The Unknown

Church

Julie's pov

"Get up, it's time to get ready for church!" Shane yelled, outside our closed door.

Uggh. Now don't get me wrong. I don't have anything against church, per se. I love God and I've accepted Jesus as my personal savior, I just have an utter dislike of anything that gets me out of bed before 10am on a non-school day.

It's not technically mandatory to attend worship at NJC but let's just say it's strongly encouraged. You can attend whatever house of worship you choose but you will be attending one of them. Some attend one of the two nearby Catholic churches, others go to the Baptist or Lutheran church and some go to the Jewish synagogue. You get the picture. Well, we attend the Methodist church downtown. 

"I'm not giving you another warning. We are leaving in ten minutes. DO NOT make me wait for you." It was Shane, poking his head through our partially opened door. Apparently, he was looking for a response as he wasn't leaving.

Maybe he had asked a question that I missed. Sometimes I tune him out. I figured I better not respond since I wasn't sure exactly what I would be responding to. Hopefully, Stacey, Lisa, or Carrie were listening. No such luck. We were all silent as Shane fully moved inside our doorway and stood in our room now. Oh oh, the vein on the left side of his forehead is starting to bulge. That is definitely not a good sign.

"Have I made myself clear, girls? You now have eight minutes." Shane was losing his patience.

"Yes sir," we all chorused in unison, anxious to have him leave us alone. Mini crisis averted. We were all wrapping up getting ready.

"Let's go Julie. We're gonna be late," Stacey whined. Carrie and Lisa were already in the car.

"I'm coming," I said, somewhat exasperated and short of breath. "I can't find my other shoe. Dammit," I cursed. Just then, I looked up to see a very foreboding Mike standing in our doorway. Please don't let him have heard. Please don't let him have heard me curse, I whispered silently to myself and God, as a prayer of sorts.

"Now!" was all Mike had to say to let us know he meant business.

Thank you, God. Mike didn't hear me curse.

"Yes!" I exclaim a little too loudly, as I see the heel of my missing black pump peeking out from under Lisa's bed.

"What?" Mike asks, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Yes sir," I say, trying to recover while grabbing my shoe and putting it on as we're rushing out the door.

Shane is standing by the running car parked out front, holding the rear passenger door open for Stacey and I.

"That's strike one, ladies," he hisses, as we pile into the back seat. Mike, who already jumped behind the wheel, puts the car in drive and we peel out of the parking lot before Shane even has his door fully closed.

"I certainly hope we're not going to be late," Shane says, turning to look directly at me and Stacey. We slump down in our seats, cowering from his cold glare.

We arrive at church with literally three minutes to spare. As we rush in the building after racing through the parking lot, we hurriedly head for the coat room. Oh oh, I think to myself, the greeters are already gone, not a good sign. We pass through the narthex and head into the sanctuary, only to find a rather packed house, I must say. The only seats open with enough room for six are in the second pew. Uggh. Nobody likes sitting up front, in school or church. We take our seats and almost immediately the organist begins to play as the pastors and acolytes walk down the center aisle.

Shane shoots Stacey and I another stern look as I pretend to be engrossed in the bulletin, perusing the 'what's happening this week' section.

Whew, I let out a little sigh of relief as I start to relax. I like our church. I find it serene and peaceful, in a way. Our head pastor has a good sense of humor and the four of us enjoy going to youth group, even though the youth pastor is a little bit of a nerdy, goody two shoes. I guess that kind of comes with the job description though.