Something about Derrick Freeman had always struck Jade as off, but she hadn't been able to put her finger on it until the day that he was arrested. The arrest wasn't really the eye-opener, believe it or not, but what had happened a mere hour beforehand.
With all of the self-aware swagger of a boy who thought he knew everything and was too cool for it all, Derrick had planted himself across from her at a cafeteria table and offered her a gift - a faux gold bracelet that had glittered under the harsh school lighting. In truth - for a minute, anyway - she had wanted to accept that bracelet. It really was pretty, and his smile had seemed so expectant. But she had turned it down, knowing that was what her parents would want, and instead she had shown him the promise ring that her father had recently given her.
Maybe it was that she was seeing him through different eyes since making the agreement with father. Maybe the disdain in his eyes would have been noticeable even if the agreement hadn't been made. After all, nothing else had really changed, and that really wasn't the first time that the alarm bells should have been going off - more like the third or fourth, maybe even fifth, time - but it was the first time that she had heard them, and it changed her opinion of him for good.
This changing of her opinion had come about because of his reaction to her rejection of his gift, not to mention his reaction to the ring that her father had given her.
Once she had made it clear that things were not going to go the way that he had wanted them too, he had turned away, spurned, and muttered, "Oh well, you're the one missin' out."
After another minute of nearly terse conversation between the two of them, he had left school; Jade would learn later that he had been skipping school and unintentionally heading to the demise of his freedom that he valued so much. Jade would also learn that the bracelet had been stolen goods, another unmistakable red flag attesting to her peer's poor morals.
Suddenly the bracelet - and the boy - that she had wanted so badly to claim as her own would seem repulsive to her. She would realize that she had - in a way - traded that bracelet for her promise ring, and the even greater promise that went with it. She had traded the love of a corrupt boy for the love of a caring father and an even greater Heavenly Father. She would realize that no matter how great a relationship with Derrick had sounded, a relationship with her father and her God would always be even greater, and of a greater importance. Because of Derrick, she would now always remember that she was "of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world."
I know that the tenses are kind of all over the place in this one, sorry about that. Okay, this is based off of 1 John 4:4 out of the KJV. I hope that you guys enjoyed it! Please R it makes my day! Thanks!:)