'1963 (BWWM)

Chapter 13

{Jacqueline}

; It felt like I was almost voiceless as we finally reached the church.  After being ignored all the way from the diner back to the church, I was drained. I can't believe my father would put himself in harm's way just to save me. I could have stayed and tried to help him, I didn't want to let him out of my sight. Who knows what they are doing to him in that diner now?

That thought made me realize that we absolutely could not leave my father and everyone else back there with that mob. 

"We have to go back," I said to the deacon as he stopped in mid-pace and looked at me.

"Jackie, there is no way on this Earth that I am taking you back to that diner." 

"But I can not just leave my dad there!! There ain't no telling what they are doing to him in there!" I raised my voice slightly as the deacon raised his eyebrow in a 'who you yelling at?' type of way. 

"sorry," I mumbled as he sighed loudly and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Look Jackie, I know that you want to be with your dad at this time but it is not safe for you to go back there! Your father knew the different outcomes that would come with doing this protest as well as the other members of the protest! Your father explicitly told me to make sure you were safe during this entire protest and that's what I intend to do." 

"But, that man said he was going to call the police! They are going to arrest my dad and the other protesters as well-" 

"And that's precisely why the pastor does not want you there, he didn't want to put you in harm's way. When the police gets involved... it can escalate... and the pastor made sure that you would't be around or involved in any of that. I'm sorry Jackie, but the only thing you can do now is go inside the church and pray for God to watch over them." the deacon replied, as he looked at the church then back at me.

I took a deep breath of air and crossed my arms. At this point, there is no way that he will let me go back. Maybe he was right, there was nothing else I could do.

"Okay, fine. But I just need a moment alone, can you tell my mother I'll be inside in a few minuets?" 

The deacon nodded and made his way into the church. 

I paced slowly, waiting for the church doors to close. When they did, I took a deep breath and took off running back to the diner. Even though my mom would probably kill me, I just could not allow myself to leave my dad in danger. 

Being about a couple minuets away from the diner, I stopped and took a moment to recover. I bent over, desperately trying to draw air back into my lungs. When standing back up, I turned around and before I could even comprehend what was going on, I felt hard concrete against my skin. 

"Shit, sorry about that." I heard someone say as I looked up making eye contact with the boy from school as he breathed wildly.

"You okay?" he said breathless, extending his hand out to me for assistance. I nodded and put my hand in his as he pulled me up in a hurry. 

"Gnarly...." he said with a look of disgust as he stared at my arm. I looked down to an abrasion. I rolled my eyes, "Well maybe if you watch where you're going then this wouldn't have happened." I said holding my arm, to be a fairly sized abrasion it didn't hurt that much at all. 

He sighed and ran his hands through his wild curls, "Look, I said sorry alright? I'm just in a bit of trouble and I need to find my parents.." he trailed off in a frustrated tone. 

"Weren't you at the diner? Did you see what happened to my dad?!" I raised my voice and took a step closer to him as he backed away. 

"I was.. and I didn't. Right when you left, my parents and I lost each other in the mob.. and I may have punched an old white guy and had to escape before anyone noticed... but that's beside the point." he mumbled.