Saving Ryan - Part 1

This is the beginning of a short story I am writing. More to come later - feel free to comment.

Jude Taegan sighed as he sat on the floor and sorted through his bookshelves.

So much sorting to do before college, he thought. He wondered whether or not four years of education were worth the work and effort, not to mention the thousands of dollars he would have to pay. I don’t even know what I want to study! Maybe I should wait a few years and then go to college. He knew that despite all his worries and reasons not to go, God wanted him to go. Why else would God have provided the scholarship that took care of half of his tuition?

As he started to remind himself of this fact, his cell phone started to vibrate and dance on his desk. Jude rocked himself on to his knees so he could grab his phone, and then sat down with an “umph!” “Ryan Crestman Mobile” scrolled across the screen as he hit the talk button.

“Ryan! Dude, what’s happening?” Ryan Crestman was Jude’s best friend, next to Lily.

“Jude, hey! Not much. You coming over later tonight?”

Oh yeah, the poker party at Ryan’s. I think Mom will let me go.

“Yeah, sure. 7:30, right? And no gambling for money, no beer, and no sex, right? I mean, you didn’t invite anyone who would have anything to do with any of that, did you?” Ryan knew how Jude felt about these things, and Jude was trying to be a good influence on Ryan.

“ Course, dude. You know I’m not into that stuff. And if anyone tries to do any of that, they’re outta there, ‘kay?”

Sweet! I am glad that I am at least keeping him from getting into that stuff, Jude thought. But is that enough? “Alright, man, see ya then.” Jude needed some time to think about what to say.

“Yep. See ya.” As Jude tossed his phone on his bed, he heard a voice say, Jude, you need to talk to him about Christ. If you are a true friend, you would want him to be around in heaven, not just on earth.

Jude knew the voice was right, but it was hard to talk about that stuff. He didn’t want to push Ryan away, because that wouldn’t do any good, would it? Jude decided to worry about that later. He had to fit all the stuff he was going to take to college into two boxes right now.