Peace Sign

I've lasted the past two and a half weeks without any problems and/or typical "new girl" embarrassment, not that I'm complaining. Thankfully, things between me and Chris haven't gotten awkward since I declined his offer to take me out. Derek was right, in a matter of days, Chris went back to flirting it up with the rest of the girl population at school.

It seems that Derek and I have become a little closer as friends in the past couple of weeks. I now know that his mother is a professor at University of Nevada, Las Vegas and his father is a mechanic who owns his own car shop. I learned that he had Mia when he was only thirteen years old. I also learned that Mia's mother, Derek's girlfriend at the time, is currently not in the picture, for reasons Derek said he would "save for another day." Speaking of Mia, it seems like she's really grown to like since my first day at the daycare center when I helped her find her doll. Now, she mostly spends time with me until Derek arrives to pick her up.

I've also become closer friends with Emma, Emily, and Ryan, as well. I think it took Ryan the longest to get used to me, I think. Emma and Emily told me that he's extremely shy around new people, which is understandable since I'm the same way. However, once Ryan and I got into a specific and detailed conversation about Star Wars he started treating me like one of his best friends.

***

That Wednesday in Physics class, we were given the greatest gift a student could ever have: a unit exam! Please note the exaggerated sarcasm there. Anyway, after everyone finished their unit one exam, Mr. O' Connor didn't have anything else planned for class so he gave the class free time until the bell rang.

"What a great way to end the day," Derek mumbled blankly to me after he returned from turning in his test.

"You don't think you did well?" I asked, turning to him.

"I don't know. I had to guess the answers to about half of the questions." He pulled out his phone from his pocket and I could hear the noise in the classroom start to escalate.

"I'm sure you did fine. You told me you spent about two hours studying last night, remember?"

"I guess. I'm sure you probably got one hundred ten percent, though." He smirked at me.

I smiled and rolled my eyes. "I doubt that's gonna happen," I replied. "There's no such thing as one hundred ten percent."

Derek chuckled as he looked down at his phone. I then saw his smile fade away as he stared at his phone screen. "Awesome," he groaned, but he didn't sound all that pleased.

"What's wrong?" I asked, trying to sneak a peek at what he was staring at.

"Mia's babysitter cancelled for this Saturday. I have to go to some fancy dinner with my mom and dad at my mom's boss's house. I now have to find another babysitter, which isn't all that fun."

I thought for a moment, realizing I had no plans whatsoever for Saturday. "Well, I could babysit Mia."

He looked at me, his eyes hopeful. "You would really do that?"

"Of course, I have lots of experience as a babysitter." I said. "I have no plans on Saturday. You need a babysitter. Plus, Mia and I always have a great time together. It works out perfectly."

Derek sighed a sigh of relief. "Angel, you have no idea how easy you're making this on me." Derek turned back to his phone and appeared to be texting someone. "I'll text my parents the change of plans. Thank you so much!" he exclaimed.

"It's no problem," I replied and smiled widely, paying close attention to the fact that Derek just called me "Angel". There's lots of ways my name has been shortened by other people, but "Angel" has never been one of them until now. I actually liked the new nickname and the fact that it's Derek's nickname to me makes it even better.

After Derek sent the text message to his parents, he put his phone back down on the table. I caught him glancing at my hands, which were placed flat on the table. I noticed him stare at my left hand before reaching over to grab it and take a closer look at the silver ring on my ring finger. "Well, Miss Rivers, you never told me you were married." I could tell he was kidding but he was also waiting for an explanation.

"Very funny," I replied, gently pulling my hand back. "It's my purity ring."

"Have you always been wearing that?" Derek asked and I nodded. "Interesting," he said. "Was the ring your parents' idea or was it yours?"

"It was my idea," I replied. "My parents and I aren't extremely religious but my grandmother is. When I was about thirteen years old, she explained how the purity ring would be 'a very special promise between myself and God to stay abstinent until marriage'. I thought it was a good idea, so I got this one."

"So, when you got a purity ring, I had a baby," Derek replied.

"Apparently," I said and smiled. Derek didn't say anything. He became quiet and seemed to be lost in thought. I looked at my ring and back at him. "Derek, does the ring bother you in any way?" I know it was probably a dumb question to ask and that it doesn't matter if he's bothered by the ring or not, but I was just curious about his sudden quiet behavior.

"No, of course not," Derek said quickly and looked at me like I was crazy. "I'm just surprised that you've made that kind of promise and haven't judged me or anything for having a kid."

"Derek," I said and shook my head, "I told you I'm not like that. And anyone who's made a promise to wait until marriage shouldn't be like that. I don't think anyone at all should judge you for that, honestly."

"Yeah, I guess. I just remember this one time when a group of people from some youth group told me that, because I didn't wait until marriage, I would be going to hell. They even said that to me in front of Mia and she wouldn't stop asking me what they meant for days."

"Not every religious person is like that," I said. "There are so many people who are religious and open-minded and actually respect your decisions. I believe that people are raised different ways with different beliefs. Not that I'm saying what those people said to you was okay at all, but if they want to believe that having sex before marriage will result in going to hell, then let them."

Derek smiled at me. "You're really great, you know that?"

I felt my cheeks warm up a little and I just smiled like an idiot not really knowing what to say next. Which was good, because right after Derek's comment, the bell rang.

***

After work, I came home ready to take a nice hot shower and eat the delicious dinner Mom made. However, as it turned out, I wouldn't be getting to those things straight away.

Right after I closed the front door behind me, I saw Mom walk into the living room, with the phone held to her ear. She had this serious, somewhat worried look on her face. "Yes, she just walked in," Mom said to the other person on the phone. "Okay, wait one second," she said before pulling the phone away. "Angie, it's Mr. Livingston. He has a few things he wants to talk to you about."

I took a deep breath before slowly putting my bag and sweater on the couch. I anxiously grabbed the phone and held it to my ear, listening to what the lawyer had to say.