Peace, Love, and... Baksetball

I was able to stay a bit more focused for the rest of youth group. However, I know people could tell that I wasn't being my full self. The boys, as usual, were being the crazy goofballs that I love. I could tell that they were trying to cheer me up. Even Trey was trying to make me happier which was quite odd because Trey and I were friends, but I wasn't near as close to him as I was any of the other guys.

I left from youth that night a lot earlier than I usually did in the summertime. Just after I had gotten out of a shower and gotten dressed, the message tone on my cell phone went off. I jumped a little because it had frightened me; then I snickered at myself for being scared of my phone. I pressed the unlock button on the side and saw that the message was from Bryce. Deciding it could wait a few moments, I brushed my teeth and put my hair up in a quick bun.

As I walked to my bedroom right across the hall, my eyes scanned over what my friend had to say to me. 'Did you see how Trey was looking at you tonight?' The message said. I thought to myself and began to ponder why she would be asking me this.

'No, I wasn't paying attention. Why?' I replied. As I got my iPod out, I heard a knocking on my door. "Come in," I called, knowing that it was either my mom, step dad, or step sister.

Quietly my mother opened the door. "Trey and Kale are at the door for you," she stated, smiling faintly at me.

Setting my iPod and phone down, I began to wonder what they could be here for. When I opened the door Trey and Kale were standing there, and Kale had his usual bright and cheerful smile spread on his face. "Hi guys," I said a bit skeptically.

"Forgetting anything?" Kale asked me.

About that time I realized that Trey was holding my bright blue Bible at his side. "Oh, my Bible. Thank you," I told them, forcing a smile.

Trey handed it to me while nodding a bit. "No problem!" Kale started out. "You left pretty early tonight."

"Yeah, I was pretty tired and just in the mood to go home I guess," I replied to Kale, trying to seem nonchalant.

"Oh, well you do know its not even nine thirty right?" Kale asked. Immediately I knew he had one of his big ideas.

"Yeah," I replied somewhat slowly, trying to get him to finish what he wanted to say.

"Well, my brothers, Trey, and I are going out to watch a movie. You wanna come?" he asked, his voice increasing in sound and excitement a little bit.

I smiled at him, then looked down at what I was wearing. "I would but I just took a shower and I'm not dressed to go out." I did want to go, but another part of me was begging to stay at home.

Kale scoffed at me as he looked at my school t-shirt and athletic shorts. "Movie starts at ten fourty-five," he stated. "Go ask your mom if you can, and we'll be back to get you at ten."

I thought about it a moment before finally deciding to go with them. "Alright. I'll ask. You can come inside if you want." Trey and Kale both smiled at me before I walked off to find my mom.

She was sitting in bedroom watching TV. The door was still open so I knocked on it quietly before stepping in. "So what did they want?" she asked me when she noticed my presence.

"Well, they came to give me my Bible because I left it at youth," I started out.

"Oh, that was nice of them," she said with a smile.

"And, they wanted to know if I wanted to go to a movie with them," I said a bit uneasily, not knowing how she would respond.

Looking at the clock, she nodded a bit to herself. "What time does it start?"

"Ten fourty-five," I replied, a smile spreading across my face and excitement beginning to run through me.

"That's fine," she said while grinning at me.

"Thanks mom!" I replied happily before rushing out of the room to give the guys a heads up.

When I returned they were whispering to each other, still standing by the door. Trey noticed me first and motioned to Kale that I had returned.

"So?" Kale asked, and both of them looked straight at me.

"I can go," I replied, smiling genuinely at them.

Trey's eyes caught mine for a moment, and a slight smile quickly spread across his face.

"Sweet! You have thirty-five minutes to get ready," Kale said, a huge smile across his face.

"Alright, see you then," I replied, returning the smile back to him.

"Bye," Trey said softly while walking out the door.

After they were both out I shut the storm door behind them and skipped to my room. As I opened my closet door my phone went off again. This time I had two messages, both from Bryce. 'There was just something about that look he was giving you.' one message said. The second message had been recieved about five minutes later, saying 'You still there?'

Another wave of wonder came over me as I tried to figure out what her message had meant. 'What do you mean?' I replied and tossed my phone back on my bed.

Turning back to my closet, I already knew what I was going to wear to the movie. I picked out a black shirt with blue writing on it that said "I Am Blessed." Also the shirt had the same color of blue polka dots, along with lighter blue and white ones as well. Then, I grabbed my blue and white plaid shorts. Quickly pulling my new clothes on, I began to get a bit more excited to go with the boys. They had never come and asked just me to be the only girl to go with them.

After I was dressed I put on my favorite cross necklace and silver ring. Again, my phone went off. I grabbed it as I hustled into the bathroom. It had only taken about three minutes to get dressed, but I knew my hair would take the longest.

Pulling out the hair tie that held my bun, I plugged in my hair dryer. Quickly I read the message that Bryce sent me. 'There was some sort of spark in his eye it seemed. I've never seen him look at you like that before, and he looked a lot.'

'He was probably just concerned that I wasn't acting like myself.' I sent back and set my phone on the counter.

It took me roughly ten minutes to blow dry my hair, leaving me with approximately fifteen minutes to straighen it and be done. My phone had gone off again while I had been drying my hair.

'I don't know. It didn't really seem like that to me.' Bryce had replied.

'Hmm, well who knows? Its probably nothing. Hey, look, Trey and Kale asked me to go to the movies with them Kade and Lane. So I need to get ready to go. Talk to you later buddy :)' I quickly replied as I waited for my flat iron to warm up.

It took me about ten minutes to straighten my hair so it looked good enough to wear down. Left with five minutes to spare I went back into my mom's room. "I'm going to wait for them in the living room," I told her.

"Alright," mom said while smiling at me. "You look nice. Do you like one of those boys?" she asked, her eyes bearing a playful glitter.

"Mom, no!" I scoffed. I could feel heat rushing to my cheeks, even though I did not like any of them as more than a friend.

"Just making sure," she chuckled as she tucked a stray hair behind my ear. "Have fun!"

Laughing slightly I gave her a hug and then started walking towards the door. "Where's Robert?" I asked her out of curiousity. Robert was my step father, and he was a pretty cool guy. He was very easy to get along with.

"He's out with some friends," mom said, sighing a little. It wasn't hard to tell that she was deeply in love with that man.

"Alright, well I'll see ya later, Mom," I said as I walked out of her room. I walked quickly into my room to get some money. Grabbing a twenty, I figured we'd go eat something as well. I grabbed another ten then folded and stuffed the money into my pocket. At about that time I realized I had left my phone in the bathroom, so I rushed in there to get it.

Just as I had turned my phone on vibrate and placed it in my pocket I heard the doorbell ring. "Bye, Mom," I called as I hurriedly went to meet my friends at the door. I heard her call goodbye as I slipped on my favorite Nike flip flops and opened the door to greet Kale.

"Ready?" He asked me as the door opened.

"You bet'cha," I replied while walking outside, shutting the heavy door behind me.

He opened the door of Trey's truck for me and immediately I heard the band Needtobreathe coming from the speakers. Trey smiled at me from where he was sitting in the driver's seat. Lane was right behind him in the backseat, singing along with the song. Kade was next to him in the middle, and I climbed in next to him. Kale claimed his spot in the passenger's seat, and as soon as we were all buckled in Trey pulled off.

The closest place to go to watch movies was in the city about thirty-five miles away. When we reached the highway Trey turned the music up and we all sang along to the song "Something Beautiful" be Needtobreathe.