57 The Girl in the Leather Jacket who was Passionate about Catholic Singing

My Confirmation was coming up and our teacher had us march to the church every afternoon to practise our singing. There was no mass on so we had the use of the place. Not another soul was here from the parish except for this older girl in a leather jacket who kept smiling at me.

At first I hated that she was there. I thought she was making fun of my singing and my classmates started teasing me about her. Why was she here at all? Didn't she have classes in the local secondary school she went to?

The girls in my class would wave at her, wanting to seem like grown up secondary schoolers themselves. She didn't wave back to them though, she waved at me. I started waving back eventually. I got used to her.

When we sang I could often hear her sing too, even though she was at the far end of the church. I didn't mind singing myself but I had to be here. She didn't have to. If I was her I'd be at home playing video games or something!

Then one day the teacher hadn't arrived yet to conduct our singing. The girl in the leather jacket boldly got up in front of us and gestured to us to start singing. We just accepted her as a substitute and started singing our routine. She was having a great time conducting us and singing herself. Then the teacher came in, looking puzzled. The girl in the leather jacket dashed off down the aisle, waving at me as she was leaving. We were all puzzled. We just concentrated on our singing though.

We sang almost all the time now. Even on the playground after school. The girl in the leather jacket showed up and called me over to the gate. She told me I had the loveliest voice and asked if I would sing some songs for her. I was very bashful at first but she encouraged me with head pats. Then I started singing and she started singing too. As we sang together, she put her arm around my shoulder and swayed me along with the lyrics. We started waltzing around and I danced to her lead. It was hugely embarrassing in front of my friends but it was fun... Afterwards when she was leaving, she thanked me for singing, giving me a big kiss and a hug. A gentle cheek pinch too, saying I was the best boy in the whole wide world. She was awesome.