Tara’s World is a Christian youth fiction series about how she navigates everyday life issues while trying to uphold her Christian values. In this second episode, we see Tara take a bold step and try something she had only imagined before.
In the second episode of this Christian Youth Fiction series, we see Tara take a step she had only imagined taking before. Read on as we go on this journey with her and discover the thrills along the way.
Episode 2 – Bad Boy!
Shelly grabbed her friend by the shoulder and shook her playfully. “Earth to Tara” she said, and Tara grinned sheepishly. She had been daydreaming. “You have that look on your face. Who is it?” Shelly asked, smiling knowingly at her friend.
“Who is what?” she feigned ignorance
“Seriously?” she started “You have been grinning like silly ever since I got here and I’m pretty sure you haven’t heard anything I’ve said in the last ten minutes. Come on, who is responsible for that silly grin”
Background
Both girls had recently graduated from their secondary school in Nigeria and were catching up for the first time in three months. Shelly was visiting Tara at her home and they were in Tara’s room. They had been great friends in school, partly because they were both ‘church girls’ as they referred to themselves because of their shared values, but mostly because they got along fabulously.
Shelly’s parents had made her promise that she would give herself time to mature and generally take things slow on the dating scene till she got to the University. Tara thought that made a whole lot of sense, and they were both happy to stick together and explore the confusing world of boys, parties, and ‘what not’ from the safety of other people’s experiences. It also meant since they would not date in secondary school, then there was no way either one was going to get to kiss anyone, that was a bummer for sure.
They hung out with other friends from school, but it was always in groups and they always declined requests for one-on-one dates. While that mostly got them strange looks from their mates, it also ensured that they did not get some offers; like for illegal substances. They also often missed out on party invitations. It was painful at times, but as they eventually realized, it had kept them out of trouble. Now at 16, with University just a few months away, both girls were excited to jump into the dating scene.
“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you anyway” Tara responded
“Try me”
“It’s Jason….” she said the name softly
“Wait, there’s only one Jason you talk about and I’m pretty sure, he can’t be the reason you have been grinning all day” Shelly began, and then she studied her friend’s face as she came to realization…. “That Jason?” She shrieked and Tara nodded with a smile.
“I thought you hated him?”
“I thought so too”
“What do you mean ‘you thought so’, how did it happen?” Shelly was intrigued
“Honestly, I don’t know, it just happened. I mean, we talked every week in church and after a while, he didn’t seem so bad”.
“Just like that? So, are you guys together now?”
“Sort of…”
“What?” Shelly was astounded “I want details, and I want them now!”
“In summary, he asked me to be his girlfriend, I said yes, and we sealed it with a kiss,” she said sheepishly
Shelly’s brown eyes were huge, and she was jumping on the bed was screaming now.
“Oh, keep it down before old mama Funmi next door gets a fit”
“You had your first kiss” Shelly cried breathlessly, “how was it?” she asked curiously
“Not all it’s made out to be,” Tara said with a bored look
“Really…?”
“Yeah, it was better,” she said excitedly and both girls burst out laughing and screaming!
“How, when, where? Tell, tell, tell” Shelly screamed
Tara sighed as she remembered the eventful evening.
Jason had found her, as usual, in Church before the Wednesday evening service started. It had become kind of a routine for them. She would arrive about thirty minutes before the service started and they would hang out on the church premises and talk. It was a really large church and there were always lots of people around, so one ever paid them any notice. They would usually seat apart from each other for the service, and then would meet up again after church and he would walk her home. She was the reserved one and he didn’t mind doing all the talking. She couldn’t tell if his stories were made up or for real, but he always had good ones.
He had just told her about the day he inadvertently upturned a pot of soup his mum had been cooking as he and his younger brother were in the middle of an imaginary sword fight. She was laughing so hard and made a loud snort that would have embarrassed her, had she been talking with anyone else, but she saw him as a friend.
