Leavesly

by Reni Huang

  His eyes met hers through the rear view mirror, but before Julia could answer, Lexi laughed as if it were the biggest understatement of the century.

  “Lia’s been writing since before she could talk,” Lexi announced proudly. “We used to hang out in one of her mom’s many closets and perform the little skits she would write. Those shelves of high heels and boots were the best audiences.”

  “In a closet?”

  “Well,” Lexi explained, “they weren’t originally closets. But every time Lia would ask her mom for a baby brother or sister, her mom would buy her another wool coat or purse instead. Eventually all the extra bedrooms in their home were turned into closets.”

  “Only child, huh?” Wynn said a bit sympathetically and Julia wondered if he was one too.

  “It wasn’t so bad,” Julia replied, putting on a smile. Those were some of her best memories playing in her mom’s closets, lots of privacy, lots of time to play undisturbed.

  By the time they rolled to a stop in the parking lot, Wynn had yet to say whether or not he was in on this idea. As they piled out of the car and followed Wynn into the building, Lexi half turned to give her friends a semi-confused glanced. Elliott and Julia wordlessly exchanged looks and shrugged back at her. It wasn’t until after service that the topic was brought back up.

  They were gathered under a cluster of trees surrounding Leavesly Church. Some of the moms served the home-cooked meal for lunch. Plates piled high with rice, steaming vegetables, and some spicy marinated thinly sliced beef were handed out. Julia sat on one of the folding chairs under the shade, while introductions were made. Little kids played on the small slide and plastic jungle gym while their parents stood around chatting with the newcomers. As usual, Lexi acted as the spokesperson, and Julia gladly faded into the background.

  Her attention wandered to the side of the church building, where she saw the youth group kids hanging out. Shep and Koda, who had already wolfed down their lunch, their empty plates lay discarded on the ground next to their Bibles and hooded jackets, were joking around while tossing a football to each other. Vangy and Pamela sat on the low wall, giggling and whispering secrets to each other while nibbling at their small forkful of rice. Chloe, although invisible to everyone else, stood out to Julia, standing off to the side of the group, looking awkward and self-conscious, disinterested in her food yet not having anything to do or anyone to talk to.

  Knowing she wouldn’t be missed from the conversation, Julia slowly walked over towards Chloe. Horrible flashbacks of approaching Stan at the beach bonfire skittered across her mind, but she pushed them away. This was why she was here at Wynn’s church, to reach out to these kids, right? Julia knew she had nothing to offer to Shep and Koda, and she wouldn’t know exactly what to say to the giggly Vangy and Pamela, but Chloe, she was someone Julia could relate to. She felt her pain and awkwardness. That was her back in high school, uncomfortable in her own skin, wanting to disappear but feeling like she stood out with neon lights flashing above her head.

  “Hi,” Julia said softly once she was close enough to be heard. Chloe looked up vaguely surprised. She had seen Julia coming, but had looked away unsure if she had been headed her way or not.

  Chloe offered her a shy smile. “Hi.”

  For a moment, conversation escaped her. What do I say now? That sucks there’s no one your age at church for you to hang out with? Don’t worry, I totally know how you feel being lonely and shy? Everything sounded lame and offensive. When the silence dragged on, Chloe looked away embarrassed, and Julia knew a moment of panic.

  Another second passed.

  God, help me.

  “Um, so what did you think about today’s message?” Whew. Discussing the sermon seemed like a safe topic.

  Chloe shrugged. “It was OK. I like the analogies Pastor Yoshida uses in his sermons. It helps to make the Bible more understandable.”

  Julia nodded. Pastor Yoshida was a much better speaker than his son, she thought wryly. Then felt bad for thinking so. Wynn knew he wasn’t a gifted public speaker, he had said he felt more comfortable behind-the-scenes. He was taking on the position of a youth group leader not because it was his passion or choice, but because he understood there was a need and he was trying to do the right thing by teaching the kids about God when there was no one else to do it, and maybe as a favor to his dad.

