Church Girl Gone Wild by Ni’chelle Genovese

like this? Know good and well I should be in church or at home.
    Changing in the car was harder than I thought it would be so I took a minute to do a last-minute check on the drape of the black sheet I’d fashioned into an above-the-knee toga. I’d left the house in jeans and an oversize sweater to keep everyone from being suspicious.
    â€œWho the hell is that lookin’ like a chocolate Greek Goddess? Eva, is that you?”
    My friend Laurence could go under witness protection and you’d still know it was her. I’d been so lost in my head I didn’t even hear her walk up with her boo. She was unmistakable in her loose-fitted black toga with a short gold wreath on her low-cut fade. Why she even bothered with her little solid black mask was beyond me. Laurence could bench more than half the dudes I knew and she ran eight miles a day. Laurence was cut with these magazine-worthy abs that she showed off as often as possible. She made straight girls self-conscious about being able to pinch a little extra. How she managed to drape her toga so low you could see the cut of her abs dipping into her hips on the side was beyond me.
    I tried to hide my nervousness behind a shaky smile. “Yeah, it’s me; how in the world could you tell?” I asked.
    â€œFirst off everybody’s already here and second we saw some of your little peep show before you got out of your crooked-as-hell Jesus freak mobile over there. I told you them custom plates get you recognized. You are ‘Blssd2B’ caught out there, woman,” Laurence joked.
    I popped my tongue at her. “Whatever. Ring the doorbell; this wig is making me hot. And um FYI, you know sports bras and Air Max ain’t proper toga attire right?”
    Her girlfriend Charmaine jumped in the convo. She was posted up close enough to be Laurence’s Siamese twin.
    â€œGirl, I tried telling her that; you know she don’t listen worth a damn. But she still look good so fuck it.”
    She had a weird half smile on the part of her pinched face that I could see from under her mask. Charmaine had always been a little too clingy for my liking but if Laurence wanted a warden who was I to argue about it.
    Laurence sucked her teeth looking back and forth between the two of us. She was about to say something smart but the door was flung open. Apple coconut–scented fog wafted into the hallway. Storie made me go to five different party stores just to find the stuff to make the smoke machine fog smell pretty. At least it worked; it’d have been tragic if the place smelled like a haunted weed house all night.
    â€œEverybody been in here for a minute and I already know that’s you, Laurence; you can’t masquerade worth shit. I should make you take them shoes off before you come in my uncle’s spot. I’ll leave you be, this time. Hi, Charmaine. And, is that Eva?” Storie let out an exaggerated gasp. “Wait, Doctor, does this mean what I think it means? I’m no longer contagious with the bubonic plague or whatever it was that had my best friend avoiding me?”
    She definitely knew how to make a person feel guilty for just needing a little space.
    I smiled big and bright. “And here I am making it up to you even though I said I’d never come to one of your freak parties. I just had a lot of stuff going on in my head. I’m sorry.”
    â€œOh well, let momma see if you actually came or if you’re just here.”
    Storie sashayed out onto the porch with a plume of smoke from inside billowing behind her like a ghost. Before I knew what she was up to, her hand was up under my toga. I jumped back in shock smacking her arm.
    â€œReally, girl, what the hell? I thought I’d at least make it inside before I started getting felt up.”
    â€œOooh, Eva, and you shaved. Good girl,” Storie replied with a content nod and a wink.
    Charmaine and Laurence gave each other the look, and I rolled my