Not much to say except thankyou Jesus.Lives for beta reading. Oh and despite some very subtle flirtation in this chapter - there will be no official pairings.
Chapter Nine
Miley assured me that I didn't have to wear a dress to church and that everything was pretty casual at youth group. I wanted to look good, though. I didn't want to break some unknown dress code rules, so I picked my most "Miley" outfit I could out: a pair of faded blue jeans and a white shirt with Hello Kitty screened on it. The clothes are now covering my body, as I stand in front of the mirror. I think I look okay. Gosh, why am I so nervous?
I inhale deeply and then exhale; hoping all my nerves will follow out with my breath. I put on some chap stick, foundation to cover up my latest red monster, and some jasmine perfume. I sit the perfume bottle next to my bottle of O Wow perfume. (That's one secret Miley doesn't have to know about.)
I think I'm complete and ready to go now. I asked my mom if it was okay to go to church with Miley, despite how embarrassed I was. She didn't seem to care about where I was going, though. She was just happy I was talking to my friends again. I'm supposed to be at Miley's house by five and then her dad is going to drive us to the church. It's four-thirty now, so I better head out.
I grab my sweater and slip it over my arms and walk outside. I see Sam lying on her front porch's cement pavement with a book hovering over her face. "Hi, Sam" I wave at her.
She lowers her book and pushes her body up, "Hey, where you going?"
My heart warns me not to answer this question by pounded hard against my chest. "Miley wants me to go to her church tonight." I say. That's not a total lie, is it?
"Oh," Sam beams, "that's good! I think you'll have fun!"
"What's up with everyone thinking church is so fun?" I say under my breath. I try to return the smile, "Well, I better get going! I'll see you tomorrow."
When I arrive at Miley's house, I open the door without even knocking. The sun is setting and the air is getting a chill to it. I smell the beach and I can hear the waves crashing in the distance. I walk inside, leaving the beautiful scenery outside. Inside, Miley is wrestling Jackson for the remote controller and Robbie was walking around looking for something. I assume his keys.
"Hey guys!" I say, announcing my presence
Miley gives up her fight with Jackson and turns her face towards me. "Hey. We're going to leave in a few minutes; Dad lost his keys again..."
"Oh, okay." I say and walk over and sit in between Jackson and Miley.
"Found them!" Robbie shouts in a proud voice, waving the keys in the air.
We all get up off the sofa, including Jackson, and follow Robbie outside to his car. "You're coming too?" I ask Jackson, surprised.
"Eh, I figure, why not. I don't have a date tonight. Besides, I haven't seen the boys from church in awhile."
"Oh." I mumble and get into the car. Again, I sit between Miley and Jackson; this prevents the fights from getting too violent.
I watch the lights and cars pass us by for thirty minutes, until finally, the car pulls into a large parking lot. There are so many cars here, and people of all ages filing out of them and into the big building just ahead. "I thought this was just for young people?" I whisper over to Miley.
"Well, they have a thing for the adults' too." she says and glances over at her father. "But us teenagers, we're separated from the rest."
"By age too!" Jackson interrupts loudly; a smile on his face. "I'll be in a different group from you guys."
It was actually comforting knowing that Jackson wasn't going to be with us through this whole ordeal. Just me, Miley, and a bunch of strangers.
I follow the Stewarts into the foreign building that was filled with singing. I see a pews and a stage, which has two people standing on it. One was a man, about eighteen years old, with an acoustic guitar strapped around him. He has black hair, blue eyes, and dark skin. The other was a girl, and in contrast to the male beside her, she looks like a pale vampire. She's the one singing.
I feel someone bump into me and I turn around to apologize, in case it was my fault. My jaw must be touching the floor. "Ashley?" I gasp.
Miley jabs her elbow into my rib, but I still can't pull my eyes away from this shocking sight. Ashley rolls her eyes at me and brushes past me. I turn over to Miley, "You didn't tell me -"
"She doesn't always come." Miley says indifferently.
Miley and I make our way to where Robbie and Jackson are sitting. The singing stops and an older man walks up onto the stage with a microphone in his hand. He begins greeting everyone and says something about prayer. Everyone stands up and Miley grabs my right hand, and Jackson grabs my left. I look and see people are bowing and closing their eyes, so I do the same. After a few seconds the prayer is over - which I wasn't really listening to - everyone sits down. Miley lets go of my hand, but Jackson still has a firm grip on the other one. I turn around and whisper into his ear, "I think you're supposed to let go now."
He smirks at me and pulls his hand away. Now, that was weird. I place my hand back on my lap where the other one was patiently waiting. A few more things are said and then I hear something about groups, numbers, names, and following a person. I'm so happy I came here with Miley, 'cause I didn't understand a thing a heard.
