People lined the outer aisles. Glancing down the row at the Purity Pledgers, I mouthed, Well?

Honestly, I didn’t expect any of them to get up. Shanice proved me wrong. The bravest of us, she slid into the aisle. Shockingly, Mya, who’d sworn she was so not into my Answer Man role among the Pledgers, followed. As did Ralph Burton.

Further down the row, Qwan stood, letting Angie pass since his bony knees were butting against the seat in front of him. She joined the line right behind my people.

It was the first time I thought of the Purity Pledgers that way. My people.

The house lights came up. The mic line on the other side lengthened with folks anxious to ask Jaylan questions, too. I might not have noticed who else was in the building if not for the dress she wore. The same one from the day I started down this path and she quizzed me on my reasons for wanting to remain sexually pure.

Sister Vanessa had a question for Jaylan, too.

Chapter 20

SCRAMBLING FROM MY SEAT, shouldering past people who’d lined up behind Angie, I hissed, “Mya, Shanice, Ralph! We gotta go now.”

Mya’s mouth screwed up to argue like we were at FISHto’s. I pointed and said, “Sister Vanessa.”

Shanice spotted her. Like a lost toddler seeing their mother in a crowd, she took an instinctive step forward as if she intended to say hi, but then remembered all of us weren’t supposed to be here.

Ralph and Mya caught on quickly and excused themselves from the line. The room was noisy with chatter and shuffling as people either moved to a mic line, or shifted to allow others passage. The professor’s voice echoed through speakers as she asked people to settle down. Thankfully, they were slow complying, which allowed me time to wave the rest of my crew off the row and sneak from the room.

Everyone except Angie.

“We gotta go,” I said, picturing a swift escape to the parking deck, cars, and back to Green Creek.

Angie refused to leave. “I don’t know that woman.”

Really? Was it too soon to call her a cranky pregnant lady?

Me and the rest of the Purity Pledgers couldn’t stay; we’d figure a rendezvous later. Qwan joined Angie in the mic line, mouthing Text me, bro.

I led the Purity Pledgers to the auditorium’s back exit, keeping them between the wall and the ever-growing mic line. Eager Jaylan fans provided ample cover until we were clear.

Once in the lobby, we gathered in a loose huddle.

“What is she doing here?” Kiera asked, brow creased, almost angry.

I had nothing. Maybe she was here to chastise Jaylan. Call her out for promoting filth on the internet. I didn’t think anything I saw on her page was filthy, yet I could see 90 percent of her content being fodder in a Newsome sermon. Counterproductive to our purity mission.

“We gotta get outta here,” Bobby said, afraid and decisive in a way that was more unnerving than spotting Sister Vanessa. He kept exchanging glances with his brother, who still clutched his backpack to his chest like he was protecting a baby. Strange.