The Right and the Real (25 page)

Megan yanked so hard on the passenger door it bounced back, hitting her arm as they tumbled into the van, practically on top of each other.

“Abort plan! Abort plan!” shouted Liz. She slammed the door, and Krista peeled out of the lot.

I clambered over the seats and met Liz in the middle of the van. “What happened?”

“Wait!” Krista said. “Don’t tell yet. I’m trying to drive, and I want to hear.”

“Pull over, then,” I told her.

Krista turned into the Save-A-Bunch parking lot, found a spot, and killed the engine. “Okay,” she said. “Talk.”

The streetlight shone in through the windshield, and for a second, Megan and Liz looked at each other, not speaking, and then they did that sister thing and said at the same time, “Oh, my God. It was so awful.”

“So you know I slipped him a note, right?” Liz asked.

I nodded.

“Well, Mira found it before he did.”

“What?” Krista and I both yelled.

“Did she see you put it in his pocket?” I asked.

“I don’t think so,” Liz said. “What happened was, you know when I dropped my lip gloss and your dad bent over to pick it up for me? Well, I think your dad was so focused on the fact that I’d said blue raspberry, he missed the part where I told him about the note.”

“We tried to watch him the rest of the night,” Megan said, taking up the story. “And neither of us saw him get anything out of his pocket, but Mira was always next to him, so we figured he was waiting for the right moment.”

“Except he never tried to get away from her,” Liz said. “So we started to worry.”

“When the dance was over,” Megan told us, “I asked him if he would walk me out to wait for my mom, and he said yes, but then Mira came along too.”

“And Josh,” added Liz.

“Anyway, we were all standing in the lobby, and Mira told your dad she needed a mint and reached into his jacket pocket to get it, and she ended up with the note instead,” Megan said.

My head started to spin, and I realized I’d been holding my breath during their whole story. I inhaled deeply and let it out slowly. Josh was going to kill me. I’d promised not to do anything stupid, and now Liz and Megan had gotten caught. Plus, if the church really was holding Dad hostage, they’d ruined any chance we had of getting him out of there.

“What happened?” Krista prodded them.

“Well, Mira read the note and she turned on Mr. Cross and demanded to know what it meant. He looked totally confused. He obviously didn’t have a clue.”

“So your dad goes, ‘What is it?’ and then Mira freaked out!”

“She totally yelled so everyone could hear,” Megan said. “She shouted at him that he was having an affair. And get this, she actually told your dad that he’s not allowed to take a second wife in the first year of marriage. How weird is that?”

“Your dad’s face went all white, and he was all ‘I am not having an affair,’ but she wouldn’t listen. And then some of the disciples came over and tried to calm her down, and so she read the note out loud,” Liz said.

“She was all, ‘Listen to this:
You’ll have to leave everything behind. At the end of the dance, walk me to my car and get in.
’”

“And then that disciple guy,” Liz said, “the one with the brown beard—”

“Not a disciple,” Megan said. “The Teacher.”

“Whatever.” Liz gave her a look for interrupting. “Anyway, he asked your dad who gave him that note. I wasn’t sure what to do. If we ran out of there, then they might get suspicious, and so far no one seemed to know it was us, so—”

“And we didn’t know if you were out there yet either,” Megan said.

My breathing was totally calm, like right before I go on stage, but my heart thumped hard in my chest, and I still felt light-headed trying to process the whole scene. The sound of fabric tearing filled the van as Liz tugged at the front of her dress and the material gave way.

“Oh, thank God. I’ve been choking all night,” she said.

“Me too,” Megan said. “Help me rip mine.”

“You guys!” I said. “We’re waiting for the rest of the story here.”

“Oh, sorry,” Megan said. “Okay, so the Teacher was demanding your father admit who the note was from, but your dad didn’t know. So I said really loudly to Liz, ‘Do you still have that
Blue Raspberry
lip gloss, because my lips are really chapped.’ And Liz said, ‘
Blue Raspberry lip gloss is the best. It really, really helps when you need it.
’”

“Then your dad started to cough really hard,” Liz said, “and his eyes bugged out, and everyone patted him on the back. We knew he totally got it then, but we didn’t think he’d be able to get away. So I said I planned to buy some more Blue Raspberry lip gloss
tomorrow afternoon,
thinking we could break him out then.”

