A/N Thanks so much for the reviews you guys! I am so excited! This chapter was too fun to write. I am already in love with writing this story! Also, I will be lowering the rating to T because most of this story will not be rated M, and I will adjust the rating as needed. Right now, it can just be T! I'll put warnings in any M rated chapters for you guys. I hope you like this chapter!

"For the wages of sin, is death! But the gift of God is eternal life, in Jesus Christ our LORD! Our SAVIOR!"

Kendall let out a bored sigh and raised his eyebrows, glancing at James and Carlos, who sat next to him as his father's booming voice filled the tiny, stuffy church. It sure was boring being the preacher's kid. There was no skipping church. Well, nobody in Small River ever skipped church. They were there every Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday evening and sometimes even Saturday! Not many people in Small River had a life outside the church. But for Kendall to skip church would be like the end of the world. He didn't even want to think about what kind of a punishment he'd receive for playing hooky at church!

Kendall's dad was getting fired up now. His tie was too tight and his black jacket was too hot, causing his face to redden as he shouted out his sermon from his journal.

"…Death is thus called the wages of sin, not because it is an arbitrary, undeserved appointment, but because it is its proper desert. Not a pain will be inflicted on the sinner which he does not deserve! Not a sinner will die who ought not to die. Sinners even in hell will be treated just as they deserve to be treated; and there is not to man a more fearful and terrible consideration than this. No man can conceive a more dreadful doom than for himself to be treated forever just as he deserves to be!"

"AMEN!" Shouted the congregation. Women were fanning themselves and men were already praying, feeling the spirit of the Lord among them.

Kendall felt like it was a load of poppycock. He, James and Carlos were just bored.

Finally, the closing prayer ended and the congregation began to swarm around each other, the women chatting about recipes, the men talking to Pastor Knight, and the children running around pews barefoot and excited to roam free.

"Ugh, I can't wait to get this darned suit off of me!" Carlos said, tugging at his tie.

"Me either! Although I do think it looks quite dashing on me," James said.

"Only you would care how you look in 110 degree weather, Diamond!' Kendall said, rolling his eyes. James chuckled and shrugged.

"Hey, wanna go to the pond before supper?" Carlos asked hopefully. James and Kendall expected this question from Carlos. He always wanted to be at the pond during the summer, and refused to do much else, well that is until his mama would get frustrated from him slacking off on his chores and gave him a whupping.

"Sure, I'll meet ya'll there," Kendall said, wiping some beads of sweat off of his tanned forehead. "Dad's got me fixin' the car today and I can't do anything 'til I get it done, and I need to water my garden. My tomatoes aren't taking well to this heat."

"Oh, well, hopefully you can come splash 'round with us, Kendall!" James said, leaving with Carlos on his tail.

Suddenly, a large, beefy hand clapped Kendall's shoulder, startling him nearly to death. He spun around to see his father staring at him with a big grin, showing off his uneven teeth. Behind his father was a man in a red and white suit and tie and a woman in a long purple dress with a frilled jacket and sunhat. Both were quite small, and had heart shaped smiles and dark brown hair.

"Here he is!" Pastor Knight said, with somewhat false pride. He was really only proud of his son when he was perfect, and to Pastor Knight, he never could be perfect enough, but he still showed his son off to all of the townspeople.

"Kendall, where're your manners, son? These are our newest couple to be part of our church family! Mr. And Mrs. Mitchell!"

"Oh, hi, nice to meet you sir, ma'am," Kendall mumbled, extending his hand to give shakes.

Kendall felt his father's hand tighten around the skin on his neck and his hot breath hit his ear.

"Speak up, boy."

Kendall cleared his throat. "Glad to meet you," he said in a stronger voice.

Pastor Knight gave a nod of his head and released his son.

"This is my boy, Kendall Knight! Isn't he a gem?" Pastor Knight boosted.

"Well he sure is mighty handsome," Mrs. Mitchel cooed. Kendall felt his cheeks heat up hotter than the Oklahoma sun as his father let out a hearty laugh.

"Yep, takin' after his old man! Alright then Kendall, go run and play and I'll see you at home."

