Church Boy (Kellic)

Three

"I think it's a great idea." My dad said mid-chew. "I mean, the church is a few minutes away from the house, you'd still have plenty of time to study, it'll be great for you to do little helps for the church, and whatnot, yeah?" He added in, chewing on his fries obnoxiously. My dad, he's a handsome man, but he can look pretty disgusting sometimes, especially when he loves the food in front of him. Like, he can switch from a classy business man to a disgusting, starving maniac within a snap of a finger.

"See! And besides, you're the one who wanted something new and something exciting to do in your spare time." Jen mocked me, using air quotation marks to put so much more emphasis on her words. Ugh, they're ganging up on me again. I think my best friend and my dad enjoys my pain whenever they agree on something that is opposed to what I have in mind. Maybe Jenna and I were switched at birth?

I rolled my eyes, taking a sip from the tall glass of my delicious drink, genuinely savoring each and every sip of it. I love this diner for numerous reasons, one of them being that their milkshakes are so, very delicious! Something about these just makes me feel all cozy and at-home. It's so weird because my dad could never imitate their milkshake even after so many attempts, so I don't really know where I get that feeling.

"So, what do you say?" My dad asks, shoving the last piece of fry that he had left in the little plastic tray thing, grabbing a napkin and, thankfully, wiping his mouth with it.

I sighed, thinking about it for a moment. I mean, yeah, I was thinking of something different and out of my ordinary, I just.. well, I think I got caught off-guard with the idea. I guess I wasn't expecting to find something so soon? I don't know. But, oh well, what the heck! "Okay, I'll do it!" I said, giggling a little, now feeling all giddy and excited about the idea.

"Great! I'll ask your aunt Gabriel to help me with signing you up, should be pretty easy with her help." My dad mumbled as he grabbed his phone from his pocket, dialing aunt Gabbie's number and calling her instantly. Aunt Gabriel is a very interesting lady. Out of dad's three siblings, for me, she stands out the most. She's in her late 30's and she's still single, unlike her younger siblings who all found their partners at either a young age or at a fair or "decent" age. My dad always tease her, saying that he'd gladly set her up on a blind date or something but she'd just react to him with a slap on his arm and a grunt of disapproval. Aunt Gabbie acts way older than her actual age, to be honest. She's a pretty lady and I guess she's just really cranky all the time, that's why people are kind of afraid to approach her. My dad also usually use the word "conservative" to describe her. And I kind of agree. Sometimes, I think she's stuck in the 80's, with the way that she dresses herself but don't get me wrong, though, I like her outfits. Her clothes are always so cool and pretty and nice.

Though she may be conservative, she claims that I am her favorite out of the 3 nieces and 5 nephews that she has. I take pride in that because I was actually able to gain that title even though at first, she found the way that I am as something out of the ordinary. She used to look at me as if I'm a weirdo, as if I am doing something wrong? I don't really know but my dad said that she's just not used to seeing a boy dress out of what she normally sees in the boys' section of every mall or store. I found that weird but, I accepted the judgment since I know that I can't always make people understand every single lil thing that I do.

"Y'know what else makes this all the more great?" Jenna asks as she nudged my arm, making me look at her and just seeing that shimmer of playfulness in her eyes made me want to just dismiss the conversation altogether but I settled with a simple roll of my eyes, a sigh escaping my lips. "You'd get to see that boy that you we're ogling on a while ago."

"See what boy?" My dad butted in, eyes slightly squinted as he looked at us suspiciously. Jenna started laughing like the true bully that she is and I had to actually kick her foot from under the table to make her stop. It worked though, she choked on her own breath as she shot daggers my way. My dad can be a little-too over-protective sometimes, much like Jenna. But I also tell him every single thing - that's just the type of father-son relationship that we have. Although in this case, I decided to not mention the boy to him just yet. Besides, it's merely an assumption of Jenna. Just because I was looking at him, doesn't mean I like him or whatever.

