Road Trip (19 page)

“And who made you the diet police?” I jabbed a straw into my soda.

She just shrugged.

I picked up my tray. “All I'm saying, Tiffany, is
that Jesus wants us to love everyone as much as we love ourselves. And I have a, feeling you love yourself pretty good.”I glanced at her designer threads and perfectly styled hair and makeup. It probably takes this girl a good two hours to get ready for school every morning.

“Hey, Marty,” I called, hurrying to catch her. “You want to sit with us today?”

Her face brightened with a smile. “Sure.” Then she noticed Tiffany coming behind me. I've never actually invited Tiffany to sit with me, but so far it's made no difference. “Oh, maybe not…”

“Hey, don't worry about her,” I whispered. “If she gets out of hand, we'll just preach at her.”

Marty laughed then followed me over to a table where Allie was just joining Cesar, Jake, Spencer, and Marissa. We've been trying to sit with different kids every day. Part of our reach-out campaign at Harrison High. But today Laura said she wanted to sit with her old friends. And Allie and I decided to eat with Cesar and the rest. I wasn't quite sure how Tiffany would handle our little crowd of misfits, but it could prove interesting. And at least it might make her rethink this somewhat frustrating devotion she seems to have toward me.

“Mind if we join you?” I asked.

“Of course not,” said Cesar. “Hey, Marty, how's it going?”

I glanced over my shoulder to see if Tiffany-was intimidated by these guys, but she seemed undeterred. I sat next to Cesar and Karty sat next to me, forcing Tiffany to sit across the table beside Karissa who was eyeing our newcomer with open curiosity if not downright hostility.

“What's up with you?” Karissa asked Tiffany in a slightly challenging tone. “Don't you usually try to hang with the preppies? Or have you been completely kicked out of their snooty little club?”

“It's okay, Karissa,”I said. “Tiffany's with me. And as far as I know this is a public place where people can sit where they like, right?”

Marissa scowled. “0h, yeah, sure, Ghloe. And I suppose I could march right over there and sit at the preppy table too. I'm sure they wouldn't say a thing about it either.”

“Do you think the day will ever come when we can all get along?” Cesar asked with a longing tone.

“Yeah, in heaven,” said Allie.

“Oh, great,” said Karissa. “Here comes the sermon for the day.”

Spencer rolled his eyes. “I think I'm gonna get me some fresh air.”

“Haven't you given up that old line, Spence?” I asked. “Why not just call a spade a spade and say you're going out for a smoke?”

“Yeah, sure, I'm gonna announce that to God and everyone.” He pushed back his chair.

“Why not?” said Allie. “And while you're at it, you could even admit that you're not smoking plain old tobacco either. Sheesh, it's not like everyone doesn't know it already.”

I nodded. “And it's not like what we think matters to you anyway. In fact, the only way you'll ever quit will be when you finally realize it's just a great big stupid trap and get totally sick of it.”

Allie's eyes lit up. “Hey, Spencer, did you know that Chloe and I are going to Al-Anon meetings now?”

“Al-Anon?” Spencer said with real interest. “You girls take up drinking on your big concert tour?” He laughed. “I heard that old Laura got herself hooked on drugs, but I know that can't be true.”

I looked him in the eye now. “As a matter of fact, it is true. Laura did get hooked on amphetamines as well as sleeping pills. She even admitted it on national TV.”

“You guys were really on national TV?” He looked slightly impressed now and had obviously missed my point.

“Where were you, Spencer?” injected Karissa. “I thought everyone in town watched that Jesus freak show.”

“Yeah? Well, I was probably out partying.” He grinned like he had some great secret to hide, like his drug life was something wonderful and exciting, even though we all knew otherwise.

“So what's up with Al-Anon?” asked Karissa. “Isn't that for alcoholics?”

“Actually, it's for friends and family of people with addiction problems. Allie and I agreed to go' for Laura's sake, not that she'll ever fall into that crud again. But we promised our recording company that we'd attend those meetings while Laura's doing her drug rehab thing.”

“You gotta be kidding,” said Spencer. “You saying that Ks. Perfect Laura Mitchell is actually in an honest-to-goodness drug rehab program?”

I nodded.

He laughed even louder now, slapping his thigh for emphasis. “Ifow that's just way too funny.”

“It's not that funny,” I said in a flat voice. He was really starting to tick me off now.

“Hey, I'll bet Laura would give you a ride to one of her meetings, Spencer,” said Allie. “Course, you'd probably be too chicken to go.”

Spencer shook his head. “I don't need no stupid rehab program. If I wanna quit, I'll just quit. Mo big deal.”

“It's not that easy,” Jake said in a quiet voice.

“Oh, no.” Spencer held his hands up like he
was scared. “I think I hear that sermon coming on now.”

“Good for you, Jake.” Allie slapped him on the back. “You go ahead and preach it, brother.”

Jake grinned. “Yeah, well, I never would've gotten clean if it hadn't been for God in my life.”

“Amen!” I said with a raised fist. I noticed how Tiffany looked fairly uncomfortable just then. I'm sure she probably wished she were sitting at some other table.

Spencer stood. “Oh, man, I'm like so outta here.”

“And God can deliver you too, Spencer,” continued Jake in an evangelistic sounding tone that almost made me laugh, although I knew Jake was perfectly serious.

Spencer backed away. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

“We'll be praying for you, Spence,” Allie said with a grin.

“Praying that you figure out how you're heading down a dead-end street,” I added with a wink.

Spencer just frowned and shook his head. “Yeah, itfs so nice having you Jesus freaks back at school,” he said with dripping sarcasm.

Cesar laughed. “Hey, I'm happy to have some more backup.”

“Me too,” added Jake.

