The Right and the Real by Joelle Anthony Read Free Book Online Page A

“Or maybe right now?”
    “What’s the rush?” he asked me in a cooing voice. “Let’s talk first.”
    “Ummm…okay.”
    “There are some things you need to understand,” he said. “Because you didn’t sign at the ceremony, and because you humiliated your father, you will have to pay retribution to be welcomed back into the church. Bad deeds can’t go unpunished.”
    “What do you mean?” I hoped it didn’t involve washing his feet.
    “You’ll need to spend some time with Mira doing Bible study.”
    Oh, great. I pasted a smile on my face. “I think that’s probably a good idea,” I said.
    “And, of course, you’ll leave school right away…tomorrow. That should help tame any rebelliousness.”
    I shook my head. “I can’t quit now.”
    “Young ladies here at the Right & the Real stop schooling at menstruation. Am I correct that you are a woman?”
    The heat rose up my face.
    “I have to graduate,” I said. “I’m going to drama school next year, and I need my diploma.”
    I hadn’t gotten the results of my audition back yet, but I knew I’d study acting somewhere, even if I didn’t get into the Redgrave Actors Conservatory, which was my first choice.
    “Jamie,” he said, leaning slightly forward. The girl sitting on the floor stopped washing his feet, and I knew she was watching me underher lashes. “I’ve discussed this with your father. Either you sign and agree to leave school tomorrow, or you’re banned from the church and his home forever.”
    “But I can’t,” I said. “Josh and Derrick go—”
    “They’re boys. They’re not susceptible to the evils of the world.”
    “Neither am I,” I argued.
    He shrugged his bare shoulders. “Sign or don’t sign, Jamie. God has given you an opportunity to make up for your wickedness and to honor your father, but this is your last chance.”
    I stood up so fast my chair tipped over. “I want to see my dad.”
    He folded his hands together into a little tent and smiled up at me. “I’m sorry. He’s not allowed to see you until you’ve signed the Pledge.”
    “You can’t keep me from him.”
    He leaned forward and pushed a button on the phone on his desk. “I already am,” he said, still smiling.
    This wasn’t a religion, it was a cult. I’d known the people at the R&R were fanatical, but it hadn’t really hit me until the Teacher said he could keep my dad from seeing me. He controlled people in a way no regular minister ever would.
    “If you’re not going to sign,” he said, “it’s time for you to leave.”
    “But—”
    Two men in brown servant robes appeared in the doorway.
    “Show our visitor to her car,” the Teacher said. “She’s no friend of God.”
    They reached out as if to take my arm, and I pushed past them and ran for the lobby. A small figure wearing a pale green dress that looked awfully familiar hurried down the hallway ahead of me.
    Mira.
    I sprinted after her. “Wait!” I said. When I reached the lobby, it was empty, but I heard the door to the women’s bathroom thud shut.
    I threw it open. “I know you’re in here, Mira,” I said.
    “What do you want?” she asked from the end stall.
    “Why did you do it?” I asked. “Why did you convince Dad to cut me off?”
    “I didn’t,” she said. “It wasn’t me. It was Jesus.”
    I’d always thought Mira was manipulative but sane. Now I wasn’t so sure. “What do you mean?”
    “Jesus told him to do it,” she said.
    I stared at the pink metal door dividing us. “What? Like in a dream?”
    The door flew open and Mira faced me, her cheeks flushed, her eyes bright. “Not in a dream! The Teacher is Jesus Christ our Lord come again.”
    Oh. My. God. I’d heard the Teacher say that a million times, but I guess I never realized people actually took it literally.
    “And he told my dad to disown me?” I asked in the kind of nonthreatening voice one uses with a crazy person.
    She nodded. “Yes, yes! He told us that you are evil and all you