The New American Dream

Part One: Before｜Chapter Five

We managed to convince the tech people of the school band to help us. The next day at lunch we didn't go eat, instead we talked everything over with Julius, the head of the group. He was eager to help us as the topic was important to him as well and I was more than glad that we got him to help us, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to pull it off.

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Otherwise I tried to behave myself for as long as possible. I didn't want anything ruining my chances of pulling this off successfully. However, that didn't mean that I went back to church, much to dismay of my parents. I literally couldn't have cared less, they could have done a headstand for all I cared. Actually, it filled me with great satisfaction, seeing them so desperate to get me to go back to church.

One afternoon, about a week before the speech, I was practicing guitar in my room. Even if I wouldn't be playing during the song, I could still learn songs for fun just like Nate. There was a knock on the door and without even waiting for an answer my parents barged in.

"Could we speak to you in the living room?" my mother asked.

That made me suspicious. "Why not here?" I asked, stretching the sentence.

"There is someone waiting for you who wants to talk with you, we assumed you would rather not have the privacy of your room any more invaded."

That made me even more suspicious. Since when did they care about my privacy at all? Unsure of the situation I carefully and deliberately slowly put my guitar down and followed them out of the room, smoothing my clothes as we went down the stairs. Who on earth could want to talk to me?

A shock of lightning went through me when I saw who was sitting at the dining table, drinking tea. The Reverent. My heart dropped to my stomach, what on earth was this about?

Confused I looked at my parents.

"Ah, hello Alissa. It is lovely to see you," the Reverent said pleasantly. It seemed wrong and out of place.

"Hi," I said curtly, not coming closer just yet.

"How are you? Everything fine in school?"

If only you knew. "Yes, everything is great I suppose..."

"That is nice to hear."

My parents nudged me towards him and motioned me to sit down. Very reluctantly I followed the order and looked at the Reverent with a mixture of distrust and confusion.

"Alissa, can you think of a reason as to why I would be here?"

I noticed how my parents positioned themselves on either side of me. I felt trapped and my anxiety rose. Forcing myself to maintain a normal breathing pattern I gave him a bright and very sarcastic smile.

"To further inconvenience me? To try and get me back to the 'path of the light' or whatever?"

I noticed how my parents stiffened up at my choice of words.

"Yes to the second," the Reverent said.

"Then I can save you your time. Won't happen." I said darkly. Anxiety turned into anger.

"Alissa, your parents and I feel like you only need a nudge into the right direction. There is a catholic summer camp we would like you to attend during your summer break."

I let out a laugh. "Absolutely not."

"Alissa it will help you," dad said with an urge to his voice, clearly trying not to lose his face in front of the reverent.

I turned towards my father. "This," I motioned around, "is a cult if you haven't noticed. A very large one but a cult nonetheless. I will not rot away in any camp that has the word 'catholic' in it's name. Not in one like that and not in any other," I stated and stood up, which wasn't that easy as my parents held my chair. "And that is final. Thank you for your time Reverent, but you completely wasted it," and with that I walked away, protests of my parents followed me up the stairs.