  “How do you like youth group?” The question came out before Julia was able to consider its appropriateness. Oh, well, she was curious to know Chloe’s thoughts.

  Chloe looked up a bit guiltily and looked away. “It’s OK, I guess. Wynn is pretty funny. I mean, not while he’s giving a lesson, I know he’s supposed to be serious then. But afterwards, when he talks to us, he’s pretty cool. I just wish I didn’t have to play the piano during the worship time.”

  “How come?”

  “It’s embarrassing.”

  “But you play really well.”

  This was accompanied by another shrug. “I like playing the piano just for myself. I just don’t like having to do it in front of other people.”

  “How long have you been taking lessons?”

  “Since forever, my mom makes me enter all these competitions. I hate it.”

  “But I bet you do really well.”

  Chloe smiled shyly, and Julia noticed a sparkle of pride. “Sometimes, I guess. But there’s this girl, Denise, at my school that’s really good. She practices all the time, and because she wants to not because her mom makes her. At least that’s what my mom says her mom said. But she’s so obnoxious and competitive, I can’t stand her.”

  “That’s not fun.”

  “Yeah, but it’s like my only motive to win these things. The look on her face when she loses is priceless.” She laughed then glanced at Julia self-consciously unsure if she’d disapprove. “Sorry, I know that’s mean.”

  Julia smiled at her, unsure how she was supposed to react. She didn’t want to lecture Chloe and burn a bridge before one was even built. And anyways, she did understand. She didn’t like being around people who were competitive and obnoxious either. Again, Julia felt out of her element. Being a youth group leader was turning out to be pretty difficult.

  Keeping with the tactic of staying on safe subjects, Julia said instead, “So when’s your next piano competition?”

  “There’s one this month, it’s kind of like the semi-finals for our district. Then the finalists from each district get to perform one concerto at a regional competition in January. It’s kind of a big deal, so my mom’s really stressing out over it. Last year I got cut at the district level, of course Denise, you know, the girl I was telling you about sailed right through. She didn’t win the regional level though, so this year that’s all she’s been talking about. She thinks she got robbed, so she really has it out for the judges.”

  “Wow, sounds intense.”

  “Yeah, it sort of is, I guess.” She said it nonchalantly, but Julia could tell she was downplaying its importance. She could only imagine the amount of time Chloe spent practicing for these competitions, and how much emphasis her mother must place on them. She was pretty sure Chloe didn’t take them as lightly as she was trying to portray them to be.

  “Hey, Chloe, your mom’s looking for you.”

  Julia turned around to see Wynn headed their way. For a moment she felt a bit disorientated. While she and Chloe were talking, they had aimlessly been walking around the Leavesly Church building, and found herself on the back side of the building, away from the crowd gathered at the front lawn.

  “Oh, ok,” Chloe started walking away briskly, but then stopped to call back to Julia, “Will you be at church again this Friday?”

  Julia smiled and nodded.

  “Cool, I’ll see then. Bye!”

  “Bye!”

  She watched as Chloe rounded the corner and disappeared from view. A bird chirped somewhere up in the tree branches above us. Julia looked at Wynn and smiled uncertainly.

  “So this whole musical
idea, was it yours?” Wynn asked, catching her off-guard.

  “Lexi’s, actually.”

  “She does seem to be the mastermind behind most things.”

  Sensing the sarcastic edge in his voice, Julia took to defending her. “I think she was just thinking that since your passion is in films and more the producing side of things that putting on a musical would be more interesting for you. And just from our own experience, growing up and performing musicals with our youth group, we actually gained more from the rehearsals and memorizing the lines and songs than the audience members. So we thought it would be good for this youth group too, to get them engaged in the lessons that the musical presents.” How did he always manage to get her to talk so much?

  Unaware of his affect on her, Wynn stared thoughtfully off towards the cluster of trees then conceded, “The idea of it does sound intriguing. I just hope our group is up for the task.”