“But then Josh got mad and ordered us to shut up about lip gloss,”
Megan said, “because he totally knew what we were up to, but he’d helped us, so he was kind of screwed if we got caught, and then that Teacher guy got really red in the face and told your dad they’d have to go talk privately about his doubts in God.” She’d been talking so fast she had to gasp for a breath and Liz took over.

“Just when we thought we would get away with it, Josh’s mom, Mrs. Peterson, says—”

“‘The note was from me!’ ” Megan said.

“Josh’s mom said it was from her?” I asked, confused.

“Yeah, I know. Weird, right?” Megan agreed.

“Wait a minute,” Krista said. “You lost me. Why would she say that?”

“We have no idea,” Liz said. “But that’s when things got totally crazy.”

“Josh’s dad was there, and he completely lost it. He yelled about fire and brimstone and hell and harlots and called her names until she cried. Some of the other chaperones tried to get the rest of the kids back into the main room or outside, but everyone crowded around listening.”

“Josh’s dad banished Mrs. Peterson from their house,” Liz added. “He told her she wouldn’t get a cent from him, and he’d never let her see her sons again.”

“What did Josh do?” I asked.

“At first he was too stunned to do anything, but then he tried to tell her she shouldn’t lie, and he knew she didn’t give your dad that note, but she stood there, her face hard, like stone. She’s really tiny, you know, but she looked big and strong, even though black mascara tears ran down her cheeks. She didn’t move. She faced them all and said they were
not
having an affair, but they both wanted to leave, and
she had offered to help your dad by driving him in her car, and that’s why she put the note in his pocket!”

“What did my dad do?” I asked.

“Well…,” Megan said.

“He looked like he wanted to go with her, but also like he was scared to stand up to them,” Liz said.

“And?”

“And so Josh’s mom said, ‘Are you coming with me or not?’” Megan said.

“But before your dad could answer,” Liz said, “the disciples whisked him away.”

“Oh, my God,” Krista said.

“And then we ran outside, and you guys were waiting for us.”

We sat there in silence, thinking for I don’t know how long, trying to make sense of it all. When Megan’s phone beeped, we jumped. She pulled it out of her purse. “It’s a text message from Josh.”

“What does it say?”

In a quivering voice, Megan read it aloud. “Mom kicked out. J’s dad in lockdown.”

“I KNOW WHAT LOCKDOWN IS IN A PRISON,” KRISTA
said, “but what do you think it means in a church?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’m kind of scared, you guys,” Megan said. “Maybe we should tell Mom.”

“You promised to keep it a secret,” I reminded her.

“No one’s going to say anything,” Liz said. She put her arm around her sister and whispered something into her ear, and Megan nodded.

“First, let’s see what we can find out,” Krista said. “We’ll start with the Internet.”

“I already tried that,” I said.

“No offense,” Krista said, “but I am a Google queen.”

It was true. When I had a computer, I mostly used it for typing my papers and sending e-mail, so it wasn’t that surprising I hadn’t found much about the church. Krista can find anything on the web, though. If it’s out there, she’s your girl.

“Can we get some coffee?” Liz asked.

“Excellent idea,” Krista said.

We ended up at the Coffee Klatch. Liz and Krista went straight for the computers, but Megan followed me to the counter, where Jezziray made our drinks. I got Orange Bliss tea because I was already too shaky to have caffeine.

The place was totally deserted except for a couple of guys dressed all in black playing backgammon in the corner and Trent, who was at one of the computer stations. Megan took the drinks over to Krista and Liz, and I made a bit of a circuitous route so I could go past Trent.

I hip-checked his shoulder and said, “Can’t get enough of this place?” Immediately, I felt overwhelmed by guilt. I couldn’t believe I’d just flirted when my dad was in so much trouble.

He gave me his big grin. “Oh, hi. Nah, I’m just here ’cause Amanda wanted to go to a party.”

My face totally crumpled. The worst part was, Trent saw it.

“Oh, no…it’s not like that,” he said. “I came in to close for her so Jezz isn’t here alone. Amanda left already.”

He probably saw the relief too, even though I tried not to show it. “That’s cool,” I said.

“Are you all right?” Trent asked. “You look kind of…pale.”

