“You look beautiful, dear.” Mom looked over Molly’s shoulder into the oval mirror where she was applying the last of her makeup.
“Thanks, Mom.” Molly put down her lipstick and paced the floor of her bedroom while she waited for Matt to pick her up for the dance. Dressed in a beautiful soft plum satin floor-length dress and cute strappy sandals, she had her hair twisted into a knot at the back of her head with a few wispy tendrils loose on the sides. She wore delicate, understated jewelry of little rhinestone flower earrings and a matching necklace.
She closed her bedroom door so she could look at her full-length image in the mirror on the back of the door. She turned to theright and to the left quickly, twirling her dress in dancing motions. Even she had to admit she looked beautiful in her borrowed dress. Molly smiled. In the end, Donna had been so impressed with Molly’s choices she decided to loan her the dress she’d been eyeing for weeks. I guess you can get much further in life by just asking for what you need rather than taking advantage of people in order to get what you want. She pirouetted in front of the mirror.
The one dark cloud hovering over the evening was that she couldn’t share it with her friends. Molly didn’t know if they’d be at the dance, and even if they were, they wouldn’t want to have anything to do with her. She’d been able to forgive them for everything once she started praying for them. But there was no hope for their friendship until they decided to forgive her, which didn’t seem likely because they felt betrayed, too—in a convoluted way.
The doorbell instantly snapped Molly out of her thoughts and forced her back into the moment. Suddenly, at the thought of her first date being let into the foyer, the butterflies in her stomach started fluttering again. She gave herself one last inspection in the mirror and, satisfied with what she saw, crept across the carpeted hallway to the banister where she could look over the foyer. Dad opened the door to a tall, handsome young man who held a delicate wrist corsage in rich eggplant and red. It beautifully coordinated with her soft plum dress, and the rich hues offered her outfit a very wintery feel.
She didn’t want to get caught spying, so she said from the second floor, “Hi, Matt.”
He looked up and grinned when he saw her. “Hi, Molly.” He watched her come down the stairs.
Molly hoped and prayed she wouldn’t trip on her new high heels while everyone watched.
“You look great,” Matt said when she got to the bottom. “Here, I brought this for you.” He slipped the flowers onto her arm and smiled warmly.
“Okay, kids. Before you leave, I think your mom wants to take a picture.”
Mom stood to the side, gripping her camera and wiping her eyes.
Molly shook her head and laughed. Really, Mom!
Having washed her hands at the sink in the bathroom, Molly flung some of the water droplets into the sink and then reached blindly for a paper towel from the dispenser on the wall while keeping her eyes on her reflection in the mirror. Then she squealed, startled. A second pair of eyes stared back at her from the mirror—and then a third. Jess and Sara had approached her from behind and were looking into the mirror, too. She turned quickly to face them, trembling at the confrontation.
But when she looked into their eyes, her fears melted away. Sara’s eyelids were dams holding back the tears, and Jess pleaded for mercy with her big green eyes. Jess spoke first. “Molly, I’m so sorry. I can’t believe what we put you through.”
Molly gulped and took a deep breath so she wouldn’t break down in sobs. Not able to speak, she locked eyes with Jess and nodded.
Sara reached out a hand. “I’m sorry, too, Moll. I would give anything to go back a couple of weeks and erase all of this from our lives. But we can’t.”
“No, we can’t.” Molly shook her head sadly. “But maybe we’ve learned enough from this that it was worth it. It could have been a lot worse.”
“Yeah …” Jess’s voice trailed off. “So, just like that? You don’t hate us?”
“Of course I don’t hate you. What kind of a friend would I be if I didn’t let you learn from your mistakes and move on? This wasn’t fun for me, sure. But I love you, and all it takes is an apology for me to let it go.”
“No way it’s that easy. How can you not hold it against us?”
Sara spoke softly. “Because Molly knows what it means to have really been forgiven. Right, Moll?”
Molly nodded, praying silently that she’d have the right words to say. “That’s right, Sara. The Bible says that to whom much is given, much is required. I’ve been forgiven for my sins—past, present, and future. So I’m required to forgive others for theirs. That even means my enemies. How much more the people I love?”
“I want to know how that feels, Molly,” Sara whispered.
“All it takes is asking Jesus to forgive you for your sins, and He will.” Molly shrugged. “It is just that simple.”
Jess shook her head. “I don’t know about all of that. But I do know that I want to be more like you, Moll. Maybe I’ll check out this church thing you’ve got going on, after all. But for now, let’s dance.”
The three friends locked arms and left the ladies’ room together, united once again.
The next three chapters tell the story of what happened to Molly when she made the wrong decision and gave in to peer pressure by stealing clothes for her friends.