Free God's Not Dead 2 by Travis Thrasher

could affect the life of one person by convincing others.
    It’s ironic now that I’m going to have to convince those others that a woman’s beliefs are legitimate and acceptable.
    The good thing is that I don’t have to include myself in that mix.

13
    “THANK YOU for taking the time to talk about the incident that happened in Ms. Wesley’s class.”
    The junior named Legend looks five hundred miles away. Amy thinks his hairstyle resembles a mop. She’s not sure that’s in style now, but then again she knows it’s basically an anything-goes sort of world.
    Who’d name their kid Legend in the first place?
    “Where are the cameras?” he asks.
    Instead of McDonald’s, Legend wanted to meet Amy after school at the Crownstone Buffet. He’s already got a loaded plate of basically every known food group, while Amy is content to sip her diet soda.
    “Cameras?” she asks with genuine surprise. “This is just a casual interview. I write a blog.”
    The dark eyes look at her only for a moment before spinning around like some kind of amusement ride. Legend doesn’t seem nervous but rather completely unsure what he should focus on. “You wanted to talk about what happened in history class.”
    “That’s correct.”
    There seems to be a pause button. Perhaps a mute button. Some kind of disconnect as Legend wolfs down a few bites and then just scans the room like he’s waiting for someone to join them.
    How can this kid be in an AP History class?
    “Can you talk about what exactly happened?” Amy asks.
    “Sure.”
    She waits for a moment as he scoops up a small mountain of macaroni and cheese. Legend seems pretty satisfied with his answer. Amy has always wondered what dining at Crownstone Buffet might be like. Now she can cross this off the bucket list of things she never really wanted in the first place.
    “So do you want to share what happened?” she eventually asks. “Like go into detail?”
    “Okay. Yeah, sure. We were like talking about Gandhi and Martin Luther and Oprah and then Jesus came up.”
    “Do you mean Martin Luther King Jr.?” Amy asks.
    “Yeah, probably.”
    “Were you really talking about Oprah?”
    Legend has a forkful of coleslaw he’s about to devour. “I think so. But I might be wrong.”
    Amy’s journalism classes in college didn’t quite prepare her for all-you-can-eat meals with teenagers.
    “And how did the subject of Jesus come up?”
    Legend’s eyes wander up to the ceiling, and as Amy waits, sheknows this was a bad idea. You never know when an interview will prove to be a home run, but too often it turns out to be wasted time.
    “Erik was basically making fun of Miss Wesley,” Legend says.
    Amy sits there, a bit stunned. “Erik?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Who is Erik?”
    “Oh, he makes everybody laugh.”
    Amy nods. Suddenly they’ve gotten somewhere even though Legend doesn’t seem to notice it.
    “Was he trying to make people laugh in this class?”
    “Who?”
    Amy leans her head a bit, wondering if the boy is being serious. He really and truly can’t be this dim-witted, right? “Erik. The guy who makes people laugh. Was he trying to do that in the class when Ms. Wesley was talking about Jesus?”
    Earth-to-Legend comes back to the table. He finishes a mouthful of food and nods. “Yeah. He was being stupid. Like ‘Duh, I’m a stoner dude, and there’s no Jesus ’cause didn’t they kill him, duh.’”
    All she can do is grin. She almost uses the horrible adage of the pot calling the kettle black but stops herself since she knows Legend has surely never heard it and would probably think she’s literally talking about a pot and a kettle.
    “So this Erik   —does he not like Ms. Wesley?”
    Legend shakes his head and laughs. “Oh no. He loves her. He thinks she’s hot.”
    “So why was he debating her?”
    Another laugh. Now Legend is working on his fried chicken. “He wasn’t debating anybody. Erik likes to make stupid comments. Ms. Wesley is usually