Risky Business (13 page)

“First of all, young lady, you need to calm down. We’ll deal with your problems but not until you can be reasonable. Take a minute to calm down, and then tell me who it is you’re talking about.” She waited patiently while Molly took some deep, cleansing breaths.

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Be calm
. Molly clenched her teeth and forced herself to be steady. “They’ve all turned on me, Mom. Everyone hates me.” Her anger had given way to resignation. “Sara and Jess won’t speak to me, but they’ll sure speak
about
me to anyone who’ll listen. Everyone is calling me a rat. Oh, and my personal favorite is Fashion-Police-sta Bible-Thumper. Nice name, huh?”

“Oh dear. That must be really hurtful, honey.”

“You have no idea, Mom. I can’t take it.” Molly took three more deep breaths to fight off the frustration that made her ball up her fists again. “And to make matters worse, Kim and her evil minions have spread the word about me giving them the coupons. So now I look even worse, and everyone is just being so mean!”

“Ah, sure. It’s a hard lesson to learn but this is why we, as Christians, need to avoid even the appearance of wrongdoing. Your choices have hurt your credibility and your Christian witness. No one is perfect, and you’re forgiven by God for any sin. But your friends might not show the same mercy. Unfortunately there are consequences to your actions even after forgiveness.” Mom gently rubbed Molly’s back. “People love when other people fall and especially now, because they probably think that you think you’re above them.”

“So what can I do about it?”

“Sweetie, I’m going to be perfectly frank with you. You just have to take it. I know you; you can handle it. You aren’t the first person to stand up for something righteous, so you aren’t the first person to be persecuted without mercy. I want you to think about Jesus. He went through betrayal by His friends to a level you’ll never, ever experience. And did He show anger or bitterness?”

Molly shook her head, looking down at the floor. “No, He didn’t.”

“What did He do, Moll?”

“What do you mean?”

“What did Jesus do in the face of all that hate, ridicule, and even His own murder? What did He do while He hung on that cross?”

Ah. I get it
. “He prayed for them. He prayed for His enemies.”

“Now you get it. Have you done that, Molly?”

Mom didn’t wait for an answer. “I think you might be so worried about vindicating yourself that you haven’t thought much about what your friends are going through and how they’re hurting. Also, you’re still a little more worried about how you look in all of this than you are about standing up for what’s right. I think you need to consider how you can redirect that passion of yours.”

Molly slid to the floor, her back still against the door. She rubbed her eyes, exhausted from fighting her own battle.

“Would you like me to pray with you right now?”

“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
.

Molly made a quick decision, like pulling off a bandage. She’d wind up getting talked into it anyway—Jess could be so persuasive. So she’d get on board now, try to have fun with it, and save them all some time and energy.
It’s not like we’re actually stealing. And we’ll never get caught
.

“I’ll do it.” Molly paced the room.
What am I thinking? This is so wrong
. The inner voice that wanted to do the right thing screamed at her to stop. But she wasn’t going to turn back now. She didn’t want to disappoint her friends; plus she really wanted something special to wear for her date. “You guys just have to promise you’ll be extra careful and the dresses will go back right away,” she begged.

“We promise. We already told you that ten times.” Jess jabbed her in the ribs.

“I know, I know. Oh! And you can’t wear perfume. And if you use deodorant—which I hope you do—use the spray kind, not the stuff that leaves gunky white streaks on clothes.”

Jess and Sara cracked up.

“You’ve got to relax a little bit, Moll.” Jess patted her on the back.

“Yes, please … for all our sakes,” Sara pleaded with her, still smiling.

“Okay, so let’s go over the plan. You’re working on Thursday, two days before the dance, right?” Jess confirmed.

“Right. I work five o’clock until close. Amy will take her dinner break between five and six, because that’s when we’re the slowest.”

“Okay, so we’ll come in at around five thirty just to make sure Donna is gone for the day and Amy’s on break. Sound okay?”

“That’s probably the best time. You’ll bring the bags?”

“Yeah. I have a couple of great ones. We got them when we bought winter coats, so they’re really big and have good handles.” Sara popped the top on a can of soda.

“But what if we can’t decide on a dress? I mean, we don’t want to take up a whole bunch of time in there.” Jess looked concerned. “I have a hard time with dresses sometimes.”

“Can we go shopping on Wednesday night to get them all picked out?” Sara looked at Molly.

“It’ll have to be Tuesday. I won’t be able to go on Wednesday. I have church….”
Church
. How could she go to church one night and then steal from her workplace the next night?
What am I doing? No. No. It isn’t actually stealing. It’s all going back to the store
.

Molly got to the mall on time on Thursday. But she just couldn’t bring herself to go in. She paced outside the main mall entrance for ten minutes.
It’s going to be okay. You’re not going to get caught. It’s no big deal—it’s not even stealing
. Finally, at five minutes after five o’clock, Molly went in to work. For the first time in the history of her employment at Magna, she clocked in late. She’d have rather been anywhere that evening than at Magna.

“I’m so sorry I’m late, Donna. I got a little behind trying to get here.”