October to October

{Chapter Two}

  The five year old's in Lauren's Sunday school class were cranky and restless. Often when her class was like this she took them out into the woods behind the old church. It was a beautiful, early fall day, and the leaves were just beginning to change colors. The kids ran around and played while Lauren sat on a fallen tree and looked through her phone even though she knew she should be teaching.

  It was too beautiful of a day to stay inside though, and she rationalized they wouldn't of listened to her lesson anyway. Besides she was tired from staying up late looking at Ruth's wedding ideas. She didn't feel like teaching. 

  Sometimes she wondered if she should give her class to someone else because she didn't seem to have time for it these days, but it was a tradition. All of their Mom's taught in the past, and some of their Grandma's. Lauren's family had been going to the same church since the late 1800's. They were proud of the history, and their photos were on the walls of the Sunday school classrooms.

  "Jamie and Heather, hey! Stay out of the cemetery," she said. The kids liked to sneak into the old cemetery that was behind the church and led into the woods. The graves were old and crumbling, and were often the victim of vandalism so no children or teenagers were allowed in without an adult. 

  They certainly weren't allowed to play in there even though some of Lauren's best childhood memories were running around the graves with Monroe, Hope, and a few other girls from Sunday school. They played hide-n-seek, and Lauren loved to look at the names and dates. Sometimes she still did, and she took pictures of them even though Ruth told her it was morbid.

  "Why can't we go in there?" Jamie asked as he sat at Lauren's feet after pushing Brian Richardson down for no apparent reason and getting a time out.

  "Go where?"

  Lauren was distracted by her phone; she was texting with her friend Hope who was home sick with a stomach bug. 

  "Uh... the grave yard, duh."

  "You can't play there because kids shouldn't play in cemeteries. You could knock down the headstones."

  "It's a great place to play hide-n-seek though."

   After Sunday school Ruth and Lauren went with their parents to Monroe's house. She lived three streets down in a big suburban Mcmansion that stuck out even more than the gray blue Victorian. 

  Monroe had been friends with Ruth and Lauren  since they were babies, and Lauren couldn't remember a time that Monroe wasn't in their lives. There were pictures of them as toddlers on Christmas; posed together as if they were sisters even though they looked nothing alike. Both Lauren and Ruth were tall with red hair while Monroe was petite with long, golden locks and bright blue eyes that were constantly getting compliments from strangers. Her dimpled smile drew stares too.

   Monroe had no real sisters, and she often said she was jealous of Ruth and Lauren's bond even though Lauren secretly thought Ruth and Monroe were closer these days. They'd been spending more time together lately, and they often worked weekends together at The Antique Button. Lauren wished she wasn't as jealous as she was about Ruth and Monroe's growing friendship, and Lauren wished sometimes she had a few friends that weren't also friends with Ruth.

  "You have a leaf in your hair," Monroe said and smiled as she picked the red and green leaf out of Lauren's red locks that were slightly frizzy and unkempt from her walk in the woods. "What did you do? Go outside with your class again?"

  "Yes," Ruth said as Monroe poured them cups of tea as they sat around the kitchen table while the adults talked in the living room.

  "I saw you sneaking them out the back door of the church," Ruth said at Lauren's glance. "Did you at least do a lesson plan with them?"