Inside the door were two girls I didn’t recognize. One white, one Latinx. They were focused on their phones until I walked in.

“Oh, oh,” said the white girl. “Are you Del?”

“Um, yeah.”

The Latinx girl went bug-eyed. “Oh, oh. You’re Cressida.”

Cressie gave a slick grin, like she was used to this. “It is I.”

“Your videos rock, especially the last one. Can we get a picture?”

Cressie eyed me for approval. I said, “Sure.”

Me and my sister wedged between the girls, and the white girl handed her phone to Dad. “Could you?”

Dad eagerly played cameraman, ignorant to everything. “This church is way friendlier than I expected.”

Mom’s narrowed eyes communicated something different.

I asked the girls, “Where are you from?”

“We drove from Hopewell. Had to see the place that inspired you to say all you said.”

Hopewell was an hour away.

The girls thanked us and rushed into the crowded sanctuary for a seat. A lot of new faces—a lot of young faces—occupied the pew gaps that were usually empty at the start, middle, and end of service. If it was like this forty minutes before service started, I suspected it would be standing room only by the time things really got rolling.

Someone gripped my arm, spun me to them. I expected an angry Newsome.

It was Kiera, her face crinkled with fury. “Come. Here.”

She dragged me from my family down the middle aisle until we were at the base of the pulpit, where we took our Purity Pledge a million years ago.

“I saw your video. I saw that you did”—she swept a hand over the growing crowd—“this. Do you know what I have to do today? Do you know you made it worse by bringing like a hundred strangers here to watch me do it?”

“It’s not what you think.” Though, it might be exactly what she thought. We wouldn’t know until after I spoke to Newsome.

She huffed. “How much damage do you plan to do?”

She walked away without an answer, not that I had one to give.

Sister Vanessa emerged from the corridor adjacent to the pulpit, spotted me, and waved me over. I mouthed to Cressie, Save me a seat, then joined Sister Vanessa.

“He’s back there, huh?” I said.

“He is.”

“How bad should I expect?”

“I honestly don’t know. But I want to tell you, I’m proud of you for being so open in your video. And my God, look at all those people in the pews. I don’t care what my uncle may say, or do. This is a blessing.”

I know I should’ve been more focused on the blessing part, but I was scared AF.

I shoved my hands into my pockets so he wouldn’t see them shake. That familiar incense tickled my nose, and when I turned the corner into Newsome’s office, I saw me on his computer monitor. He was watching my video.

“Del,” he said, calmer than I expected. “Sit, please.”