Full Summary:
A church in another town has gotten everyone in Glenoak all riled up. Nobody understands why one of the greatest soccer players at the school would go to a different church even though she doesn't live in that town. But they're about to find put why. Can Zephora Schultz get the teens to open up about their feelings when they're not at their own church? And how will the church get Glenoak church to loosen up a little and start a teen help center during the week? And will a tragedy force one church to opens its doors to a rival church?
Zephora Schultz:
Hi, my name is Zephora Schultz and I am sixteen years old. I have been going to St. Katherine's Baptist Church since I was in the seventh grade. Formally a gang member of the Fifth Street Vapthos of Dallas, Texas, my parents and I moved up here after I tried to get out and got the shit beat out of me because of it. We moved up here when I was in the sixth grade and I started going to St. Katherine's soon after. I realized how big of a mistake it was even joining the Fifth Street Vapthos, but I could take the tattoo away and I couldn't get rid of it. At school, I kept it hidden under my school sport uniform, seeing as it was up on my shoulder and where nobody could see it. If I wore a tank-top, I covered it with either make-up or a Band-Aid because I didn't want people knowing what I had been.
But after I joined the local youth group at St. Katherine's, I learned that it no longer mattered if I had been in a gang, since half the kids in the group had all been in gangs and gotten out. We were the survivors, the ones that had gotten away from the gang life. And we knew that we were stronger than most of the kids that came through the doors and participated in the youth group. So that is how our band was appointed. It was constructed of members of rival gangs that were no longer in those gangs. We were the best gang band ever, hence our name, The Gang Youth Band. Everybody loved how we transformed from rivals to friends almost over night.
But when my father was transferred to Glenoak because of his job, I was torn from my youth group and the band as well. That didn't stop me from going. At first I would take the bus over with my guitar in hand, but then when I turned sixteen and got my driver's license, my parents bought me a Red and Black Ford Super duty truck with racing stripes on the sides. I not only carried my youth group equipment in the truck, I also carried my soccer gear and church information, handing out the pamphlets to anyone that was interested, including the Glenoak students. Most of them threw them away but occasionally on a Wednesday, we got a few Glenoak students to come to the youth group and have some fun.