How To Be A Perfect Girl (11 page)

They went their separate
ways; Val called a taxi to bring her home while Alex, Keenan, and
company drove to the mall. As she thought about it, she realized
she should’ve said something, but it was too late; by the time she
thought of how to word a request that Keenan stay with her, he’d
already left.
Oh well,
Val thought,
there’s always next
time.

Chapter 9

“Valentina!” Mom yelled, “If we don’t leave
soon we’ll miss the midmorning service, and the next one’s not till
noon! Please don’t make me come get you out of bed!”

Val groaned; she wanted to keep sleeping.
Not because she was tired, but because she was not looking forward
to going to her new church; Stonebrook had its own Methodist
church, and Val knew she’d run into at least one of her classmates
there. She pulled the covers back, checking her alarm clock as she
did: it read 9:52am. Val walked over to her closet; she retrieved a
black dress that had fallen from its hanger. It was rumpled, but
Val set it down on the bed.

A quick shower later, Val returned to her
room to put on some light makeup. It felt strange to use the vanity
in her room instead of trekking back to the bathroom with her kit;
in her old house she hadn’t had a mirror of her own, but her new
room had mirrors to spare. In addition to the new vanity that Dad
had bought for her just yesterday, her closet doors were covered
with polished glass so that Val could check how different outfits
looked as she changed. The black dress looked less wrinkled once
she had it on; Mom knocked on Val’s door, “Time to go! Are you even
up?”

“Yeah, I’m ready!” Val opened the door,
smiling at her red-faced mother. “Let’s go!”

“Yes. Let’s. Your father’s waiting in the
car.” Mom tromped down the stairs in her heels; Val followed, her
flats making considerably less noise.

The trip was short and quiet; Val knew Dad
was fretting about the time almost as much as Mom, although he
wasn’t as vocal about it. “What if we’re the last ones in?” Mom
worried, “What if we interrupt the service? Oh, Val, why couldn’t
you just get up earlier?”

Val stared out the window; her parents
seriously needed to reevaluate their lives if their greatest
concern was arriving late to church. She was sure God would forgive
them; sometimes adults got so worked up over the smallest
things.

Dad pulled into the parking lot, “I’ll find
a spot. You two go on in.” Mom hopped out of the car and clicked
her way toward the church doors. Val followed, but as they were
about to enter the nave, Mom addressed her, “Oh, I just
remembered—teens meet somewhere else. I think it’s downstairs.” She
entered before Val could ask for more specific directions.

“Um, ok then—“ Val looked around the nearly
empty hallway; only a few laggards were still heading for wherever
they needed to be. There were huge plasma televisions every few
feet, flicking between a floor plan and some sort of religious
network show. Val stared at the nearest one, hoping she could
somehow glean directions from it.

Dylan’s too-familiar voice filled the
corridor, “Don’t tell me you’re lost, Long Nose.”

Val turned, “I’m not lost.” Dylan would have
been attractive if he weren’t so horrible; his dark brown hair was
streaked with blonde highlights, which were obviously not natural,
but they added a lot to his overall appearance.

“Alright then.” Dylan stalked off toward the
stairs; Val was tempted to follow him, as he was probably headed to
the youth area, but the last thing she wanted to do was incite more
personal attacks.

“You sure you’re not lost?” A man, with a
beard and a goofy smile, asked.

“Wow, you have the most beautiful eyes!” Val
exclaimed before she could help herself; she’d never seen anyone
with grey eyes before.

The man shrugged, “Yeah, I get that a lot.
So, what are you looking for?”

“Well, I’m not entirely sure,” Val admitted,
“My mom just told me the teens meet somewhere in the basement—“

“Yup, the ‘Praise Room’. Come on, I’ll show
you where it is.” He held out his arm.

Val took it, “Why do they call it that?
Doesn’t that sound a little—childish?”

The man laughed, “Ouch. I’m the one who
named it, actually.” He shrugged again as they walked down the
stairs, “I figured, cause that’s where we praise Jesus—it makes
sense!” He emphasized the last words, as if that would somehow make
them true.

A giggle escaped from Val; she shook her
head.

