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It's time for the ring ceremony, so Johnson gets up from the table. The ring is in his breast pocket. He first escorts Nyjai's mother to stand next to the pastor who is leading the ceremony. Then he gets onstage, pulls back Nyjai's chair for her and escorts her to stand before the pastor. Nyjai's heartbeat accelerates in her throat.

"The ring symbolizes your commitment to God," the pastor says. "You're saying that your body belongs to him. No one else. And this ring will be replaced with the ring that you will receive from your husband and will be taken off at that time."

Sara Kerens

The young debutantes are introduced to the audience during the June 13 Junior Debutante Ball at the Hilton Anatole.

Sara Kerens

At a rehearsal two days before the big day, the girls learn an elaborate curtsy.

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Web Extra: Video from the PFWC debutante cotillion.

More photos from the cotillion and the Junior Debutante classes in this slideshow.

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• Trenette Wilson
• Mel Johnson
• Yvonne Perkins
• Sexuality
• Relationships

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Nyjai removes her glove, pulling at one fingertip at a time, quickly, like somebody in a rush to disrobe in the summer heat. Johnson slides the silver band marked with a cross onto her finger. She looks at it and smiles. The smile remains as she is escorted to the sidelines to stand again with the other girls. Her glove drops to the floor, but she doesn't notice. She's too busy catching the light in her new piece of jewelry.

"Wow," she recalls thinking at that moment. "I'm a brand-new person. I've changed. I'm not the same person anymore. I feel brand-new."

After the ceremony, she is out in the hall, hugging friends. Asked how she feels now, she says, "tired." The ring is one size too big for her, but she's going to wear it anyway, she says, confident it won't fall off. "See?" she says, extending her arm and shaking out her wrist.

But the ring flies off. It rolls on the carpet some feet away.