"We have been in different relationships that ended suddenly; sometimes it's for a concrete reason, while there are times it ended for a silly reason. Those silly reasons are something we can overlook today, but we couldn't just let them slide then. Tell us about a relationship you ended for a silly reason, and it doesn't have to be a romantic one."
Friendships and relationships are what add to human experiences. At one point in our lives, we have come across different kinds of people who somehow clicked, connected, and became friends that we wish would never end.
Other times, we regret letting some people go for reasons that we could easily overlook, but because we let our emotions can cloud our judgment, we cease being friends with them. Regrets and mistakes are all part of the learning experience; we learn, grow, and become better individuals.
Personally, I have stopped being friends with some people for reasons I still don't understand. One of those instances was when I stopped being friends with one of my classmates named Margaret for what you may see as the flimsiest reason.
I met her during my first year in junior secondary, where we happened to be classmates. We didn't become friends immediately, and throughout our 3 years of junior secondary, we weren't friends nor enemies, just classmates. I can't even remember having any conversation with her throughout our junior secondary school level, even though we took the same path to our various homes; I was just a girl on my own.
I was not just very social. But then, during our first year in senior secondary, we began speaking and conversing more than the random hi and heys. We began speaking because she became my seatmate, and then we were among the top 3 students in class; both of us usually toggled between the second and third positions. Toggling between the second and third positions created a competitive spirit between us. As a result, we didn't particularly like each other since we viewed each other as competitors. But as seatmates, it was only normal that we related, or rather, pretended to get along.
It wasn't easy trying to get along at first; the fights, quarrels, and arguments were there. There were times when we were being paired in the same practical group, and as someone who saw herself as the alpha female, she always wanted to lead the group, and I, rather than being led by a short alpha female who doesn't accept corrections and always thinks she's right, missed the practical and failed. Our disagreement often led to fights, exchanges of words, and days of avoiding each other. After a series of warnings and scoldings from the school principal, who got tired of being a peacemaker between two senior students who were supposed to lead the junior ones, we cooled off a bit and gradually learned to tolerate each other.
We became best buddies, and we wouldn't do anything without each other. We had lunch together, went home together, and did assignments together, and our friendship became so popular along with that of our other friend Venus that we were named the three Musketeers. We always confided in ourselves, knew each other's secrets, and even inherited enemies for each other.
We were very close friends, but not until things started to go downhill during our final year in high school. During our final year in secondary school, she started hanging out with a guy in our class whom we despised so much and swore never to associate with. I had no problem with her making new friends since we would soon graduate and part ways.
The real problem was when she started avoiding me and Venus out of the blue. Every effort to make her say why she was keeping distance from us turned futile, so we just decided to let her be. Venus stopped talking to her entirely. It was easy to do so too; however, I didn't. I continued to be her friend, and I never stopped having her back. We still went home together and studied together, at least.
After our final exams in secondary school and graduation, my mom fell sick and was admitted to the hospital for two weeks. That period was a period of emotional stress for me, watching your loved one on the sick bed, not sure about surviving until the next day. I needed my friends to be there for me; I was tired of having everyone's back and being the good one. I wanted to feel what it was like to have someone who's got your back as well. So I called Margaret, being the only friend whose house was closest to mine, to come visit me so we could spend some time together. I had already told her my mom was at the hospital with my other siblings taking care of her, so I was left home alone.
Well, she couldn't make it due to some reasons that were quite understandable. The next day, I called back and requested that she come visit me. But she told me she had a huge boil on her hand, so she wouldn't be able to visit me. That was the most stupid excuse I have ever heard, considering the fact that she was my closest female friend then. It was unbelievable that a boil would make her not visit me, or maybe I was feeling too entitled? Whichever it was, I can't tell. All I can say very well is that I got pretty mad at her, called her selfish, and used every other insulting word I could think of.
Our friendship went sour. She did try to make it up to me; she called and tried to talk to me whenever we crossed paths on the street, and she even got her mom to talk to me, but I was hell-bent on avoiding her. Eventually, we stopped being friends, even after I discovered the boil was indeed huge, painful, and had gotten rotten to the extent that you could see some of her bones. I let my annoyance get the best of me and lost my dear friend.
Sometimes, I find myself looking at our old school photos and remembering the fun times we had—our plays, our fights, our mischief. Those moments shine through, reminding me of what we once shared. I really miss her. She had her good side, and I think about that a lot.
I still regret messing up. Yes, I messed up big time. I didn't stop being her friend when she became friends with someone we had always hated, nor did I stop being her friend after I discovered she was hiding something from me, which led to a major fight that attracted the school owner, but our friendship came to an end over something seemingly trivial: a boil on her hand that prevented her from visiting me. I was selfish, and it cost me my dear friend.
credits first image from freepik