Sold Out by Melody Carlson Page B

know.” Allie slammed her locker shut and turned and looked at me. “So what’s the answer?”
    “We need to talk to her parents.”
    “Huh?”
    “We need to ask them where they stand with this Pastor Rawlins thing. We need to find out if they know how much this is hurting Laura.”
    Her eyebrows shot up. “We? As in you and me?”
    “Yeah. It’s like we’re representing the band, sort of.”
    “Hey, I might be able to stand up and talk to a crowd—I mean, like when God is leading me to—but I’m totally lousy when it comes to one-on-one confrontations involving adults, especially withparental types. You’ve seen me. Sometimes I even freeze up around your parents.”
    “My parents have that effect on people.”
    “Really, Chloe. I’m no good at this. I mean, I’m willing to go with you and back you up, like for moral support, but that’s where I draw the line.”
    I patted her on the back. “Fine. That’s good enough for me. I’m going to call Laura’s mom and see if we can drop by this evening. I’ll pick you up.”
    “Are you going to warn Laura?” “I don’t see what good it’ll do. I think this is going to be kind of like an intervention.” “What’s that?”
    “You know, when someone’s on drugs or something harmful to themselves, and all the loved ones come around and talk them into getting some help.”
    “Are you going to have anyone else come along?”
    “You know that’s not a bad idea. Maybe I’ll ask LaDonna and Mercedes since they’re actually part of the congregation.”
    And that is how the “intervention/insurrection” was begun.
    I borrowed Mom’s car then drove around picking everyone up. Allie still thinks it’s unfair that I get to drive even though I’m only a freshman, but back in grade school I thought it wasunfair getting held back because I was so sick that year. I guess life just balances out sometimes.
    Anyway, I’d added some incentive by promising to treat everyone who was willing to come to free pizza beforehand. It wasn’t a bribe exactly, just a way for us all to have a chance to sit around and discuss what we planned to do. And before we left the pizza place, we all bowed our heads and prayed for God to lead us. I knew that Laura’s dad was a deacon in the church and that what we were about to do must be handled carefully—prayerfully. I also knew it could totally blow up in our faces and that Laura might never speak to any of us again—not as if that would be much different than it is now. But we were all aware of these possibilities, and we all agreed to give this thing our best shot. So at seven o’clock sharp we all stood on her porch, and I pressed the doorbell.
    “Oh, my,” said Mrs. Mitchell as she surveyed the crowd. “There’s quite a group of you.” She glanced over her shoulder then spoke quietly. “I did like you asked, Chloe. I didn’t tell Laura you were coming. Is this supposed to be a surprise party or something?”
    “Not exactly. It’s like I said on the phone. We want to talk to you and Mr. Mitchell and Laura.”
    “Is it all right if James sits in? He’s curious.”
    I heard someone giggle and remembered thatLaura had told me how LaDonna has had a huge crush on her brother for years now. “Sure, he might as well hear what we have to say too.”
    Soon we were all seated in the living room. And Laura looked totally stunned to see us. I know she wondered what in the world I was up to. Avoiding her eyes, I began. “We’re here tonight because we’re worried about Laura. But it’s not just Laura. We don’t understand what’s going on at your church.” I’m sure Mr. Mitchell’s eyebrows shot up about an inch just then.
    “And we don’t mean to be disrespectful,” I continued, “but we’re really trying to figure this thing out. It’s not easy to explain. You see, I went to visit Pastor Rawlins by myself, and he pretty much didn’t listen to what I was trying to say—or maybe he’d already made up his