"Yes sir," Kendall said, hurrying away from the nice couple and his father. He knew that even though he was given permission to go play, he'd be best off fixing the car and then going off with friends. He knew his father all too well after 17 years. He'd get a whupping for playing before work.

Kendall crossed the lawn to his small, white ranch-style home and changed into a pair of ripped blue jeans and a faded, plain white t-shirt, then greased his hair back and tied his red bandana around his blonde hair, which was nearly brown from all of the grease. He then grabbed his Zenith radio and headed to the garage, where he got his supplies to fix his father's car.

Like whenever Kendall fixed up his father's car, he stood there for a few moments and admired its beauty wistfully. It was a yellow 1960 Ford Mustang and dang it she was a beauty, and Kendall longed to drive it every day. His father always told him that when the time was ready, it would be his, but so far he deemed Kendall too irresponsible to handle the car. Still, Kendall would clean it weekly and always fixed it up whenever it needed it and treated the car like gold. He wanted to drive that car so bad, especially being 17 years old. Kendall proved time and time again to his father that he was capable of driving, but his father always denied him every time he asked and sometimes even became angry.

With a sigh, Kendall turned on his radio. Koko Taylor's 'Wang Dang Doodle" blared through the speakers, putting a smile on Kendall's tired face. A pep was added to his step as he twirled his grease rag in the air and sang along.

"We're gonna romp

And trump till midnight

We're gonna fuss

And fight till daylight

We're gonna get your

Wang dang doodle

All night long!"

Kendall began to wiggle his hips as he sang along, feeling the beat deep inside of him, unaware of anything happening around him.

"Tell cooda-crawling Ray

To tell abyssinia Ned

To tell old pistol Pete

To tell everybody he meets

Tonight we need no rest

We're gonna really

Throw a mess-"

An unfamiliar, yet smooth voice joined Kendall's singing from seemingly out of nowhere, making Kendall jump and cease singing, trying to find who was belting the lyrics.

"We're gonna knock down all the windows

We're gonna kick down

All the doors

We're gonna get your

Wang dang doodle

All night long!"

Kendall stared at the boy who randomly started belting along with the radio, his eyebrows practically reaching his hairline he was so surprised.

The kid burst out laughing, and his laugh was about as sweet as his voice was. Kendall blinked.

"Um, who are you?" The stunned blonde asked. He didn't mean to sound rude, but when some random kid you never seen before starts dancing around your driveway, you tend to be a bit concerned. Also, he was quite embarrassed. He never, ever let anyone hear him sing, even his friends, and this kid he never met heard him belting his soul out and watched him dance!

"I'm Elvis Presley," the boy said, humor and sarcasm dripping from his voice. Realization dawned on Kendall pretty quick. The boy was small, much shorter and skinner than himself, his hair was a dark, chestnut brown, and his lips had that distinctive heart-shaped form to them, just like the couple Kendall had met that morning during church.

"Are you the Mitchell's boy?" Kendall asked.

The mysterious boy shrugged. "Ugh, you caught me! Yup, that's me. Logan Mitchell. And who are you?" He outstretched his hand.

"I'm Kendall Knight, good to meet you," he said, taking Logan's hand in his for a brief shake.

"Geez, you sure are polite, Kendall Knight. And a pretty good dancer, too!"

For the second time that day, Kendall felt his cheeks heating up, giving away his embarrassment. He tried to hide his face by opening up the trunk of the Mustang and looking around at the engine. He wanted to tell the boy, Logan, that his voice was pretty good. Not many people round these parts could sing too well. But Logan sounded like he could be a professional singer! Strangely enough though, Kendall felt shy around this new kid. He figured it was just because new kids weren't easy to come by in Small River.

"Wow! What a car! Is this yours?" Logan gushed. Kendall noticed his voice wasn't as slow as other people's around here. He was missing that southern drawl, but there was still a tiny hint of twang beneath his honey-like voice.

The Mustang bounced, and Kendall ducked from under the hood and poked his head out to see Logan perched on the trunk, running his pale hands along the chrome finish. Kendall wondered for a split second how the boy was so pale for living in the south, but his near-heart attack interrupted that.

"This is not my car, and you should probably get down from there," Kendall said quickly.

