Secrets

Chapter 4 ✧

An appearance that my family and I must keep up with is Sunday morning church. The whole neighbourhood goes to our local church down by the creek. You'd think that going to church would be about being with god and exploring your faith but I swear it's become more of a social event in our town. On the first Sunday of every month after the church service we all gather and have a barbeque, everyone brings some food and it ends being an inescapable waste of my day.

We come to a halt and I exit the car closing the door behind me. I smooth out my yellow short-sleeved tea dress that got wrinkled in the car by sitting down, that way I look 'presentable' for my parents. I look to Theo, who looks extremely uncomfortable with my mother's choice of attire for him today. I watch as he tries to loosen the tie to his shirt in a fit of annoyance, as it seems to be so tight it's blocking his airway.

"Juliana would you go and put the devilled eggs in the fridge for the barbeque later?" My mother asks, but despite her asking there was only one answer I could say and that she would accept, yes.

I take the glad wrapped plate in my hands walking ahead of my family, behind the church where the function room is. I enter the function room and motion towards the fridge, which was jam-packed with various dishes for later but sure enough I find a free place and slot in the plate.

I walk back around the church to see my parents and Theo waiting by the church doors. I scurry up the church stairs and we enter together as a family, of course. We slide through one of the middle stalls where there was enough room for the four of us. Usually we sit closer to the front but since we've come later than usual due to my mother mental breakdown over her hair we've had to sit further away. Not being surrounded by my parents usual church friends before the service starts has lead to silence between us, and not a comfortable, peaceful silence, an awkward silence.

"Juliana how's school?" My father questions me. He doesn't really care he just wants to seem like the type of father that does as unfamiliar families judging our every move surround him.

"Good, I got 100% on my French pop quiz," I say softly due to my father's sudden unfamiliar interest in me.

"100%? You hear that Rosealee? Our daughter is a genius!" he says involving my mother in the conversation. Despite they're praises for me all being fake its nice to see their smiles directed towards me, it almost feels like they care.

A middle-aged couple come and slide through the stall in front of us taking a seat followed by...Easton. He catches my eye, giving me a small wink before taking a seat beside whom I assume are his parents. I look over to my parents engrossed in conversation and Theo who is too preoccupied with fixing his tie to have noticed Easton sneaky wink and I internally thank god, how fitting that we are in a church.

My head begins to ache as thoughts run through my head uncontrollably as I try to work out why Easton is here, in a church of all places. I would have never guessed that Easton was the type of person to go to church or that his parents were. His parents do seem very familiar though so I do assume that it isn't their first time attending this service. But it must be Easton's first time, I mean I would have remembered him; he's sort of hard to miss...or forget. I'm completely shocked by his appearance, it's the first time I've seem him without a leather jacket. Instead he's wearing a white button up shirt and grey loose dress pants, he looks so...not him, not the Easton I've come to know or I suppose learn about.

So much for trying to forget about him, I'm forced to stare at the back of his head for the next hour. Shamefully I've always liked Easton's curly hair, the way his curls kind of softly hang over his face. In saying that its not an entirely bad view to be staring at for the next hour, but also in saying that it's a bad view for a girl who meant to be eliminating Easton Wright out of her life entirely.