Under the Peach Tree Read Free

on. Momma’s gonna kill you if she finds out you’re still outside! Come on!” Faith grabbed my arm and started dragging me away.
    â€œLook, she’s running away, scared to get her butt beat!” Dee Dee shouted as we ran down the street. But I didn’t care; if Momma knew I was still outside, she’d do far worse to me than Dee Dee ever could.
    Faith and I snuck into the house through the back door. The kitchen smelled like fresh rolls and pork chops. My stomach started to growl, I hadn’t eaten a thing all day. But that wasn’t unusual; we never had food in the house. Or maybe it was because Momma told me I needed to stop eating so much because I was chunky. I used to hate watching Faith eat snacks and candy while I had nothing.
    â€œCome on!” Faith whispered, after peeking around the wall to see if Momma was sitting in the living room. “She looks like she’s sleeping.”
    She grabbed my arm and pulled me down the hallway. Once we were in her room, she flopped down on her bed and relaxed. “If Momma knew you were still outside, she would’ve blacked your eye!”
    I laughed. “But she didn’t. She probably fell asleep watching her shows. You know she wanted to see if Bobby was going to leave Christina for Angie.”
    â€œI watched it with her.” Faith laughed. “And Bobby did leave Christina but only because she’s pregnant by Bobby’s brother. And why were you outside with all those kids?”
    â€œBig, fat Dee Dee wanted to beat me up because I won’t let Jordan be your boyfriend.”
    Faith’s eyes widened. “Jordan wants to be my boyfriend?”
    â€œYes, and Momma said you can’t date until your sixteen. Plus, Jordan is ugly!”
    â€œNo, he’s not! All of the girls in the seventh and eighth grade like him, too! I heard an eighth grader saying she wanted to do it to him!”
    â€œEw!” I started to choke, like I was dying.
    â€œAnd he’s sweet to me,” Faith said in a dreamlike state.
    â€œWell, he’s mean to me, and I don’t want you talking to him!”
    Faith was quiet for a minute. I watched her fiddle with her fingers in contemplation.
    â€œWhat is it, Faith?”
    â€œNothing,” she mumbled, keeping her eyes averted.
    â€œNo, tell me! You never keep anything from me.”
    Faith sighed. “I started my period today.”
    I laughed. “About time! What did Momma say?”
    â€œShe was happy, I guess. Said I’m finally becoming a woman.”
    I frowned. “Momma whooped my butt when she found out when I started. Remember? She said I was doing the nasty with them little boys because eleven-year-old girls don’t get periods and it had to be my cherry, whatever that means. And when the doctor told her it was my period, she didn’t apologize for beating me.”
    â€œI’m sorry about that, Hope,” Faith said, as if it was her fault.
    â€œWhy do you always apologize for Momma’s actions?”
    Faith shrugged. “Everybody deserves an apology. When I went to church last Sunday, the preacher said everybody should also forgive those who sin against us.”
    â€œWhat’s sin?”
    â€œIt’s when people do bad things that Jesus tells them not to do. He has a lot of rules that we’re supposed to listen to. Like we’re not supposed to steal, or lie, or kill, and we have to love God first,” she explained.
    â€œHow many rules are there?”
    â€œToo many to count.”
    I nodded and tried to picture the preacher preaching the words that my twin had the privilege of hearing. I learned at an early age to hate church. If God wanted me to go, He’d have me there. But I still sat outside near the church every Sunday and sang all the church songs. Mostly because I loved to sing; partly because I didn’t want to feel left out.
    Momma didn’t go to church either. Whenever I asked her,