Finding Faith

by Anthony Lampe

  When Andrew met with Senior Counselor Robertson the next day, he learned what his community service was going to be each week. Following every single home game and school event, he would be required to clean up the trash afterwards. The thought of picking up trash in front of all his classmates, parents, teachers, and visitors made Andrew dread the mandatory community service assignment.

  He later heard that Johnny, Max, and Shawn were ordered to help the janitors clean the inside of their school each week. Despite knowing that his classmates were also punished, Andrew was not happy. On Friday, when his counselor asked Andrew if he would be interested in going to Mass with him, he declined the offer.

  The next time Angela saw her brother, she ignored him as usual. They mutually seemed to avoid conversations and even ate dinner at separate times. They still rode on the bus to get to school each day, but Andrew no longer sat with Shawn anymore. He always sat alone. On the bus, at lunch in the cafeteria, and even at home.

  One night Andrew had to clean up the trash after a school event. He came home late, and like many other nights, Uncle Billy was out with his girlfriend. His uncle spent less and less time in the house anymore, which both Andrew and his sister enjoyed.

  Andrew ate dinner alone and went to his room where he listened to his MP3 player through the clock radio speakers. He felt so alone at school and when he came home each day, Andrew drowned out his sadness with rap music. The edgy, dark tunes were somewhat disturbing, yet gave him comfort.

  Angela walked past her brother’s room and heard the music, but it was nothing new, and she just ignored it. She wanted to see how Carson was doing, so she grabbed the wireless phone from the kitchen and dialed his number. When she realized that there was no dial tone, she was confused.

  Why isn’t it working? Angela wrinkled her brow in consternation.

  The main phone unit was in her uncle’s room, but since she knew he was still out, she quickly walked down the hallway and into his room. She lifted the phone and listened, but once again, there was no dial tone. Angela looked behind the main unit, followed the telephone cord behind the desk and then saw that it was not plugged into the phone jack in the wall.

  Uncle Billy disconnects the phone when he’s gone, Angela thought. How odd.

  She plugged it back in and made a brief phone call to Carson. They chatted for a few minutes, then said goodnight. Angela disconnected the phone cord again, turned off the light, and shut the door behind her. She went upstairs to her brother’s door, knocked twice and waited for him to open it.

  Andrew opened the door and stared at Angela uncomfortably.

  “I went to use the phone,” Angela quickly said, “but it didn’t work. I checked our uncle’s room, and he had the phone line disconnected.”

  Andrew looked away from Angela briefly, deep in thought. “So he doesn’t want us to call anyone or them to call us while he is out?”

  “Yeah, it sure looks that way.” She shrugged her shoulders feeling awkward. “I just wanted to let you know.”

  “Thank you.” Andrew gave a distracted smile and shut the door.

  As the weeks went by, every day at school, Angela looked forward to sitting with Carson for lunch. Jessica was more than excited that Angela had a boyfriend now, and she and the other girls gave them their space. After school, Angela would join the cheerleaders in the gymnasium for practice. They worked on new routines for the football halftime shows, which stunned the crowds for all the home games.

  Outside of school and cheerleading, Angela would meet up with Carson and go to local attractions to hang out.

  One night, while walking hand in hand at a park together, Carson asked, “So, you transferred to Grove High, right?”

  “Yes.” Angela was slightly taken aback by the suddenness of the question, but she was also thrilled that he wanted to learn more about her. “I went to a Catholic school.”

  “I bet they were super strict.” Carson shook his head as he smiled. “Did they have ridiculous dress codes and all?”

  Angela almost felt as if she needed to defend her old school. But, I am happier here without the rules holding me back, right? “Yes, unfortunately. I guess it wasn’t too bad though.”

  “Why did you change schools?” Carson noticed her discomfiture at his question.

  “After my parents… passed away, I had to move in with my uncle who lived too far away from my old school for me to still go to it.”

  Carson squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry to hear that. So, it’s just you and your uncle?”

  “No.” Angela was so ashamed of Andrew that she had never wanted to admit to being related to him to anyone at school. She quietly continued, “My brother Andrew too.”

  A few moments passed, and then Carson turned to her and said with a controlled voice, “Andrew and I were friends once. Well, until the vandalism incident.”

  Angela shook her head. So everyone knows, great. Way to go Andrew. “That whole thing upsets me.”

