Jenna's Cover is Possibly Blown

“O my Father, thou that dwellest in that high and glorious place…” How I love singing the hymns! I crave escaping life for a little while and coming here where I can almost be at peace; a deep breath after being submerged. School was particularly heinous this week, and no work this weekend means no money. Now that Sunday is nearly over it will be time to go back to reality.
“Before we have the prayer, I just wanted to remind you to meet with your FHE Groups afterward!” Brother Heinze called out before the last note could leave the air. I peeked to see who was saying the prayer.

Jeanette Boyter. Ugh. Self-righteous, holier-than-thou pretentious snob. She is one of those people who practically campaigns to be the Relief Society President. She can have it. They can leave me in the Sunday School until I die and that will be perfectly fine with me. Chill Jenna. She is going to say the prayer and you can’t be thinking mean-spirited thoughts while she’s doing it, I told myself. If I can just keep my eyes closed and not break out laughing when she is bound to say, “Please bless those who have lost there way, that we may bring them back to the fold…” like she always does, I’ll be fine. Biting my tongue. Biting my lips. Face turning hot. Must get air…
“Amen!” the word whooshed out of my mouth. Sweet, sweet oxygen!

“So, Mama, what’s up for this week?” Ethan clamped his muscled arm around my neck. I returned the favor.
“Well, I was thinking we could play Ultimate Frisbee on the field by the stadium around seven. What do you think boys?” I turned to the eight other faces of my A-Town boys who had huddled around Ethan and myself.
“Whatever, step mom,” Jaysen rolled his eyes playfully. He was always egging me on and I always played along.
“That sounds tight to me, Mama,” Rick tried his hardest to sound ghetto. Poor kid was raised in Utah Valley, like ghetto was ever going to happen. The rest nodded or mumbled their approval. Shane came up as the rest of the group dispersed.
“Hey Ethan, you ask her about Hilt yet?” he somehow shifted a perceptible weight onto Ethan’s shoulders.
“Man! I knew you were gonna do that. You promised--”
“I did not promise,” Shane held his hands up in front of his chest as though refusing an offering.
“You promised you would ask her,” Ethan jabbed his finger into Shane’s chest.
“Guys, I’m not deaf. Ask me what?” This was going nowhere if I didn’t step in soon. They were instantly quiet, both looking at one another then shaking their heads back and forth in negation. Eventually, Shane threw his hands up.
“Fine! I’ll ask her,” Shane practically yelled at Ethan. Ethan snickered.
“We have a friend--”
“It’s this guy who lives in the dorms with us,” Ethan barged in.
“Do you wanna ask’er?” Shane whipped around to Ethan. Ethan stepped back, holding his hands up in surrender.“Anyway, this guy Hilt—his name is Nick Hilton—he lives in the dorms with us and we were wondering if he could come tomorrow.” Both guys stared at me as if I was going to punish them for sneaking candy.
“Sure why not?”
“Are you sure?” Ethan echoed Shane.
“Yeah. More people make it more fun anyway.” I should’ve known they were going to bear hug me, but I was gasping for air before I could blink.

* * *

“C’mon team! Let’s go!” I hollered to the five guys on our side of the kick-off line. We were down by two, but we were receiving. Jaysen caught the Frisbee, and snatched three phat goose-steps before sailing the thing over to Ethan. Rick tried blocking, but missed altogether. Ethan danced around him before tossing the Frisbee to me. I had positioned myself just left of the goal-cones. I took one step closer before letting the lime-green disc fly. It glided easily through. I must’ve thrown it harder than I thought because I almost hit a rather large passer-by who was cutting across the field. I jogged over to him. “Sorry, I wasn’t aimin’ for ya,” I gasped my explanation. Before the stranger could reply I saw his eyes widen and heard the sound of footsteps behind me. Instinctively, I flinched, thinking the hit was meant for me. Instead, Ethan and Shane charged past me tackling the guy to the ground.
“HILT!”
“Glad you could make it!” All three of them stood up, laughing.
“Welcome Hilt. I’m Jenna,” I offered my hand. He took it in his, but the look in his eye was unsettling. His gaze was so penetrating I felt like he was reading my thoughts.
“Have I met you before?” he asked after a minute. I studied his face closely. He did look vaguely familiar.
“I can’t say that we have. I don’t think we have any classes together. Maybe I’ve just seen you on campus.”
“Maybe,” he drawled. My explanation didn’t seem to satisfy him.
“Hey!” Rick hollered from the playing field. “We gonna play or talk? C’mon!”

* * *

“Thanks for coming!” I called to the backs of several of the guys. A few raised their hands in acknowledgment. Ethan, Shane, Hilt, and I sat on the grass talking for a while before Hilt and Shane claimed they needed to study for a Business test. Ethan offered to help gather the equipment. As we walked toward Gretta, my white 1993 Taurus, Ethan cleared his throat uncomfortably. I looked at him. His expression seemed troubled.
“What’s up?” I asked casually. Ethan didn’t seem terribly bright, so it couldn’t be that upsetting.
“Oh nothin’. I was just thinkin’ bout somethin’ Hilt said is all,” he offered lamely. I stopped walking.
“Really Ethan, what is it?”
“Well,” he paused. “It’s about you.” The hairs on my neck rose.
“What did he say about me?” I faked being cool with them discussing me.
“He said he thought you were some dancer that works a lot of the keggers around here. I told him he was probably just drunk and thought you were someone else,” Ethan began walking again. My blood ran cold. I tried to swallow the boulder in my throat. My heart beat wildly; I looked down to see if it was visible through my shirt. It was all I could do to keep my knees from buckling. I knew I had to keep walking or Ethan would suspect something. An unnatural, high-pitched bogus laugh escaped my lips.
“Me? A dancer? It's so ridiculous it's almost laughable. Maybe he was doing something more than drinking.” He had been more than drinking. His clothes were rank with the sickly sweet scent of weed in addition to Jim Beam. He had been at the house party—the one where John got a hold of my Princess pants. My train of thought spiraled downward. How had he recognized me? What was I going to do? This could not be happening. I can’t afford for this to happen. I choked on the sob trying to tear out of my throat. The burning behind my eyes was becoming more than I could handle. A single shiny tear escaped down my cheek.
“You alright?” Ethan asked.“Oh yeah, my contacts. I must’ve got some dirt in there or something. Thanks for your help. See you later,” I gushed.
“Later.”

Son of a bitch! Ethan looked perplexed as I drove away. I waited until he was out of sight before I began slamming my palm against my steering wheel.
“Damn! Damn! Damn!” The tears were coming more quickly now. I could hardly see the road through the misty haze. I couldn’t blink them away fast enough. They streamed hotly down my face. Black splotches spattered my white t-shirt as I drove to my house. Only halfway through the first semester and already my cover was being seriously threatened.“What am I going to do?” I moaned into my hands after parking the car.