No

After grabbing my lunch, I headed out to my car. I wasn’t sure what the school’s rules were for something like this, but I didn’t really care at the moment. I needed a cigarette. It’d been a stressful day and for the first time since I’d first had a cigarette, I felt a real need to actually have one.

Once I reached my car, I got my cigarette out and lit it while I was outside my car. Though I didn’t think my parents would ground me or anything if they found out I was smoking, I still didn’t particularly want them to find out. So, I figured it was probably best to avoid smoking in my car.

I ate my lunch as I smoked through three cigarettes. I hadn’t really needed more than the first, but there was something about smoking, whether here at school or in general, that was really exciting me. Somehow I felt like a major badass smoking and I really liked that feeling.

For the first time since I’d arrived, I felt like I was some sense in control of my life. Prior to school, I felt majorly under the thumb of my parents. So, finally having a little privacy made me feel nearly invincible.

Not long after I’d lit my third cigarette, a couple that I’d seen around at church and the girl I’d shared a couple of classes with, came up to me. “You’re the new pastor’s daughter, aren’t you?”

“I’ll answer if you tell me who the hell you are.”

“I’m Chloe and this is my boyfriend, Derek. I’m pretty sure we’ve seen you at church with the new pastor, but we hadn’t seen you around prior to that.”

“Yeah, I’m Violet,” I said, still really skeptical. I wasn’t sure how much I should trust them. I’d found some Christians to be the most judgmental while others were a lot more laid back. I didn’t know what these two were, so I was trying to tread very carefully.

“Well, welcome to the area. If you need anything, you can come and ask one of us.” The girl, who was a really pretty blonde girl looked around before looking back at me and speaking. “If I were you, I’d avoid most of the Christians at this school, most of them are major judgmental assholes.”

Her boyfriend gave her a dirty look after saying that. “What?” she responded and he just simply shook his head. “I’m just saying,” she said as she turned back toward me. “Though I can’t say I think smoking is cool or anything, it’s definitely cool seeing such a badass pastor’s daughter. I’d definitely want to hang out with you before any of those other church girls. Would you be down to hang out sometimes this week?”