Free Andrea and the 5-Day Challenge by Cindy K. Green Page B

a stretch. Then she tried to raise her mouth into a smile, but all she accomplished was poofing her lips out like she was superior or something.
    I might have agreed with her in the past (especially after the incident last year), but something my mom said to me came to mind: “We are all created equal.”
    What made her think she was superior over me? Her beauty, which had made her into a master manipulator, her sharp wit which utilized such words as “Toodles,” or was it her skill of turning stunning cartwheels and stealing other girls’ boyfriends? She wasn’t so scary after all. If anything, she needed some prayer. There had to be a reason why she acted the way she did.
    I mean, it was no secret she’d been forced to go to this school back in seventh grade by her mother, who thought she’d get a good education here. Stephanie was always telling stories about how great her old school had been back in Virginia. But Steph’s family didn’t go to church or anything. She never volunteered for community service like when we went to the soup kitchen last month, or the rest home the month before that. Recently, I’d heard through the whirling rumor mill buzz that Steph’s mom might be getting a divorce from her third husband. Maybe she needed more prayer than I thought.
    Without blinking an eyelash, I stared her square in the face. “Thanks for the advice, Steph.” (I used the shortened version of her name so she’d know we were being friendly and all.) “I’ll take it under advisement for future reference.” Then I raised an eyebrow at her, and with that movement, she knew I had no intention of following her suggestion. “Of course, you are welcome to hang out with us at homecoming. We’re all just friends here at Aubrey, right?” What was I saying? I wasn’t even going to homecoming!
    Stephanie didn’t reply with words, but merely a glare.
    Even that didn’t deter me as I kept talking. “You know, my youth group has Bible study tonight. We have lots of fun. You’re welcome to come if you like.”
    Stephanie just huffed and murmured, “Whatever,” as she shuffled off down the hallway.
    Afterward, I closed my locker, picked up my bag, and strolled down to the exit. Thank you, Lord, for helping me avoid caving to the will of the snobby cheerleader. And I’d even invited her to church. That had to be God. I don’t think I would have ever attempted that on my own.
     
    ~*~
     
    A warm wind blew in through the lowered windows of Luke’s car. My elevated heart rate hummed gently along with the purr of the car’s engine. I stared out at the blur of storefronts as we drove down Harrison Avenue. There went the local ice cream shop and my mom’s favorite grocery store.
    I’d worried so much about driving off with Luke and really, it hadn’t stirred up as much attention as I’d thought. As usual, I’d overreacted. Actually, no one really noticed. My friends were curiously absent. I mean, how could they go through the evening without observing the days of my life? The few people who did see us didn’t seem to find it of any great interest. So maybe we wouldn’t find ourselves plastered all over the front page of The Warrior Post (the school paper at Aubrey Christian Academy) tomorrow. Of course, if that happened, I’d hate Amy forever as she is the editor.
    Even though going off with Luke kicked up the potential for embarrassment to a whole new level, I had hope that I might actually keep myself under control. Of course, riding home with Luke without my parents’ permission might be considered open rebellion against their rules. Then again, I’d ridden in cars driven by other male teen drivers, but of course, there had been a whole group of us in the car at the time, and my parents did know said male drivers previous to me getting into their cars. I decided not to worry about the dissimilarity for the moment.
    During the first five minutes of driving, the conversation between Luke and I had been a