A week and a half later.
"So, have you decided to tell me what you are gonna give Queen yet? I'm really excited besides today's her birthday."
James closed his locker and turned to Henry.
"Fine," he closed his own locker after taking out a gift bag.
"Ooh, so what's in it?"
Henry opened it and James gasped, "wow, that's, that's really beautiful. But, do you think she'll even accept it."
"That's up to her, this is the last for me, God told me that this is what I should get her so, I will give it to her and leave the rest to Him."
"That's great. So you're going to give it to her directly?"
"No, I think I'll pass it on to Sarah to give it to her. She's definitely going to like what you got her too "
"Okay, well let's go find her then."
They walked through the doors into the parking lot.
"Wanna buy a car sometime?" Henry turned to James.
"Only if you wanna."
"First to reach five hundred dollars this holiday gets to choose the kind of car."
"Deal, I'm so gonna beat you."
"We'll see about that, I'll even give you my glasses so you can see more."
They laughed as they spotted the girls and walked towards them.
"Hey Queen, hey Sarah, I'd like to steal you for a bit," Henry pulled her along with him.
"Happy birthday, Queen," James said giving her a hug.
"Thanks Christian boy," she said with a smile.
"For the last time, my name's James," they both laughed.
"Yeah, yeah, where's my present?"
He rolled his eyes before searching his bag for a small box.
"No offense, but are you proposing to me?" She feigned excitement.
"You wish royalty," she hit his shoulder while rolling her eyes playfully.
He opened the box revealing a golden bracelet with the words JESUS LOVES QUEEN engraved on it.
She looked between he and it repeatedly, something touched her heart at the words and he saw some tears forming in her eyes, "don't cry."
"T-thank you, but why this of all things?"
"Do you not like it?"
"To be honest, I love it. The three of you keep getting my mind confused, I don't even know what I believe anymore."
"God always has a way of revealing himself to us. And the fact that you're not yelling or mocking me, means He's working a way to you."
"Don't be so sure."
"You need to stop trying to be uptight, just let Him in. The reason you aren't letting Him in is because you feel like you've made walls and you don't want to look weak, but there's nothing weak about loving God. I mean He's the strongest being in the universe and beyond and yet His loving you doesn't make Him any weaker. Now give me a hug."
"Thanks, this might just be the best present anyone's ever given me."
He chuckled, "trust me, you're still to get something bigger than this."
She was about to ask what he meant but they were interrupted by Henry and Sarah.
"Happy birthday, Queen, have a blessed day, we gotta go now, my mom must be waiting," Henry said before he and James waved them goodbye.
Both girls walked to where Queen's mom's car was.
"Hi girls, are you ready for the ultimate birthday party of all time?" She asked doing a cheer dance.
"Mom, you're embarrassing me," Queen said pretending to be hiding from the crowd.
Ever since they talked at Sarah's house, the mother and daughter had grown much closer.
They got in the car and drove to Eden Murphy elementary school, Harry and Marilyn's school.
Harry, was what you could say was the happiest in the family. Marilyn was rubbing off on him and he was learning lots from her.
"Hey mom, hey Sarah, happy birthday cake Queen!" He said happily.
Queen rolled her eyes, "he's been doing that all day. All he cares about is my birthday cake."
"It better be chocolate!".
"Don't worry, on your birthday next year, I'll choose the flavour and it'll be strawberry!"
He let out an over exaggerated gasp and then feigned fainting.
"Drama queen."
"That's your name, I'm king. Mommy, why was she named Queen when I'm not King?"
"Harry, she was named by your grandparents. They had it in mind to give their grandkids spectacular names but they never got to meet you. I forgot to keep that in mind when giving you a first name. But Prince is your middle name."
"But, what about dad's parents?" Queen asked staring up from her phone.
"They are not in the picture. Just not in the picture. So why don't we go to the mall to prepare. The party's in two hours so let's beautify this one."
"I'm already beautiful."
Harry shook his head and whispered, "don't say anything, let's let her have her shine for today, but we both know she's dreaming."
Sarah burst out laughing.
About twenty minutes later, they were at the mall and first headed for clothing stores.
"Sarah, you go with
Queen, make sure she gets something classy," Unity said handing Sarah some money.
"I'll go with Harry to pick up the cake and other food supplies."
Sarah grabbed Queen's hand and led her into the first clothing shop she'd seen.
"Okay, now we're going to look for something nice and black since that's your favorite color, but just so you know, that will be hard."
Queen rubbed her arm in thought, "uh Sarah..."
"Hmm?"
"I don't want to wear black today."
Sarah turned slowly to face her, "I'm sorry, what?"
"Black, I won't wear it today."
"But then what else do you want to wear then?"
"I don't know, pink?"
"Pink?"
Silence followed before Sarah squealed and went to other colours. While rummaging through the clothe racks, she sang a song from twilight twisting it a little.
"I have died every day waiting for you to choose something better than what you're wearing for a thousand years!" This made Queen burst out laughing.
Finally she pulled out a beautiful white dlress, it was just below the knees and was flared beautifully.
She forced it into Queen's arms and shoved her into a changing room.
Queen stared at her reflection, it was... Different. She'd never seen herself in many other colours for years.
Even the slightest things did make a difference. When she looked at herself in the mirror some days back, she saw a depressed person hiding in the one colour and behind a huge smile. But now, smiling at herself, she looked... Happy, this colour, the brightness made her look like a whole different person.
She wondered how peaceful she would be if this was the colour inside her too.
Once she stepped out, Sarah was still waiting by the door. Once she realized she'd come out, she turned and gasped.
"Oh my God. You look beautiful..." Sarah said slowly. She walked around Queen in awe.
"I know, it's just a little different from the usual."
Queen smiled at her, "yeah I do think it needs a hint of black to complete it," she joked and they both laughed.
YOU ARE READING
UNTIL GRACE
Short Story"What are you reading?" Harry asked taking a seat by her. "My Bible." "What story is that?" "It's not just a story, silly. It's the Word of God and all his works." "Why do you read it if He doesn't even exist?" "Is Superman's planet real?" "Yes." "...
