“I don’t date, I court.” The girl sniffed, her ankle length skirt swishing as if for emphasis. She felt a keen sense of superiority to her peers – those “Christians” who had no real standards for relationships. They were to her some kind of relational bourgeoisie, no different than the rest of society, and quite content to be so.
Her awkwardness and undesirability – particularly in comparison to her trendier peers – made her all the more dependent on her “superior” worldview. It was her comfort; her way of protecting herself from the other girls. She didn’t know how to strike the balance of dating and purity, so she didn’t try. She immersed herself in courtship culture, where women got married at 18 and chaperones were normal and everything was better. She had her people. She had her viewpoint. One day she’d have a husband. That’s what mattered… right?
That girl was me.
…
