“Same.”

She disappeared into the church. Though we’d greet each other in the halls at school, and run into each other around town—Green Creek was so small—that was the last time we were First Missionary Crew.

Me and my family haven’t been back since.

Chapter 31

NOT THAT WE GAVE UP on church completely.

After another family meeting—low-tech, face-to-face, immediately after that final First Missionary service—we decided we’d do a bit of a church hunt. Different towns, different denominations, all within a half hour or so of Green Creek. We’ve heard fire-and-brimstone sermons. Super-cool live-and-let-live sermons. Saw one preacher pull a gun in the pulpit (he said it wasn’t loaded, but we still scratched that church off our list). It’s been . . . educational.

Not going to lie, I was uncertain where I landed on religion, but the family agreed we’d do this, and I was a team player, if nothing else. Mom felt better when we sought divine guidance, Dad felt better being supportive of Mom, and Cressie, when she wasn’t at school and running her increasingly popular YouTube channel, loved us doing the church tour thing together. She even did an episode on it.

My episode was still one of her Top Five most viewed, a surprising number of those coming from my Green Creek classmates. Post-holiday break, I’d expected jokes, and there were some, but not nearly as much as the support I got from many who expressed their own anxieties about sex. MJ asked me to stay back after English class, and when the room cleared, he said, “It was a brave thing you did.”

“I’m not so brave,” I said. “I’m the one who talked about you telling personal stories in Healthy Living. I got the class canceled.”

Seemed I was addicted to this confession thing.

MJ wrote notes on the board, and didn’t look at me when he said, “I kind of figured. Once I saw your video, and you mentioned First Missionary church, you were the only clear connection between the class and Pastor Newsome.”

“Were you mad?”

He faced me, amused. “Not at all. By then, I’d already sent some anonymous emails to your sister about the whole thing. Local girl, big social media following, outrage. The curriculum committee is going to review the course again.”

“That was you feeding Cressie info? I—” I recalled Cressie referring to her source as a “her.” “I thought that was a girl.”

“Your sister likes heroic women. Nothing wrong with that. Her assumption helped with the whole anonymity thing, so I let it ride.”

“Will Pastor Newsome be a problem?”

“If he was still involved. I’ve been told a new religious liaison will be joining the curriculum committee. Vanessa Newsome. You know her?”

Sister Vanessa? New blood, new ideas! “I’m familiar.”

“I expect good things.”

So did I.

In March, Vice Principal Terrier instituted another new rule, and sentenced a bunch of people to detentions over it. For once, I didn’t mind. The use of “Baby-Getters” and “BabyGettersToo” was pretty much banned at Green Creek. We had to opt for calling the participants what we should’ve been calling them the whole time. Students, and nothing else.