Stealing Bradford

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.”

DJ remembered the kids she’d played volleyball with at the beach not that long ago. They’d been from JFK too. But she didn’t see any of them here. The group met in a gymnasium where a live band played fairly good music. Some of the kids here looked familiar, although DJ didn’t really know many of them by name. After a time of singing, the youth pastor, Rod Michaels—a nice-looking guy with short dark hair and a goatee—welcomed them and gave a brief message. After that, they broke into small groups to pray. DJ was hugely relieved that Taylor was not in her small group. She just wasn’t sure that she could pray aloud anyway, but with Taylor listening it seemed impossible. As it turned out, neither she nor Conner prayed aloud, and the other kids didn’t really seem to mind. Then they had refreshments, and kids started playing Ping-Pong and pool, and even a half-court basketball game started up. But DJ was tired from volleyball and had no desire to get sweaty all over again.

“What’s up with Taylor?” Conner asked her as they sipped sodas from the sidelines. He nodded over to where Taylor and Bradford had a fairly competitive-looking game of Ping-Pong going on. “Why did she want to come tonight?”

“Good question,” said DJ. “Rhiannon thinks it’s because God is working on her, but I’m a little skeptical. Looks more like Taylor is working on Bradford.”

“That girl is a man-eater.”

DJ laughed. “A man-eater? What is that supposed to mean?”

“She chews up one guy and spits him out…then goes on to the next one.”

“So, do you know this from personal experience?” She frowned up at him.

“No…I mean I know she was trying to get me into her game, but I didn’t let her.”

“Oh, you big strong man you,” teased DJ.

“Seriously, DJ. Taylor is trouble when it comes to guys. I hope Bradford doesn’t fall for her tricks.”

“Bradford likes Rhiannon.”

“Things can change.”

“No,” said DJ firmly. “Bradford is a Christian. He and Rhiannon have been going together a while. They have art and other things in common. I don’t think Taylor can break them up.”

Conner just shook his head. “Don’t bet on it.”

Then, tired of the noise, Conner and DJ slipped out.

“What did you think of what the youth pastor said?” DJ asked as Conner drove them through town. “I mean the part about how God can make even the messy parts of our lives into something good?”

“Interesting…”

“Yeah. Kind of gives a person hope.”

When they got to Carter House, they sat outside in Conner’s pickup for a while, just talking. But after awhile, they saw Bradford’s car pulling up behind them and Taylor and Rhiannon hopped out and went inside. Then Conner walked DJ to the door, gave her a quick hug and a kiss and said good night.

“I saw that,” teased Taylor, when DJ came in.

“Saw what?”

“That little peck on the porch.”

“Someone pecked the porch?”

Taylor rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“You shouldn’t be spying on people.”

“I couldn’t help myself.”

“Where’s Rhiannon?”

“Upstairs…” Taylor frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

“Rhiannon’s mad at me.”

“Rhiannon? Mad?” DJ shook her head. “Somehow I find that hard to believe.”

“It’s true.”

“Why?”

“She thinks I’m trying to get Bradford.”

“Are you?”