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Avenue. It seemed to take longer than usual to turn green even though there was no traffic coming from the other direction.
     
    “Relax, Tony,” he spoke to himself over the light morning banter of the Christian radio station. “This is where you practice your righteousness, in the car with nobody watching.”
     
    He took a deep breath. Sometimes his impatience could get the best of him, and he knew it was an area he needed work on. He refused to get upset over waiting at a red light and he wouldn't speed afterward to make up time just because he knew he could get away with it.
     
    Part of him thought that once he calmed down about it, the light would change right away, like a cosmic game of cat and mouse, but it didn't. Tony found himself struggling not to get worked up again. A song came on the radio that he liked and he distracted himself by singing along.
     
    Finally the light changed and Tony made the rest of the way to school unimpeded. It was easier to be righteous in front of others, and he began to worry about his motivations for being Mr. Good Guy to the extreme when people were around. What would they say if they so him getting frustrated at a red light? The fact that he asked himself that question concerned him even more.
     
    “God,” he spoke allowed as he drove. “Help me get to where I only care about what you think about my actions.”
     
    Tony understood that despite how other people viewed him, he was still a work in progress. He hoped he could share his struggles with others, especially those who placed him on a pedestal.
     
    Tony pulled into the empty student parking lot. It was still dark out as he parked his car in the space everyone assumed was his. He always wondered if he should tack a little sign to the wooden light post saying Tony's spot.
     
    The teen laughed to himself. “Half the people don't even know my real name is Tony,” he said as he turned off the engine and the headlights. He grabbed his notebook and textbooks for the day and got out of the car.
     
    For a moment he was compelled to watching the empty football practice field, even though he knew that Pastor Bob was already waiting for him where the prayer meeting was being held.
     
    He remembered the small girl leaving towards the back end of the field the day before and his eyes floated to that general vicinity.
     
    He could make out a figure.
     
    “Is that her?” he asked himself out loud. “It can't be.”
     
    He focused harder on the area. Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him, but sure enough, he could see a person making their way through the damp morning grass.
     
    “It has to be her, but why?”
     
    He waited a few seconds, trying to make out any of the details of the young freshman. He could tell by her silhouette that she was wearing some sort of dress, but in the dim light of the early morning he couldn't make out what color it was or what fashion.
     
    Then, as she was passing by the weight room, she vanished from view.
     
    “What the,” Tony made sure to hold his tongue before he let out a word he was trying not to speak.
     
    He had half a mind to walk across the field and see what was going on. He knew he didn't imagine seeing the girl and knew the weight room was locked so there was no way she was going in there to get a workout, not that any girl would be seen dead in what was nicknamed the sweat sock because of the peculiar odor that lingered inside.
     
    Tony waited until the count of ten to see if the girl reappeared, but she never did. He shrugged his shoulders and knew that someone else was waiting for him. “Maybe she's coming to the prayer meeting today,” he said to himself as he made his way up the walkway to the school.
     
    Antonio tried to shake off his concern for the girl, as he wondered what was in the direction he saw her. “I hope she doesn't live in the ditch,” he said, but was sure he was being overly dramatic about the situation. After the prayer meeting he would