Take Me to the Water

PART 13 // The Choir

David and I instantly became inseparable. We never officially became boyfriend and girlfriend but we spent almost every moment together.

In school, he walked me to all of my classes and hung out near my locker. We ate lunch together everyday and we'd talk about any and everything. He told me all of his secrets, and I told him all of mine—almost all of them. I couldn't bring myself to tell him about what happened with Uncle Calvin, or about my life from the club. He was so perfect—he told me that he was a virgin, which I already knew, and that he didn't smoke, drink, or cuss—and I didn't want him to view me like a heathen, so I kept those things to myself. Instead, I told him all about my life in Georgia and my powers, and even about the day my mother died, but we talked about God and church the most.

"So you mean to tell me you didn't like one single thing about church?" David asked as we sat in the cafeteria.

I had been going to his church regularly with Leah, and thought it was okay, but it wasn't for me. The only thing that I liked about church was the music. Every Sunday it was amazing, but other than that, I thought church was a joke. It was everything Aunt Yvonne and Uncle Calvin said it was. I thought David's dad was boring (and I told him that) and the church people weren't nice at all. They cared more about what I had on than what was in my heart.

If I didn't have on a dress down to my ankles I got funny stares and people giggled, and as Leah's stomach got bigger and bigger, I noticed people whispering about that too.

Some older "mothers" in the church even brought up her job with Pastor Washington and said she shouldn't have it since she was having a baby out of wedlock, but Pastor Washington wouldn't fire her. Leah had favor at the church and she knew it.

"Girl, I don't care what them folk think of me. They don't have a heaven or hell to put me in. Only God, so let them talk."

But I didn't feel the same. I wanted to fight every last person that I heard say anything bad about her, and David knew it.

If all of that wasn't bad enough, I really didn't like seeing Mrs. Jones every week. She was the biggest hypocrite of them all. She dabbled in sin all week long and then praised God on Sunday with tears in her eyes. I couldn't believe it. Everyone knew about what she did at the club and not a single person mentioned it. Leah told me that she was one of the church's biggest tithers, so I guess that made everything okay. As long as she gave the money, everyone else turned a blind eye to what she did outside of church, including David. He loved Mrs. Jones.

"She's my godmother Eve. What do you have against her? How do you even know her?" He said as we sat in the cafeteria eating lunch.

"She's your godmother?" I asked, confused. My heart was racing. If she was his godmother then that meant Lonnie was his godbrother.

"Yes, she's my godmother," David laughed.

I changed the subject quickly. "The only thing I like about your church is the music, okay? You guys do that right, I'll give you that, but everything else can go. Especially your dad's preaching. He's long winded and boring"

"What! Are you crazy!" David protested. "My father is one of the most eloquent speakers I've ever heard. Last Sunday was so amazing. The word was powerful, alter call was powerful—"

I laughed.

"What's funny?!"

"I've been to your church five times, and every time it's the same people up there on the altar. Haven't they been healed yet?" I laughed some more but David didn't. He had a serious look on his face.

"You don't know what people deal with throughout the week, Eve. Some people are really tormented, and some people want to be healed but don't have the faith that God can do it. Like you!"