Page 50 of In This Moment
Especially because it would probably never happen again. It was one thing for Principal Quinn to forgive Cami for what her father had done to him. But the man would never let Jordy date the enemy’s daughter.
No, she and Jordy had no future. But that didn’t stop her from thinking the world of him. She watched Jordy now. The way he talked to one of the kids and patted another one on the back. The way he listened. Jordy wasn’t just strong and handsome. He was kind. Even now when his dad was under attack. Cami watched Jordy spot her and head over.
“Hey.” Jordy led her to a quieter spot, away from the table of maple doughnuts and Oreo cookies. “I was looking for you.” He seemed concerned. “Have you seen Dwayne?”
“Not since yesterday.” Cami looked around the room. “He was supposed to be here.”
Frustration darkened Jordy’s eyes. “A bunch of the guys on the team are planning something tonight. They say it’s just a hang, but... I think it’ll be a fight. You know, like every Halloween night.”
A gang fight. Cami remembered. Two years ago a Hamilton High football player was killed. The murder was a terrible blow to their student body and the school.
“Oh, no.” Cami felt a new kind of fear move through her veins. Dwayne Brown was a junior. One of the kids she’d featured in her Raise the Bar report. Cami brought her hand to her face and shook her head. “He can’t go.”
“I tried to stop him.” Jordy’s expression was a mix of anger and helpless frustration.
Cami took a few steps toward the exit and then turned around. “Is it too late? Can we go find him?”
“He left. Usually the guys eat somewhere first. Make a plan.” Jordy sighed. “I just keep praying.”
“What if something bad happens?” Cami felt sick. “Dwayne or... or any of them.” She leaned against the wall. “Gangs are so stupid.” She thought of something else. “Plus... if someone gets hurt it will ruin everything.”
Jordy lowered his brow, as if he didn’t understand what she meant. “Everything?”
Cami searched his eyes. “We’re trying to convince people that our club matters. It’s making a difference. Higher grades, less criminal activity. All the rest. The club’s changing lives. That’s the whole point.” She crossed her arms. “If something happens tonight... no one will believe the Bible even matters. Everyone will know we’re not perfect.”
“What?” At first Jordy sounded annoyed. But then his expression softened. “No, Cami. That’s not it. Only Jesus is perfect.” He moved closer to her and put his hand on her arm for a few seconds. “You know that, right?”
No, she didn’t know that. Cami looked at the floor of the auditorium. She tried to figure out what to say. Every week since the club had started meeting Cami had been there. Principal Quinn often talked about coming to Jesus broken, and letting Jesus do the fixing.
She looked into Jordy’s brown eyes. “Your dad says Jesus can fix us.” She tried to find the right words. Wasn’t that how the faith thing was supposed to work? “Okay, so then after we become His people... once Jesus fixes us... then we should be different. Perfect. Because He’s perfect. Because of God’s power in us.”
Jordy shook his head. “Cami, only God is perfect. Sure, the more time we spend with Him, the more we start acting like Him.” His tone was gentle. “Jesus changes lives. But we’ll never be perfect.”
Chris Tomlin’s “Good Good Father” played from the speakers. Cami looked around the room. Conversations seemed happy. These were kids who used to smoke pot and get so drunk they couldn’t make it to school Monday morning. They were in gangs and they ditched school and slept with someone new every weekend.
Now they were different. They were changed. It felt pretty perfect to Cami.
She looked back at Jordy. “It still matters. What happens tonight.”
“It does.” His answer came quick. “Because kids’ lives are on the line. Not because it might make us look bad.”
“Okay. I get that.” Cami felt tears in her eyes. The scared feeling inside her was like a rock, sitting in her stomach and making her feel sick. “But all these people who hate your dad, all the people who hate us... they won’t understand. If something happens. They’ll just think the club didn’t matter.”
Jordy didn’t look discouraged. “It’s possible.”
“I’m just... I want everything to be perfect.” She looked at her worn-out tennis shoes and then back at him. “So my dad and... and everyone else will just leave us alone.”
The look in Jordy’s eyes changed. “There’s no other girl like you.” His voice was softer than before.
Cami’s cheeks felt hot. Once, a long time ago, before Cami’s mother had left them, their family was watching a movie. A love story. The girl was named Katie—at least that’s what she remembered. The guy’s name seemed really different. Hubbell. That was it. Cami never forgot it.
Especially one of the early scenes. Katie crossed the street to sit with Hubbell and in an instant things between the two of them were different. Cami could see it in their eyes. Like something had changed in the way they saw each other.
Jordy was looking at her that way now. The way Cami always dreamed he might look at her. She was doing the same thing. She could feel it in her eyes. But just as quickly she stepped away. So there’d be more space between them.
She couldn’t do this, couldn’t let herself fall for him.
Not when the two of them didn’t have a chance.
