Raising Faith (3 page)

Morgan hugged Emily. “I’m so glad you changed your mind about the ski trip,” she said happily. “I guess my faith was starting to shrink. I think I would’ve given up on the trip if you hadn’t said something just when you did.”

Emily grinned. “Guess that’s what friends are for, huh?”

Morgan thought about that as she walked home. It was hard to remember what life had been like before Emily moved here last spring. It seemed like they’d been friends forever, but in reality it had only been about six months, give or take. Still, Morgan knew that theirs was a friendship that would last forever. And if for some reason Emily was unable to go on the ski trip, Morgan would gladly forfeit her spot as well. She wouldn’t care if it was completely paid for, or if all the other girls were going. Morgan would stay home with Emily.

She just hoped it wouldn’t come down to that. And she’d be praying extra hard to make sure that it didn’t!

“I’m so bummed,” said Carlie as the four friends walked to school on Monday.

“What’s up?” asked Amy.

“Chelsea called me last night — I couldn’t believe it — she invited me to go with her and her family to the ski resort.”

“Wow,” said Emily. “That sounds awesome.”

“Yeah,” agreed Morgan, “Why are you bummed about that?”

Carlie kicked a stone off the sidewalk. “Because my parents said ‘no way, José.’”

“Why?” asked Emily.

“Because it’s Thanksgiving,” said Carlie. “My parents are so old-fashioned. They think the world will come to an end if all of our family — I mean aunts and uncles and cousins and everyone — isn’t together under one roof for that entire day.”

“That’s kind of nice,” said Morgan. “I can’t imagine having that much family around.”

Carlie let out a long sigh. “Yeah, there’s like eighty people. They all come to my aunt’s house, which usually
seems pretty roomy, but it’s so crowded in there you can hardly breathe. And noisy? Have you ever been to a Latino celebration? Man, your ears are ringing for three days afterward.”

The girls laughed.

“Well, my parents are old-fashioned too,” said Amy. “But not about holidays. For my parents, the holidays are just a time to make money in the restaurant. I’ll be working on Thanksgiving.”

“Really?” asked Emily. “Do very many people eat Chinese food on Thanksgiving?”

“You’d be surprised,” said Amy. “I think most of our holiday customers don’t have family around. But at least they’re generous with their tips. Even so, I’d give anything to have Carlie’s problem. I wish Chelsea would invite me to go skiing with her.”

“Maybe she will,” said Carlie sadly.

They were almost at Boscoe Bay Middle School now.

“Well, cheer up,” said Emily, “At least you have the ski trip after Christmas to look forward to.”

“Yeah,” said Carlie. “After my parents nixed my chances of going with Chelsea, I asked about the ski trip, and it sounded like it might be okay. My mom even agreed to pay me to watch the boys while she gets ready for Christmas, and my dad offered to help us to go cut down Christmas trees to sell at the bazaar.”

“That’s great,” said Morgan. “Maybe that whole thing with Chelsea helped to soften them up.”

Carlie laughed. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too.”

“Speaking of Chelsea,” said Amy, pointing to the Mercedes that was just pulling up in front of the school. “There she is.”

“Hey, Chelsea,” called Carlie, waving.

Chelsea came over to join them as they went up the steps to the front entrance. “I’m still mad at you,” Chelsea said to Carlie with a pouting face.

Carlie shrugged. “Hey, I can’t help what my parents say.”

“At least we still have the ski trip to look forward to after Christmas,” Morgan reminded her. “I’m going to pick up the forms today.”

“I already have my deposit money,” said Amy. “It’s at home, but I counted it out last night and I have just enough.”

“And my dad will give me a check for the whole thing,” said Chelsea.

“And I was just telling these guys that my parents said I can go to that — since it’s not actually on Christmas,” said Carlie as they went inside the school. “My mom even offered to advance me some babysitting money so I can pay the deposit.”

Emily glanced at Morgan with an uneasy expression as they walked to their lockers. Morgan could tell that she
was still a little worried about the money. But Morgan smiled at her in a way she hoped was reassuring.

“It’s going to be so cool,” Morgan said to her friends. “All five of us up there, skiing and riding and having a totally great time.”

“I think I want to try snowboarding,” said Carlie.

“Yeah, and I should be pretty good at it by then,” added Chelsea.

“I’m going to ski,” said Amy. “I think it looks more graceful.”

“Snowboarding’s more fun,” said Emily.

“How do
you
know?” Amy asked her.

“Because I’ve done it.”

Morgan blinked. “You’ve gone snowboarding before, Emily?”

“Yeah, when we lived in Idaho.” Emily got a worried look now, and Morgan knew that it was because she didn’t like to mention where they’d moved from. “I mean when we were in Idaho … we went a few times.”

