The Secret Circle

Garrett

"Children of God," I smiled down at the small morning crowd I usually got before school, "are we ready to live another day by him and him only?"

Agreements and nods came from everywhere around the theater. Mr. Cline always let us use it for our religious purposes.

"Would any of you like to lead us in prayer today to bless us and pray for those who sin daily?"

Hands shot into the air quickly. I widened my smile. Jesus this was a pain in the ass.

"Garrett," my father's voice boomed. I almost jumped from his sudden bellow, "what did you forget?"

I looked back at him. He was sitting in one of the theater chairs with that of disappointment on his face and his fingers massaging his temple slowly on one side of his face. He always had that look on his face when it came to me. Always. I could never do anything right when it came to him. But I quickly went over the notes in front of me where I stood on the podium. 

"Oh...I'm sorry dad." I sighed.

I forgot to say what to bless us with. But then again, was it even that serious?

"Don't be sorry to me son. Be sorry to God. Every second you waste making mistakes is making you an unfit leader in his eyes. I need a son who knows what he's doing in order to take my legacy on and praise God the correct way. Not this lazy, shameful way you've made up. And put some bass in your voice. You're not a woman." He snapped. "Start over."

I hated observations. He always found something wrong and basically embarrassed me in front of all of my "followers". He wasn't aware that I paid most of my audience to be here. My morning class wasn't as large as my lunch classes and he never attended those. But if he did find out-I held back a shudder, turning it into a short sigh. This school wasn't even a good candidate to train. These kids were haywire here. No amount of God or church could save them. Even the damn church girls that go here were corrupt and "shameful in the eyes of God".

"Children of God." My smile was painfully stretching across my face at this point. I could hear my dad sigh stressfully behind me. I knew it was because I said it so stiffly. I didn't even continue.

"Garrett, are you trying to defy God? Why can't you get this right? Is this because you haven't been studying?"

I turned back towards my dad. The disappointment hadn't moved anywhere. If anything, it deepened into stress and frustration. Yay. Too bad I'm stuck with this for the rest of my life.

"I-I have."

When I made the mistake of stuttering to him, I just wanted to ram myself behind the thick, velvety curtains that hung behind my disapproving dad. He absolutely hated when anyone stuttered. 

He stood up. "This class is dismissed. Everyone out. I need a word alone with my son. May God bless you all."

It didn't take long for the room to clear out. My father was very scary. They didn't want to be in the way when he lost his temper.

"I'm trying dad. Please don't be mad at me." I said.

Dad paced around in front of me as if I wasn't there. This was probably his 'moments with God'. 

"Do you even take this serious? Is it that hard for you to do it the way it is supposed to be done?"

I forced myself to look at him. Another thing he hated was when I talked to him, but, didn't look at him. I made sure not to make that mistake.

"It's complicated when you're watching. I do it perfectly when you're not here. I don't know what goes wrong."

He chuckled a little. "I'm your father. There is nothing to be frightened by. We're all children of God. There is nothing to be scared of. Nothing is complicated. You're just not connected with God. I know you've been skipping out on your prayer nights. Sally told me so." 

Don't sigh. Don't move. Keep perfectly still. 

I managed to do so. Sometimes I wondered why I even bothered to try anymore. He would just find more reasons as to why it wasn't right.

"It was only two times. I had a really big test to study for."

"As long as you have faith in God-you don't need to worry about tests. You should be retaining the information in class anyways. God always comes first. I don't want to hear about you missing your prayer nights anymore, Garrett. There is nothing more important than God. He is the one who makes sure we live and breathe each day to get to him. He's your father. This is highly disrespectful of you Garrett. He does his all for you and you can't even lead a simple prayer correctly. You can't even pray to him every night to at least thank him for laying down his only son to make sure you lived unscathed and healthy to this day. I don't even know how to deal with you right now. You teenagers just think you can do anything because you're almost grown-but not in my household. You will praise God day and night. That is your job. Nothing else. Do you understand?" He ranted.

He didn't know how badly I couldn't wait to leave here. This was a horrible place for anyone to grow up. Everyone here was messed up some way. 

"Yes dad. I will pray for forgiveness for my sins."

It never made sense to go against him. He was my father after all. I owed him some respect. 

"You need to. I'm going to the church to start setting up for bible night. We're not done with this talk." 

I just nodded. The faster he left, the faster I could get out of here and at least enjoy something. Even though this school was a piece of epic s**t-it was better than what I had to call home. They were nicer to me here than my own father. That had to account for something.

"Uggh! How can one person be so damn-ughh! I so totally blame grandpa for this." 

I straightened my clothes, which had to be a suit and tie or long khakis with a button down blue, long shirt, before I walked out of the theater to make it look like I didn't just have a mental break down just in case anyone was outside. Most likely, nobody but Annete was outside in the halls because no one bothered coming here earlier than the scheduled time, later maybe. My father believed being on time was something that should never be ignored. This was probably the only time I agreed with him. Anything  just to not spend time with his delusional self in that house.. 

