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“Anyway, I got you lots of things from the road. You wouldn’t believe how cheap things are overseas.”
    Patience dropped her chin. She was embarrassed and ashamed and felt like a huge liar and backstabber. Silky didn’t know Patience wasn’t allowed to hang with her anymore, and Patience didn’t have the heart to tell her. It was all her father’s doing, and that was one of the reasons she couldn’t stand him.
    â€œDid you? Thank you, Silky. I’m so excited for you and your mom! I heard her on the radio this morning,” Patience whispered loudly. “Girl, I almost passed out. I was sooo happy, she sounds sooo good.”
    Silky tossed her hair over her shoulder and pursed her heavily glossed lips—two things she didn’t have before her mom became a star. Made up or not, she was beautiful inside and out, and that’s what Patience loved about her. Weave or no weave. Makeup or none, Silky was genuine.
    â€œSo you wanna see our house? It’s way better than the apartment. You’ve got to come, Patience. Got to.” She jumped up and down in place. “We can’t be friends thirteen out of fourteen years and you flake on me—not you of all people. We’re like sisters.... Mom got you your own bed and everything.” Silky rotated her neck, flashed her teeth, and stuck out her tongue. “So what you say? Huh? Please! Please! It’s not too far from you, maybe thirty minutes away. I got a surprise for you.”
    Patience looked around the hallway. Her parents and grandparents were inside the sanctuary. Hope and Faith were nowhere to be seen, probably had left long ago. She shrugged. Why not? If no one in her family saw her with Silky could they ever say she was really with her? No.
    â€œOf course I’m coming!”
    â€œThat’s my girl!” Silky took a cell phone from her purse and began texting.
    â€œIs that a BlackBerry?” Patience asked.
    Silky twisted her face and started laughing. She continued texting. Her fingers moving faster and faster. “Girl, yeah. You don’t have one?”
    Patience shook her head.
    Silky looked up. “I’m surprised. Everybody has one.”
    Patience winced. Silky’s words stung. She was sure her friend hadn’t meant to rub it in her face, but, still, it hurt because her not having a BlackBerry like everybody else made her feel like she wasn’t down—like she was an outcast who couldn’t fit in. She was always treated like an outsider who the inner circle wouldn’t allow inside, all because she was Bishop Blackman’s daughter. It was hard being a famous preacher’s child, especially when a lot of your schoolmates attended your church, and many were scared that their wrongdoings would get back to their parents. So by default—her dad—she’d been misjudged a possible snitch.
    Silky stuck her arm through Patience’s and walked her out the door. “Come on!”
    Patience dug her feet in the carpet. “Shouldn’t we wait for your mom?”
    â€œGirl, puh-leez. No. We’ll see her soon. You just worry about your surprise,” Silky answered, still walking and pulling.
    Patience took one last look around and saw that all was clear. She grabbed Silky’s wrist. “Follow me then. This is the best way out over here. No cameras.”
    By the time they made it to the parking lot, Patience doubled over to catch her breath. Panting, she stood up straight and speed walked toward a parked van. She couldn’t just stand on the sidewalk and wait for Silky’s mom to exit the church. She couldn’t take a chance on getting caught.
    â€œWhy we hiding back here?” Silky asked, careful not to lean on the dirty van.
    Patience just looked at her. “You haven’t been on tour that long. Two, three months tops. You know Bishop doesn’t play. Service isn’t over yet.”
    â€œRight. Right.