The Church Boy

~ 1

7:30 AM

"Church starts at 8:30, and we need to get there by 8 on the DOT!" My dad decides to shout. I wasn't even out of bed yet, and I knew he'd get on my case about it.

"Can I get five more minutes?" I shout from my room. Suddenly, he stops shouting. I hear footsteps grow near my room, and immediately jump out of bed.

"That's what I thought, missy." He said, as he went into his room. I looked at my clock.

"Shoot." I ran into my closet, and looked for a dress. My room looked a little babyish for my age, considering that fact I turn seventeen in a week. I told my parents I was going to redesign it. My dad didn't like the fact I wanted to get rid of my Princess Tiana dresser. My mom and I stared at him when he said this, and he finally agreed to let me dispose of it. "Is today wear red d-?"

"WEAR RED, SHAKIRA!" My dad shouts.

"Thanks, daddy!" I yell. I grab my red dress with a big red bow on the back. I grabbed my red panties, a red bra, and my red suede shoes. I ran into the bathroom and took a shower. When I got out, I straightened my hair. I grabbed my glasses, and put my shoes on.

"Need me to zip your dress?" My mom asks. I nod. She zips it, and I grab a breakfast bar.

"Next time, you'll get in trouble for making me late." My dad says. I nod. "Let's go!" We all get in the car, and travel to the church.

Ten Minutes Later...

"Yo, Shak. I call sitting in the middle." My older brother Deyshawn says. I roll my eyes. He's nineteen and he gets whatever he wants.

"Fine. I'll sit closer to the aisle." I say, as we walk into the sanctuary.

"I wanna sit in the middle!" My younger sister says. She's fourteen, so she doesn't know better.

"Too bad, Zeyna." He says, laughing. We enter our reserved aisle, and sit down. Usually when we wait, we read the bible. Our parents make us leave our phones at home on church days. They're pretty distracting. I was at the end of Genesis, and it was an interesting book.

"Yo, there's a new guy. I bet he and I'll be good friends." Deyshawn says, nodding my way. I look to see where this new guy was, and I regret looking at him. My eyes were glued to him. He was this tall brown-skin guy. His hair was short and curly. There were blonde streaks in it, and it was wet, like he had just put gel in it. I saw him smile at his mother, and he had deep dimples. He also had glasses. He turned my way, and I felt like time froze. He licked his lips, and smiled for some reason. He had bright and green braces. I assumed he was smiling at someone behind me, so I looked away. I pressed my hand to my cheek, and it was really hot.

"You in love?" Zeyna asks me. I brush some of my hair behind my ear.

"Be quiet, Z. No clue what you're talking about." I say. I look at the guy again, and he was looking at me. I quickly looked away, and I heard a laugh.

"Hush, Jayson." A woman's voice said.

"I bet Jay likes that girl over there." A girl said.

"Stop teasing your brother. Now come, we're going to meet the Pastor." The woman's voice says. I look back at them, and they walked up to where we were sitting.

"Hi!" My mom said. She stood up, and went to shake the woman's hand. "I'm Deloris Brown, wife of Pastor Michael."

"Oh, really? My name's Laura Robins." She says, as she shakes her hand. "This is my youngest, Serenity. And my second oldest, Jayson."

"Hey." Jayson says. He had a deep voice. I kind of liked it."

"Hi." I said, as I shook his hand. He held my hand for a longer amount of time, as my mother and his started to talk. My sister was talking to the other girl, and my brother was sitting there, reading the bible. "I'm Shakira. You can call me Kira, or Shak. Like Shaq. Because you know, I'm the best at basketball."