Born Again *on hold*

Chapter 12

Abby and Leyanne sat themselves down at the large oak table. The shiny, pristine wood could easily fit ten people around it, which Abby thought was odd, considering that they were a family of three and they hardly ever entertained. But nevertheless, they still had a large table, and a large table meant lots of space for food - good food.

Abby pulled her chair under the table and looked down the table at what seemed to be enough food to feed an entire street. Just as she reached for a cheese and salad sandwich, Abby heard Leyanne clear her throat, and nod her head towards her waiting parents. Suddenly Abby remembered that, even though they weren't really Christians, Leyanne's parents always prayed before a meal. This was something that confused Abby. She had always seen praying before you eat as pointless, especially if you didn't properly believe in God.

"Thank you Lord for our family, and for our friends. We pray that you bless this food and we thank you for providing us with all we need. Amen." Leyanne finished speaking, and looked up slowly.

"Amen."

"Amen." Mr and Mrs Liberty both spoke, and then everyone seemed to look towards Abby. "Oh- right. Amen." She said, nodding her head awkwardly.

"Well, tuck in girls!" Harriet smiled towards her daughter and her friend, and indicated down the table, to the marvellous food she had laid out.

There was a silence for a while as everyone ate. Nothing could be heard apart from the sound of crunchy lettuce being eaten and ham falling out of sandwiches, flopping onto the floral china plates.

"So, Abby, how are you? How's school going?" Harriet said after a long pause.

"Oh- um," Abby spluttered, through a mouthful of delicious potato salad. She quickly chewed, and swallowed down the mouthful, licking a dot of sauce off her lips.

"I'm fine thank you Harriet! School is...well, school! Probably not very different to what Leyanne has told you." She smiled sweetly, her fork hovering halfway between her plate and her mouth, waiting for a chance to eat.

Abby couldn't remember the last time she had a meal like this. Most of the time her mum ordered food on the phone to be delivered, or they just all made themselves a bowl of spaghetti with tomato sauce. Abby had that at least twice a week. For lunch on the weekends Abby normally made herself a sandwich- basically a slice of bread, a piece of processed ham and some plastic cheese. She normally didn't even bother with butter.

So having a proper meal was rare. There was anything you could want in front of her today. Home made bread, still warm, and sprinkled with seeds. Cheese that Harry had brought that morning, salad that was picked that very morning, and not a leftover in sight; everything was freshly made that morning. It was really the best meal she had even seen in weeks.

"Good to hear! It's been so long since we last saw you, it seems like we barely know you. Leyanne even stopped mentioning you as much!" Mrs Liberty said in a sing-song voice. They girls looked at each other. It wasn't exactly a secret that Harriet was a bit dipsy, but she was putting two and two together and falling drastically short of four.

"Haha, yeah, I guess we just, don't need to explain our friendship to anyone! We just.... are!" Leyanne offered, trying to avoid the topic, clearly not wanting to go into it now. Abby glanced at her friend, questioning her cheesy-ness with her eyes, but neither girl said anything, just giggled to themselves at the blatant and obvious covering up they were doing.

"So are you staying the night Abby?" Henry spoke for the first time that meal.

"Yes," Harriet piped up, wanting to be part of every conversation, "We can set up a mattress and duvet on the floor in Leyanne's bedroom if you want!"