Hiding in Plain Sight

Chapter 1

Hi. My name's Sarah. I go to Melissa Catherine high school. I'm in grade 12. Meaning I'm 16.

My family is the most commited Jewish family you will ever meet.

And I have to suffer. You might be asking "Why am I suffering?"

That's because I'm Christian. I believe in Jesus. I always did.

But the fear of having to hide my faith because my family will throw me out onto the street, is unbearable sometimes.

I woke up that morning to, obviously, get ready for school.

And the first face I saw going down the stairs this morning was my little brother, Michael.

He was sitting in the dining room, eating some cereal.

He looked up at me and told me mom was still asleep. I went back up to wake her up.

I entered her bedroom and slowly tip toed over to her side.

I shook her slightly and kept whispering "Mom, wake up."

After a while, she woke up and mumbled sleepily "Sarah, what is it?"

"Mom, you or Dad need to drive us to school. It's Thursday. What time did you even come home last night?"

"Alright....ask Dad. Maybe he's willing today..."

So I went back downstairs and asked Dad to drive us. He shrugged and accepted.

Michael rushed upstairs and got ready with ease. Then I heard my loving and gentle sister come out of the bathroom.

"Mom!!! I need my phone now!!!"

As you can tell, I was kidding. She's worse than the stepsisters in Cinderella.

She ran to her room and her footsteps boomed throughout the entire house.

I sighed and helped Michael with his lunch. Then I packed it and we got in the car waiting for dad.

I put on my headphones and looked through my Playlist for the book of John.

My brother looked at me in confusion.

"Hey Sarah.....Sarah.....SARAH!!!"

I then noticed he was calling me.

"Ughhhh, yes?"
"What are you listening to?"

I panicked internally. I can't believe he asked.

"Um..I....I'm listening to a reading from the Torah from the synagogue." I lied.

He gets bored listening to the Torah. He then stopped bothering me.

I continued to listen to the book of John.

Dad came in the car and I took off the headphones and turned off my phone.

We were on our way and I couldn't wait to get there.

Diana kept complaining about her hair and that she forgot her earphones.

I rolled my eyes and I looked out my window. Then I saw Leo.

Leo is my childhood friend. We've known each other since we were three years old.

I told Dad to stop and he already knew why I told him to.

I got out of the car and he continued to drive off. I walked beside Leo.

"Hey Sarah!" He called out. I waved and I ran over to his side.

I hugged him and he hugged back. We are such good friends.

We walked to school together and we talked about many things.

On the way, I kept asking Leo what I missed in the Christian Church. We go to a church called "The Great I Am".

Any chance I get, I go to that church. But unfortunately, my parents usually don't let me out much.

Our conversation turned from school to church to The Bible.

I told Leo that I was listening to book of John. He told me that's good and recommended me to listen to the book of Acts.

I was definitely going to listen to that one later.

We made it to school and I saw my bestie since birth.

Megan.

I squealed and ran to her and hugged her. We talked about anything that came to our minds.

Then Leo's older brother, Alex, called us over to talk.

Leo is 16, Alex is 18, Megan is 16 too.

Just to clarify.

I told Megan that I was listening to the book of John and she congratulated me.

She also said it's the first book she read coming to Jesus.

Alex, Leo and Megan all go to that Christian Church and I always wanted to go, but....parents.

We all walked into the school and we all went to our first class, yes.

We all have the same homeroom.

We all sat down in the back to talk while the teacher arrived, I was surprised he wasn't here yet.

Alex waved goodbye when he had to go to his class. He's in grade 12.

Then the teacher arrived and we end up having to be quiet.

Throughout the boring class, I kept whispering to Megan.

She told me to stop talking after a while, since our teacher almost caught us.

Class ends and we go to our second period. This will be a long day.