  “It’s not a musical in the grand scale of things. It’s just a short skit, with two Christmas carols, one at the beginning and one at the end.”

  “Do you have a copy of the script?”

  “Yes, right here.” Julia dug around in her purse until her fingers found the little blue memory card she had stored the script on.

  Taking it, Wynn gave her a guarded smile. “Thanks. I’ll check it out.”

  * * *

  The week passed uneventfully, the days growing colder, nightfall approaching more swiftly, as common as autumn seasons come that even the envious California warmth couldn’t hold it back. On Tuesday night, Julia and Lexi attended the Freshmen Girls Bible Study at Natalie’s apartment.

  “I want everyone to write down one way they want to grow in Christ this year,” Natalie instructed them as they got comfortable sitting on the plush sofas or on the floor around the coffee table.

  After the girls handed in their index cards, Natalie asked them to go around the room and to share what was written on the paper. “I hope that your experience with this Bible study group will be more than just fellowship. In order for us to encourage and keep each other accountable, we need to trust one another. And that starts by being transparent. I know it can be scary, letting other people into your private life and struggles, but I’m hoping that the friendships made during this time together will be real and deeply rooted.”

  Lexi kicked off the sharing time by recounting the incident with Stan on the beach. She tactfully left out the part about Wynn rebuking them, but focused on her own frustrations with failing to witness to someone.

  “It was really humbling,” Lexi admitted. “I’ve always been super confident about my faith in Christ. But I now I realize there are still so many ways I need to grow in Him.”

  Almost an hour later, the conversation wrapped back around to Julia.

  “Um,” she said, feeling a moment of panic, but quickly suppressed it. “I just want to grow in my faith.”

  Natalie nodded thoughtfully. “In what ways do you hope to see your faith strengthened?”

  Julia shrugged uncertainly. “I guess no matter what, that I will continue to trust God, in good and bad times.”

  Natalie smiled. “I’ll keep these cards for you, and at the end of the school year I’ll give them back to you and we can see how God worked through our lives and circumstances to transform us.”

  * * *

  Wednesday night at the A.A.C.F. meeting, Julia sat between Lexi and Elliott, feeling safe in her comfortable cocoon, then followed them afterwards to go out and eat at In-N-Out with the upperclassmen. Geoff gave them a ride, and although Wynn was also there, he barely acknowledged her. The only time he talked to her was when they happened to refill their drinks at the same time.

  “Planning on pulling an all-nighter?” he asked, eyeing her choice of unsweetened iced tea.

  Julia watched him practically overflowed his paper cup with lemonade.

  “I’m immune to caffeine,” she stated as a matter of fact.

  He laughed then said, “Your script was good. I think it’ll work.”

  Before she could reply, he gave her a smirk and sauntered off to rejoin his friends where he sat with Mudd, Alison, and Dan at the large corner table. Julia walked back to her table squeezed into the booth next to Lexi. Across from them Geoff and Elliott were busy arguing about the best NBA players to pick for the fantasy basketball league.

  “What was that about?” Lexi whispered to Julia.

  “I think the musical’s a go,” Julia whispered back and smiled as Lexi beamed at her triumphantly.

  Chapter Eight

  Julia’s weekends were becoming synonyms with Leavesly Church. Wynn had photocopied the script and music sheets for the two Christmas carols for everyone in the youth group. Vangy and Pamela’s eyes lit up with excitement at the prospect of performing in front of people. The three older teenagers seemed a little more apprehensive about the plan.

  “Do we have to sing?” Koda asked uneasily.

  “Who are we performing for? Is it just our parents, or are there going to be strangers in the audience?”

  “It’s for our church, and whoever you want to invite, your friends from school or relatives,” Wynn answered Chloe.

  “I’m not inviting anyone from school,” Koda mumbled to no one in particular.

  Lexi jumped in and said, “It’s going to be awesome! Ellie’s planning on putting together a worship team for the songs. So Koda, maybe you can try playing the drums.”

