Here is the second chapter of The Promise Ring. If you missed the first chapter you can read it here

CHAPTER 2

               Crystal stood in front of her mirror brushing her waist long, blonde hair. It had been two weeks since her mother died and this was her first day of school. She pursed her lips as she surveyed her outfit in the mirror. She was dressed in a black skirt and a blue tee-shirt.

                She leaned in closer to the mirror to study her face. "Why do I have to have brown eyes?  Why can't I have blue or green eyes?" she thought. She shook herself. "Don't think like that, Crystal Penning! Mama said that is vanity!" At the thought of her mother her eyes filled with tears but she willed them away. She needed to be strong for her family. She turned from the mirror and descended down the stairs. She started to cook the oatmeal. She hoped that breakfast would calm the butterflies in her stomach. She fingered her ring, swallowed hard, and willed that whatever happened that day she would not forget her promise.

                "Daddy, Mary, breakfast is ready!" she called. She smiled as she heard 6 year old Mary come galloping down the stairs.

                "Mmm that smells good," the younger girl observed.

                "Good morning, Daddy," Crystal said as her father entered the room.

                "Good morning, dear. Are you both ready for school?"  At the mention of school Crystal's jaw tightened.

                Breakfast did little to calm Crystal's fears. As she stood by the street with Mary as the bus to came towards them she felt the sudden urge to run away but managed to curb it. Mary seemed unaffected by fear as she jabbered away.

                When they arrived at school the girls separated to go to their separate classrooms. Crystal went into her classroom and laid her books on a desk. Some girls came in and she smiled shyly at them. They smiled and came over to her.

                "Hi, my name is Sarah," one of them said. "What is your name?"

                "Crystal."

                "You are new here, aren't you?"

                "Yes."

                "What school did you go to before?"

                "I was homeschooled,"

                "Oh," she said with a lift of her eyebrows. She backed away slowly and said, "Well I guess you will enjoy being in the real world now."

                "Actually I wish I could be at home right now studying with my mother."

                Sarah's face took on an incredulent and "what a weird person" look and she quickly left.

                "Alright class, take your seats."

                Crystal sank into her seat with a sigh.

                Crystal went through the rest of the day mechanically until her last class which was science. She sat in her desk and fidgeted in anticipation. Science was her favorite subject. When teacher came in Crystal could hardly keep from laughing.

                He was a little man about Crystal's height with fiery red hair. He had a closely trimmed beard and his gait somewhat resembled the goosestep.

                "Hello class. I am your teacher Mr. Dakins," he said in a deep voice. "As you might have noticed my name bears a striking resemblance to Richard Dawkins the renowned evolutionist and atheist. He has been a wonderful helper in showing that there is no God and that evolution is true. I am quite proud of the resemblance. In fact we shall be talking quite a bit about him. Now to our lesson for today."

                As he continued to ramble on Crystal sat in stunned silence. This teacher and his views would ruin science class for her. She blinked back the tears that threatened to spill onto her cheeks and bit her lip. Looking around she was shocked to discover that nobody else seemed to care. She felt that she should say something but she was too shy and she wouldn't know what to say.

                After school was over she was walking in the hallways and met Sarah again. "Hi," Sarah said. "Hey I want you to listen to this really cool song I have on my ipod."

                Crystal hesitantly put the earphones in her ears and was surprised as the heavy metal rock music began to slam into her ears. The singing began and her eyes widened as she heard several bad words. Then she heard a blasphemy and she tore the phones out and ran.

                At home Crystal listened patiently as Mary talked about all the strange things she had seen at school. Finally she said, "I need to go read my Bible now Mary."

                She slipped into her room and opened her Bible to 1 Peter 3. When she came to verse 15 she read "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear."

                The more Crystal thought about it the more she was convicted about not speaking up in class. She determined that she would collect answers to issues that would most likely come up in her class. She left her room and turned on her computer. She googled "Creation answers to evolutionists supporting Genesis" she found a site called Answers in Genesis and clicked on Get Answers. That section took her to a huge group of articles refuting evolutionary ideas. A slow smile spread over her face and she slowly nodded her head as she looked at the solution to her problems.

 [ Click here for Chapter 3 ]