"A person who believes in what?" Gloria persisted. Natasha decided to tell her quickly, before Gloria walked away and didn't want Natasha to talk to her . . .
"Uh - God. Do you? Do you believe there's somebody who made you, and me, and everything and everybody in the whole universe?" Gloria was silent a moment, pointer finger resting thoughtfully on her lower lip. " I don' t know - I didn' t never think 'bout that afore."
" Do you want to come to church with me?" Natasha asked.
" Shore. I ain' t never been to church."
" If you come to my house on Saturday night you can sleep over and come with me to church on Sunday morning."
"Uh - I have to ask my Muther."
"Okay!" Natasha said over her shoulder as she ran to class. She just hoped Gloria would come.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Natasha had an awful day on Friday. In history class, Natasha was quite bored. She had to memorize the "I have a Dream" speech. Martin Luther King, Jr. sure knew how to talk, Natasha thought. In science, things were not much better. She had to memorize every single bone in the human body. Things went awfully in math. Oh, no!!!!! she thought as she entered math class. It's Friday! Every Friday there was a quiz or a test. Test today, she moaned inwardly as she sat down at her desk. I haven't even studied! It was no surprise that she only got a 65. After class, her teacher called her up to her desk. "You will flunk math if you do not concentrate," she said. "Is anything wrong?" All Natasha could do was shake her head miserably. Things turned around when Gloria passed her a note in evolution class. It said,
I don't b'leeve in evolution no more. I want to believe in your God.
It was all Natasha could do to keep from jumping for joy. She couldn't keep a grin off her face.
Wow, I'm a huge example to her. She like, wants to believe in God just because I do.
Gloria passed her another note. I'll see you at your house at 5:30 tonight, it said.
"Yes!!" Natasha exclaimed when they were out in the hall. "I . . . will . . . see . . . you . . . very . . . soon." Gloria said the words very slowly. "I been practicin' ," she said, shrugging her shoulders.
" I can tell," Natasha giggled.
"Oh. " Gloria' s ears turned bright red despite her dark, coffee - colored skin. "See you later," she said suddenly, and ran out the school door, flashing a grin at Natasha as she ran.
Wow, I thought Kelsey was a friend, but I KNOW Gloria's a friend.