Miley led me upstairs and I watch Jackson go down a hall in the first floor. We continue going up the steps and then enter the first door on the right. There are already a few people sitting around. Some have Bible's in their hands. Maybe I should have brought a Bible? I think we have one somewhere in my house. Miley didn't have one with her, though.
"Do we need one of those?" I ask looking at the Bible.
"Not really. I usually bring mine, but I forgot." Miley smiles and takes a I seat. I sit next to her.
A few minutes later and two older kids walk in. One of them was the boy on stage with the guitar. "Okay, everyone," he smiles and all faces turn toward him. "How has everyone been?"
I hear a lot of good's and fine's. Then he looks straight at me. "I see we have a new face here." he walks over and I feel my cheeks burn from embarrassment. "What's your name?" he stretches his hand to mine. I take it and shake it. Whose brilliant idea was it to shake hands with strangers as a way to greet people? I roll my eyes and answer his question. "Lilly."
"Well, hello Lilly." He pulls his hand away, "My name is David, and I'm the youth pastor here." He went around introducing everyone to me. There are maybe ten other kids here apart from Miley, myself, and Ashley.
I was afraid he was going to ask me questions or something, but instead he grabbed a bible and started reading from it. It's the same thing I heard on the radio today. I'm sure the Bible has more to offer than that, but maybe this whole Jesus thing is important.
I listen intently as David talks about sin. "When I was your age, I did a lot of bad things." He said, "Drugs, cutting class, drinking, partying. You name it, I did it. When it finally hit me that all those things I was doing wouldn't buy me happiness, and only made things worse, I started looking to God again. I thought it was too late, though. How could God forgive me for all those things I did?"
I thought of Miley and how quickly she forgave me for ignoring her.
"None of us are worthy of God's forgiveness, but he does forgive us. He sent His only Son to die for our sins."
David began explaining what I figure to be the basis of Christian beliefs. He talked about Jesus and what he did other than dying, he talked about God's grace, and about his own life some more. Then he talked about being 'saved'. He said Jesus was waiting for me to open the door to my heart. Even though I don't know Jesus all too well, I want to let him in. I want to be saved, if possible.
David asks us to close our eyes and I think we're going to pray. "Keep your eyes closed, and raise your hand if you want to be saved." he said.
I put my hand in the air; afraid that people might be peeking. A few seconds pass and then David speaks again, "I'd like you to repeat after me, but only if you want to. Dear Heavenly Father," he says and everyone in the room -well at least I think everyone- repeats him. "I acknowledge I'm a sinner and I need you. Lord, I believe Jesus was your Son and that he died for our sins. I accept him into my heart as my savior." Again, everyone repeats David.
After a few more lines the prayer is over and we're told to open our eyes. For a moment I expected to feel someone moving inside my heart, but then I realized how foolish that was. I did feel happy; like I do when I'm shopping or going to the beach. I really hope that this happiness lasts...
David then asks us questions about life, reads more scriptures, we sing a song. I don't sing, of course, since I hate singing and I don't know the lyrics. I clap my hands to the beat though. Then, he asks if anyone has any prayer request. Ashley raises her hand.
"My mom's in the hospital," she says in a small voice. "I...I was..." her voice cracks and tears come flowing out of her eyes. David walks over to her and grabs her hand and beings praying for the well being of Ashley's mother. Everyone joins in, but me. I'm in utter shock. I've never seen Ashley cry. I didn't even know she had a soul or any human emotions.
The prayer is over and Ashley wipes away her tears and lets go of David's hand. And a few minutes later, it's all over and we're being led outside the church. Before I leave, David approaches me, "I know you're pretty new to all this." He says, "If you have any questions, feel free to ask."
I nod and thank him. I have a million questions, but I don't feel like asking right now. Maybe next time, as I think I'll want to come here again.
When we get home, I call my mom and tell I'm going to spend the night at Miley's house. Miley is in the shower right now and I'm sitting of the sofa with Jackson. I hang up the phone.
"You know," he said, "Miley was pretty torn up when you wouldn't speak to her."
I'm confused. Jackson never talks about serious things. "I know. I'm sorry."
"She can be a little out of touch about things. Sometimes, Miley is just so happy it's hard for her to realize that not everyone else is like that."
A wave of understanding crashed down on me, "Like you?"
"Hey, don't get me wrong, I love Miles. But it's very hard living in her shadow. She's so happy and cheerful, though, she hardly ever sees how it affects me."
"I'm sorry..."
"I'm not fishing around for pity, Lilly. I guess what I'm saying is...that if you ever need someone to talk to and Miley has a hard time understanding...Well, I'm here. This world has a dark side that Miley can't see. But I see it." He gave me a crooked smile, "I know you probably won't ever want to talk to me. But if you do -"
"Thanks," I cut him off, "That actually is...nice...of you, Jackson. I really appreciate it." And I do. He'll never know how much I appreciate those words.
