man. She is amazing.” His
shoulders instantly relaxed and he looked less guilty as I spoke.

“You’re going to pay, of course,” I
cautioned him, “for not telling me. But it’s cool that you’re together.” He
laughed, not even caring about the world of suffering he was sure to get when
Isaiah found out about all this.

“I’m taking her to the prom.” His voice was
almost joyous.

“Yeah, I heard last night when Lucy was
talking me into taking her.” I was amused but I was trying very hard to sound
cross. 

“So you’re going! I’m assuming you gave in
cuz’ you’re a wimp like that.”

“Oh, now it’s official, two can play at
that game. What color is your dress, pretty boy?” I said, loving this banter.
Us two little punks, with our happy girlfriends, trying to tease each other but
entirely too happy to even care what the other said. 

After a long lunch with Johnny and Jennika,
I looked at Lucy and told her that I really should be getting home to do the
school-work I had been avoiding all weekend.

“Yeah, me too.” She looked at her watch and
frowned; she always did that when our weekends were up. “Let me go home and
change, then I’ll take you home.” Lucy had spent the night on my couch again
the night before so we could go to church together. I was always amazed that
her parents didn’t care, especially with a boy like me. I guess saving her from
the frozen lake helped, but I was still a teenage boy.

In their defense, Lucy was frozen-lipped
and rigid whenever I got too close. I guess they had good reason to trust the
girl. 

It was weird for me, this whole
“officially” dating Lucy thing. Before it was known, she was coming to my house
and practically all over me. I mean, the girl climbed into my hospital bed the
first night I had met her, now she was like a brick wall. She was constantly
freaking out about how far we went with hand-holding or whatever, never mind
anything serious. We weren’t “going” anywhere, believe me. 

When she made me uncomfortable with her
closeness she was non-stop, in my face. Now that I wanted her to be closer she
was carefully placing her steps and mentally playing each move before she made
them. I had noticed, too, that she had lost some weight, which was pretty sad,
actually. I’d really liked her curves and filled-out body. She was still
gorgeous, obviously, but I had a guilty feeling about the increasing
weight-loss. I think she felt like I thought Rachel was prettier because she
was extremely skinny. 

The problem was that I didn’t know much
about girls. Skinny seemed like a silly girl thing, but I was hesitant to bring
it up for risk of offending Lucy. Maybe she was just stressed out. Me
commenting (negatively) on her changed appearance wouldn’t help. I dunno. Like
many things with Lucy, I was kind of flying by the seat of my pants.

The church was close to her house. She
drove slowly. She always drove slow as our weekends came to a close; she said
that she wanted to hang out with me longer. 

“So, what did you think of church?” She
looked over at me with big, hopeful eyes.

“It was cool. I liked that play.” Please
don’t ask me about the sermon, please don’t ask me about the sermon.

“Yeah, they are amazing. They do something
once a month, and they keep getting better and better.”

“That’s cool.” I smiled at her. I know she
wanted to hear that I was converted and my life was now instantly changed, but
I couldn’t lie. I just stayed quiet, smiling. Thankfully, her house was right
up the road. She moved like she was going to talk as we pulled into the
driveway, but thought better of it.     

“Wait here.” She spoke in a dejected voice
as she climbed out of the car and headed for her house. “I’ll be a few
seconds.”

“My bladder is going to burst, Luce. I’m
going to run into the bathroom.” I got out of the car and walked to the front
door with her. 

“Oh, ok.” She almost sounded apprehensive.

“I’m not going to follow you into your
room!” I poked her in the ribs.

“I know that.” She laughed and slapped at
my finger, opening the front door to the big cozy house I had become so used
to. I jetted to the bathroom next to the kitchen and she headed up to her
room. 

The Petersons’ downstairs guest bathroom
was the size of a bedroom, a bedroom in anyone else’s normal-sized house, at
least. I could only imagine what the bathrooms looked like in the other rooms
if the all-purpose kitchen one was this size. It had a big Jacuzzi tub, a huge
shower with two showerheads and a built-in bench, and a walk-in linen closet.
The walls were a deep red with turquoise accents. 

I loved the way Lucy’s mom decorated; every
room in the house was so bright and unusual. Mrs. Peterson managed to take
colors that I would never consider putting together and made them look amazing.
As I contemplated the complex color palettes, I washed my hands and headed for
the front door, to wait in the car for Lucy. But I heard her rustling around in
the kitchen. She wouldn’t allow me upstairs, but I knew I could go into the
kitchen, so I spun around to go see what she was doing. I walked into the giant
kitchen and saw Lucy’s head go back in a jerk as she took a long drink of
water. She opened a cabinet next to her head and put a little brown bottle of
medicine away. Her back was to me, so I was able to observe all this without
notice.