Logan chuckled and hopped down, his dark eyes twinkling. "Oh, sorry! I dig cars," he said, running a hand through his greased back hair and admiring the car. "1960 Mustang?"

"Mmhmm, and one day it'll be mine," Kendall said. Logan grinned, his mouth forming a long, lopsided line.

"You sound pretty sure of that!"

Kendall just shrugged. "I guess so. So, you just move here?"

"A few days ago! I moved up the road, on the corner in that dainty old yellow house with that front porch. My mom wanted it." The boy rolled his eyes at his mother's choice in housing.

"Oh, that's a cute house," Kendall commented, not really realizing what he had said. Logan looked at him strangely for a moment, then broke into that lopsided grin again.

"Okay, dude. Anyway, I was just out, tryin' to find what there is to do here."

"Oh, well there's really not much here," Kendall said.

"Yeah? What you do for fun then?" Logan asked, snapping his bubblegum. His fingers were still tracing lines on the Mustang and it was kind of getting on Kendall's nerves, but he kept his mouth shut about it.

"Well, me and my buds spend a lot of time at the pond, which Small River was named after. And there's a really good soda shop up the street and a movie theater a few miles away. And we have our own band, but we aren't too good, considering we can't afford to buy any good instruments." Kendall decided not to tell Logan about his garden to avoid being ridiculed. Logan looked like a very "cool" kid, or what the kids in the city called "tuff." He was wearing acid washed jeans and a black t-shirt with a print of The Beatles on it.

Logan just shook his head. "Sounds like a blast!" Again, he was being sarcastic.

Kendall winced. "We make the best of it. Where you from?"

"I'm from Chicago," Logan said. "Well, I was born in Dallas, but I have lived in Chicago for the past 7 years cuz of my daddy's job."

"Oh! No wonder your voice sounds so different," Kendall said. He groaned inwardly after he said it, though. Sometimes he had to take his father's advice and watch his mouth! He always spoke without thinking.

"Yeah well, so far I kinda like the accents down here," Logan said, not taking offense to Kendall's choice of words.

"So, why didn't I meet you at church this morning, Logan?" Kendall wondered. Logan wrinkled his nose.

"I don't go to church," he said simply.

Kendall's jaw about dropped to the gravel driveway. He never met anybody in his whole life who didn't go to church.

"Really? Your parents don't care?"

Logan shrugged. "I don't care what they think, honestly."

"Wow. My daddy would murder me if I decided not to go to church. You better look out Mitchell, they like to burn non-believers at the stake round these parts."

"Who said I was a non-believer? I just said I don't go to church," Logan said.

"Oh," Kendall said. He really couldn't think of what to respond to that.

"So why would your daddy kill you if you didn't go to church? Isn't that your decision?"

"He's the town preacher," Kendall admitted. Logan's eyes widened with sympathy.

"Oh. That sucks, dude."

"Yeah, and I think he's about to come over soon," Kendall said, eyeing the small church. His father stood on the front stoop, saying goodbye to the last of the congregation. Kendall went to his radio, which was just starting "Painted Black" by The Rolling Stones, and clicked it off. Logan stared at him questioningly.

"My dad doesn't allow me to listen to this stuff, he calls it devil's music," Kendall explained. Logan just laughed with understanding.

"My old man gets like that too."

"Well, you should probably go," Kendall said. He didn't want himself or Logan to get in trouble (Kendall was not allowed friends over on Sunday because he always got too "rowdy"). But he also was feeling a bit awkward around this new kid. Logan was just way too cool for him. "Dad's comin' over here and I'm not supposed to have friends over."

"Oh, okay," Logan said, and he sounded surprisingly disappointed. "Well, maybe you can show me that pond one day?"

"Sure, that'd be great!" Kendall said.

"Cool. I'll see ya around then, Kendall Knight."

"See ya, Logan Mitchell," Kendall said, waving as his new… Friend? Walked off down the street, hands shoved in his pocket and heart-shaped lips whistling "Paint It Black."

A/N So now our little Kendall knows Logan Mitchell. Sounds like trouble ^_^ I hope you liked this chapter! Reviews would make me super happy! Let me know what you think so far!