Family pictures

This is my family at my Aunt's wedding

This is my family just before my dad left on a trip for six months

I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!

Hiding Chapter 4: A Temptation, a Friend, a Conversion

The other day, I was talking to Brooke about how Mrs. Till taught me how to do my hair to look like a model, when I called her mom. When I said it, I felt really content and happy inside. I have never called anyone else my mother except for my real mother. So, I decided to start calling Mrs. Till mom, and Mr. Till dad. I asked them if they would mind, and they looked like they would cry. They told me that I was like a daughter to them, and that they would be honored if I wanted to call them mom and dad. So, Mr. and Mrs. Till will now be known as my mom and dad.

 When I went to school today, There was a new student. “Students,” said Mr. Butler. “Today, I want to introduce a new student to you. She is an exchange student from China.” With that, a girl stepped into the room and said, “Hi, my name is Noel.” “She will be with us for the rest of the year.” Said Mr. Butler. He told Noel to sit at one of the empty desks, and she chose the one next to mine. She looked at her, and she looked at me. I smiled, and she smiled back. When Mr. Butler told us that it was time for a math quiz, I groaned. I tried to study for that quiz, but math was just so confusing. As I began the quiz, I noticed that Noel was flying through the quiz. “She must be really good at math.” I thought. Suddenly, another thought entered my mind: Noel was sitting right next to me; I could look over and see all of her answers. “What!” I thought to myself “Where did that even come from? But, then again,” I reasoned. “It would be do easy, I could go back and probably understand it anyway, it would be just this once. No one would know.” Suddenly I realized what was happening, I was being tempted! I started panicking; what if I’m not strong enough to resist, what if I give in? I took a deep breath; God said in the Bible that He would not let me be tempted beyond what I could bear. I said a quick prayer, and began my quiz. I ended up getting a C+, which was not very good at all, but I knew that I had done the right thing.

            Over the next week, I got to know Noel better. She sat at the same table as Brooke, Wendy, Katie, and Me. Noel told me that she used to have a lot of trouble with math, but then a friend of hers helped her out and now math is her best subject. When I mentioned that I have trouble with math, Noel offered to be my own personal tutor. I thought it was a great idea. The next day, after school, Noel came over to my house, and helped me with my math. Somewhere in between 2x+3=25 and finding an area of square with a perimeter of 8ft, when mom came in with milk and cookies. After a few more math problems, Noel told me that she had to go home for dinner. I thanked her for helping me, and she left. I couldn’t believe how easy the math problems were to figure out. She really helped me to understand them. If we were to continue this even for a few weeks, everything would change, but I had no idea how true that was, in those few weeks, EVERYTHING changed.

            Noel came over the next day to help me with my math again. About half way through, there was a knock at our door. It was Wendy. She asked if I wanted to go roller-skating with her at the park. I told her I couldn’t because Noel was helping me study for the math test in a few weeks. I told that tomorrow I could hang out. Wendy, looking disappointed, said okay, and left. I felt bad that I couldn’t hang out with her, but I really needed to study for the math test. Noel and I went to study.

            School the next day was strange. Wendy didn’t talk to me at all during lunch, which is not normal. She talked with Brooke and Katie, but not to me or Noel. I figured that she was sad that she didn’t get to hang out with me. Then it hit me: the day before Noel came, Wendy and I were going to hang out, but we got rained out. We agreed that we were going to reschedule for yesterday. I felt really bad that I didn’t keep my word. After school I went to talk to Wendy. “Wendy, I’m really sorry that I didn’t hang out with you.” I said, “If I had remembered, I would have gone with you.” I looked at her, hoping that she would accept my apology. “It’s okay, I understand completely. The stress of a test makes me forget things as well.” Said Wendy. I was so glad that she understood. I didn’t blame her for feeling hurt, if it were me, I would’ve been very sad. I’m thankful that we sorted it all out.

            Not long after I got home, I heard the doorbell. It was Noel. She told me that her aunt, who she lived with while in America, had an unexpected business trip and would be away for a few days. Since I was her closest friend, she asked me if she could stay here. Once my mom arranged it, Noel was my tutor/friend/guest. I got my skates ready and Brooke let Noel borrow hers. I wasn’t totally sure it was a good idea to bring Noel to hang out with Wendy, but she was our guest, so it would’ve been rude to just leave her at home. I just hoped that Wendy would feel the same.

            Wendy seem surprised when I showed up with Noel, but she welcomed Noel, and I didn’t have to explain anything. Because Noel had not been skating much, I had to hold her hand so she wouldn’t fall. Once she was able to do it on her own, I did a few tricks with Wendy. Wendy wanted me to teach her how to skate backwards, but it started raining again, so we had to go home. Wendy offered to walk Noel home, but Noel said that she was staying with me. “It’s like a big sleepover.” She said. Looking disappointed, Wendy went home. I wanted to call Wendy and explain why Noel was staying with me, but she didn’t answer. “I guess I’ll have to wait until tomorrow.” I thought. I didn’t think there was any rush. I was wrong.

At school the next day, Math, history, language, literature, and P.E. were normal classes and progressed normally. When Noel, Brooke and I walked into science class, Wendy and Katie were already there. We began with reading from our textbooks, and then our teacher told us to prepare for an experiment. Each person was supposed to combine baking soda with water. I grabbed the right contents from the cabinet and sat down all of the students including me combined our ingredients. A few seconds later, I noticed a strange smell coming from my container. I put my nose to the container and sniffed. I nearly passed out; that smell was so awful. “Umm, Mrs. Frensky, there is something wrong with mine.” I told her. She walked to me, smelled the chemicals, and told everyone to go out of the classroom. Later, Mrs. Frensky told me that I had combined ammonia and baking soda instead of water. Rose called out, “Noel switched the labels. I saw her!”

            Everyone gasped and looked at Noel. “I didn’t do it!” Noel cried. “Honest!” I spoke up. “Noel didn’t do it!” “Then who did?” questioned Rose. “I probably just grabbed the wrong liquid from the cabinet.” I said. Brooke then said that she saw Wendy in the science room yesterday.  “Wendy, were you the one who replaced the water with ammonia?” questioned Mrs. Frensky. “Yes,” admitted Wendy. “It was my job to clean out the science room yesterday. That’s when I made the switch. I’m really sorry.” Mrs. Frensky took Wendy to the principal’s office, and I didn’t see her again until she came to my house after school. She told that she was so sorry for what she did. I asked her why she did it, and she admitted that she was jealous of Noel. Wendy thought that I didn’t want to be friends with her anymore. So, when she overheard Rose tell Hillary that she didn’t like Noel, Wendy decided to prank me, and figured that Rose would take the chance to blame Noel, which was exactly what happened. Wendy told me that if I didn’t want to be her friend anymore, she would understand. I told her that I forgave her already. Wendy was shocked. “But, how can you forgive me? I was no better than Rose when she told our secrets.” Said Wendy. “Even if that was the case, I’ve already forgiven Rose as well.” At this, Wendy was even more surprised. “How can you forgive Rose and me after what We’ve done?” I told Wendy that it was because Jesus forgave me for everything I’ve done, so it makes it easier to forgive people who have wronged me. “I want that! I want to be able to let go of the grudges I have towards certain people.” Said Wendy. “You mean,” I started. “you want to become a Christian?” “Yes! I want to have Jesus in my heart.” Cried Wendy. As I lead Wendy to the Lord, I realized that, despite the less than pleasant events that happened, that this was one of the happiest days of my life.