Before the Morning [BEING EDITED]

42 | Fine, Okay, Good

Twenty minutes after his alarm went off, Nolan finally pulled himself out of bed. He stepped across his bare carpet, to where his phone was plugged into the wall. He pulled up Spotify, selected the Switchfoot radio, and pressed Play.

As he yanked open his bureau and grabbed a shirt, a Danny Gokey song streamed softly from the speakers. "Have you been praying, and you still have no answers?"

He tossed the shirt over his head. When Willow first suggested listening to Christian music in the morning, he'd been skeptical. But, she was right. It didn't work all the time, but it was a start.

He grabbed his schoolbooks and notebooks from his desk, still laid out from a late night doing homework. He zipped up his backpack once he was sure he had everything.

"You're closer than you think you are...only moments from the break of dawn..."

Next: brushing his teeth. He tossed his backpack onto his bed, cranked the music, and raced into the hall. As he flicked on the bathroom light and snatched his toothbrush, Caleb said, voice distant, "He's up!"

"He better be."

Nolan rolled his eyes and doused his toothbrush with toothpaste.

Teeth brushed, hair dealt with, he rushed back into his room. He was just about to grab his backpack when he remembered.

He lifted his mattress and grabbed his Good Things list. It had grown a lot since he first jotted down Greg, Caleb, video games, cereal, and pizza. Now, the page was almost full. He only added to it when he was in a bad space, but he did try to scan it every day. To remind himself.

"Dude."

He tucked the list back under the bed. "I'm coming," he said.

Greg grabbed his phone and switched off the music as Nolan hauled his backpack over his shoulder.

"You need to disable your snooze button."

"School just needs to start later."

"Uh-huh."

Nolan led the way into the kitchen, where Caleb was ready to go, Spiderman backpack on his shoulders. He held out a baggie of dry Cheerios.

"Changing it up?" Nolan asked, accepting the bag.

"It's good for the heart," Caleb said.

He grinned and tore open the bag. "Thanks."

✝

He found Andy and Max in their usual spot—on a bench in the hallway, digging into the snacks and drinks they'd raided from the vending machine. As Nolan dropped next to Andy, Andy handed him a package of peanut butter crackers.

"Thanks."

"Riley says hi," Max said.

"Actually, she said, 'Tell No-No I say hi and I miss him very much!"

Nolan bit into a cracker. "Tell her I say hi."

"You could tell her yourself."

He shrugged at Andy's suggestion. Andy knew he wasn't going to church because he and Nora weren't speaking anymore, but he didn't know why they weren't talking. As a result, he constantly hinted—and sometimes didn't even bother to hint—that Nolan and Nora should actually talk to one another.

He finished the cracker and moved on to the next. He did miss Sunday mornings with his friends. And Riley, with her boisterousness. But while he'd allowed himself to hang out with Andy and Max when Nora wasn't present, he couldn't do church.