It was the start of summer so the air was crisp and hot but there was a light breeze, keeping it at a reasonable temperature. You could hear the songs of the birds and the footsteps of a girl walking down the street in the city of Marathon, which is located in the Florida Keys.

Haru Highlight, A bright seventeen year old girl that shines with happiness wherever she goes, hummed happily along the street. She was on her way to her youth group. Today was bible study after all. Though it starts at 6:00, Haru always goes to the church early to help make dinner and clean up if needed. It was around 4:00 in the afternoon now, the sun was still above her, pouring it's heat onto the earth, but she didn't seem to mind.

As she walked, her straight chestnut brown hair bobbed up and down with her skip-like steps, the right side being held firmly by her sunflower hairpin and on her left side was a braid that brushed her shoulder. Her ocean blue-green eyes wandered the scenery with excitement. Even her choice of fashion told everyone she passed that she was full of cheer. She wore white overalls with sunflowers embroidered onto the bottom and pockets, along with a matching yellow ruffled shirt safely tucked in her overalls. Then of course, her yellow converses finished her look with a spring in her step.

Looking forward, Haru found the church in sight and ran to the front door, hoping it was unlocked by her youth pastor or his wife. Luckily, it was, and she didn't have to go around back. She went into the largest building, the Sanctuary, and went through the long hall in order to reach the fellowship hall. That didn't take long. Haru then made her way into the kitchen, where a woman had almost ran into her.

"Oh Haru! You're here! Sorry, could you take this to Michael so he can eat for the day? I have to go help watch the kids." The woman, Anna, quickly handed her a plate and a water bottle.

Anna looked to be in her mid-twenties and had long blonde hair put up into an elegant bun and bright green eyes. She wore a bright pink and white silk top and jean capris. On her feet were white wedge heels and a cute ankle bracelet. 

"No problem! I'll take care of it." With a nod from Anna as thanks, Haru went out of the kitchen and back down the long hall to the classrooms and offices.

You see, Anna's husband, Mike, is her Youth Pastor. They get along very well and though he's not related to her, he's more of a brother to her than anything. The same for Anna, she's like her older sister, and for Haru, who is an only child, that means a lot.

"Brother Mike! I have some late lunch for-" She was caught off guard when she walked in on what seemed to be a conversation consisting of her youth pastor and a boy around her age. She wondered who he was. She had never seen him before.

The boy had small, shiny piercings popping out of his shaggy blonde hair. He was looking downward so Haru couldn't see his face. From the look of his clothes, most people would have recognized him as a street kid. He had on a plain dark hoodie and baggy jeans. There was a chain poking out of his left pocket, most likely a pocket knife. Haru noticed that they both shared a taste in footwear, on his feet were black worn out converses.

"Oh, hey Haru!" Mike greeted her cheerfully. He looked like he was in his mid-twenties, his face had some scuff but he was quite handsome. He had dark brown nicely buzzed hair, most likely buzzed by his wife. He wore a blue button up shirt with jeans shorts and worn out boots. Also, on his head rested a matching blue fedora.

She returned his smile and walked into the room next to him. "Sorry if I interrupted. Anna said to feed you for the day." She glanced over to the boy out of curiosity, but this time, the boy glanced up at her. He had deep blue eyes, they reminded her of the sky.

But he seemed to give her a weird look before it was gone as fast as it had came. Was that just her imagination?

"Nonsense! You're fine." Her youth pastor went ahead and accepted the food with glee. "Tell her it looks great as usual."

Haru nodded and with another curious glance to the mysterious boy, she went to leave the room, but Mike had stopped her.

"Oh, wait Haru!"

Haru did as she was told and walked back over to her teacher. She gave him an excited and curious look, telling him to continue.

"Sorry, I wanted to introduce you." He gestured to the boy, who seemed quite bored, but amused, at the moment.

"Haru, this is Troy Connors, he has just joined our youth group and will be staying for bible study tonight." Haru was clearly full of joy at this as she smiled widely. There wasn't any new youth there and so making a new friend was something that Haru truly found to be a blessing.

Haru's youth pastor then looked over to Troy. "Troy, this is one of my youth, Haru Highlight."

~

It was late on Thursday night. Troy was walking down the street thinking things over and cooling his head. He just couldn't sleep with the way things were going. Nothing seemed to make sense to him anymore. He was seventeen now and yet his parents made him feel like a child.

Ugh, his parents.

He was tired of it. He was tired of his parent's behavior. They took him to church and they acted all fine and dandy, but then they drag him home and they yell at each other for hours on end. He hated it.

But Troy liked church. His parents would at least act sane there. Troy wasn't stupid. He knew what the pastor was saying. He knew that his parents were sinners, shoot, he knew he was a sinner.

Truth was, he realized that a long time ago. But would he do anything about it? Not likely. He didn't want to face that problem. Who would?

This was his mindset. Would it change? He didn't know.

Not to mention the fact that about a week ago his mother had somehow gotten a promotion and moved from New York city to the much smaller city of Marathon Florida. That was a long trip.

Sometimes Troy wanted to run away when he was younger. But it wasn't like his parents had completely forgotten about him. They still fed him and his mom would nag him sometimes while on the phone. That was good, right? Either way, that's what Troy grew up with.

At the moment, Troy had just went around the final corner back to his new, but rundown house. Thankfully, his parents finally went to sleep. It was probably around 2:oo am as he went to the front door.

He sighed before entering quickly, but quietly, passing his drunken sleeping father, who was on the couch and went down the hall to his room. His dad must have lost this argument. That was normal.