"Oh, nothing." She said in an over-the-top sing-song voice, the goofy smile once again appearing on her face, perfect teeth on show. The rest of our breakfast was spent with my dad and Jenna bullying me while I sat there with them, feeling both annoyed and quite excited at the same time.

--

"That's true! But what I don't get is why he even came up with the idea of giving teachers access to guns rather than just banning it altogether? I mean, I really don't get it." I expressed rather exasperated to my teacher, Mr. Perry. It's Monday today which basically means I have lessons until 12 noon, so that's why Mr. Perry is here. Mr. Perry has been my teacher for as long as I could remember. He's a very good friend of my dad and they've known each other since they were in college so he entrusted him to be my personal teacher. I don't really know what it's like to study in an actual school, though, since I've always been home-schooled but according to Jenna, it's pretty darn crazy.

"Exactly." He chuckled, packing his stuff in to this sling bag thing that he has. For a teacher, Mr. Perry looks very casual and cool. He has tattoos dancing along his skin and he used to have these very wide holes on his earlobes and I really liked them! He got them stitched a few years back, though. I bet they hurt a lot! But he still looks very cool. I like Mr. Perry and he's very smart, too. "Anyways, your assignment is to research and read more about the current state of our government, focus on the current issues and laws being implemented and I want you to write a reflection paper on your findings. We good?" He smiled at me, waiting for me to answer as I messily scribbled down everything that he just told me in one breathing.

With my tongue slightly poking between my teeth, I try to rush out the words from my pen to the paper, my hand getting a cramp after. I shook my hand aggressively, trying to ease the pain, making Mr. Perry laugh. "Got it!" I said, showing him my notebook.

He nodded and stood up from one of the office chairs that we have in my study room, bag in one hand, phone isn the other. "Good, I'll see you tomorrow, then." He said, patting my shoulder and just like that, he's off, leaving me feeling alone and stuck in our house again.

I don't hate our house, no, I love it. I love everything about it - from the exterior itself to the happy memories that we made here, I love every single bit of it. What I don't like about it is how it makes me feel so small and lonely, especially whenever dad and Mr. Perry leaves. Yes, Stephanie is around here somewhere, but I always feel like I'd just be bothering her if I were to look for her and chat. She's a good company but I really don't want to disturb her or be some sort of a burden.

This has always been my dilemma. One might think that I'm just being bratty or problematic but the feeling of being alone is what I do not like the most. It's always making my brain run faster than I can catch up on and I hate it. What sucks the most is the fact that I can't bother Jenna either. She always tells me that I shouldn't hesitate on contacting her whenever but I don't want to disrupt her from her school stuff.

I wonder what it's like to be in a normal school setting. Is it better than being home-schooled? Are the people there nice? Would I learn more if I were in an actual school? Would I feel dumb if I were to study with other kids?

I sighed to myself, dragging my feet back to my room, bag mercilessly being dragged with me from across the hall. Usually, after the study hours, I'd just go back to my room and do whatever. Right now, my room is in tip-top shape; I cleaned it this morning. Standing in the middle of my comfy room, I twist and turn, looking for something for me to do while my dad is away. I stopped spinning in front of the mirror, looking at myself. I look okay today, I look kind of tired. Well, the study about politics really did wore me out but it's too early into the day, I shouldn't even be complaining.

My little staring competition with myself is cut short when I hear my phone beeping from where I left it before Mr. Perry arrived this morning. Unplugging it from its charger, I swiped the screen and read the message from my dad.

You're signed up and scheduled for service every Sunday, during the first mass. Though they mentioned about needing an extra help every afternoon since one kid moved out of town. Don't forget to give your aunt Gabbie a call and thank her, 'kay? I'll be home earlier than usual. Love you!:--)

I perked up to my dad's message. Ah, finally, I'd have something to do on my afternoons! Maybe Jen was right, maybe this isn't too bad after all. I mean, I may not be having the same social interaction as someone who goes to an actual school but at least I'd finally be able to mingle with other people outside my house! I'll make sure that I'd be able to gain new friends, so that I'd be able to invite other people over besides Jenna during the weekends!