  Julia’s gaze collided with Wynn’s as they turned to stare at Lexi.

  “Where are we going to get drums? And who’s going to teach me?” Koda asked skeptically. Wynn’s expression echoed his own doubts.

  Lexi flipped her hair back confidently and stated, “Ellie will teach you.”

  Elliott, who had been quietly sitting back, his long legs sprawled out before him, looked up at the mention of his name.

  “You play drums?”

  “Sure,” Lexi answered for him, her smile unwavering.

  Elliott held back a laugh at her utter confidence in him. “Sure,” he echoed slowly.

  “And the drum set?”

  Lexi nodded towards Wynn. “Don’t you have a couple back at your place?”

  “They’re not mine.”

  “Can we borrow them?”

  “We’ll have to ask Mudd.”

  Julia thought Dan played the drums, but didn’t say anything. She wasn’t going to ask Mudd that was for sure. He intimidated her to no end.

  Lexi smiled again. “I’ll ask him.”

  Julia gaped as Lexi pulled out her cell phone and scrolled down her phonebook until she found his name. When in the world did she get Mudd’s phone number? Knowing Lexi, Julia shouldn’t have been surprised. But she still was.

  “Hey,” Lexi said when he picked up. “Can we borrow your drum set? For, Wynn’s youth group, we’re putting on a musical.” Julia stared stunned, as Lexi threw her head back and laughed loudly at something Mudd said. Julia couldn’t imagine him cracking a joke. “Cool, thanks. Awesome, you’re the best!” Then she clicked her phone shut and gave Wynn her most winsome smile, “All taken care of!”

  Even though Julia was certain Koda and the rest of the youth group had no idea who Mudd was and how menacing and unapproachable he could be, they were still impressed with Lexi’s confidence. The mood within the group changed then, she could feel it. It was as if Lexi’s certainty and belief that this daunting musical project was possible gave them hope, and her excitement was contagious.

  Grabbing hold of the optimistic turn of events, Wynn called the group into a circle, and they began the first read through the script.

  Afterwards, Wynn led a discussion about what the skit meant, and how it related with the Christmas story. The difference in Wynn’s voice was noticeable. It was full of conviction and passion. He seemed excited and engaged. As he spoke, Julia looked around the circle, and saw how each pair of eyes lit up in anticipation of the weeks to come, it was like a spark crackling and jumpin
g from one person to another. Lexi had been right, this was Wynn’s forte. This was the Wynn they had met at the beach bonfire, the one with a clear sense of purpose and direction and spoke truth like a sharpened double-edged sword.

  * * *

  “Are you going to stay up late again tonight to type up your journals?” Lexi asked Julia as the girls got ready for bed.

  Julia glanced at her laptop and shook her head.

  “No, not tonight.”

  She walked past the stacked boxes holding her journals and didn’t feel the pull to bury her past. For tonight she was happy just being in the present.

  * * *

  Monday morning was smothered in grey fog. The blurry light from outside glowed half-heartedly through the thin curtain draped across the window, as Julia reached to turn off pull her iPod from its alarm clock attachment, and switched to headphones so as not to disturb Lexi from her sleep. Julia loved waking up to Matt Redman’s mellow acoustic worship songs. Padding over the cold floor to the closet, she ran her hand thoughtfully over her clothes. With the California beach weather it was always hard to tell how the day would turn out, it rarely adhered to the rules of the season. For all she knew, by the time classes were done the fog could have given way to a sunny and warm afternoon despite it being mid-October. Although sure she wouldn’t need it, Julia grabbed a light sweater, her knapsack and headed out the door.

  After her last morning class, Julia was disheartened to find the air colder than usual. There was a definite bite in the nippy wind that blew mercilessly across the campus. Her sweater barely mustered any protection against its frigid battering. Wondering if Lexi and Elliott had made it out to the beach for another class field trip despite the waves must’ve being high today, Julia decided to wait for their phone call in the library instead of the courtyard for lunch.