“Forgive my snorty noises, but it’s your fault for making me laugh so hard,” she said hitting him playfully
“You always look and sound beautiful to me,” he said with a smile
“Now, you make fun of me”
“But you know I can’t do that,” he said suddenly becoming very serious “You know how I feel about you, and I really want to be with you”
She became a little self-conscious cos of the way he looked intently at her.
“Why do you keep saying that”
“Cos it’s true. And I don’t know why you are holding back, I know you like being with me”
“You make for good company, but I have never really thought of you as a boyfriend. Besides I don’t trust you” she said only half joking.
“Why not?” he asked just as the opening prayers for the church service began
Tara had been saved by the bell, almost literally. She brooded and thought about it all through the service. She had been true to her commitment not to date anyone while she was in secondary school, and she felt she could handle herself around any boy now, at least she hoped so. Jason had not only proved to be a good buddy; she had actually grown fond of him. They already spent so much time together, there really wouldn’t be any difference if they started dating, she thought.
And the part about not trusting him, well she had heard that he was famous with girls, but he had never done anything to make her uncomfortable, and she really felt she could trust him to behave properly when he was with her.
With all this still running through her mind, he walked up to her after the service and picked up the conversation where they had left off as if they had not stopped talking at all. She could tell she was not the only one who had been distracted all through the service.
“So why don’t you trust me,” he asked. There was no hint of a joke in his voice this time, he sounded as earnest as she had ever heard him.
She didn’t have any answer for him that was not based on hearsay, so she turned the question back to him and asked
“Can I trust you?”
They had just stepped out of the church premises and were heading in the general direction towards her house. The evening breeze was warm at about 7.45 pm and but it was already dark outside. He took her hand in his as they walked and she shivered slightly at his touch.
“Are you cold?” he asked
“No, don’t worry about me, you just answer my question”
“Well, honestly, I’m not sure what to say to you or what prompted the statement from you in the first place. But all I know is I like you a lot, and I think you like me too. We’ve known each other for two years, that should count for something”
“That’s not what I want to hear, and you know it”
“Ok, let me put it this way. I would not make you do anything you don’t want to” he finally said and she smiled.
“It’s a yes then,” she said softly
“Sorry, what?”
“It’s a yes” she repeated, her smile growing wider at the look of disbelief on his face
“Yes like, you and me…” he pointed back and forth between them, “like we are a thing…?” he asked cautiously
“Yes, silly. Keep asking and you’ll make me re-think my decision”
Before she could say anything else, he stopped walking and pulled her towards him, and right there on the sidewalk, he kissed her.
Tara was breathless when it was over. She smiled as he held her close for a minute, and then they held hands and walked the rest of the way to her house.
“Wow, sounds dreamy” was all Shelly could say. “So how long ago was this?”
“Just 2 weeks ago” Tara grinned
“And, just out of curiosity, have you guys ever met outside church?”
Tara threw the pillow she had been hugging at her friend’s head, and they both laughed
“We are working on that,” she said
They talked for hours, about their secondary school, University, expectations, hopes, and dreams for the future. Before they realized it, it was evening and time for Shelly to leave. They hugged and promised to catch up again before they both had to leave for their separate schools.
Tara did not realize how much she had missed her friend. Looking back now, she recognized that they had been a team in secondary school and they had needed and relied on each other to keep the promises they made to stay out of trouble. She knew it would have been very difficult without a trusted friend who shared her values and beliefs. They laughed and cried together, and they prayed as well. They had prayed for big and little things alike, like when they needed the courage to get through Valentine’s Day without any secret admirers; or when they prayed to get admitted into the Higher Institutions of their choice.
Tara offered up another prayer now, that she would meet and find great and trustworthy friends with whom she would ride the tides of University life together, and that she would be one as well.
Tara’s World is a Christian Youth Fiction Series. You can read the first episode of Tara’s story here https://gosparkstories.com/youth-fiction-taras-world/
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