It's Only Because I Love You

Chapter Twenty-Two-Back Into the Groove of Things

Twenty-Two-Back into the Groove of Things

          It's September 4th. The first day of school. I was still empty from everything that had happened in the last week. Derek called the day after he left saying he got home safe. I've talked to him twice since. It was hard to talk to him since there was a dramatic time difference, and now it will be even harder now that we are both in school. I looked forward to seeing my other friends now that I'm getting back to school.

          As I walked up to the front of the school, familiar faces surrounded me. Around me I saw people who I've known since I was in kindergarten, others that I've only met last year. It was fairly mild for early September. Most people were wearing shorts and T-shirts, others stuck to their conservative jeans. For me, I was in a pair of khaki shorts and a lime green colored shirt. I didn't have anyone to impress. I didn't have my sights set on anyone. The only one I did was in Australia, and he wouldn't see me today.

          I walked closer to the front door with my head held high, determined not to let everything that's happened to me in the last week effect my mood. I wanted this year to be different. I wanted to focus on Christ and show His love and let everyone know the new me. That's what mattered anyways.

          "Bethany!" I heard a female voice call from behind me. I turned around to find Leah running towards me.

          "Hi, Leah!" I said. She came and embraced me with a best-friend like hug that she always used to give me. Since the middle of last year we didn't talk as much. To tell you the truth, I'm not exactly sure what happened.

          "How are you, Bethany? I haven't talked to you in forever!"

          "I know, Girl. I'm pretty..." I stopped. Was I really pretty good? "I'm doing okay."

          "That's good. I missed you all summer! I feel like I haven't talked to you in a year!"

          "I know. I had a pretty crazy summer."

          "What did you do?" Leah asked as we entered the school doors. We were immediately greeted by the hustle bustle that I knew to be Cloverton High.

          "Where do I start?" To tell you the truth, I didn't really want to talk about my summer right now. I wanted to put that behind me, except for the part of me getting saved. I was open to talk about that.

          "Well, any boys involved?" Great. That's exactly what I didn't want to come up, but that was just like Leah to mention it. Didn't she know I was dating Derek, or has it been that long?

          "I thought you knew," I simply responded.

          "Ooh, knew about what?" She was digging.

          "Hi Leah!" I heard another female voice say from my left. It was Lilly, one of Leah's friends.

          "Hey Lilly!" Leah responded and then quickly diverted her attention to me again. "Bethany, what did you think I knew about?"

          "You know, ah" why did this have to come up? "De-" was it possible that I couldn't even say his name?

          "Derek? The cute blonde guy?" Leah said. I simply nodded. "What about him?"

          "Didn't you know we were at least really good friends?"

          "Bethany!" Leah exclaimed. "You mean you started dating?"

          "Well, kinda."

          "Kinda? Are you or not?"

          "It's complicated."

          "Where is Derek anyway?" Leah said looking around.

          "That's where it gets complicated,” we were approaching our homeroom when we ran into a group to of our friends. We chit-chatted about each other's summers, everyone's except mine. My friends thought I was quieter than normal. I prayed everyday God would use me, but it was hard to be happy and spread His love when I've never felt so lonely in my life.

          After sitting through homeroom announcements, Leah got right back on track with our conversation prior to all the interruptions. This wasn't exactly how I expected the first day of my senior year to start off.

          "So," she cleared her throat, "you were saying." I didn't remember Leah being so pushy. I acted like I didn't hear her. "Bethany, c'mon, what's going on with you?" Leah sounded frustrated.

          "Can't we talk about something else that happened this summer?" I snapped. Leah looked taken back.

          "I take it you and Derek aren't dating anymore?" I took a deep breath.

          "He went back to Australia."

          "Australia?" Leah looked as surprised to hear that as when Derek told me. "What do you mean?"

          "Turns out that he was here on a Racing Rat scholarship and he had to go back home after the year was over."

          "So y'all dated, and then you broke up and went back to Australia?"

          "We're not broken up but-"

          "You can't date a guy who lives in Australia!"

          "That's why I said, but he said that he would come back and to wait for me," I paused. "I don't even want to see anybody but him."

           “So, you’re going to wait for a guy who you knew for about a year to come back from halfway across the world and what, sweep you up of your feet with his magical cape or something?” She paused. “Think about it Bethany, it’s not logical. I’m sorry, but I think you’re going to have to move on,” Leah leaned back on the back of her chair and started talking with the boy on the other side of her.

          I sunk into my chair. Everything that I set out to do on my first day of school had already failed and it was only seven forty-five.

          “Welcome back students,” Mrs. Carby said. Mrs. Carby had been my homeroom teacher for the past four years. I didn’t have her for any other classes in my high school career.

          Mrs. Carby kept rambling on with first day announcements, but everything she said went in one ear and out the other. Jonah wasn’t even here for me to talk to if I needed. I know what he would tell me right now. He would tell me that God loves me and that I shouldn’t let other people affect my mood and attitude. I took his silent advice and decided to cheer up. I wasn’t going to let his ruin my mood, especially on the first day of school.

          Throughout the day I had opportunities to share my new faith with people. When they asked me how my summer went, the first thing I told them was that my brother came home from college and got religious with me, although I knew that it was much more then religion, but to effectively get the point across, that is what I told them. Most gave me a funny look, some congratulated me, although more were sarcastic then sincere. I knew this would be something that I would have to deal with in the upcoming weeks, if not the rest of my life.

          As I drove home from school, I celebrated the fact that I didn’t have to rely on Jonah for a ride, since now I had my own car and my own license. I rolled down the windows of my blue Nissian® car and opened the sun roof. After the worst start of a year, I met my goal. I shared the Gospel with two people.