  “Me too,” Carson replied heavily. “I just wish I would have been there that night too.”

  “What?” Angela stared at Carson in shock. “Why?”

  Carson took her other hand reassuringly and said softly, “Then maybe I could have stopped Andrew from breaking into the school.”

  “But,” Angela pulled both of her hands out of Carson’s and stepped back, “my brother didn’t—”

  Carson gave a theatric sigh. “I’m just telling you what I heard from Darren. He got expelled because of what Andrew did that night.”

  Angela stopped and looked Carson in the eyes. “I heard that he was expelled, but it couldn’t have been Andrew’s fault.”

  “The guys were just hanging out and cruising around town,” Carson began, “when they headed past Westview High School. Darren just wanted to show everyone where their rival’s football field was, since we would be playing there later in the season. But, when they reached the parking lot, Andrew got this idea to vandalize the school. He got out of the car, tagged the building and then broke inside. And, when he got busted by the janitor, he told everyone that it was Darren’s idea.”

  “That’s not what I heard,” Angela insisted faintly.

  Carson closed the distance between them. “I’m not surprised. I know Andrew’s been going through a hard time lately, but that’s no excuse to lie to everyone, especially not to his beautiful sister.”

  Andrew, she thought in despair, how can I defend you if you never tell me the truth?

  “Anyways,” Carson grasped hold of her hand once more, “With Darren kicked out of the school and off the football team, we’ve been really struggling.”

  “I noticed, but, you’ve been doing really great on the field. I’ve been cheering for you.”

  Carson smiled and leaned down to whisper in her ear, “Thank you, Angela. I really appreciate that.”

  He kissed her on the cheek and took her home.

  As the football season came to a disappointing end, school soon let out for the holidays. Christmas came and went before they knew it. Uncle Billy did not bother to decorate the house. There were no lights hanging from the roof, no Christmas tree in the living room, no stockings at the fireplace, and he did not even give Andrew or Angela a single present. Nothing about the day felt special, it was just a hollow holiday. Uncle Billy was out all day with his girlfriend, Angela spent some time with Carson, and Andrew just stayed home alone. Although he felt a little guilty for not going to Mass on Christmas, he drowned that out by listening to some rap music and watching a few rated-R movies that Shawn had once given to him.

  After the New Year began, Angela and Andrew continued to ignore each other. Angela had too much on her mind, constantly thinking about Carson or cheerleading. Her team practiced new cheers and half-time shows for the basketball season, and the girls were also practicing for the upcoming State Cheerleading Competition. With Angela on the team and performing flawlessly, Jessica was sure they would win the whole thi
ng and become State Champions.

  “Watch how Angela does the moves,” Jessica had told the other girls, “and do them as perfect as she does.”

  Angela loved mastering the moves, but not all the girls on the squad were happy about how Jessica told them to learn from her.

  “Why should we watch a freshman?” Julia frowned so hard that the ring on her nose looked ready to pop off.

  Kayla, always backing up Jessica had replied, “Because she’s one of the best here.”

  Even Kayla was occasionally jealous of Angela’s ability to learn the dance moves and make even the most complicated ones look easy. But, she also really admired her natural talent.

  Right after the practice, the cheerleaders left and the gymnasium was setup for a dinner event. After the evening meal ended, Andrew arrived on cue to start cleaning up the plates and sweeping the floor. He noticed a poster on the wall advertising for Senior Prom, which was less than a month away. Andrew shook his head at the thought of going to his prom and he finished cleaning the gym.

  At his next meeting with his counselor, he decided that it was time to tell him all about Uncle Billy. Andrew explained to him about how they were stuck living with him instead of their grandparents, that Uncle Billy was spending money left and right, how he brought those new things, that he has a girlfriend, that he drinks all the time, and that he even disconnects the phone when he’s gone.

  Counselor Robertson was curious about it all as well, but he told Andrew not to spend any more time thinking about it. “I think it’s best to let me look into this, while you focus on your school work and the community service project.”

  That was not the answer Andrew wanted, but he accepted it for the time being. As that session ended, Senior Counselor Robertson asked a question Andrew was all too used to hearing. “Would you like to join me for Mass this Sunday?”

  With the Uncle Billy issue out of his hands, and getting sick of being alone every weekend, Andrew finally said, “You know what? Okay, why not?”

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