And there he sat, a smug smile plastered on his face as he watches his father lecture all of us 'delinquents'. Being the son of a preacher, you would think this boy would hold a little more respect and kindness for others, like hell he does. I question his intentions daily. I know he thinks all of us are stupid, petty, ignorant fools, but he is something worse. Contrary to popular belief, this boy is living proof of the existence of the anti-christ!
"Sara, anything you want to talk about today?" His father asks in a hopeful tone.
"Sorry Father, I'm only here for the biscuits at the end." I quickly respond, getting a few chuckles from everyone else and causing the anti-christ, Joshua, to roll his eyes.
"Your parents don't send you here for the biscuits.." Father Hong replies, shaking his head at me and pinching the bridge of his nose, "Talk to me after the group please, Sara."
The anger starts to rise, he can't make me stay but I know that he'll phone my dad if I don't. Knowing my dad, he'd ground me for a good month or so, and with graduation coming up, I need some time off to hang out with my friends before we all have to part ways. Out of the corner of my eye, Joshua puts his fist over his mouth and grins wide - glad to know someone's happy that I have to stay back. The bad part of this is that I have to go to school with him, so you can guarantee that I won't hear the end of this.
The circle stays intact for few more minutes before we get into our groups. As we sit around the smooth, circular oak tables in each corner of the room, the room begins to get louder, soon filling with the voices of people talking about their Saturday evenings, their weeks at school, what they think of the new Justin Bieber video; and various other pieces of shit. Amber taps my arm and offers me a piece of chewing gum which I kindly decline, she then takes a piece herself, stuffs it in her mouth and pushes up her glasses. She then tries to speak before realising that she has yet to bite into the gum, causing me to laugh, shaking my head at the typical Amber I see before me, "Nice one Liu." I chuckle, causing her to shaking her head at me, "It's just Amber, thanks, Harper."
"Jisoo!" Father Hong calls from our side of the room, his asshole son far away from the rest of us, "Jisoo, can you and... Sara, Amber and Michelle all go and place out the hymn sheets in the main building, please?"
The girls and I all sigh as we stand up while Joshua, walks over confidently over to his father and takes a handful of sheets in his hands before walking over to the door and holding it open, "Ladies first." He says as the girls and I follow in tow, each taking a handful for ourselves. Of course, Amber and Michelle are allowed to exit the room by the door being held open by the anti-christ, whereas I have to open it by myself, as he's already followed them out. "Thanks for nothing, asshole." I sneer, catching up with them, not forgetting to kick him in the back of the leg for good measure. "You may recall, I said 'ladies first' not incompetent pieces of shit." The incompetent piece of shit replies. God, do you see how self-centred this bastard is, always talking about himself.
As we reach the main building, I rush to the door and hold it open for the others... well except Joshua, of course. "Why are you so annoying?!" He exclaims, walking over to the set of pews I'm laying the sheets on. "I don't know Joshua, maybe it's just in my blood." I hummed, carrying on with the job I had been given. As I place a sheet on the last seat, of the set of pews I had been working at, my eyes avert upwards to see Joshua still looking at me, "Haven't you got anything better to do?" I ask, furrowing brows. The boy rolls his eyes as he walks past and stands in front of me, "I thought, looking at the prettiest thing in the room was better than putting down Hymn Sheets." He mutters before he bumps his shoulder with mine waiting for him to walk behind me before I hit the back of his head with the rest of the sheets, "Stay in your lane, asshole. I have standards."
In little time, we're finished, Joshua still smirking as he talks to Michelle, Amber joining me as we walk towards the door. We all walk out, chorusing to one another. As we walk to the end of the hallway, nearing the backroom, I turn around seeing the door still wide open, "Joshua," I chimed in, "Haven't you ever heard of closing the goddamn door?" Michelle squeals, giving me a high-five as the asshole walks back to the over end, closing the door and doing a little bow after he shows us his biggest talent: closing doors. Brendon Urie would be so proud of this boy.
"That's all for today guys, I'll see you all next week. Please collect your bags on your way out, goodbye!" Father Hong sings as we walk back into the room, one-by-one (mostly because this isn't an ark). I pick my bag up and sit back at the table, waiting for everyone to leave before getting a lecture from the preacher. "Jisoo," He chirps, "Wait near the car for your mother. She should be finished and out of the chapel in a few minutes." Joshua nods his head before walking out of the room.
The sound of a chair dragging across the floor before the preacher sits down, looking me in the eye which I instantly have a distaste of. "Now," He begins, "I want you to tell me why you have such a sudden disinterest in your faith."
I roll my eyes, glaring at the older man, "I lost my faith a long time ago." I snap.
"Sara, don't get angry. Don't let that kind of negative emotion overtake you." The father intoned, bringing his hands into a clasp, "What do you mean you 'lost faith a long time ago'?"
"Exactly that! You know why and I don't know why I have to explain it to you." I spat my words out in anger, shaking my head. "You know, when your mother is on her deathbed and you're too young to understand what reality actually is, and you think praying for her to get better is the best thing to do then she dies, that's when you loose faith. After that, you sit and pray again, every night for your dad to be happy again as you can hear him crying every night, yet even though he's met another one to make him happy again, you still hear his sobs; that is when you begin to loose faith. I'm sorry that I can't be nine years old again, Father. But I'm not sorry for retaliating at times." The preacher doesn't respond, just looks at me blankly. I shake my head, grabbing my bag and rushing out of the room.
My lip begins to tremble as I reach the outside, tears starting to fall as the cold breeze hits my face. "Sara... Hey, Sara are you okay?" a voice calls out. Joshua's voice. "Hey, Sara, tell me what's up?" he carries on until he gets interrupted by his mother's voice, "Let's go home now, Jisoo," she says.
I reach the bus stop and slump down next to the poll, wiping my eyes and catching my breath.
