Carlson Melody - Stealing Bradford

Taylor tossed DJ a look of accusation. “Yeah, I’m aware.”

“Then I suggest you heed them, Taylor. Unless you’d like your scooter impounded.”

The second day of school passed much more uneventfully than the first. This was a relief to DJ, and she suspected that Casey was breathing a little easier too. After volleyball practice, Conner gave her a ride home. When he pulled up in front of Carter House, she turned to him. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

He looked slightly off guard but just nodded. “Go for it.”

“Are you a Christian?”

He considered this. “Yeah, I guess.”

“You guess? Meaning you don’t know for sure?”

“Well, I believe in God, and I go to church with my parents sometimes. Not regularly, although we used to go more when we were kids, but the church my parents went to kind of dissolved. Since then, it’s been pretty random.”

“How does a church dissolve?”

“The pastor sort of had a problem…”

“What kind of problem?”

“Well, I was kind of young at the time so I didn’t really get it. But, a couple years ago, I overhead my parents talking about it. It seems the pastor had an affair with one of the women in the church.”

“Oh.” DJ frowned. “I didn’t think Christians were supposed to do things like that. Particularly pastors.”

“Apparently, they’re not.” He grinned. “That’s why he got kicked out, and then the church sort of fell apart.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Yeah…it was. So, why are you asking?”

Then DJ told him about how she had become a Christian. “It’s still all pretty new to me. But tonight I’m going to youth group with Rhiannon.”

“At Crescent Cove Community?” he asked.

DJ blinked. “I actually have no idea.”

“Well, that’s where Rhiannon goes,” he said.

“How do you know?”

“Because Bradford goes there too. He’s invited me before.”

“Have you ever gone?”

Conner shook his head. “I thought about it, but I never did.”

“Want to go tonight?”

“Sure,” he said without even pausing to think about it.

“Cool.”

“How are you guys getting there?”

“I don’t know for sure…probably Bradford.”

“So, should I meet you there?” He frowned.

She considered this. “Why don’t you swing by here a little before seven? Maybe I can ride with you, and we can just follow them there.”

“It’s a date.”

“A date?”

“You know. It’s a deal. I’ll be here.”

“Cool.”

Then DJ went inside and looked for Rhiannon. She found her in the library doing homework. When she explained the plan about Conner picking her up, Rhiannon just nodded. “Okay.”

“Is something wrong?”

“No…”

“What?” asked DJ. She could tell that Rhiannon was troubled about something.

“Nothing, really.”

“Come on,” urged DJ.

Rhiannon pushed her notebook aside. “Actually, it’s probably something good.”

“What?”

“Taylor is coming with us tonight.”

DJ blinked. “Taylor?

“Yes.”

“As in Taylor Mitchell, spawn of the devil Taylor?” Even as she said this, DJ felt guilty.

“DJ,” said Rhiannon in a scolding tone. “That’s not very loving.”

“Sorry. But it’s kind of shocking.”

“Yeah. Bradford invited her after school today, and she said she’d love to come.”

“No way.”

Rhiannon nodded. “Way.”

“That is so weird.”

Rhiannon smiled now. “Maybe not, DJ. Maybe God is working on her. I know that I’ve been praying for her—and you should too. Really, we should be happy she wants to come.”

“But what if she’s up to something?”

“Oh, you shouldn’t be so suspicious. Really, we should be thanking God. And remember what she said last night about how her friend died at boot camp?”

“Yeah, Casey actually looked it up and it was true.”

“Well, maybe that was Taylor’s way of getting real with us. Maybe she really wants to change.”

“I guess that’s possible…”

“With God, all things are possible.”

DJ considered this. “Really?”

“Yeah, it’s in the Bible. Speaking of Bibles, did you get one yet?”

DJ looked slightly sheepish. “I didn’t really have time.”

Rhiannon pointed to a section of the bookshelf. “Look over there.”

DJ went over and found a shelf that seemed to be nothing but religious sorts of books, including several Bibles. She pulled out a moss green one and looked at it. “I never even noticed these before.”

“Probably because you weren’t looking for them.”

DJ looked at the front of the Bible. “New International Version,” she read. “What does that mean anyway?”

“That’s just the way it was written. There are all kinds of different Bibles.”

“But this one is okay to use?”

“Of course.”

DJ opened it and was surprised to see that her mother’s name—her maiden name—was written on the inscription page. “Oh my gosh!”

“What?” said Rhiannon with alarm.

“This was my mother’s Bible.”

“Really?” Rhiannon came over to see.

“Elizabeth Carter,” DJ read. “Presented by Grandfather Carter.”

“Was that Mrs. Carter’s father?”

“Yes.”

“1975,” read Rhiannon. “How old would your mom have been then?”

DJ did the math in her head. “Sixteen.”

“Wow! That’s pretty cool. She was about the same age as you.”

“I remember Mom told me that she spent summers here a lot. That must’ve been the summer before she was shipped off to boarding school in Switzerland.”

“Oh, I would love to go to school in Europe.”

“My mom said it was lonely.”

“Oh.”

“Well, this is very cool to have her Bible, Rhiannon. Thanks for spotting it for me.”

“You’re the one who picked that one,” pointed out Rhiannon.

“Maybe it was God.”

Rhiannon nodded. “Definitely.” Then she wrote down some places where DJ should start reading. She showed her where the table of contents was located and explained the difference between the Old and New Testaments.

“Should I bring this with me to youth group?” asked DJ.

“For sure.”

“Okay!”

At dinner, Rhiannon announced that she and DJ and Taylor would all be going to youth group at her church.

“Taylor is going to youth group?” said Eliza with a look of disbelief.

“Hey, nothing wrong with getting a little religion,” said Taylor, with what DJ felt was an evil twinkle in her eye.

“Anyone else want to come?” offered Rhiannon.

“No thanks,” said Eliza. “I’m meeting Harry for coffee.”

Kriti just shook her head with a look that suggested that was never going to happen. DJ figured she must have her own religion. Probably Hinduism.

“How about you, Casey?” asked DJ. “Want to come?”

“Not this time,” said Casey.

“Meaning you’ ll come next time?” asked R hiannon hopefully.

“Meaning I’ll think about it.”

“Come on,” DJ urged her. You could ride with Conner and me. It’s our first time too.”

Casey made a face at DJ now. “You know, too much change too quickly might not be good for a person. Don’t push it, okay?”

DJ nodded. “Okay.” Mostly she was just glad that Casey was almost looking normal. And although she still had jet black hair and a pierced stud in her tongue, she had not put her safety pins back in. That was a relief.

Conner and DJ followed Bradford and the girls across town to where CCC—as Rhiannon called it—was located. The church was bigger than DJ had expected, and the youth group was fairly good-sized too. When she asked Rhiannon about it, she explained that they had combined youth groups with kids from another church, a lot of them from JFK High. “They don’t have a youth pastor and they go to a sister church, so they’ve been coming here for the time being.”