The Beaten and The Ginger

12. Sunday School

Sunday mornings meant church. Most of the time, Simon zoned out during the sermon and today was no exception. The worst part about church was that most everybody from school went there because it is the only good church close to the town. At least Billy didn't go to church.

Simon sat near the back with his mom. Piggy sat with his aunt and uncle next to him. The twins had to sit at separate sides of the church or else they would cause trouble. Jack sat up front with his parents to pretend like he was important. Ralph also sat up front next to Jack's family.

The sermon finally ended with the choir singing crappy church hymns with screechy voices.

Now, it was time for Sunday school. Simon walked with Piggy to the room. Since they were the first there, they got the comfy chairs.

A few other people came in including Jack and Ralph. A blond girl sat next to Simon. She was normally quiet and Simon believed her name was Hannah. Jack sat in the seat next to Hannah and Ralph took the seat farthest away from Simon, even though he had to force someone to move. The twins never showed up. Apparently they were forced to go home after squishing slugs in the pew bibles.

The youth group leader came in. She was a nice lady who always made exaggerated faces. Her name was Ms. Dinah

"What a wonderful Sunday morning!" She smiled at everybody in the class. "We will start the class by talking about our weeks. Who wants to go first?"

Everybody stayed silent. Then Ralph raised his hand.

"Well, my aunt and uncle had a son this week." Ralph began, but Jack burst out laughing, which caused him to pause.

"That's very nice. If you're so giggly Jack, then maybe you should tell us what happened to you this past week." Ms. Dinah smiled at Jack.

"Fine." Jack sighed after his laughing fit. "I tripped a guy at school, and he didn't even react. Then my dumb teacher tried to make me apologize, but the other guy should have apologized because he messed my day up."

"That is not nice at all. You should apologize to that boy and ask for forgiveness. Now, continue around the circle. Hannah, it is your turn."

"My hamster died." Hannah whispered.

"That is horrible. I am sorry for your loss." Ms. Dinah frowned. "How did it die?"

"It got ground up in my paper shredder." Hannah sniffled.

Jack chuckled next to her and Ms. Dinah was speechless.

"Moving on. Simon?"

Simon flushed when everybody looked at him. "Uh... some idiotic ginger caused me to fail a dissection in biology."

"I'm not idiotic!" Jack stood up and Ms. Dinah shooed him back to his seat.

After the rest of the people went, Simon looked over to Jack to see if he was still annoyed at Simon's comment. It seemed he was pouting. As the teacher continued on with the lesson, Simon found himself looking at Jack. He stared at Jack's face for a moment before Piggy nudged him and smirked.

Ms. Dinah finally ended the lesson and her long-winded speech about Moses.

"At 1:00 today we will be having a church lunch in the basement. I hope you will all join!" Ms. Dinah smiled and the students sped out of the classroom.

"Thank the lord. That took twenty minutes too long." Piggy groaned as he stood up.

Simon stood up along with him. "It's already 12:50. We need to get to the lunch."

"Do you think there's mac n' cheese?" Piggy asked as they walked out of the classroom.

"There's always mac n' cheese," Simon responded.