Patterns of Blues

Chapter 22

Kind of a filler chapter, but whatevs.

Sunday was officially his least favorite day of the week. Mrs. Corden had woken him up at seven, which was outrageous for a weekend, and helped him get dressed in much-too-fancy clothes. Dark jeans and a polo shirt, both of which were slightly too big. Then she combed out his hair, which he had decided was a feeling he hated, before taking a purple bottle and spraying some goopy stuff in her hands and styling it up. Niall frowned at his reflection and moved to flatten his hair again, but Mrs. Corden caught his hand gently,

"You look handsome, lovely, don't mess it up."

"I look kinda silly," he replied seriously, glowering from the mirror over to her. Mrs. Corden laughed and let go of his wrist, smiling adoringly at him,

"That's not true. You could never look silly." Niall didn't believe her one bit but decided to leave his hair alone, not wanting to hurt her feelings,

"Why are we supposed to look all fancy?"

"We're going to church," she responded with a sparkling grin, brushing out her already-perfect hair. Niall frowned again. He remembered how Shawn would talk about church, but he never stopped to ask him what it was all about,

"Why?"

"Because we get to learn about Jesus," Mrs. Corden responded as though it was the most ordinary thing in the world, but her answer only confused him more,

"Who's Jesus?" Mrs. Corden stopped brushing her hair and looked down at him, a soft smile on her lips,

"Jesus loves you so much, Ni. We're going to go this morning to talk about Him, and then later tonight will be a huge potluck with lots of food, and you'll be able to make new friends." Discouraged by her response, Niall bit his bottom lip in consideration,

"How can someone love you if you've never even met them?"

"Oh, love, Jesus already knows you. He knew you before you were born and watched you grow up. We go to Church so we can try to know Him." Jesus sounded like a creepy dude.

"Okay," he murmured, unconvinced.

The car ride to church was fun, Mrs. Corden turned the radio station on full-blast, and Mr. Corden joined her as they sang the lyrics. Niall laughed from the back as she started dancing in her seat, and she looked over to encourage him to join in, which he didn't do, but smiled all the same. When they pulled in, Niall was surprised by how many people were in the parking lot walking for the doors of the building. Jesus must be a popular guy,

"Is Shawn gonna be here?" He asked, staring up at Mr. Corden when he opened the car door for him. He gave him a confused look,

"Who's that, Buddy?"

"My best friend from school," Niall mumbled, suddenly embarrassed, "He goes to church too." Mr. Corden smiled at him and unclipped the seatbelt when Niall had trouble with it,

"Well, there are a ton of churches in the world, so I'm not sure which one your friend goes to."

"How many friends does Jesus have?" He asked, bewildered by his response. Mr. Corden chuckled politely and closed the door behind him when he jumped out, but didn't answer his question. Mrs. Corden offered her hand to him, and Niall quickly took it, not wanting to get lost.

Inside was a huge gymnasium with about thirty tables spread across the carpeted floor. On the back wall were several doors that Mrs. Corden said led to Sunday school classrooms, which invoked thirty more questions to pop into his mind, but he didn't get a chance to ask them because they entered the lobby, where dozens of people were gathered around, sipping coffee and chatting about. Niall squeezed Mrs. Corden's hand tightly, silently begging her not to let go. He hadn't been around so many adults before, and they were all frighteningly tall compared to himself. She squeezed back and knelt next to him,