Indi and Jenn left early, saying they had to practice their song at least once so they wouldn’t make fools of themselves in front of the whole church. Needless to say, Indi seemed back to her usual self.

At the end of class, Ike asked if he could say a prayer specifically for Indi. Of course no one argued, so he prayed for God to give her strength and comfort, and that the youth group would be willing to be there for her when she needed us. (Among other things.) I sighed as we finally walked out of class. It seemed weird being considered a part of this youth group, when we hadn’t even been to a youth meeting yet.

When I entered the sanctuary, Ike was already standing behind Indi, one hand on her shoulder. I stood and watched, almost as if mesmerized, as she turned and smiled at him. Finally, questioning my sanity, I shook my head and joined him there.

“...are you feeling?” I caught the tail-end of Isaac’s question.

Indi shrugged. “I’m alright. I have spells remembering that, um... episode... that I just lose it. I really didn’t mean to dump something so heavy on ya’ll the first day I met you.” Her eyes shifted between Isaac and me. “It’s not anyone’s problem but mine, really,” she insisted.

My eyebrows shot up. Oh, Honey, it’s my problem now, I thought. I can’t believe anyone would do that to you, and I don’t intend to simply stand by and watch you hurt over it. I been treated pretty badly myself, but not that badly! I can’t even imagine the pain you must be going through.

I think Isaac must have read my mind. “Indi,” he spoke softly but firmly, in one of those voices that you wouldn’t dare argue with him when he’s using, “that’s not something you should be handling on your own. You need people to be there for you, and if we can be two of those people you can call in the middle of the night just to talk about it, then we should be.”

Her eyes filled with tears, and she stood up to hug us. “Thanks, you guys are so sweet,” she said gratefully. “Thank you so much.”

When Indi backed up, Jo pointed at me with a set look in her eyes. “I still don’t believe he can talk,” she declared accusingly. “I haven’t heard him say a word. He’s a mute, I tell you.”

“No he’s not, retard,” Jenn defended. “I heard him... Sort of.”

Indi giggled lightly. “Well, I heard him perfectly clearly,” she put in, “so either I have mental telepathy, or he can talk.” She looked at me. “Okay, so talk to me, and we can figure out which it is.”

My face heated up big time, and I barely managed to force out, “I can talk perfectly fine.”

“Oh my gosh! He speaks! I’m impressed,” Jo verbalized with the slightest hint of sarcasm glazing over her statement. The red in my cheeks that had begun to lighten immediately returned.

Indi placed a hand on each side of my face. “Taylor, you are so shy!” she cooed softly, pointing out the obvious, but with such gentleness that I simply smiled and looked down, embarrassed by the attention. “Awwww!” she added on to her seeming campaign to get me to act as shy as she possibly could. When she wrapped her arms tightly around me, it seemed like the only proper thing to do was to hug her back. I felt a little hesitant, knowing that, from the way I felt just looking in her eyes, I wouldn’t want to let go. I wondered if it was a bad thing to be feeling this way about a girl so soon after being dumped flat on my face by Carly. But then, I could tell that Indi was a completely different kind of person. I did manage to pry my arms from around her somehow.

Isaac startled me when he began to laugh. “And we thought we wouldn’t like hicks!”

The rest of us joined in the laughter.

“Is that what you’ve been thinking the past few months??” Jenn asked. “All them Ohio country hicks! They sleep in barns and have cows as pets!”

When I thought about it, I wasn’t really sure what I had expected. Something different than this, though.

Zac walked up beside me, catching Jenn’s last comment. “Hey, if I had thought of that, I would’ve used that excuse on mom and dad!”

“You guys wanna sit with us?” Indi offered as dad took the mic.

“Yeah, thanks,” Ike agreed. They moved down to make room for us, and Zac ran in first, sitting down next to Indi. Ike followed him, and I sat down last. I heard Zac wish her luck as the three of them got up to sing their song, and she winked at him, telling him that it was for him. Though admittedly a little jealous, I laughed at their exchange, knowing it was all in good humor. Indi introduced the song, and they all sang absolutely beautifully. When they finished, I caught Indi’s eye and flashed a congratulatory smile. She smiled back briefly, then her eyes moved to Isaac. As they walked off the platform, I wiggled my eyebrows slightly at Jo, to which she responded by biting her lip to keep from laughing out loud. Finally, I caught Jenn’s attention and silently applauded her. She mouthed “thank you” before sliding into her seat. When Indi sat back down, Zac told her that it was lovely, then they continued talking in hushed tones for a few moments before Indi pulled a notepad out of her purse. From that point on, they were writing notes back and forth until the end of the service. I wondered what on earth they could be writing about. So far, I knew they had a little hyperness problem in common.

As soon as the service ended, Zac and Indi squeezed past Jenn and Jo, and ran out the side door. The rest of us exchanged startled looks, then ran out after them. When we finally caught up with them, they were bouncing around and talking about whatever it is they talk about when they’re hyper. I guess since I’ve never seen them together, this isn’t something I would know.

“What is you guys’ problem?!” Ike wanted to know.

“We’re cool,” Indi protested. “Me and Zac. We’re going to conquer the world together.”

Zac sent a quick glance in her direction. “That’ll be fun.”

“Yuppers!” she squealed.

I stared at both of them with raised eyebrows. Okay, Indi, you can be really weird sometimes. Of course, if you and Zac can pass notes through an entire church service, I should’ve known, I decided. Yet when she flashed that innocent smile, I still felt my heart melt. I sighed, thinking, Beautiful girl, you have no idea what you do to me. Yet I wondered if she did know. If she did, she sure didn’t show it. But how could she not know? I couldn’t take my eyes off her! Besides, I had just told her a couple hours ago that she was beautiful. Thinking back, I couldn’t believe I had actually said that to her. Hey, when I’m concerned about someone, I don’t worry about my image.

Chapter 7
Taylor's POV
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