No Longer Beautiful

Travis awoke this morning with nervous optimism that he would finally make his move on who he considered to be the most beautiful girl in the world. He did as many pushups as he could, showered longer than usual, and even dabbled on some of his dad's cologne from a dark green bottle with a red cap. He practiced precisely what he would say when he saw Tina this morning. 

"Hello, Tina. I've been waiting for you to get here so I can tell you how fine you are. Can I sit with you today?" 

He rehearsed it dozens of times, changing his voice's octave, volume, and pitch until he had it down. 

A few miles away, Tina could care less that her dad was upset. In fact, it made her feel quite good. He could not leave for over a year, come back, and think everything is fine. She did not care about his excuses or his apologies. Her mother may have forgiven him, but she had not. 

While she talked to her mother on the phone, her dad sat on the couch periodically checking the time and  taking deep breaths. Him waiting did not bother her at all but for some reason her mother cared.

"You are going to have to go. You can not stay mad forever. He is your father."

Tina hated hearing those words. A father acts like a father. A father stays. She ignored her mother's advice and went back to their previous topic, "So, can I start dating on my birthday?"

"Girl, we'll talk about that another time. For now, get off this phone and go to church with your dad."

They hung up, and Tina walked to the car without speaking to her dad. Soon, he joined her in the car. 

He tried to talk to her on the way, but she did not respond. Instead, she thought about last year when her mother told her that she could start dating when she turned 16. This excited her, although she didn't have a boy to date.  Boys never really seemed to like her. She saw some of them looking at her at times but she didn't know if that was for a good reason or not. Hopefully, this would change by her birthday. 

When they arrived at church, Tina got out without saying anything, and walked toward the entrance. Her father called her back, but she pretended not to hear him. But when she got to the end of the parking lot, she waited for him to catch up.  

"I just want us to walk in together," he said to the back of her head.  

"Oh my God," she whined before continuing her walk toward the door. When she got there, the door opened, and someone smelling like peaches opened it. "Hello, Tina. I've been…." 

Tina heard her dad's footsteps getting closer and rushed off down the hall to the teen Sunday School class. Travis held the door open for her dad, and they both watched her walk away.  

Church for teens and the church for adults had some similarities but differed greatly. The adults spent most of the time listening to the preacher talk, but the teen class mostly talked to each other. They talked about stuff in the world, like Beyonce singing country music or Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. But mostly, they focused on stuff in the Bible and how it related to them. 

Today, they sang some songs, talked about the upcoming teen night at the skating rink, and then got into the lesson. They were divided into groups of 5, and each person received a Bible verse to look up and discuss with the others. The class leader, Ms. LaToya gave Tina her verse and then left to greet a couple of girls who walked in late. 

After strategically moving to get in Tina's group, Travis read his verse, Colossians 3:13 aloud and picked Tina to talk about it. She did not respond and instead glared toward the door. Her expression changed to a scowl, and everyone in the group noticed. 

Tina did not know one of the girls but instantly recognized the other. She had the same circular, dark, dime-sized mark on her left cheek as she did in middle school. The exact spot everyone decided was "unique" and"sexy." Even Joe-Joe liked it. The same Joe-Joe Tina had liked since elementary school. 

Everyone who went to 54th St. Elementary School knew Tina liked Joe-Joe. He probably liked her too, but they were both too young to say anything about it. So instead, they smiled at each other, worked in the same groups when possible, and even sat next to each other at a couple of assemblies. But they never actually talked. They told friends they liked each other but never got the courage to say it to one another. 

This continued until the seventh grade, when they both had the same history class. They developed a relationship on their phones and spent some time liking similar posts and sending a few emojis, but they still exchanged no words. 

Everything changed when Stephanie arrived from North Carolina with her wavy hair, big butt, and dot on her face. Joe-Joe liked her right away and even talked to her. She responded, and before long, they were on their way to more of a relationship than Tina ever had with him. 

Stephanie learned about Tina liking Joe-Joe, and not wanting to cause any drama in her new school, stopped talking to him immediately. But the damage had been done, and Tina could not stand Stephinie or her ugly mole.

While Tina mad dogged Stephanie,Travis repeated his question about Colossians 3:13. But Tina ignored him, instead seething at the sight of Stephanie. Travis instantly noticed that something about her changed. He recalled the other times he saw her, how she smiled, and how it made him want to smile. But watching her now, face frowned and angry, made him wonder just how beautiful she really is.