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Thirty-Two
Church was boring. Noah didn't want to sit there listening to the preacher drone on about something, so Noah decided to go to with Patton and Parker, after all. The dopey twins trailed after them.
Noah figured this was like school, but it would be about Jesus and stuff. That was church, right? As the kids all took turns talking about their weeks, he tried to listen. But he might as well have been on an alien planet. He didn't know about anything they were talking about. His mom didn’t exactly have a lot of Bibles lying around. The YouTube preachers hadn’t been fun to watch—they’d actually been pretty scary. And would make Nova cry.
He looked at the teacher for the first time.
And almost choked. He'd never seen a girl who looked that pretty before. At least not in person. She had long blond hair and green eyes and a really nice smile. Someone called her name.
Daisy. She looked as pretty as a flower, he thought. She looked at him and smiled again. His cheeks heated as he shook his head. He didn't have anything he wanted to say right now. Even if he was thankful for a few things—he wasn't going to tell a bunch of strangers what they were.
Besides, they'd think he was a real doofus if he said he was just thankful to be with his baby sister. No guy talked like that at all.
He guessed Patton wasn't actually in the middle school group, either. He was a junior helper, she said. Patton kept the younger kids in the room in line, while she kept things moving forward. Patton seemed ok with it, too. Even though it wasn't exactly a cool job to have.
Patton was lucky. He had a dad who loved him. Patton was getting a new stepmother, Noah thought, though he didn't really know what had happened to Patton's mom—he thought she was dead, too—and Patton had all those brothers and sisters.
Patton knew where he belonged.
He wasn't faking it. Not like Noah was.
Fake Noah Brown Tyler—in a world where he didn't fit in. An alien planet known as Masterson.
He just kept quiet as the group kept talking, as they had some sort of lesson about the Bible and stuff. He had to admit, it wasn't that bad. It beat sitting in his new bedroom all the time trying to decide if he wanted to hang out with Nick or not. Or rescue the guy when Nova made him play dolls forever. Sometimes Nick looked a little desperate after a while.
Nick wasn't all bad. Noah had to admit he was thankful for that—from what the guys at the group home had said, he'd probably gotten lucky. Nick wasn't mean or anything. He also seemed to really like kids, being with Nova and stuff. And Noah.
No. He guessed he was thankful Nick had wanted them—had wanted him, too.
Everyone else went into the hallway after the class was over, and after they'd been given cupcakes and juice boxes. Parker grabbed his arm, when he would have followed. "You're coming to our house, right? Dad said you are. So we can play and hang out downstairs in the game room. And eat. Glenna made meat loaf. She makes awesome meat loaf. Aunt Robin taught her, which is really funny. ’Cause my mom taught Aunt Robin. And now Glenna’s marrying my dad, and we get my mom’s meat loaf all the time again."
The kid never stopped talking. Noah shrugged. "I guess." Parker's dad was actually all right, too. He didn't pretend Noah wasn't around, or anything.And was like a real cowboy and stuff, even if he was a little old. It was funny to watch him tell Nick what to do. Sometimes Nick even did it. Usually while making stupid jokes about his older brother.
"Hold up, Park. We’ll need to get Elly. You know that," Patton said. He was helping clean up the cupcake mess. "Help me get the table real quick, then we'll grab the girls."
Parker just started grabbing trash and stuff, even though it wasn't his job to clean up after everybody else. Noah didn't know what he was supposed to do next. He was just going to stick with Patton until he did, and just do what Patton did. So he grabbed empty juice boxes and other stuff and put it in the trashcan.
It felt kind of good to help, and kind of weird, too. Other than school stuff, he and Nova hadn't done many things ever. Hadn't had much chances to get jobs—cool or otherwise.
Daisy thanked them and told Noah she was glad to meet him. He felt his cheeks turn into fireballs and hoped she hadn't noticed. She was so pretty. And really nice.
Girls just didn’t look like that where he used to go to school. Not really.
No, he wouldn't mind coming back here sometime. Not if she was going to be there. And the kids had seemed ok. They hadn't looked at him like they were perfect, and he was that kid who didn't fit in or anything.
When they were finished, they crossed the hall, just as the two groups of little kids were going with their parents.He looked for bright-red clown hair. He found her, near another lady. Nova looked at him and waved. She had red paint on her hand, and a way too big T-shirt covering her dress.
He just looked at her, and the little blond girls on either side of her. Patton's little sisters. Nova looked happy. Really happy. Noah’s eyes burned for a second.
She was happier than she’d ever been with their mom. That made him feel kind of bad to even think it. Nova beamed at him. "Hi, Noah! We're making presents for our mommies and grandmas, but since I don't have a mommy right now or even a grandma, I'm making mine for my daddy and my Robin. Evey's making hers for her mommy and her aunt Rory. Emmy's doing them for her mommy and her aunt Robin—she's my Robin, too—so that everybody gets some. We figured it out! And we made a special one for my mommy in the heaven, so Daddy can put it on our Christmas tree this year. They’re angels."
She just kept talking.
The teacher put her crafts on a table by the window. "We have to let them all dry this week. It can take a really long time. But they will be here next week when you come back, ok? I even put your name where yours will go. Right there. Nova Tyler."
"That’s me! Thanks, Miss Dusty!" Nova said. "We're going to Emmy and Evey's new daddy's house now. They get a new daddy, too. Just like I did. But they still have their mommy. Their daddy is in the heaven place. Do you think he knows my mommy? I don't want her to be alone. And she likes boyfriends better than she likes little girls. He can be her boyfriend in the heaven place so she can have a friend."
"I bet she's with him right now," the teacher said solemnly. "You girls have fun today, and I'll see you next week."
