Cami didn’t like pot, and she was too afraid to try other drugs. Pot made her feel dizzy and out of breath. Like she was dying. The one time she tried it she thought the walls were closing in on her. So this year she’d already resigned herself to staying clean. Which meant being alone at Hamilton High. Just her and anger, hanging out. She had no other friends, no one to take her on a date, and no idea what she was going to do next year when high school was over.
Cami studied the students in the room. The only other junior was Jordy Quinn, the principal’s son. The kid everyone liked and no one wanted to hang out with. He was a goody-good. Cami stared at Jordy for a long moment. He was at one of the desks up front, smiling and talking to another football player beside him.
In fact, half the guys here were football players. Jordy had probably convinced them to come. Because while most kids at Hamilton pretty much didn’t believe in God, Jordy was the exception, and everyone knew it.
The Quinn family not only believed in God. They acted like it. When school let out for a break, Jordy Quinn and his two sisters and brother went with their dad to places like Haiti or Kenya. Last year Jordy sat next to Cami in biology and he showed her pictures on his phone. Him and his siblings teaching village kids about Jesus, feeding them from a gigantic pot of chili. Teaching them how to swim.
That sort of thing.
Strange about Jordy. If anyone else had a reason to be angry with God, he did. Jordy’s mother was one of the nicest people Cami had ever known. When they were in fifth grade, she used to come every Monday with fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies and help the kids in Jordy’s class with their writing projects.
That was the year everyone made an actual book. Something the school helped them get bound and printed. A great accomplishment, their teacher had said. And Jordy’s mother was right there giving her time, walking around the room and complimenting kids she didn’t even know.
Jordy’s mother was half black, half white. His sisters and brother looked like their dad. But Jordy had his mom’s features and long eyelashes. Cami thought of Jordy’s mother every time she looked at him.
There was another time, a field day back in middle school. Jordy’s mother came dressed as a referee. Black-and-white striped shirt, long curly hair pulled back in a ponytail. And smiling. Cami didn’t have a single memory of Jordy’s mother not smiling.
But then the accident happened.
A few weeks after field day, Mrs. Quinn was coming home from the grocery store when a kid from Cathedral High crossed the double yellow line. Everyone said the guy tried to veer off the road altogether before hitting the Quinns’ car. He almost made it, too. But instead he drove his car straight into the front driver’s seat. Jordy’s mom was dead before the paramedics arrived at the scene.
Certainly Jordy had no reason to believe in God, no reason to be at the Raise the Bar meeting today. He should be as angry as Cami. More, maybe. Cami stared at him, at the way he was still smiling, still talking to the guy beside him. You should be so mad, Jordy. If there is a God, He let you down the same way He let me down. Cami thought about that. No, not the same way. Her mother made a decision to leave. She was a terrible mother.
Jordy’s mother was the best mom anyone could have.
And God took both of their mothers, all the same.
The kids at Hamilton High didn’t know how angry she was. They thought she was shy. Pretty much she was invisible to everyone around her. Everyone except Jordy Quinn.
Jordy was the best-looking guy at school. Sometimes Cami would catch herself watching him at lunch or when he was practicing football out on the Hamilton field. Not just because he was so cute. But because for the life of her, Cami couldn’t understand him. Couldn’t understand why he could still smile.
Just then Jordy looked over his shoulder straight at Cami. His eyes were kind, as if he could tell Cami was thinking about him. But then again, Jordy was nice to everyone. Cami gave him a quick nod and then stared at her hands.
Six minutes after the bell, Principal Quinn walked into the room. His suit coat was gone, and he had rolled up his sleeves. His forehead was shiny with sweat, as if he’d rushed across the school to get here. Cami watched him raise his brow and look around.
She did the same thing, and that’s when she realized how full the room had gotten. Every desk was taken, and kids were squished along the back and sides of the classroom. They were even gathered at the door and spilling into the hallway.
Cami wrinkled her face. What the heck were all these kids doing? Didn’t they know this whole Bible club thing was illegal? Were they all here for the free food? She took a pen from her backpack. Whatever their reason, she knew why she was here. After she turned Principal Quinn in to the authorities, Jordy would no doubt stop smiling at her.
But it didn’t matter.
Jordy Quinn would never like her, anyway. He liked the popular girls, the ones on the cheerleading squad. Cami was a skinny blonde, a reporter for the school paper with a messed-up home. Cami was surprised Jordy even knew she was alive.
Principal Quinn cleared his throat and looked at the students. At each of them, as if they were his own kids. “You’re here because you want to be here, is that right?”
Cami rolled her eyes. Did he really think that question would make him innocent? If she had her way this would be the first and last meeting. Period.
The kids nodded. A few leaned forward in their seats, like they couldn’t wait to hear what Principal Quinn was going to say next.
“Okay, then.” He folded his hands. “Bow your heads, and let’s pray.” He paused a moment. “God in heaven, You are real and You are here.”
He’s not real, anger whispered to Cami. He’s not real and He’s not here. She watched a few of her peers. They were following Principal Quinn’s directions. They were actually praying in school! She grabbed her phone from her backpack. She could film this, and it would go viral in an hour.
A principal praying with his students. The whole country would come against him.
“We confess that the life of our student body at Hamilton High has not been pleasing to You, and we ask You to come into our midst now. Your Holy Spirit is welcome here, God. We love You, and we ask for Your changing power in this place. Speak to us through Your Word. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Cami uttered the quietest gasp. She didn’t believe the words, couldn’t make sense of them. Some kind of holy talk. Still, something had happened inside her while Principal Quinn was praying. Something she hadn’t expected. A shiver ran along Cami’s spine and down her arms. Whatever was happening to her, it continued while Principal Quinn opened his Bible and read Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Followed by John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
It happened while Principal Quinn assured the students that the words were true. And the strange sensation continued as the Chick-fil-A sandwiches were handed out. Then there was something that hadn’t happened to Cami in forever.
The angry voice beside her didn’t say a word. And another thing. Her notebook was empty. She hadn’t written down a single thing to report about Principal Quinn.
When the meeting was over, Cami felt different. More free somehow. Jordy came up to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “Glad you were here.” His eyes shone with kindness. “Better than being in the parking lot across the street.”
She nodded, feeling the heat in her cheeks. “I’m . . . I’m glad I came.”
Which was crazy. Because it wasn’t only something to say to the cutest boy in school. Her words were actually true. She was glad she came. Glad anger had stopped yelling at her for a full hour, and glad she’d heard two things today. Whether God was real and the words in the Bible were true or not, she wasn’t ready to turn in Principal Quinn just yet. She couldn’t resist the idea that God had good plans for her.
And God loved her. Because one thing was sure.
That was more than Cami could say for her parents.
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