Virtue: Patience

Julie, in his eyes, was one of the most wonderful girls he had ever met. Cute, nice, and smart, Jonathan had met her in elementary school and had to content himself with watching her from afar. His parents had forbidden him from dating any girls until he was at least sixteen. The days passed sluggishly, and all he could do was watch her talking with other guys with a sense of helplessness. There was going to be a day when someone stole her heart, and there would be nothing he could do about it.

"Good morning, Jono!" Julie greeted brightly. "How are you today?"

"I'm doing all right, thanks." Her cheer was contagious, and he smiled back at her.

"Good," she said. Suddenly, she began rifling through her backpack for something. "Did you get #42 on last night's math homework? I was just sitting there for like ever trying to figure it out, and I just couldn't do it."

"Yeah? I thought it wasn't that hard? Lemme see." He pulled the math book and her homework toward him, mouth scrunching up in thought. He hesitated before cautiously reaching over to take the pencil from her hand. "It's not that bad; you just were going about it the wrong way…" Jonathan scrawled his work right next to hers. "After that, just solve for x and then you're done."

Julie's eyes scanned the paper and processed his method. "Ohhhh~! I got it now," she grinned. "Thanks." And just before Jonathan could strike up a conversation with her, the first bell rang. "Oh." Perhaps it was just him, but her tone of voice in that single word seemed to be a bit disappointed. "Well, I've gotta go to English now, but I'll talk to you later, Jonathan!"

He nodded. "Bye." He had to be getting to science, himself. But before he could even take a step, something pushed his backpack up, causing it to descend upon his back with a hard thud. Jonathan whirled around, prepared to be annoyed at the culprit and finding himself more than irritated upon seeing who it was.

"Morning, Jonny," a girl with long black tresses said with a mischievous giggle. He despised that nickname. "You ready to go to science?"

"Raven," he acknowledged curtly before turning around again to continue his way to class. Of course, Raven took it upon herself to make his school life a little more than inconvenient and was tugging on his backpack to restrain his movement forward to Dr. Beck's room.

Gritting his teeth, he nearly let out a growl as he finally reached his desk. Julie's sound advice was coming back to him as he seethed at Raven behind her back. I know it seems like she's just harassing you, but be patient with her, Jonathan. Raven's actually really, really nice. I think she just wants some attention from you~ Haha. If you show that you're annoyed at her, that'll just fuel her even more. He pressed his lips together tightly and silently got out his notebook and things only for the girl to sweep by and snatch his pencil box.

Be patient, Jonathan, he told himself, about ready to snarl out loud. He was sick and tired of Raven making his life so difficult every day. There was going to be a day when Raven finally would stop hassling him, and he would be so relieved.

A broken pencil, ripped homework, and a few periods later, school was finally done. Jonathan wagered that that was one of the longest days he had gone through yet. Thank God it's over, he thought with relief. The only thing left was the hour long trudge home.

"Jono!" a sweet voice called out. "Are you walking home?" Instantly his mood was lifted. The adorable pixie of a girl that was Julie was waving at him with a grin. "My mom can't pick me up today, so do you wanna walk together?"

"Sure," he replied, more than happy to oblige.

"Omigosh, you won't believe what Jasmine did in English today…" she started, eyes on him as they began to chatter the time away.


Suddenly, eighth grade was over, and they were about to graduate from middle school.

"Hey, Jonathan, could I talk to you?" The pace of his heart quickened when he heard Julie utter these words to him. Today she wore light makeup and had done her short black hair into small curls. Her floral dress was a soft warm orange, and she simply glowed with happiness.

"Of course," he said in surprise. Once they were alone, Julie exhaled quietly before smiling beautifully at him.

"It's so weird," she remarked. "We're almost high schoolers now."

"I know…"

"I'm kind of nervous about this for some reason," she admitted. "Like half of the people we know are going to a different school from us after today. That's just a really sad thing to think about." He nodded in agreement. Jonathan didn't even want to imagine Julie going to a different high school from him. The next four years would have been some of the loneliest in his life. He was grateful that they could still see each other, albeit not be involved with each other. "I'm really glad that we're going to the same school, Jono. I don't know what I'd do without you." Her smile only grew with light. "You are so amazing."


The days elapsed, and Jonathan was now a sophomore in high school and nearly sixteen. Julie had gone out with a couple of boys, but none of them were quite right for her. He had stood by her side the entire time, happy to help with personal problems in addition to homework. Of course Raven had to follow them to high school, and she was the same nuisance she was in middle school. Julie always had to remind him, "Be patient, Jonathan…"

So he waited. He resolved to not to react to Raven's childish antics anymore and simply stared her down dispassionately, eyes blank of any emotion. He also promised himself to tell Julie his feelings as soon as he turned sixteen.


"Hey Jonny!" Raven yelled into his ear, smacking his back mercilessly. "What's up?"
Jonathan was silent and simply stared directly into her eyes. Be patient, Jonathan. Taken aback, the girl patted the top of his head like a dog to fill the silence. "I'm fine, thank you," he replied coolly, nodding to acknowledge her presence. Feeling good about himself, he walked to history in peace, leaving Raven standing there with her mouth agape.


"I can't believe I ever liked him," Julie sniffled. "I don't know what I saw in him."

"We all make mistakes," he said comfortingly. "I didn't know Derek was like that either."

"He's a douche bag," she declared, rubbing at her eyes.

"He is," he agreed. "He's a real shower."

Giggling, the tears stopped flowing and a smile shone through. "A real shower."


Be patient, Jonathan.


Finally, the day had come. Jonathan was exactly sixteen years of age. For once in his life, he was beyond excited to get to school. Raven, upon seeing him, had somehow already acquired his lunch and was munching on it obnoxiously. "Good morning, Raven," he said serenely.

"Morning Jonny…" she said in between bites of his sandwich, mystified. Cold droplets began to fall onto his face as he made his way to class. Neither rain nor Raven could ruin his good day.

School ended without a hitch, and without a single person wishing him a happy birthday, to his disappointment. However, he was pleasantly surprised to find Julie waiting for him at his locker.

"Happy birthday, Jono," she smiled, handing him an elaborately wrapped box.

"Thanks." As he accepted the gift, his expression toward her was warmer than the chilly rain would ever make him. "Hey, Julie?"

"Yeah?"

"This is really sudden, I know…" he started. Not at all, he thought, it's been seven years. "But will you go out with me?" For a moment, the rain began to settle, and he could see sunrays peeking out of the clouds.

Be patient, Jonathan.

"…I thought you'd never ask."