We joked and bantered some more with Karissa jumping in about where Spencer had left off. But
I don't think Tiffany said a single word during the whole time. I halfway expected her to get up and leave. And I'm sure she wondered what in the world she was doing sitting there. But it was her choice and her problem. At least she got to hear a little wholesome preaching. And who knows where that might lead.

Despite my mixed feelings for this girl, I actually think that if she really invited Jesus into her heart, she might start changing and become a more tolerable person. Okay, I know I'm supposed to love her in the same way that God does—unconditionally. But the sad truth is, I still need lots and lots of help with that challenge.

There's a winter dance tomorrow night, and Laura and Allie and I decided to go without dates! I remembered Caitlin telling me how she and Beanie and Jenny did the same thing once and had a really great time. (I think this was a piece of one of her nondating lectures.) Anyway, Laura and Allie both said they were game. Ifot all that surprising since Laura's still hoping that she and Ryan have a romantic future (he stopped by her house during Christmas break…), so she's not interested in any of the guys in high school.

And then, of course, Allie's still smitten with Brett, her beloved drummer boy from Iron Gross. They've been e-mailing each other pretty regularly. Actually, I'm thinking that's not such a bad thing since it keeps her from getting romantically involved with any guys at school. And believe me, she's' had her chances. I remember how that proved such a disaster last summer, and I sure don't want to see that happen again. Ifot that
Allie would ever put herself in that kind of position again. And I'm sure that Brett wouldn't take advantage of her the way that slimebucket Taylor Russell did at the lake. But I suppose I still feel kind of protective of her in that regard.

And then there's me. To be totally candid, in the privacy of these pages, I'ra still a little dreamy over Jeremy (although I will admit this to no one!), and I suppose I've gotten even worse since being away from him. You know what they say about absence and the heart… I suppose it's true. And it's a bit ironic since I'd been feeling a little like that about Cesar while we were on the road. But now that I see him every day, my heart has calmed down. A good thing too, as it turns out, since he's still “kissing dating good-bye.”

Actually, I admire how he's sticking to his commitment, l'or him it seems to work. And I'm not entirely sure that I shouldn't adopt the same philosophy. Although I want my convictions to come from God, not just my interest in some passing fad. ibr the moment, itfs rather a nonissue for me. Well, until I think about Jeremy, that is. Oh, be still, my fickle heart!

But back to the dance thing. It was amazing how quickly word got out about our joint stag date, and now several others, including Cesar, have asked if they can join in. So it looks as if there's a whole bunch of us going stag, but
together. And I think it'll be fun. We just plan to hang out, eat junk food, and have a good time. Okay, I must admit to being a little disappointed when Tiffany announced that she wanted to join us too. How could I say no? I mean, what would Jesus do? Still, I feel like it'll take some of the fun out, and I know that's wrong. I know I need to love her, but the truth is: I just wish she'd find another stinking friend!

Sometimes I think that Tiffany Knight must be “my cross to bear.” And I imagine myself dragging this opinionated, Tommy Hilfiger wearing, preppy girl throughout my life like a big old cross. Then I think that God must be sitting up there just laughing, thinking how much fun it is to mess with me like this. Naturally, He's only doing it for my own good—although it beats me how hanging with Tiffany can do me much good when it actually makes me want to cuss sometimes. (Something I thought I had conquered long ago.)

Still, I do think I've been doing a little better at loving her. Well, mostly. To be completely honest, I've found her to be especially aggravating lately since she keeps insisting that she's a Christian just because she's been going to her parents' church again. But when I asked her if she'd really given her heart to God, she got the blankest expression, like she didn't have a clue as to what I meant. Oh, well. Maybe in time.

On another note, we've been having lots of great band practices lately. Ibrtunately, Laura is still allowed to practice with us, although her mother has made it perfectly clear that she's having second and third and fourth thoughts about letting Laura go back on tour after our break. I try not to think about that too much. Instead, I just pray and pray and pray. Laura thinks it will all work out in the end. Her faith has really grown lately.

Still, I try to think positively, and I've been introducing some new songs these last couple of weeks. Some of them sound pretty cool. The encouraging thing is that all three of us are 100 percent committed to our music right now. And we all know that most of our spare time should go into some pretty serious practices, especially since we remain under contract.

Just the same, we try to carve out time for our “high school experience” too. Willy has really encouraged us in this area.

'You'll have more to sing about and minister from if you're living a life like the kids who listen to you perform,” he told us just last week. “If you allow yourselves to become hermits and do nothing but music, you might lose your edge in really touching hearts.”

I think that must be true. So we've made it a priority to go to ball games and dances and youth
group and regular stuff. Just being your typical high school kids—whatever that is. And it's actually been pretty fun. It's surprising how much more you appreciate these everyday activities when you've been away for a while.

We had a blast at the dance. Even having Tiffany along wasn't so bad, although her dress was a little over the top. At least for our motley group. Allie and Laura and I wore retro outfits that we've used for concerts, lio big deal. And Karissa sort of followed suit, although her look was more on the dark side with her black fishnets and thigh-high boots. But Tiffany wore a dress that looked like something from the red carpet at the Academy Awards. I was surprised she hadn't gotten herself a wrist corsage to complete the look. But just the same, we tried to be kind. Well, except for Karissa.

“What's with you, Tiff?” Karissa used her derogatory tone. “Looks like you wanna be prom queen or something.”

“My mom picked it out,” said Tiffany quickly.

“It's pretty,” I tried, although I'm sure I sounded lame.

“Pretty weird,” Karissa said with a quick roll of her eyes.

But it wasn't long before we forgot about clothes and just enjoyed laughing and talking
and dancing with everyone in our group. We even had a group photo taken that I plan to hang in our tour bus when we hit the road again. That is, we hit the road. On our way home from the dance, Laura told me that her mom plans to call Omega next week and discuss “Laura's contractual obligations.”