“Have you been to Sun Valley?” asked Chelsea.

“No,” said Emily. “Not to ride anyway. We went there once just to check it out.”

“My sister has been there. She says it’s awesome.”

Just then the warning bell rang, and the girls scattered off toward their first-period classes. But as Morgan and Emily went to English, Morgan had to ask. “You’ve really
been snowboarding before?”

“Yeah, I thought I told you.”

“No.” Morgan shook her head. “Are you any good?”

Emily shrugged. “Not the first time … but I kinda got the hang of it. It’s not that hard, really. And you’re pretty athletic, Morgan, so you shouldn’t have any problem. Have you ever skateboarded?”

“No.”

“Oh.” Emily grinned. “My brother taught me to skateboard when I was like six. I could probably borrow Kyle’s board and give you some lessons. It’s all about balance.”

“All right,” said Morgan as they took their seats. Then as Mrs. Robertson began to drone on about punctuation and sentence structure, Morgan began to daydream about snowboarding down a white snowy peak. Naturally, she was able to do this with grace and style. And, Morgan realized, in her daydream her hair was loose and flowing. Maybe it was time to lose the beaded braids. Morgan fingered a braid. Her hair was past her shoulders now. She wondered what it would look like without the braids. Perhaps she could get the curl relaxed a little, the way her mother did.

“Morgan Evans?” A shrill voice interrupted her daydreaming.

Morgan adjusted her glasses and looked up at Mrs. Robertson who was looking directly at Morgan.

“Can you tell me … does this sentence require a semicolon or a comma?”

Morgan studied the sentence that Mrs. Robertson was pointing to on the board. She had no idea which was the right answer, but since there was a fifty-fifty chance, she decided to guess. “A comma.”

“No,” said Mrs. Robertson crisply. “And if you had been listening, you would’ve known that this particular sentence requires a semicolon,” and then she went on to explain the reason why. Although, even as Morgan listened, she wasn’t so sure she got it. Why wouldn’t a comma work just as well? Just the same, this little embarrassment was a good reminder that she needed to pay attention. Daydreaming was okay when you weren’t at school, but Morgan knew that it would be a mistake to get behind in class.

At noon, Morgan went to their regular table in the cafeteria. As usual, Morgan had a sack lunch from home. And, as usual, she and Carlie and Amy were the first ones at their table. This was because the three of them usually brought lunches from home. Morgan felt like they were the lucky ones. Amy mostly brought food from the restaurant. Carlie usually had something that smelled delightfully Mexican. And Morgan had whatever Grandma had decided she needed for that day. Morgan knew that Emily ate the cafeteria food for two reasons. One reason was
top secret: because Emily was entitled to vouchers. Fortunately, their school’s vouchers looked exactly like regular lunch tickets. The other reason was because Emily’s mother wasn’t much into cooking. The reason Chelsea ate cafeteria food was a mystery. But Chelsea claimed she liked it. For the most part, Chelsea ate the same thing everyday — salad and diet soda. Morgan didn’t think it was the most healthy or even appetizing meal, but she had learned early on that it was better not to mention this to Chelsea.

“You are not going to believe this,” said Emily as she and Chelsea sat down to join them.

“What?” asked Morgan.

“Chelsea invited
me
to go to the resort with her and her family.”

“No way,” said Amy with a disappointed frown. “Why didn’t you ask me, Chelsea?”

Chelsea shrugged. “I thought you had to work, Amy.”

“I would’ve gotten out of it.” Amy scowled. “I suppose this means that only Morgan, Carlie, and I will be going to Miss McPhearson’s tea now.”

“Sorry to miss that,” said Emily. “Tell her hello for me, okay?”

“But why Emily?” demanded Amy, still unwilling to give it up. “You guys aren’t even that good of friends.”

“For one thing, Emily actually knows how to snowboard.” Chelsea stuck a straw in her soda. “So she was
kinda ahead of the game after Carlie dropped out.”

“I am so jealous,” said Carlie.

“I’m sorry,” said Emily. “If you could’ve gone I wouldn’t —”

“That’s okay,” said Carlie. She smiled at Chelsea now. “I’m glad you have someone to go with you.”

Chelsea nodded. “Yeah, that’ll make it more fun.”

Morgan just stared at Emily. Was she honestly planning on going with Chelsea? Those two didn’t even get along that well. “How do you even know you can go yet, Emily?” she asked as she opened a plastic bag and removed half a sandwich.

“I let her use my phone,” said Chelsea. “She already called her mom at work.”

“And Mom said it was fine.”

