"No." I groaned. My uncle was trying to get me up. It was suddenly Sunday and he wanted me to go to church. I'm not apposed to the whole church idea, but I am apposed to the getting up at eight in the morning. I rolled over when he yelled in my door way. I fell off the bed. That was enough of a boost to get me awake. I jumped up and almost tripped over myself again. 

"Are you awake?" He knocked on my door. I turned towards it.

"Sadly. Hey, do I have to dress up?" I started filing through my little bag I brought with me. 

"No. Hey can I come in?"

"Yeah." He walked in with a plastic bag.

"I uh, I got you some clothes. I just kind of guessed on the size. This is the size my daughter used to be. I just figured you didn't have much in there." He gestured toward my bag. He laid the bag on my bed and walked out. I opened it up and saw a few graphic tees and a few pairs of jeans. I pulled out one pair of the jeans. They were skinny jeans. They were dark washed and really pretty. I shut the door and pulled down my shorts. I threw them over against the wall. I slipped the pants on and they fit practically perfectly. I turned around and posed for myself in the full length mirror on the closet door. 

I picked up my little bag and searched for the Morehead State hoodie that Bryce gave me. I found it all the way at the bottom. I pulled it over my head and grabbed my brush. I pulled on my Vans. I walked over to the mirror and pulled the brush threw my hair. It was getting curly. I got my flat iron, plugged it in, and got to work.

I had to do some major damage control, but my hair looks pretty fine if you ask me. I set the iron down on the floor after I turned it off. I walked backwards a few steps, then I fell onto the bed. I laid there for a frew minutes. Why did he have to be christian in the first place? I rolled over and got to my feet. Idumped the contents of my bag onto the bed. There were so many things. The first thing I grabbed was the picture of him. I stuffed it in my pocket. 

I sifted through the rest of my things. I pulled out my phone, my charger and my picture of Bryce. I didn't tell him that I took it with me. I folded it up and slid it into my back pocket. I was set. I pushed everything back into the bag and put it under the bed. I stopped and looked in the mirror one more time. Man. I got nice legs. I walked to the door and turned the lights off. 

I walked down the hallway. Let's see, if I go straight, I'll go to the bathroom. I walked straight. I knocked on the door.

"Hang on!" Seth hollered. I heard the toilet flush then the water start in the sink. I backed up expecting the door to come open. He came out and stepped aside. "All yours." He smiled and walked away. I walked in and it was insane. I mean I've been in here obviously, but it was crazy cool.

I walked in and closed the door. I waddled over to the mirror. Oh gosh.I feel and quite frankly, look, terrible. I went over and used the toilet. I got up and went over to wash my hands. As I was drying the off, I noticed a piece of paper sticking out behind the sink. I grabbed it and pulled. What I pulled out was a magazine. I looked at the cover, which had a nude woman on it, then I looked at the name. Playboy. It was seriously the stupidest magazine I have ever seen. I did him a favor and threw it away then took the trash can down stairs.

"Hey. What's that?" Seth pointed to the trash can. He didn't seem suspicious.

"It's just the bathroom trash. I figured I'dbring it down here. It was full." To demonstrate, I tilted it toward him and trash fell to the floor. I quickly picked it up and tied the bag. 

"Well, alright. Just set it inside the garage door. Okay?" 

"Alright." I walked to the garage and set the bag inside. I walked back inside and went into the living room. "Hey. Are we going to leave soon. If so, I need to get my bag." I gestured to the stairs turning to go up. 

"Yeah that's probably a smart idea." He looked tired as he sipped his cup of coffee. I ran up the stairs and got my bag. I went back into the bathroom to see if he had stashed anymore. I tried to just look but it was too dark, so I tried to move he whole sink. It wouldn't budge. I used my phone as a flashlight and looked back behind it. All I saw was a bunch of dust bunnies. Oh well. I slipped my phone in my pocket and walked down the stairs. When I got down them, he was ready to leave. "You ready? He said gesturing towards the door with his keys.

""Yeah man. Let's hit the road." I kind of skipped to the door.

"Now I warn you, there's a ceremony going on. Where the younger kids get promoted into the teens." I just kind of stared at him for a moment. He went on. "I will mostly be up on the platform. So you can either sit with some other teens, or by yourself. Your choice." I thought about it for a minute. If that one guys I meant last weekend was there, then maybe, I could sit with him. Maybe. We'll see how this all plays out.

"Uh, I don't know. Maybe." I continued to walk to the car. I got to the passenger side and opened the door. Before I could even get in, he looked at me and said. 

"Are you sure you want to ride with me? I stay late sometimes." I looked at him and pondered it for a second. 

"Yeah. I'll be fine." I continued to get into the car. I sat down and shut the door. Seth got in shortly after me. He got in, shut the door, and started the car. I noticed he had a North Carolina key chain. I looked at it again to make sure what I saw was what I saw. He apparently saw me looking. He smiled and laughed. 

"Your dad gave it to me, like, ten years ago.You guys had just moved there." I sat there and thought about when we moved to North Carolina from Wisconsin. I was so mad. I had to leave behind all of my six year old friends and all of that. Once I got there though, I met Bryce and I was fine. I actually like North Carolina. I didn't know dad had a brother at this point though. I did see him mail that key chain. I didn't know who he was sending it to. I asked him but all he said was "An old friend." I knew that since he was smiling when he said it, he was lying. 

"I remember when my dad sent that actually. He never told me who he was sending it to though. He always said it was an old friend." I looked down at it again. I wonder what they were doing at home at that moment.

'You ready to go?" Seth asked.

"UH, yeah." We drove only for like ten minutes. Plus. the ride was quiet. When we got there, I opened the door hesitantly. What kind of whack-job am I going to see in there? I thought. I waited for Seth to get out of the car. " This looked a lot smaller last weekend." I stared up at it. 

