Chapter 21: Church

Mrs. Barret woke up early the next morning. She woke up at 5 o' clock starting to make batch after batch of pancakes, grits, bacon, eggs and everything else. It was trouble trying to keep everything hot till at least 6.

It was Sunday and that meant church for everybody—no matter what. It didn't matter if she was related to them or not. If she knew them, she was gonna make them go. She figured that everybody could use a little church after what happened last night.

She went back to the hospital to drop of suits for Michael, Daren, and Breana so when they were on the way, they could swing and pick them up.

She knew nobody would be expecting to wake up the next morning so she laid out all the clothes for everybody. She called Nicole, Jake, Quinn, Lola, Logan and Dana, and Zoey and Chase late that night to let them know what would be happening. But she knew that when Logan, John, and Chase answered the phone they were still sleeping. That didn't stop her from making sure they got to church.

She went to kids' room.

"Justine, Chris, Junior, wake up?"

Chris just moaned a little bit. Justine just laid there. Mike sat up in the bed and looked at her.

"Grandma, it's 5:15," he said. "Why do we need to wake up so early?"

"Because you're going to church this morning. Wake them up." She walked out the door.

He sighed and laid back on his pillow. That was one thing he hated—church. Well, he didn't really hate it, but he hated waking up early for it.

He got up and went to Justine's bed.

"Justine, Chris, wake up!" he whispered loudly. "We gotta go to church."

Justine got out the bed. He went to Chris and picked him up out the bed.

"Wake up," he shook him.

Mrs. Barret walked out and went downstairs. She picked up the phone and called Dana and Logan.

Dana, Dugan, and Lana were half way done getting ready when Mrs. Barrett had called them. Logan was still asleep.

"Wake up, Logan," Dana yelled at him.

"Are you serious? It's nearly 5:30. I need more sleep."

"Well, you can get it later."

"Where you going anyway?"

"Church."

He mumbled something. "Didn't Michael's mom called telling us about that?"

"Yeah. She called last night. Now get up."

He groaned and got up.

"I can never get any piece around here. I always have to do something."

Little John walked in his parents' room. They were still sleeping.

"Mom, Chase, wake up. We have to go to church. We're gonna be late."

Chase looked at him.

"Where you goin' all dressed up?"

"I just said church."

He walked over the bed and started jumping in it.

"Wake up now! We have to be gone by 6."

Zoey stopped him.

"Ok, we're up," she said. "You don't have to do that anymore."

She got out the bed and went to the bathroom.

Lola and Victoria were on their way to the hospital. Victoria was sleeping in the car. Once they arrived there Lola walked to Michael and Daren's room. Daren was there watching tv in his bed with everything

"Hey, Michael. Hey, Daren."

"Hey, Lola."

She went to Daren and kissed him. He smiled.

"Hey, Lola."

"Wasn't Breana here last night?"

"Yeah," Michael said. "She just left the room for a minute."

Breana came into the room and leaned against the wall.

"Hey, Daren, Lola."

"Tired?" Lola smiled.

"Am I? I didn't fall asleep till 2 o' clock this morning."

"Why you stayed up so late?"

"Michael was talkin' the whole time. I just might go to sleep in church."

"You know my mom'll get mad, right?" Michael said.

"Yeah. Hopefully she or the preacher won't look my way. Otherwise I'm gonna be caught."

"Probably won't," Daren said. "She'll be too caught up."

"Look, you ready 'cause I'm ready to go. The faster we can go, they faster church will be over and I can go back to sleep."

"I'm ready," Daren said.

The doctor knocked on the door and came in.

"Knock, knock," he smiled. "How's my patient doing?"

"Not good at all. Me staying hospitals this long just makes me hate it more and more."

"Well, hang in there. You only have a few more days left."

"What do you mean by a few days?"

"I'd say about three."

He sighed.

"I'll just sleep my day away then."

"I'll come back later," Breana said.

She kissed him and walked out the door.

"Yeah, man," Daren said.

He and Lola walked out the door.

Logan was at the Barret house eating up everything.

"Slow down, Logan," Mrs. Barret smiled. "You have enough time."

"Save some for other people," Dana said.

"Nobody's eating it."

"Dad, you act like you haven't eaten in days," Dugan said.

"Probably 'cause I worked off everything last night," he glared at Dana. She smiled.

"Well, that's the price you pay for betting against me."

There was a knock on the door. Mrs. Barret opened it.

"Hey, Mom," Lance smiled.

"Lance! I can't believe you're here!"

She threw her arms around him and squeezed him tight.

"Of course I was gonna be here. I heard about Michael and Daren. So I had to come and see you the next day. I wanted it to be a surprise."

"Well, you sure did surprise me. Come in, come in."

He walked in and sat on the couch.

"Lance, this is Logan, Dana, Dugan, and Lana. These are Michael's friends."

He smiled. "Nice to meet you. But I know you got some food in here."

"Well go ahead and get you some."

He went into the kitchen. Lola, Breana, Daren and the kids came through the door. Mike and Chris went straight to the kitchen.

"What time is it?" Lana asked.

"It's 6:37," Mrs. Barret said. "We should be getting ready to go."

"Well, come on," Breana said. "Let's get a move on."

"But Mr. Jake, Ms. Nicole, Mr. Chase, Ms. Zoey, and Little John aren't here yet," Dugan said.

"Nope," Justine said looking out the window. "They just pulled up."

"I'll be out in the car," Breana said.

"We have to leave already?" Mike said with food in his mouth. "I'm not done eating."

"Finish it in the car then."

Everybody's going to church. Not much to say here. But I'm sure you do when you review.

Next chapter: Drew is found outside the Barret household and he and Michael have a talk.