“Well, I—”

“Hey, Jamie,” Krista called over her shoulder to me. She still had her blond wig on, and Trent did a double take when he looked at her. “This is what I’ve got. Lockdown: mostly used in prison—but Wikipedia says this too: it’s an emergency protocol to prevent people or information from escaping, which usually can only be ordered by someone in command.”

“Who’s in lockdown?” Trent asked.

“My dad,” I said. I sat in one of the plastic chairs and gave him the update in a few sentences. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Maybe we should call the police,” Trent said. “I mean, they’re holding him hostage.”

“No way,” I said. “They’ll get my mom involved.”

“We could try breaking him out,” he suggested.

Trent was so sweet. “I wish we could,” I said. “I don’t even know where they’ve got him, though.”

We had to figure out some sort of plan, but every part of me ached with exhaustion. Not just my body either, but my brain too. I leaned closer to Trent and looked at the computer monitor, needing a distraction. “What are you doing?”

“Oh, nothing. Just updating ‘Coffee Clips.’”

“I’ve never seen those. Can I watch one?”

“Sure.”

I shifted my chair closer to his until our thighs were pressed up against each other. “Hey!” I said. “That’s me. Who said you could video me?”

“Uh, maybe you should watch a different one,” he said.

I looked at him. Color crept up his neck.

“Why?”

“No reason.” He tried to grab the mouse from me, but I held on and clicked the video.

The clip was about thirty seconds long, and at first, the only thing it showed was me making a drink and laughing with a customer you couldn’t see. And then red text started flashing across the bottom of the screen.

Check out our HOT new Barista Babe! Check out our HOT new Barista Babe!

“Trent!” I said. But I couldn’t help laughing. I knew my face must be bright pink, and when I looked at him, he stared pointedly at the computer.

Krista let out a little gasp, followed by a squeal.

“What have you got?” I asked her, jumping up.

“Yeah, what’d you find?” Trent asked, hurrying over to her station too, the back of his neck a deep red.

“Hang on,” she mumbled. We watched her mouthing the words as she read.

“What is it?” we asked.

“Give me a sec.” We all peered over her shoulder, but she pushed us away. “Don’t crowd me.”

I tried to see the URL, but it was too long to remember. I gave her another thirty seconds and then I couldn’t stand it anymore. “Just tell us already.”

She looked up at us. “I am soooo good. You’re gonna love me for forever. Your dad might not be married to Mira after all.”

“What? Really?”

“Listen to this,” she said. “I found an interview with a woman who got kicked out of the church.”

“Read it aloud,” Megan said.

“Okay…
My husband kicked me out and,”
Krista read, “blah, blah, blah…Here’s the part you need to hear.…” We all leaned in closer. “
I went to a lawyer and when he tried to file divorce papers, we found out none of the weddings the Teacher performs are legal. They’re what you call spiritual commitments. He doesn’t have a license to marry people.
”

“Oh, my God! This is so great!” I said. I threw my arms around Krista, knocking her wig askew.

“It doesn’t get him out of lockdown,” she said, “but that’s one good thing, at least.”

Not hearing anything about my dad all weekend made me super edgy and tense, and I snapped at Krista every time she told me to try to chill. By Sunday I just wanted to be alone, so I went back to the motel, claiming I had homework and needed to be at work early on Monday, so it would just be easier. Both were true anyway.

When I heard LaVon come through the fire door, I jumped up and opened my door. “Hi.”

“Hey, James. Nice kitty cats.”

I looked down at the kittens playing with balls of yarn on my pajamas. “I’m a fashion goddess.”

LaVon held up his cloth grocery bag. “Wanna fill me in on your dad while we cook?”

“Okay.”

I sliced carrots (after he showed me how) and told him the whole story. LaVon’s large hand moved his knife expertly through the garlic, mincing it in seconds.

“You know where he’s at?” he asked.

“Not exactly. I mean, we think he’s in one of the disciple trailers.”

“Find out. I’ll go get him.”

“What?” I asked. “You can’t do that!”

“Like hell I can’t. I’ll walk in there and drag his ass out. Who’s gonna stop me?”

“The police?”

“Be long gone before they get there.” He picked up a mushroom the size of my hand and chopped off the stem, then he slid his knife through it and thick slices fell away.

“I asked you to go to the church before, and you said no,” I pointed out.