Proving Webster Wrong

Chapter One -- Chloe

Chapter One

Chloe

This is not the story of a girl and a boy longing to escape their small town, nor is it the story of a summer spent at the beach. It is, however, a story that began with a small church -- one not located on or near any sort of dirt road -- with people standing around the yard in their after service groups. The southern summer air pressed down making me feel as if I were smothering. I could feel the hairs the had escaped from my ponytail sticking to my forehead from the sweat. A breeze seemed more like a fantasy than something that could possibly happen in real life.

"Chloe, are you ready?" Mom's hand rested on my shoulder like she thought she may have to pull me away from the conversation and force me into the car. I don't think she ever realizes how ready I am to leave, how it's not my choice that we hang around for twenty minutes socializing.

I had a hard time sitting still long enough to get through the service which resulted in a lot of fidgeting and doodling on my notes so it would have made sense for me to be happy to have the chance to be standing up and stretching before having to be smushed into the backseat of the car with my sisters and their childish chatter. Still, I was ready to get home. To get home and change and relax for a little while. A nap probably wouldn't happen but relaxation would still be nice.

I gave a little nod over my shoulder to her as she walked away. Terri-Beth continued chattering at me, as always she had not noticed my mom or the fact that I wanted to be somewhere in doors, not outside in the heat of the day. I adjusted the bag holding my things for morning -- a bible, pens, a small notepad, and my Sunday School booklet -- as well as my wallet and cellphone so that the strap didn't cut into my shoulder so much. My fidgeting didn't interrupt her story at all.

Maybe it made me a bad friend but I wasn't sure what she was talking about. There had been so many topics thrown together that I had lost track. She may have mentioned how excited she was that it was now the summer before senior year a few times, I knew that. It was something she had been going on about non-stop for the past month before school even let out and the three days since break had officially started.

"Terri-Beth," I said in a soft voice. She didn't even blink. I tried again, this time in a harsher voice that I worry may disturb the elderly ladies in a group to the left of us. They are all too busy with the latest church gossip to notice. That and they are practically yelling at each other as it is.

The heat that had been biting into the back of my neck disappeared, replaced by the shade of a shadow. "I'm coming," I said without turning around, sure that it was one of my parents telling me that we needed to leave.

The person laughed, almost in a nervous way, and I felt the shadow shift. That laugh didn't belong to either of my parents. I didn't want to have to turn around and face who ever it actually was now that I had said something stupid.

"Hey!" Terri-Beth smiled big enough to the person that the shallow dimple on her left cheek showed as she finally broke from her monologue. She threw her dark tangled curls over her shoulder.

"Hi," replied a shaky voice.

I turned to see who had come to relieve me of the best friend duty of listening Terri-Beth. It wasn't that I had a problem with her exactly but the girl never really did know when to take a breath.

"Andrew," I said. The preacher's son stood with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his khaki pants, bible tucked under one arm. I had to squint my eyes to look at him since the sun was shining bright over his right shoulder.

"Chloe, can I talk to you about something?" His eyes jumped around giving away that he was still just as shy as ever. He wrapped one hand around his bible in a tight grip and kept the other in his pocket.