Morgan wanted to ask her what this meant about Thanksgiving. Were Emily’s mom and brother and Mr. Greeley still coming to Morgan’s house? But she couldn’t think of a way to say it without sounding mad. Instead, she just focused on her lunch. Meanwhile, the other girls chattered away about snowboarding and clothes and most of it went right over Morgan’s head.

By the end of the day, Morgan knew that she was jealous. But she also knew that she didn’t want anyone to know. As usual, the five girls met at their lockers.

“It’s weird not having soccer to go to,” said Chelsea as she closed her locker.

“And basketball doesn’t start up until after Christmas,” said Carlie.

“Well, I’m going to go by the church and pick up the forms for the ski trip,” said Morgan. “If anyone wants to get one, they’ll be at the clubhouse.”

“Do you need a ride?” asked Chelsea. “My mom’s picking me up.”

Morgan considered this. On one hand she felt sort of mad at Chelsea right now … but on the other hand, it was a quite a walk to the other end of town to get to the church and then all the way back home again. “Sure,” she told Chelsea. “That’d be nice.”

“Anyone else?” offered Chelsea.

“I have to go to the restaurant,” said Amy. “Work, work, work … all I do is work.”

Emily laughed. “Yeah, right. I’ve seen how busy it is at the restaurant this time of day. You and your sisters and brother usually watch TV and eat.”

Amy made a face, then laughed. “Well, I can complain if I want to.”

“And I have to get home to watch my brothers,” said Carlie. “Mom and Tia Maria are getting a head start on Thanksgiving shopping. But at least I’ll be earning money for the ski trip.”

Then Carlie and Amy left to walk home together.

“How about you, Emily?” asked Chelsea. “Want a ride?”

“Sounds good.”

So the three of them went out to wait for Chelsea’s mom. As they waited, Chelsea and Emily discussed what Emily would need to bring on Thursday. Morgan pretended to be distracted with a sketch she was creating on the front of her notebook. It was a tiger, partially hidden behind a tree.

“You can borrow my old ski pants,” said Chelsea. “In fact, you can have them. I don’t need them anymore.”

“Cool,” said Emily. “What color are they?”

“They’re just navy blue, but they are Tommy Hilfiger,” said Chelsea. “In fact, you can have the jacket that goes with them too. It’s a little tight on me anyway, and I don’t think you’re as big on top as I am.”

“Bragging again, are you?” teased Emily.

Chelsea laughed. “
We all develop at different rates
,” she said in a voice that Morgan knew was an imitation of their health teacher, Miss Perrell.

“Yes,” said Emily in the same tone.
“And we do not make fun of others just because their bodies are different than ours.”

“There’s my mom,” said Chelsea.

Soon all three were in Chelsea’s car. “I told Morgan we’d give her a lift to her church so she can get the stuff for the ski trip.”

“That’s fine,” said Mrs. Landers. “Hello, Emily and Morgan. I haven’t seen you two since the park project.
How’s it going?”

“Okay,” said Morgan in a slightly flat tone.

“Good,” said Emily. “Thanks.”

“Guess what, Mom?”

“What?”

“Emily is going to come with us to the resort for Thanksgiving.”

“That’s wonderful. I was just feeling sad that you wouldn’t have a friend up there. Meredith and Jason are each bringing someone.” She glanced at Emily. “Are your parents okay with that? Do I need to call them or anything?”

“She just has a mom,” said Chelsea in a quiet voice.

“Yes, that’s right. I knew that. Is your mother all right with you going?”

“Yeah,” said Emily. “Chelsea let me call my mom on her cell phone. And it’s okay. I mean, as long as Mom knows where we’ll be and phone numbers and all that sort of thing.”

“I’ll write it all out,” said Mrs. Landers. “Chelsea can bring it to school tomorrow. And your mom can call me if she has any questions.”

Morgan kept her eyes on her drawing of the tiger. But as she filled in the stripes, she felt seriously jealous and angry. Plus, she kept asking herself, why hadn’t she simply walked to the church? The exercise probably would’ve
helped with her attitude — and she wouldn’t have been subjected to all this.

“You can just drop me off at the church, Mrs. Landers,” said Morgan in voice that sounded much brighter than she felt. Still, she thought this might be a way to escape the little happy party going on between Chelsea and Emily right now.

“Don’t you want a ride back home?” asked Chelsea.

“No, I need to talk to Pastor George about something,” Morgan told them, although that wasn’t completely true. But she would make it true. She would go and tell Pastor George about her jealousy fit, and perhaps he would straighten her out. It seemed like a good plan. “I can just walk home afterward.”

“Well, if you’re sure,” said Mrs. Landers as she pulled up in front of the church.

“Yes,” said Morgan. “And the exercise will do me good.”