Archenemy Read Free Page B

legs sticking to the pew, and hoping no one would recognize me. It wasn’t just sweat that made me uncomfortable or that I was still wearing athletic clothes. It was the memory of my mother storming out of this church and dragging me with her. It was the sound of Pastor Meyer’s voice, then and now.
    That’s when I heard a sound I wasn’t expecting.
    Giggling.
    Eva’s giggling.
    She had her makeup compact open. I looked back at the pastor and saw him squinting. That’s when I realized what she was doing. The last sunlight of the day was shining through the stained glass windows, and Eva was using the mirror in her compact to redirect it toward the altar.
    Into Pastor Meyer’s face.
    The pastor squinted and blocked the light with a forearm as the congregation turned their heads and followed the beam of light to the back of the church. Eva’s parents were sitting several rows up. They were the first ones to locate the light’s source. Maybe Eva had pulled this stunt before. They swiped their hands across their throats, the universal sign for
Cut it out
!
    By the time Eva closed the compact, the whole congregation was glaring at her—and I didn’t blame them. But that doesn’t mean I joined them. I giggled with Eva.
    Eva had been right. Church really
could
be fun.
    Except it was weird. Afterward, Eva was no longer in a laughing mood. Maybe her parents had scolded her. Or maybe it was because of something I said.
    â€œYou went to church so much,” I said to her over the phone. “I was worried you were like super religious.”
    There was a pause.
    â€œI
am
super religious,” Eva said. “Why would you say I’m not?”
    â€œI just thought —you know, because of the prank you pulled—”
    â€œJust because the pastor is boring doesn’t mean I don’t believe what he says.”
    Like I said—it was weird. At church, she’d been laughing. But she had turned deadly serious.
    I changed the subject. “We still playing soccer tomorrow?”
    â€œWhoop!” Eva said.

A
    couple hours after the Ironwood game, I’m in my bedroom, juggling my soccer ball. I should be happy. We won the game, and this time I didn’t have any major screwups.
    Eva may have been annoying, but annoying is better than nasty. I’ll take what I can get.
    Yeah—happy. That’s what I should be. So why aren’t I?
    As I’m thinking all this, I try to keep the ball in the air with my feet and thighs. My eyes are fixed on the ball as it drops onto the laces of my left cleat. Belle is on my bed, her eyes moving up and down with the ball too.
    Mom took me out to eat after the game and asked why I don’t hang out with Eva anymore. I lied and told her that I’d been too busy studying to worry about my social life. She was impressed. Somehow or other, she blames last year’s suspension on my grades. No matter how many times I remind her that I was suspended for cutting class, not failing it, she still blames my classroom performance. It’s weird because I’m not that bad of a student. I mean, I’m not pulling As out of my pockets, but I get a lot of Bs and Cs.
    I felt bad lying to my mom about why I don’t hang out with Eva anymore, but I didn’t have a choice. If I had listed all the things Eva’s been doing to me, Mom would’ve made a huge deal about it. So would my teammates, come to think of it. If Mom did know the whole situation, she’d try to convince me to tell Coach and anyone else who could help. She’d have told me to take a stand against injustice. Mom’s a social activist. So for her, there’s no issue that isn’t worth fighting for.
    That’s what she was doing three years ago when she left the church: fighting on my behalf. The pastor at New Hope said that two girls liking each other
that way
was a sin—the word he used was
abomination
. Mom dragged me out