FAITH: Lily & GOD

Chapter 16

"You look like you're in a good mood" Sarah comments when Lily sits beside her on the bus.

Lily's brow furrowed. "I am always in a good mood, silly" she pinched Sarah.

"Hey! What was that for?" Sarah glared at her.

"Sorry, it wasn't intentional" sarcasm evident in her tone.

"Yeah, it isn't" Sarah rolled her eyes.

All participating students were getting into the two coach buses rented for the trip. Lily and Sarah were on the first bus. They had to come in much earlier so that they didn't have to wait too long in line to enter the bus.

Lily was a bit late, but Sarah managed to keep a seat for her.

Lily opened her bag and brought out the leftover snacks from the previous day, she handed some to Sarah and they ate in silence. Waiting for all the students to fill the buses.

"Hi," a guy said from beside Lily. She turned to look at the man and saw that it was Matthew, Fendi was sitting by his side.

Lily smiled and then tapped Sarah to look. "Hi guys, how are you both?" she asked.

Sarah also waves at them, unable to say anything because she has her mouth full.

"We are good, hope you both are better?" Fendi asked with a wide grin.

"Yes, we are thank you" Sarah answered when she swallowed what was in her mouth.

The bus began to move. A few teachers were assigned to each bus and the ones assigned to their bus were three sitting at the front. Mr. Larry is one of them.

"I'm sure you guys are excited about this," Sarah said.

Matthew and Fendi looked at them. A smile graced their lips.

"Yes we are, it's something we really wanted to practicalize. Like do, you get?" Fendi said, the smile never ending on her lips.

"Yeah, we do" Lily nods. "It's actually a good feeling" she smiled. "You know the aftermath. Even if you're stressed out from all the work, the fact that you put smiles on people's face means a lot" Lily explained.

"I'm sure it does" Matthew agreed.

They stayed quiet. Only the noise from some gossiping students, the engine of the car working and the noise from the busy street filled the atmosphere.

"Have you guys considered?" Fendi asked.

Lily and Sarah looked at the pair, questioning looks on their face.

"Considered what?" Sarah asked.

"Remember we asked about joining your outreach team the other day?" Matthew reminded them.

"Oh yeah," Sarah said when it dawned on her.

"We remember. We are still considering, but I think we tal- wait, I thought we said you guys could come to our next outreach?" Sarah asked, her forehead scrunched.

Fendi's eyes widened.

"Oh yeah, sorry" she laughed awkwardly.

"Guess we forgot" Matthew rubbed the back of his neck. "Do you know when we would go for the next outreach?" he asked.

Lily chuckled. "We are already heading for one now" she pointed.

Matthew and Fendi chuckled. "Yes, we are," they said together.

The rest of the ride was filled with silence most of the time. Some students were already sleeping, and a few were awake either using their phones, talking with their friends or sitting partners, or looking out the window.

Sarah was sitting close to the window, so she was looking out and was slowly falling asleep. Lily noticed and poked her hand.

"There's a massive traffic now and according to Mr. Larry, we're halfway closer to our destination. Sleeping or taking a short nap wouldn't hurt" she said.

Sarah yawned and then nodded her head. Lily made a small pillow for her to rest her head so her head wouldn't fall to the side.

"Thank you" she muttered sleepily then closed her eyes.

Lily on the other hand had nothing to do at that moment. She brought some novels to read but didn't feel like reading anything. She took out her phone and went straight to Joshua's message. He had sent her one and she's just seeing it now.

L- I didn't know you texted till I opened my phone now. I am good, how are you? Can you update me on the building for the center? Maybe you can shoot up the prices and all the others we talked about the previous day in our group chat.

She sent it and waited for his reply. He wasn't online at the moment, so she switched off her data to try to read something. She picked up one of the novels in her bag and then opened to her bookmarked page to continue.

A few more hours into the drive, the bus stopped at a garden-like place, most students who were napping woke at the stop and looked around in confusion. Sarah included.

"Are we there yet?" she asked groggily, rubbing the sleep off her eyes.

Lily looked around trying to figure that out.

"Guys, we have a few more miles before we reach the inn we are lodging in, so if you guys would love to stretch or just take a walk, let's do so now. It's almost evening and no one would be allowed to leave their hostel once we settle in. So, get going guys, come on" Mr. Larry announced and everyone got on their feet to exit the bus.

Lily and Sarah as always waited for the crowd to disperse before leaving. Matthew and Fendi noticed and waited also, when there was much crowd inside, Matthew and Fendi stood up and walked to Lily's side.

"You aren't coming out?" Fendi asked.

Lily looked up at her, Sarah still was in a sleeping state.

"We are just going to hang in here for a moment, you guys go" Lily smiled.

They nodded, looked at each other, and walked out of the bus.

Lily's forehead scrunched as she looked at them departing from the bus. "Do you have any negative feelings about them?" she looked at Sarah.

Sarah looked really tired like the sleep did nothing to relieve her a bit. She yawned the shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know" she stretched "They just seem a bit too close, maybe" she shrugged again.

"Okay" Lily sighed "Want to go out now? We don't get to leave our room once we settle in" Sarah nodded then got up with the help of Lily and they exited the bus to get some fresh air.