I remember when I was in secondary school, ss2 to be precise. We had this biology practical that we were supposed to do, our teacher shared us into different groups and each group was given a topic to work on. Ours had to do with the reproductive organ in both male and female, we were instructed to divide ourselves I to those that will go to market, those that will draw and paint it and those that will present the work.
Image is a screenshot on my phone.
My friend and I were in the same group and she was our leader. I was happy because she knew I can not present and I don't know how to draw very well, so she added me to those that will go to market and buy the materials we needed. We went to the market for like three days because we could not find what we needed but at last we did. We got everything needed for our practical and the next stage was drawing and painting of the diagram, that stage passed.
Then came the d-day, the day for the presentation. Everyone has done their part only those for presentation were left, none of them read for the presentation to know what to say. Our teacher was really angry and she kept asking who are the people that were supposed to present and our leader, my friend oo said I was supposed to present that I did not do anything. I was really pissed, I tried to defend myself but our teacher did not want to hear me out, we ended up not presenting properly that day because I could not say much as I had stage freight. We were all given equal marks in my group, I was very angry that day and eventually stopped talking to her just because she said I was supposed to present.
At that moment I thought I did the right thing. I was hurt and angry, also too proud to admit that maybe I overreacted to the issue. Some of our teachers noticed we were not as close as before and asked us what happened, she told her part and when I was asked I said nothing. It took me years before I realized that friendship just like any other relationship requires patience, understanding and forgiveness. I later realized that it's okay to argue and have misunderstanding but how we handle those disagreement and whether we are willing to work through the disagreement.
I felt so sad because I did not have the chance to mend things with her. Sometimes I feel like reaching out to her but I am scared that she would ignore me, I learnt from that experience and I now cherish the friendships in my life at this point knowing they are worth fighting for even though silly disagreement may arise and it definitely will. Although I am still finding the courage to reach out which I know I will do.
Thanks for reading, see you next time.