He quietly shut his bedroom door and fell on his bed. With another deep sigh, he put his hands behind his head and rolled over on his side, not even bothering to change clothes as he let sleep take over.

By the time he woke up, it was around 1:00 pm. That's good. His father was at his part time job and his mother was at her work. No parents, no arguments, no yelling.

He made his way down the hall after cleaning himself up to find that he had a plate of pancakes made for him already. See? They didn't forget him, but unfortunately, his mother did forget to cover it up and the flies had gotten to it before he did.

He gave an amused half smile to the thoughtfulness, and the laziness of his mother. He just shook his head and threw them away before making a bowl of cereal. He probably would've eaten them if he wouldn't had known that they were sitting there uncovered for six hours.

When he was done he left the house and started walking in the direction of the local church. He had called the youth pastor and set up a meeting with him. He thought if he became part of the church he could get away from his parents more.

He had read online that they had a nice sized youth group and so they went out and had a lot of events weekly. Because it was summer vacation, he can't go to school, also meaning he can't leave the house as much as he would like.

So why not go to church? Troy thought this way, his parents wouldn't tell him no, and he'd have a nice way to say 'I won't be back till late'. That is, if they even ask. They never seem to care what he does. Then again, he doesn't really care what they do either. So it's whatever.

After finding the right church, he went to the front door and for a brief moment, wondered if he should knock. Then he remembered it was a pretty good sized church. If he did knock, no one would hear him anyway.

The door was open and he made his way inside. The sanctuary was nice and the main color was obviously purple. The chairs and carpet were purple, as were the fake flowers placed on the piano to the left of the purple stage.

Thankfully, there were signs in the hallway to tell him where he was going. After finding the office. He found that this time, it would be good to knock.

Not long after he did, he heard 'come in' from behind the door. Troy came in and saw the smile on the youth pastor's face. After shutting the door behind him, he went in and sat down in front of the desk.

"Hello! You must be Troy, the one I talked to on the phone the other day?" Troy nodded and the man extended his hand to him. "Well, Troy, it's nice to meet you, I'm Mike. The youth leader of Seaport Baptist Church."

He had already told Troy his name on the phone and so found it silly to tell him again in person, but took his hand and shook it anyways. "Yeah, nice to meet you." Even after a week of being here, that was the first time Troy had said that to someone.

After that, they went over paperwork. "Okay Troy, we went over everything on the phone already, so there's no need for a lot of talk. But I do still have a few questions. If that's alright." Troy struggled his shoulders. "Sure, shoot." He didn't mind questions, it's not like he had personal issues.

"Well I guess I'll start with asking why your parents didn't come with you." Screw that last statement. "Not that they had to be here, but normally they would come." Troy sighed. He was tired of that question, but he never really minded answering before.

"They both work today." Okay, so that wasn't the most accurate answer, but hey, it was the truth.

He gave a sarcastic 'un-huh' look, but took it and asked the next question. "Other than that, I wanted to go ahead and invite you to bible study tonight. It would be a good chance to meet the regular youth and you wouldn't have to go back home right away." 

Mike gave him a wink as Troy blinked at him, obviously perplexed. "H-how did you know I didn't want to go home?"

Mike gave a soothing smile, and then a silly thumbs up. "I can just tell." Troy briefly wondered if signing up as a youth here was a bad idea...

The older male then cleared his throat and looked to him with a serious face. "But really, if you need something or need help, come to me anytime."

Troy slowly nodded and glanced down to the ground slightly lost in thought. "Thanks..." He mumbled, but it sounded truthful and it made Mike smile.

Suddenly the door opened and you could hear a girl talking and cut herself off as she stopped in the doorway.

"Oh, hey Haru!" Mike greeted her cheerfully.

Troy heard her walk into the room next to him. "Sorry if I interrupted. Anna said to feed you for the day."

She glanced over to Troy with curiosity, and Troy, also curious, glanced up at her. She was obviously a bright person. Her attire told him that first off. Oh look, they both like converses. But what really caught his attention was her eyes. They were big and the color made it seem like he was staring into the ocean itself. They were full of something he couldn't recognize, which caused him to stare at her without his realization to try and figure out what it could have been. Soon he snapped out of it though, looking away.

"Nonsense! You're fine." His new youth pastor went ahead and accepted the food from her with glee. "Tell her it looks great as usual."

The girl, Haru, nodded and with another curious glance to Troy, she went to leave the room, but Mike had stopped her.

"Oh, wait Haru!"

Haru did as she was told and walked back over to the side of his desk closer to her. Troy watched her as she did so, and noticed that she hadn't stopped smiling since she entered the room. She gave Mike an excited and curious look, telling him to continue.

"Sorry, I wanted to introduce you." He gestured to Troy, who was very amused at the moment, but tried not to show it.

"Haru, this is Troy Connors, he has just joined our youth group and will be staying for bible study tonight." Haru was clearly full of joy at this as she smiled widely. Troy thought that he didn't exactly say yes to that, but after seeing her smile with so much excitement like that, how could he say no?

Mike then looked over to Troy. "Troy, this is one of my youth, Haru Highlight." Troy raised an eyebrow at the name but nodded to her. "Nice to meet you." There he goes again, staring into her eyes without realizing it. She didn't seem to notice though as she smiled, walking up to him and putting her hand out. "It's nice to meet you too, Troy." He returned the smile and shook her hand.

Maybe this was a good idea after all.