Religious zealousness was an odd addition to Penny’s personality; suddenly, she was quoting scripture during my phone calls with her and telling me that my body was a temple of the Holy Spirit. Despite our many differences, Penny and I possessed a similar capacity for obsession. But where mine was single-minded, Penny’s was ever shifting—usually from one boy to the next. In the moment, however, it was every bit as laser focused as mine. And in that period of Penny’s life, it had found a home in the cuddly, inclusive Christianity peddled by the Young Life campus ministry. And, of course, by Brandon.

I asked Emily what she thought of all this.

“You know how she is when she has a crush. And she’s been having such a hard time with the lupus and everything,” she said, sounding unconcerned. Penny’s constant health troubles could make it hard to criticize her decisions; it automatically felt unfair.

My parents and I were a bit dismayed when Penny told us that she wanted us to come bear witness to her baptism. Those were her words: bear witness. This was especially confusing because we’d both been baptized, christened in those strange, old-fashioned little baby gowns that look as though they’re meant to accommodate an infant with alarmingly long legs.

“This is different,” Penny said. “This time I’m making the choice, I’m accepting Jesus Christ as my personal lord and savior. Being sprinkled with holy water when you’re a baby doesn’t count. If I want to walk with the Lord, I need to receive Christ on my own terms.”

These did not sound like Penny’s words but someone else’s. Brandon’s, I guessed.

On a Sunday in early June, we watched Penny and Brandon’s goatee’d cool guy minister walk with Penny, her petite frame engulfed in a white gown, into the chilly waters of a lake at the edge of Lucky Point State Park. He said some blessings and then Penny crossed her arms over her chest as he guided her backward into the water. When he lifted her up again, her face was full of wonder. Her Young Life friends cheered madly from the shore while my parents and I smiled, bemusedly.

Nothing ever developed with Brandon. I wondered what sort of half-bit Christian Romeo this kid was. Did he go around college parties making out with girls and then abandoning them post baptism? Didn’t seem very Christlike to me, and I was pissed on Penny’s behalf.