The Missing Pieces

Chapter Three: Mutual

When I was eleven, my mother taught my siblings and me the importance of religion. I remember her telling us the stories of Jesucristo and how he died on la Cruz. For years, we've been saying, more like reciting, prayers that mother has learned. We, as a family, have prayed to God, prayed to saints, and even to Jesus himself. It was difficult for me to understand the purpose of prayer. As I said, my mother had us repeat and recite, and if we said it wrong, she had us do it over. It had to be perfect. Our prayers had to be said word for word.

I've heard of the Mormons before. I've just never actually met one. So when I found out that Charlotte was a Mormon, I was surprised because of how 'normal' she is.

After entering the building, Charlotte took me into another room, where there were other teens around our age. The ages ranged from twelve to eighteen. Sitting in the back of the room were adults. They all smiled at Charlotte and me as we came in.

    "Come on," Charlotte said, "let's sit in the front."

    "Why not the back?" I asked.

    "Ugh, that's where boring people sit."

After sitting down, Mason walked in and sat next to Charlotte. Then, following Mason was the girl I always see with them.

    "Isabella," Charlotte said, calling out to the girl, "Sit next to Mateo, so no one tries to steal him."

Steal me? Should I be worrying?

    "Hey, Mateo," Isabella said, sitting in the chair next to me.

    "Hey," I replied.

This is the first time I've said anything to her. Man, it's awkward.

About ten or fifteen minutes past and then we were moved into another room. Charlotte said that they called it 'the cultural hall.'

Nothing cultural about it, it was just a basketball court.

In the middle of the court were several chairs put into pairs. Each pair was facing each other. We were then instructed to choose a partner of the opposite sex and sit down. I looked at Charlotte, hoping that she would be my partner, but she pushed me towards Isabella.

    "I bet you're tired of me already," Charlotte said, "so partner up with Isabella, she's cool."

I looked at Isabella and saw her face turn red.

Great, she doesn't want to be my partner.

    "Let's sit down," Isabella said, turning to walk to a chair.

I was lost. I had no idea what I was doing, and it's my fault because I wasn't paying attention. I bet they went over things back in the other room. Good work, me.

    "Alright!" one of the adults said, "You guys have five minutes to get to know your date! Let the not so fast speed dating begin!"

Speed dating?! What the hell?!

I looked over at Isabella, who was awkwardly sitting with her legs crossed.

    "I have no idea what to say," she muttered.

    "Yeah..." I said, "neither do I."

This is really awkward. What do I say? What do I ask?

    "You like movies?" I asked.

    "Um, yeah," Isabella replied.

    "Any Mythical Legends? Do you watch those?"

    "Yeah, but the books are better."