"Well, you didn't get the full effect. It was dark then."  He continuedto walk. I had to kind of jog to catch up. We walked in the huge church building and walked straight into the sanctuary. There was a room to the right that was full of coats, then there was a room to the left that was full of people. Seth walked into the room with the people and I followed hesitantly. As soon as we walked in, that one guy that helped me fine Seth, walked in the door. I kind of tried to hide but I guess he saw me. 

"Hey!" He sort of yelped. "It's Harper, right?" He said shaking my hand slightly.

"Uh yeah." I looked at him and just realized how cute he really was. He was wearing skinny jeans, a grey cardigan over a blue tee, and moccasins. He looked so attractive. 

"Nice to see you here!" He hugged me. I didn't really know what to do so I just hugged back. He stood back and smiled. at me.

"Hey." Seth came over. I didn't really realize her left. "I see you me Christian.. Hey man." He turned to Christian apparently, and hugged him. "He helps me with the youth, sometimes. Only sometimes because, well, he's apart of the youth." He let out a little laugh. "You guys have fun." He walked off.

"So, do you, uh, want to sit with us?" He pointed towards the group of teens by the door. 

"Uh, I guess."

"Great!" I followed him over to the group. "Hey guys! This is Harper." He announced. A few girls waved and one guy winked and laughed. "Oh come on Gerald." Gerald? "This is Gerald." He pointed to the guy who winked. "This is Denise, Carol, Ian, Anthony, Mari, Shelby, and Noah." They all waved. I tried to look at all of them closely. Denise had black hair and Green eyes, Carol had brown hair and blue eyes, Ian had blond hair and blue eyes, Gerald had blond hair too, only he had green eyes, Anthony had Black hair and brown eyes, Mari and black hair and brown eyes too. Shelby had black and blond hair with blue eyes. Noah had kind of white hair with bright blue eyes. 

 The group started to walk into the sanctuary so I followed. Shelby, Noah, Anthony, and Gerald walked beside me.

"Hey. Sorry about that wink back there. I just wanted to see Christian's reaction." Gerald laughed. I could tell he was lying though.

"Nice try Gerald." Shelby said. "We all know what you really met. As soon as you saw her talking to Christian you said you thought she was hot." Gerald laughed and his face turned bright red and he ran off. 

"He'll be fine." Anthony said. "He just didn't want you to know he thought you were cute. Even though, half of us guys thought it was true." He laughed and Noah elbowed him in the gut.

"He's stupid. Don't listen to him." Noah said pointing to Anthony.

"You were one of the guys who said she was cute!" Anthony screamed. He chased off Noah. Then it was Shelby and I. She grabbed my arm and coursed it through hers. 

"It's alright. They all thought you were pretty hot." She winked at me. 

"I'll take it as a compliment." I said shrugging and laughing. She laughed at me and started talking about all the stupid stuff the guys do when they meet new girls. I kind of stopped listening to her and focused my gaze on Christian. He was a lot cuter than I thought he was. When my brain came back into focus I hit a pew.

"Ow!" I yelped. No one seemed distubred but Shelby.

"Aw man. I hate when that happens. My first day here, I ran into the pastor and totally told him to watch where he was going. All along the way I cursed him out. Only, the whole church stopped and stared. I felt so embarrassed." She looked at me expectantly. I just sort of laughed.

"That had to sucked." I said.

"Oh yeah." We silently walked the rest of the way up to the front when the teens all sat. We all took our seats. Some how I ended up in between Gerald and Christian with Seth right behind me, RIght as Gerald started to talk, a man, my guess the pastor, walked onto the platform.

"Hello everybody! " He said into the microphone he had in his hand. "I'm glad to see some new faces here today." Christian and Gerald both looked at me. "Before we get started with the sermon, we had some promoting to do. If I could have Seth Evans up here please." 

I looked back and saw Seth get up with a huge bag in his hands. He took the mic from the pastor and started talking.

" Before I begin, I would like to introduce my niece. I just met her this past weekend and she is staying with me while she does some sort of project. Would you please come on up here Harper?" I started to say no, but Christian and Gerald pushed me towards the front. I got up and walked to Seth. He wrapped one arm around me.  "This is Harper everyone!" They all clapped for me. "Would you like to say anything Harper?" I was shaking my head then I saw Christian mouthing "Do it!" So I took the mic. Everyone started to clap. 

"Well, hi there everybody." They all yelled hi back at me. "I guess, I'm just glad that Seth here, would take me in, only a few minutes after finding out I'm his niece." I kind of smiled and pushed the mic towards Seth. He took that as a sign and took it.

"Thank you Harper." Everyone clapped again and all the teens ran over and high-fived me and hugged me. I sat back down and Chrsitian smiles at me. I smiled back.

*                                                            *                                                           *

The ceremony was okay. Then I got bored during the sermon. I had to struggle to stay awake. I stood up when everyone else did and tried to find Seth. All of the sudden, Christian was running for me. I stopped and waiting for him to catch up and when he did, he was out of breath.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey."I said. "Do  you need something?"

"Uh yeah." He looked down then back up quickly. "I was wondering if I could get your number. You know, so maybe we could hang out sometime."

"Uh okay." I took the phone he had been handing to me. I typed my number in and let gim finish it.

"Thanks!" He said. He hugged me then ran off. I walked off. O walked a little farther when the whole group of teens came up asking me for my number. I simply said it out loud and watched them all type it in. Once I was done, everyone came around hgging me. I mean, not just the teens either. People I didn't know kept coming up wanting to hug me. It was kind of awkward. Seth soon came and got me. Then we left.

"So how was your first day at church?" He asked innocently.

'Tiring." I answered honestly.