The man led the way into a large room; teens
around Val’s age were all running around, doing something she
didn’t understand. He snaked his arm free and clapped his hands,
“Alright guys! Before you get too into this, let’s do the opening
prayer and then I’ll explain the purpose behind today’s game.”

The boys and girls organized into a circle,
grasping hands with those to their left and right; “Oh, I almost
forgot,” the man added, “This is—well, what’s your name, honey?” He
was looking at Val; in a moment, all eyes were on her.

“Valentina,” she supplied sheepishly.

“Valentina!” The man repeated, “Nice to meet
you! I’m Pastor Kennedy. Valentina, would you mind leading the
opening prayer?”

Val gulped nervously, “I’d rather not.” She
eyed the pimply boy who’d grabbed her left hand; he was sweating
profusely, and grinning.

Pastor Kennedy laughed, “Oh, come on.
There’s really no wrong way to do it. I’ll even get you started!
‘Dear Father—‘”

Val took a deep breath, “Uh, thank you for,
uh, bringing us together. And, um, thank you for our health and
wealth. May you shelter us through times of trial and bring us
peace.” She borrowed the words from a poem her parents had put up
in the family bathroom.

“Amen,” Pastor Kennedy finished, “See, not
so bad. Quite good, actually—if a bit short.”

“Thanks,” Val searched the sea of faces for
anyone familiar; except for Dylan, it looked like she was alone in
the basement.

“You are most certainly welcome,” the Pastor
smiled, “So, today’s game—“ he explained the rules and their
meaning; to Val it sounded like a simple game of tag, with little
more than a loose Biblical association. Each person had a Bible
quote they were supposed to say when they tagged someone else, and
if the person they tagged could recite the books of the Old and New
Testament from start to finish without interruption, they were
‘immune’. Val quickly joined the group of girls her age standing
off to the side; several of the boys, especially Dylan, really got
into it, but Val and the girls spent most of the time talking about
other things.

“Don’t you guys
just
hate
how nosy
the gate guard is?” One girl complained. She had a crooked nose and
dark amber hair that reflected the fluorescent light as she glanced
from one girl to another.

“I know,” Val agreed,
“Like I don’t think he needs to know
why
I have friends coming over. All
he should care about is that they’re coming—Ow!” She exclaimed as
someone shoved her from behind; Val turned to locate the source of
the push. Dylan smiled wolfishly, “’Do unto others as ye shall have
done unto you.’ You’re it.”

It took Val a second to decide how to
respond; she could turn back around and continue her conversation,
and complain about stupid boys like Dylan—or she could find someone
to tag back. The little kid in her knew which answer to choose; she
lunged for the nearest boy, who turned sideways to avoid her hands.
Val realized as she tried to trap a pair of boys who looked like
twins in a corner that she couldn’t remember her quote at all. Her
fingertips brushed one’s shoulder and she decided to just make up
something that sounded Bible-ish, “If thou stands at the ford of a
river and catches a fish, what hast thou done?” It sounded lame,
but the boy seemed to accept it; he started reciting books as fast
as he could think of them.

To Val’s dismay he
finished in perfect form; Pastor Kennedy, who was watching, started
clapping, “I think that’s as good a point as any to stop. Val,
thank you for actually participating—I hate to see
all
the girls stand off
to the side the whole game.”
Great,
Val thought. Pastor Kennedy was doing her no
favors by singling her out for praise, since he was also using it
as an opportunity to reprimand the other girls. They’d seemed to be
warming to her before, but the Pastor’s words would probably
reverse the process.

“Anyway, looking at the time, I think it’s
about time we discussed some of the quotes—“ Pastor Kennedy segued
into a long talk about reciprocity, and what it meant for modern
Christians. Val found herself zoning out, even though she tried to
pay attention. By the time Pastor Kennedy was done, she’d hardly
gotten more out of his speech than that even modern Christians
should follow the Golden Rule. “Well, that’s all for today,”
Kennedy concluded, “I’ll go get the donuts and drinks. I think the
service is still a few minutes out.”

Val tried to wait out the rest of the
morning in solitude, but without much luck; several boys seemed
intent on introducing themselves to her. The two twins came up
after Kennedy brought the donuts, “Hi, I’m Davis,” the slightly
taller one held out his hand, “And this is my brother Rodney.”

