11

TAYLOR WAS STILL IN THE BATHROOM, so DJ quickly got ready for bed and considered pretending to be asleep. Instead, she prayed. It was the first time she’d actually prayed today, and she felt guilty for that. Still, she knew she needed some help just now. She remembered how Rhiannon had promised to pray for her tonight. And if DJ was going to apologize to Taylor, she’d need some divine help.

When Taylor emerged from the bathroom, DJ felt ready. “Taylor, I need to tell you something…”

“Wow, I can hardly wait,” said Taylor as she peeled the comforter back from her bed and punched a down pillow.

“I was wrong.”

Taylor turned and stared at DJ. “What?”

“I was wrong to accuse you of inviting Bradford tonight. I thought you’d devised some kind of evil scheme to sabotage Rhiannon. And I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

Taylor kind of laughed. “So who invited him anyway?”

“Eliza.”

“Well, remind me to thank that girl in the morning.”

“Yeah…right.”

“And I should thank you too.”

“Why?” she muttered, almost afraid to hear the answer now.

“Because the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of Bradford and me as a couple. We actually have a lot in common.”

“Like what?”

“We both have famous mothers, and we’ve been exposed to art and culture and music.”

DJ refrained from rolling her eyes or yawning. After all, she was supposed to be apologizing. It might cancel it all out if she made fun of Taylor now.

“Besides, after all the grief you’ve given me today, I figure I must’ve already paid my dues, DJ. So I might as well just go for the whole enchilada. Don’t you think?”

DJ had absolutely no response to this. And so without saying a word, she went into the bathroom. Although it was getting late, she took much longer than usual to get ready for bed. She even flossed. Anything to avoid going back out there where Taylor was probably planning her next strategy for attaining Bradford. Not that she needed to work too hard at it. Poor Rhiannon. With friends like DJ and Eliza—who’d tried to help but seriously messed up—that girl didn’t need enemies.

When DJ finally slipped out of the bathroom, it was dark and quiet in the room. She tiptoed across the room and crawled into bed. Then, closing her eyes tightly, she prayed for the second time that day. This time, she told God she was sorry. To be honest, she wasn’t completely sure what she was sorry about. She just knew that she was sorry. And she hoped that tomorrow, she’d get a fresh start. Maybe not with Taylor, but hopefully with God.

It took a few seconds for DJ to get her bearings the next morning. Something was different. What was it? This room was blue…not yellow, and her bed was in the wrong spot. Suddenly, she remembered she’d switched rooms, which meant she had a new roommate—a roommate who was already up and literally singing in the shower. DJ wasn’t surprised that Taylor had a fairly decent voice. But she was totally shocked that she seemed to be in a pretty good mood today.

DJ stretched in bed and sat up. Last night, when she and Taylor were arguing, she’d noticed that Rhiannon had placed her Bible—what used to be DJ’s mom’s Bible—on the bedside table. This morning she picked it up and opened it to where Rhiannon must’ve stuck in a bookmark. DJ guessed that the colorful bookmark, with a pretty beaded ribbon tied to it, had been made by Rhiannon. Then midway down the page was a sticky note with an arrow drawn on it. She read the verse the arrow seemed to be pointing to and then she read the following one. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:43–44).

But she didn’t understand the meaning of these sentences. In fact, they not only sounded totally alien, like from another planet, but they sounded totally impossible as well. To start with, the verses said to not only love your friends, but love your enemies too. Now, she could almost get that. But it didn’t stop there. It also said to speak kind words to someone who swears and cusses at you. And to do good to someone who hates your guts. And finally to pray for people who use and abuse you. What was up with that? Who really lived like that? DJ even doubted that angelic Rhiannon could meet this standard consistently. And yet, Rhiannon had obviously marked those sentences. Why?

Just then Taylor emerged from the steamed-up bathroom. She had on a thick white terrycloth robe, and even without makeup, she looked glamorous and beautiful as she fluffed her curly hair with a towel. But when she saw DJ with the Bible in her lap, she threw back her head and laughed. “No way,” she said. “You’re not turning into a Bible-thumping fanatic too?”

DJ closed the Bible and set it back on her nightstand and shrugged.

“What is this? Some kind of religious epidemic? First Rhiannon, now you? Who will be next to fall victim?”

DJ stood. “Are you done in the bathroom?”

“For now.”

DJ was surprised at the mess Taylor had managed to create this morning. The area by the sinks looked as if Macy’s cosmetic counter had thrown up in there. She wondered if Inez usually cleaned all this up after they went to school, or was Taylor simply being territorial, trying to make it clear that she dominated in the bathroom as she seemed to do in all things. Well, Rhiannon might’ve taken this, but DJ was not going to give in to Taylor’s selfishness. She used her arm to swipe all of Taylor’s junk over to one side, knocking bottles and things over as she crowded them around the other sink. Much better.

Then she took a quick shower, toweled off, and put on her rather shabby-looking aqua blue chenille bathrobe. It might not be as plush as Taylor’s, but it had been DJ’s mom’s, and she was not giving it up. Then she peeked out into the room to see if Taylor was still there or not. She was. So DJ lingered in the bathroom a bit longer, taking a little more care than usual as she put on her makeup.

“Are you about done in there?” asked Taylor as she opened the door.

“Sure,” said DJ lightly. “It’s all yours.”

Then with Taylor safely in the bathroom, DJ hurried to get dressed and then headed downstairs for breakfast. To her surprise, the other four girls were already heading out the front door, but Eliza waited.

“What’s up?” DJ asked her.

Eliza glanced up the stairs. “I’m taking these guys to school today.”

“A little early,” pointed out DJ.

“So Rhiannon doesn’t have to be around Taylor. We’re stopping at Starbucks to kill some time before school.”

“So I’m stuck with Taylor?”

Eliza gave her a sympathetic smile. “You seem to stand up to her better than the other girls. Do you mind?”

“I guess not.”

She patted DJ on the back. “Hey, you look extra pretty this morning.”

“Thanks…” Then DJ figured this meant she needed to compliment Eliza back. “I like your shoes.”

Eliza pointed a pretty red toe out. “They’re Jimmys.”

“Who’s Jimmy?”

“Choo.”

“Huh?”

“Jimmy Choo.” Eliza laughed. “I can see our work with you is not done yet, DJ. See ya.”

DJ had to appreciate that Eliza was trying to help Rhiannon. But she did not appreciate being partnered with Taylor. Rooming with her was bad enough, but going to school with her too? Then she remembered what she’d read in the Bible this morning about being kind to your enemies. Maybe that’s what this was about. Maybe God just wanted her to be nice to Taylor. Well, she could give it a shot. At least for a day…or maybe just this morning. She wasn’t too sure how long she could pull something this difficult off.