"Hi Garrett."

Annete. Her short figure hopping next to me eagerly let me know it was her. My dad called girls like her, "the devil at his best." He only said it because Annete was thicker and bustier than "regular" girls. I thought she was fine. She had such a wonderful personality. She was so colorful-you couldn't hate her. Everything about her was too lovable.

"Hello Annete. What are you up to this lovely morning? Why are you here so early?" I asked.

She bumped into me a little and giggled, "You know I come here with you every morning. Nothing different."

I looked at her. Today her nice, long, brown hair was styled in a really sloppy top bun. But that didn't matter. She was adorable either way she had her hair.

"Mhm."

"So...what did The Man say today?" She asked silently. "You usually talk more."

I glanced at her again. This time, I didn't get to look so easily. Her green eyes prompted me to tell her what all happened during observation. They were so big and wide, how could you lie to or ignore them. This girl had a super power. How can she do this?

"Stop using your super power on me. It's kind of creepy."

"Hey!" She scoffed. "You love when I do it to other people. You say it's cool-now it's creepy?"

"Well I know what they're feeling now. It's like you're Puss in Boots or something with those eyes. How do you do that? It's incredible, creepy, and weird at the same time."

"Thank you?"

I laughed. "But fine. He was on one of his rants about how I should keep faith in God and that alone should let me pass tests with flying colors, and how I shouldn't skip prayer nights because of all the things God has done for me, you know...the usual."

Annete groaned. We turned the corner together. It was funny how she had to take extra steps to match mine.

"Why can't he see that you're a great preacher? I have been to one of your sermons, and honestly, they're not bad. I can get into it." 

If only you knew that I didn't want to be a damn preacher. I didn't really know what I wanted to do all the way-but I do not want to preach. I resent preaching. With all my heart. 

"Is that a compliment?"

"Yes." Annete giggled. "But don't get used to it. You're still an oaf."

"Oh really? That hurt my feelings..."

Another giggle came from her, "Well at least you're my oaf."

"I guess that's good."

"It is very good."

We both laughed.

"How has your life been going?" 

Annete shrugged, "Besides having a mother who ignores me for work and a dad who's in between jobs? Fine. I'm just cruisin'."

I guess I had that to be grateful for though. Not only was my father a well-known preacher, he was a very influential political figure. He never ran or anything, but, if you had him endorse you, just know that you would be getting majority of the town's vote. This town put their everything into him for some reason. He had the biggest church. He's basically some type of mayor that isn't in office. The actual mayor actually goes to him for advice on how to handle situations that had nothing to do with him. The bottom line was, he had money. Lots of it. That was something I could be grateful for.

"Ha. You're always just cruisin'. When are you going to start cruising? Hmm?"

Stopping at our lockers, Annete gave me a dirty glare. I couldn't help the laugh in my chest. She was too adorable.

"Don't correct me on my grammar damnit. I can speak however I please."

I reached for my first period's notebook.

"Ugh, you know grammar is a pet peeve of mine."

"I know. You were the one freshman who had a damn perfect score on the English section of the ACT. They would not shut up about it for the life of me. They used you as an example for anything and everything."

I remembered that vividly. I was very surprised that I had scored so high. Colleges were basically groveling at my door and it was hilarious. My father turned every one of them down because I was going to be his legacy carrier, not part of some scheme that ripped you off.

"Jealous much? That is one of my many accomplishments. I thought you would proud of your oaf."

"Aww," Annete poked her lip out and patted the side of my face softly, "I am proud of you. But it takes a lot of patience to hear the same song over and over again."

"At least it's your favorite song."

"On-"

"Garrett? Are you down here?"

Panic spread through my body instantly. My father was still here. Why was he still here?! Annete. God damnit! My dad did more than just disliking Annete. He hated her. I did not have time to sit on my knees with holy water being thrown on me today. Nor did I feel like it.

I pointed for Annete to go to the part of the hallway where it turned down the corner. She did as I silently instructed skillfully. This was the part where I wished she had run faster.

"Ah, there you are son."

I turned, smiling. "Dad? Is there something I forgot?"

"No. I meant to give you this flyer."

A paper was handed to me. It was strange he came back to give me a paper.

"Was there someone with you? I thought I heard...voices. " He asked, peeking over my shoulder a little.

I looked behind me quickly. No one.Thank you Jesus.

"No sir. I was just getting my notebook for first period and praying. That's probably what you heard."

He laughed a little, "Oh. That makes sense. It's good that you are doing so. God will be more forgiving to you for trying to make amends."

I nodded. The cardstock in my head was the only thing I was actually worried about. If this was another retreat where I had to give out sermon after sermon-I'm either going to hang myself or run away to the next state.

"Okay then. Have a good day at school."

"I will."