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Honk, honk! Pete's horn told James it was time to head to school for the first day of his senior year. He shoved his Bible into his backpack and zipped it up, tugging on the handcrafted zipper–pull a kid had made for him at the Christian camp he'd worked at all summer. Camp had been like another world—besides letters from his mom and the occasional call home, he'd been totally out of touch with his "normal" life. And he'd only been back for two days! His brain was still on camp time; he felt like he should be heading to all–staff devotions, not first–period chemistry. But he was sure everything would click again soon. Hoooonk!

James yelled goodbye to his mom and stepped out the door. Pete's 10–year–old Civic idled in the driveway, riddled with dents from countless poorly aimed passes during pick–up football games. James could see Steve in the passenger seat and Mark behind him—same guys he'd known since kindergarten, sitting where they'd always sat since Pete got his license. But as James got closer to the car, he noticed something different. Was Pete, the biggest Zeppelin fan on the planet, playing rap?

"Guys!" James said, closing the car door behind him. "Long time no see. What'd I miss this summer?"

"Nothing, man," Steve replied. "It was hot, and I mowed a bunch of lawns, and my dad made me save practically all of the money for college, and I still can't afford a car. Krissy's pretty bored of walking around downtown, walking by the lake, walking to the park. …"

Krissy? James thought. Who's Krissy?

"At least you were working for yourself," Mark complained. "My dad made me help out at the hardware store, and I had to do all the stupid jobs. If I have to sweep those—he swore—floors again, I am going to—another curse—shoot somebody."

James's eyebrows shot up. He'd never heard Mark cuss before. Mark's parents hardly ever went to church, and his older sister got busted for drinking at school once, but Mark usually came to youth group with James and seemed pretty interested in God. He never got in trouble anywhere. What had happened to him?

Pete apparently hadn't heard James' question, or didn't care to answer. He just bobbed his head and rapped along with the car stereo. Something about sex and porn—nothing James usually listened to, and nothing Pete had been into before.

It was all way too weird. Were these the same guys James had known for years? He never thought that spending a summer away would put so much distance between them. No one had asked him about his summer. But even if they had, how would he explain how intense the worship services at camp had been? Would his friends even understand how cool it was to see a kid learn to trust God during an overnight canoe trip? Or would he seem as strange to them as they seemed to him?

Sitting through AP chemistry, world geography and calculus, James almost forgot about the guys. But running into Steve at lunch brought all the questions back. With Pete and Mark both signed up for the second lunch period, James hoped to get some information out of Steve—unless, of course, he had a lunch date with his new girlfriend.

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