“Nice to meet you,” Val smiled, taking his
hand weakly, “So are you two twins? You look really similar.”

“We do?” Davis faked a surprised look,
“Whoa, we do! I guess we really are twins!” He laughed.

“Oh, cool.”

“I have a question for you,” Rodney
swallowed a huge bite of donut before continuing, “Do you not like
donuts or something?”

“Huh?” Val threw a confused look at the pair
before grimacing; she could see Dylan approaching, with his
too-familiar devil’s smile.

“Well, why didn’t you grab a donut? Or some
soda?” Rodney asked.

“Cause—cause—“ Val’s attention was focused
on Dylan; she was trying to will him to turn around and go
somewhere else. “Cause they’re really fattening.”

“Well, yeah, but you don’t look like you
need to worry about getting fat—“

“Oh, you don’t know Valentina, Rods,” Dylan
joined the conversation, “Her enormous proboscis traps food
particles from the air and she subsists on those. Why, I bet she’s
enjoying your donut just as much as you.”

“I don’t get it,” Davis fixed Dylan with a
strange look, “Enormous pro—bis—sis?”

“Her long nose,” Dylan clarified.

“But I don’t think she has a long nose,”
Davis’ cheeks flushed, “It’s just about perfect.”

“You’ll have to forgive my friend,” Dylan
addressed Val, “He’s really into the huge nose look.”

Before Val could respond, Pastor Kennedy
announced, “The adults’ service is over now, so if you wanna go
meet up with your parents you’re free to go.” Val took the
opportunity to avoid more of Dylan’s teasing; she waved goodbye to
Davis, and ducked under Dylan’s arm. Pastor Kennedy smiled at her
as she made her way to the stairs, “Have a blessed day.”

“Uh, thanks. You too,” Val ascended the
stairs quickly; instead of trying to find her parents among the
herd milling in the main hall, she simply walked to their car and
waited there. In a few minutes, Dad appeared with Mom and they
exchanged stories of their first days at the new church.

“We were hardly even the last ones there,”
Mom said, “There was this one woman who came in halfway through—she
didn’t even apologize or anything, just sat down cool as you
please.”

Dad laughed, “And that wasn’t the best part.
When we were all singing and that one man in the front who had a
little too much Communion wine started belting out the hymns as
loud as he could—that’s what I love about church. You never know
what’s going to happen.”

It wasn’t until they were home that it
occurred to either of Val’s parents that she might want to talk
about her morning; Mom asked how it had been while they were
pulling into the driveway, at which point there was only time for
Val to summarize it as “ok”.

Val went to her room to change; she chose
the first pair of pants her eyes landed on, and paired them with a
form hugging black shirt. “Hey Val?” Mom called from outside her
door.

“Yeah?”

“Your father and I are going to a symposium
in a few minutes. It’s a lunch-to-dinner type of thing, so we
probably won’t be back till late.” Mom sounded almost like she
regretted leaving her daughter alone.

“Oh, that sounds fun,” Val replied
sarcastically as she pulled the shirt on and cracked her neck. It
felt nice to be out of that dress.

“Loads of fun,” Val couldn’t tell if Mom was
being sincere or not. “Anyway, I just wanted to let you know, so
that you don’t worry about us.”

Val opened her door; “Alright, I won’t
worry.” It wasn’t the first time her parents had left her alone;
she was quite good at fending for herself, especially since her
charge card had a ten-thousand dollar limit.

Mom nodded; she threw her arms around Val,
“I love you.” Mom could be weird sometimes. She waved to Val as Dad
held the front door open; he smiled and winked at Val as Mom
wobbled on painful heels down the stairs. A few more seconds and
the door was shutting behind them; Val sighed. She had no idea how
she was going to spend the rest of her day, seeing as to how she’d
already finished her homework.

An idea struck her. “Hey,” she texted
Keenan, “You wanna come hang out at my house? Parents are out.”

“Sure!” Keenan replied within a minute, “You
want me to bring lunch?”

Val thought about it for a moment; she had
plenty of food in her fridge, but takeout or something would be
nice. “Yes please. I’ll pay you back when you get here.”