Stephanie At Carter Church  I walk with my mom and my siblings on the sidewalk in front of the white house at the intersection of 1st Street and Holy Avenue in Oak Valley. We're going up to the house. There is a short metal fence around the house, and its gate may be locked. My sort-of girlfriend Stephanie Peterson and her friend are sitting in the back yard by the garage. She yells for us to come over. We go and say hi and talk  I'm in a group of people standing outside Carter Church. Stephanie is there, and is planning to come over to my house after church for an hour before going somewhere else. She asks if she can bring a friend, and I say that's fine. She points him out: a black man in a hat. I go over and meet him. He has a light brown goatee beard called an a_____. He may be white then, or be black with a light brown beard. I shake his hand as we meet and pass by; we don't talk much. Stephanie says she didn't know if it would be okay that he came. I say it's okay just as long as there is no one else. I'm hesitant to have people over. We go into church. Stephanie and her friend sit in the balcony, having full view of me. I sit at the end of a pew with people I don't know and try to sing/mumble a few words. I see a red-haired woman, whom I think might be my grade school classmate Annette Smith. We leave the church and get on a school bus for the ride home. I sit behind Stephanie and her friend. I'm solemn the whole ride. I feel out of place with them: like they are a couple and I'm chopped liver. I physically balance myself during the ride. They ask me, friendlily, if all is well. I reply that I'm fine. The bus goes straight to my house and drops my siblings and I off. I don't think Stephanie or her friend get off the bus. I go up to the front door. My mom is home, and she unlocks the door.