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Chapter 3 The Bench by the Sidewalk

The perspective Of Lila Manning -

I realized That night that I desperately wanted God in my Life for years. I always wanted him to be real. Jesus, a name that I heard tossed around all my life, became the sweetest sounding thing I'd ever heard, I didn't have to carry around my burdens any more,. my hate , my sadness, He, like, physically lifted them. And that's how I got saved. I guess that's where my story begins.

After that night at church Camp, Life started looking up. It felt pretty great to love people, not struggle with trusting them, or judging them . I just loved them. I was afraid to go home, but when I got home, my mom and I actually got along! Funny how people quit arguing so much quicker when you don't argue back.

She said she noticed a change in me and I told her all about what happened. To be perfectly honest, I felt a little uncomfortable talking to my mom about spiritual stuff.

One day while we were doing the dishes she brought up a different uncomfortable topic.

"So... Do you have a boyfriend yet?"

I smiled and raised an eyebrow at her . "Mom. Seriously?"

"What? How would I know? You've never told me anything."

"No, mom. Dating is . . .stupid."

"Really? I find that strange considering how gorgeous you are."

"Mom! " I said with a laugh. "I don't date because I think dating is pointless .. . Not because I haven't been asked out."
In fact, I couldn't even count how many times I'd been asked out. Not to sound conceited .
I'd never known why guys liked me, I mean, I had a lot of friends prettier than me, and a heck of a lot better at flirting than me. Even at church camp, three guys asked me out. The day after I got saved.Three! two of them said I was the nicest person they ever met.

Me.

But none of the guys who liked me were the one I really wished was interested in me. Jordan.

"Or maybe it's because you just haven't found the right one yet." Mom said.

"maybe." I said distractedly. Thinking that maybe I had. My mind wandered to him.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, and quite muscular. The kind of build that could make a girl feel safe from anything.
His eyes were a pale grey-green, his skin was smooth and super tanned, his smile was indescribably cute and almost blindingly white. His light brown hair was always perfectly styled. And On top of that, he smelled just like the mall. ..In a good way. It was almost heavenly.


But incredibly , none of that was what attracted me. Ok, maybe I should say it was more than just all of that. It was his kindness that really did it.
The very first day of camp I sat alone on a bench , regretting ever agreeing to go. I only did because a local youth pastors wife - who was a friend of my Grandma's - invited me to go for free. And I was looking for any excuse to get away from home for any period of time.
Anyway, so I was sitting on this bench watching people go by. Pairs of girls would pass, giggling and chatting, but no one said a word to me. At first I didn't want anyone to, but after a while I started feeling left out, and kinda lonely, wondering if the entire week would be like this.
That's when a group of jock- type guys came toward me, heading to the basketball court and talking about how it'd been "way too long" since they'd all played a game together. I blinked. Was it possible for so many guys to be that attractive?!And here I was expecting this place to be a prairie-full of backwards homeschoolers with acne and pocket protectors.
I put my head down before any of them noticed me staring .
I watched their shoes pass in front of me one by one. . . until a pair stopped.
"Are you okay?" he asked.

I slowly raised my eyes to meet his. "Um.. Yeah, I'm just.... new here. " New here?! It was the first day of camp, everyone was new! "Like... I don't have any friends here."

"So you haven't met anyone yet?"

" No, I'm sure I will though. Ya know, it's only the first day and all." I wondered if my words were making any sense at all.

"Jordan , you coming ?" One of his friends asked, walking backwards toward the court.

" I'll be there in a minute, just start without me." He answered, then he sat beside me. "I'm Jordan."

" I'm Lila," I said, shaking the hand he held out to me.

" So no one else came from your church?"

His attractiveness made me a little nervous . I'd never before had trouble conversing with someone if I saw it as a means of getting something I wanted. And I was fairly certain I might want him. So what was the stinking problem?! " No . The church I came with - their youth group is on a missions trip this week. To Guac- Er, uh" It's okay. Cute laugh! Just cover with the cute laugh.

He smiled. "Guacamole? Or Guatemala?"

I repeated the cute laugh while responding, "The latter."

"Well I guess that's a good reason not to come to camp. Why didn't you go?"

"Oh, I don't-" Wait. If he's a christian, Don't tell him you're not one. "Well..... Because I wanted to come here of course."

" Well, you made an excellent choice! You're seriously in for the best week of your life. What team are you on?

Huh?
"oh, " I had forgotten that the whole camp was split up into teams. This year, all of the teams were named after cartoons. " I don't know yet. What team are you on?"

He laughed. "I'm on team Strawberry Shortcake. I don't even know who that is!"

I gasped. " You've never heard of strawberry shortcake? You know," I sang the little theme song thing. "Straw-ba-ba-ba-ba-berry, Strawberry Shortcake?"

To my amazement, he STILL didn't know who it was.

He simply stared blankly at me. " Is she like... A superhero?"

"haha! No, she's a..." How does one describe Strawberry Shortcake? How do I keep this conversation from being lame?
"She's a little girl who lives with her cat and dog in a giant strawberry in this ... Sugar land type place...Gosh, I used to want to be her so bad."

" Where are her parents? Don't they live with her?"

"She doesn't have any! She has friends, but no parents. That's the beauty of it! " He was giving me a questioning stare. As if that didn't sound so great. "What?"

" Well, it's just that I personally wouldn't like to grow up without my parents... Even if I lived in a giant strawberry."

"Really? Why?"

"Well, I guess cuz...." He looked down bashfully. "I'm kind of a major mama's boy."

He was so cute! I started to think this camp might not stink all that bad after all. "Aw, that's really sweet."

" My friends find it hilarious. They never cease to make fun of me. What about you, daddy's girl or mama's girl?"

" um, my dad kinda left when I was little, he's barely ever around. And my mom and me, well..."

He understandingly moved away from the topic. "Ah, I get it. Anyway! So what's so great about this Strawberry girl? Does she even teach you how to speak Spanish? "

I laughed . " Well, no-"

"French?"

"No, but-"

"German?!"

I laughed. "No But ! her movies do smell amazing."

" They, smell amazing?"

"Mm hm! Her movies , her books, her toys, it all smells like strawberries."

"No way, I'm fairly certain that I would have known if scented DVD's exsisted."

"I'm telling the truth! Ask anyone! "

He gave me a skeptical look.

We talked for a while about Strawberry Shortcake, people who were walking by, and He told me all about what to expect the coming week. He'd been to this camp three times already.
A few times he brought up spiritual things, and how awesome the services were. And each time I casually avoided the topic.
While we were talking, I noticed several female passersby glaring at me. It wasn't hard to figure out why. I mean, Jordan was probably the most good looking guy at this camp. Maybe in all of Indiana. Possibly in the entire country.
What was hard to figure out :
Why was he talking to me?
Eventually I had to meet my camp counselor. I was to do so at 1:15, in the cafeteria.

Jordan surprised me (once again.), when he asked " Do you want me to walk you there? I know you've never been here, so.... "

"um."
Why did I just say um?! of course I do! Yes! "That would be very nice, thank you." I was pretty sure I blushed.

I realized while we were walking that he had completely ditched that B ball game with his friends.
" Thank you, really. For making me feel so... Welcome."

" No problem. I hope you like your counselor. . . And I hope you're on my team. "

"Me too." He had completely made me forget I didn't want to be there.
I smiled as he walked away. Meee too.