New Believers Of God

CHAPTER FIVE

At Moon Middle School, the sixth graders were divided up into four teams, the Wolverines, Leopards, Panthers, and Stingrays. Shane and I were both Wolverines, while Ethan was a Leopard, and Victor and Daryl were Panthers.

With every day, we would begin by reporting to homeroom, which lasted about thirty minutes. Following this, we would have our three main subjects, called blocks, which each lasted about an hour and a half. In my case, I had writing for the first, math for the second, and the combined science and social studies for the third. In between these, we also had two electives, which alternated every other day. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I had gym and cooking, while on Tuesday and Thursday, I had violin and german. These too lasted for about another hour.

After the first block and elective, we would then have lunch. This was pretty much the only time of the day where me and the guys would have a chance to be together, so we wasted no time conversing. All of us brought our meals in brown paper bags, mostly consisting of the same food, sandwiches, chips, a type of fruit, and some kind of dessert. Even as we ate, we talked, focusing on topics every kid our age was into, such as video games, movies, the upcoming football season, and concerts happening in the city.

"Do you think the Steelers will make it without Ward?" Victor asked Shane.

"Oh yeah." he answered "They've got Brown and Sanders. That's more than enough."

"Are you buying a ticket for the Drake show?" Shane asked Ethan.

"I've been wanting to." he answered, "But everywhere I look, they're sold out."

"Do you play Call of Duty?" Ethan asked me.

"No." I answered, "My parents won't let me. I'm more into Mario anyway."

"Are you going to see Wreck It Ralph." I asked Daryl.

"I don't know." he answered "Maybe."

Eventually though, I began to think about what Kenneth told us the previous week. How his goal was to strengthen our relationship with God. For some strange reason, I couldn't get it off my mind. Those words he said had stuck with me, and I wanted to know if they felt the same.

"What did you think of Hangin' In last week?" I asked them "I mean, like the stuff Kenneth said?"

Each one of them stared at me in confusion.

"What about it?" Victor asked back.

"Didn't it mean anything to you?"

"Do you really think I cared about any of that?"

"Don't you think you maybe should?"

"What are you bringing this up for Cole?" Shane asked me.

"I just thought we could talk about it." I answered.

"Why?"

"Because I'm starting to feel like he might have been right. That Hangin' In's about more than just games and skits."

The four of them went dead silent as I made that statement. Then, a few seconds later, they all busted out laughing. Even Daryl seemed to get a kick out of it.

"Get real." said Ethan "If none of that stuff was there, no one would be coming."

"Yeah." said Victor "Give me a freaking break."

"You weren't actually serious," said Shane "Were you?"

I was, but after that reaction, didn't want to admit it.

"No." I lied, trying to fake a laugh "Of course not."

"Good." Shane replied, "You had me worried there."

It was this occurrence that made me realize how much these guys really didn't understand our religion. Sure, we were still kids, but at the same time, they were basically acting as if they didn't want to understand it. Their interest was completely nonexistent.

I guess that's simply the naivety of young Christians.