Reflections on the Bible

Parable- The Lost Sheep - modern day version PART 1

Jess stood outside the gates to her new school with unease. At her old school, she had been one of the popular girls, a track and field athlete no less and she was the best. Everyone wanted to say that they knew her and guys all wanted to date her because, she was a jock, she was rich and she was beautiful and not just in an average way with her pitch black hair and grey/green eyes.

However, she had moved, not only to a new school but to another country and her father had warned her that they would be moving alot due to his job so she shouldn't bother with the clubs at the school and instead, solely focus on her academics. This seemed logical enough and she would have believed it herself if she didn't know that her father hated anything that had nothing to do with academics and track and field had nothing to do with academics so bacially he was telling her don't join the team. She had learnt from previous experiences that it didn't matter if you tried out or not, the coach would come after you to join the team if any potential was seen so she knew that the only way to obey her father was to not be noticed.

"Okay, this is it." Jess said, as she mentally prepared herself to enter the school gates. She went directly to the principal's office and then to his secretary to get her timetable and a map of the school. Her classes were the same as her last, the only difference being that she had to introduce herself in each one. Since it was the middle of the school term, a desk and chair had to be fitted into the class for her and the only place it could be placed was at the back so she had no one at the back or to the sides of her which was fine since it seemed the girl at the front didn't want to get in trouble by turning around to talk to her. Thus, everything was going as planned and she would remain mainly unnoticed for the rest of the school year and not have to interact much with anyone.

At least that was what she thought until she had biology. She had to have a partner and it was just her luck that there was a table with three guys so one would be able to join her so there would be equal pairs. The other two guys snickered and pretended to be miffed that the third guy was choosen to switch tables but it was already the last period of the school day and the student body had already reached the vedict that Jess was antisocial so there was a slight  buzz when they related this to three guys.She had never been so embarrassed before but she was also pleased because it meant that her plan was working.

"Hi, my name is Andrew. Is it true? the rumours I'm hearing around school I mean?"  her lab partner asked.

"Awww so kind of you to ask my name. It's Jess by the way and who cares what the rumours are." Jess said flashing him an obiviously fake smile and turning away from him. She ignored him for the rest of the class until the teacher said that the class would be working in groups of two for an up coming exam. The teacher explained that the marks earned would amount to sixty percent of their overal grade.

With a sigh, Jess turned to Andrew, It seemed as if higher powers were no longer with her. He sat, looking at her with a wide smile that seemed more smirk like than smile like.

" So this is my address, you can come over at around five because there is no way I'm coming over to your house and I don't like going out." Jess said as she wrote her address down on a piece of paper and handed it to him. She walked off to her next class before he could respond.

WHen Jess arrived home, she quickly took a bath and tidied up because, while she was trying to keep a low profile, she was still a girl and Andrew was still a  cute guy. She was annoyed to some extent by him because throughout the rest of the school day, he kept trying to get her to hang out with him but she managed to avoid him. However, she also realised that it wasn't his fault that he was messing up her plans. Suddenly, she heard a car pull into the driveway and tensed. She knew the car, it was her father's car. She had hoped to get at least part of the assignment done before he got home but now she would have to explain every last detail of her day.

"Jess are you home?"

"Yes dad. I'm in the living room."

"Why are you doing home work here?" Her dad asked gesturing to her school books on the living room table.

"I have a Biology assignment which is worth sixty percent of my overal grade and I have a partner but I don't want to go to his house so I told hime to come here instead."

"How long is it going to take?"

"I'm not sure."

"Did you join any clubs?"

"No, you told me not to plus I haven't even had time to find out what clubs they have."

"You were going to find out about clubs? Were you going to join after?"

"No, you told me not to. You told me not to mix and interact to much with people ther, not to make any friends and not to involve myself with what I love best, which is sports. And me like daddy's little girl, I listen, I don't question, even though I know that you're lying to me about your reasons and...." Jess was cut off by the sound of a resounding slap. It took her a couple seconds to realise that her father had slapped her and a couple more to realise that she had been thrown to the ground by the force of it. He on the other hand looked furious but shocked as well. She had no right to talk back to him in the manner that she did but he also knew that she didn't deserve a slap. Jess had never been hit before so in shock, she ran outside and to the side of her house, coming face to face with Andrew who had obiviously seen everything by the look on his face.