The more I study about children psychology, the deeper I understand the events that occured when I was way younger.
We were a powerful trio–myself, Vera and Titi. We went everywhere together and enjoyed each other's company very much. One could say that we were inseparable.
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My mom never really liked the idea of me spending every single second of my day with Titi and Vera but she allowed me anyway. Immediately after we got back from school(we all went to the same school at the time), we would freshen up, have lunch, take a quick nap and once one person was awake, the rest would be too.
After our afternoon naps, we would play all sorts of games; hide and seek, cooking with sand, painting our nails with shiny tails, name it. Once we got exhausted, we ended our play session to continue the next day. It seemed like so much fun at the time as we usually rotated play locations. From Monday to Wednesday, we converged at Titi's house, Thursdays and Fridays were at Vera's and the rest of the days were at my house.
One heartbreaking moment for us was when Titi was withdrawn from our school because her parents felt she wasn't excelling academically. She was taken to another high standard school and that was when the crack was made on the walls of our friendship.
Titi changed drastically. She didn't see us as equals anymore and she barely came for our play sessions. On the other hand, she started getting lots of fancy and alluring properties. Whenever we asked her where she got the money from to get all those items, she would say that her uncle or her aunt gave it to her. Personally, I became suspicious because she always hid these items from her parents. We–her supposed friends– were the only ones who saw them and she made us promise to keep our mouths shut. Which we did.
On a faithful Tuesday during one of our play dates at Titi's, I and vera went into hiding at different spots and Titi was to find us. I remember cringing in fear when Titi came into the space where I was hiding. I tried controlling my breathing just so I didn't give her a clue as to where I was but something interesting happened.
Apparently, Titi walked up to her mom's purse which was lying unguarded, took out some money and hid in her jean skirt. I quietly watched as she did this and it all made sense. She picked money from her mom's purse, bought the fancy things and hid them from her parents just so they wouldn't suspect her. But this was just a suspicion, I wanted to hear what she had to say so I sneaked up on her.
“You caught me,” I said, as I waved my hands in surrender.
She was startled to see me there, “Wongi,” she managed to say.
“So, would you tell me what is going on or I should report you to your parents?” I asked, giving her options.
“Please don't report me to my parents. I will tell you everything.” She pleaded in fear. Titi's parents were quite the disciplinarians and they certainly wouldn't have spared her if they found out.
“Okay then, I'm listening”. I was quite a good listener, nodding at all the right places.
“ All the children in my new school usually get whatever they request from their parents. I always feel left out when I see them holding all these fancy things in class. I asked my parents if they could get them for me too but they always said no, so I decided to…”
“Start stealing” I completed her sentence for her.
“Yes, but I've done it only a few times”.
Titi's confession was like music to my ears. I was glad that she trusted me enough to tell me the reason behind her new act because the Titi I knew from way back would never do such a thing.
“Fine, I would not tell your parents but you need to stop doing it because you doing it only a few times doesn't justify anything.”
“I will. I will” she said in the spur of the moment and I believed her.
“If you continue, I will not be your friend again. Have you heard me?”
“Yes, I have heard.” she respoy in assertion.
The hide and seek game continued but there was a whole different vibe to it as I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I just saw my friend steal when we always sang ‘’I will never steal from my mommy's purse or tell lies to daddy”
I went home that day, hoping Titi would change but it turns out that some people do not embrace change until it's too late. She kept at it and slowly, I withdrew from the friendship. I know I was a kid but I also knew the difference between good and bad and Titi 2.0 was definitely bad company.
Whenever Vera or any other person asked why I wasn't so close to Titi anymore, I made up some excuse to try covering up as I didn't want to be the one who exposed her. That is how I and Titi moved from being inseparable to being distant friends who said hello to each other once in a while. On the other hand, Vera and I grew even closer.
From my observations, she was eventually caught by her parents and somehow reprimanded because she wasn't walking around with all the alluring things any more. I'm Glad they caught her young because who knows what would happen if she grew up with it.
Love🤍