Santacruz Ramírez Sebastián Alberto, The Fault In Our Friendship

THE FAULT IN OUR FRIENDSHIP

Written By Sebastián Alberto Santacruz Ramírez

“I came to realize that being honest could hurt others in an instant, but when you lie to your friends, it hurts them forever.”—Sebastian Santacruz

Hi, my name is Jacob, and I am going to tell you the story that changed all of my friends’ lives. It was the 13 th of February of 2016, in Cali, Colombia. We were at school like any other day of the school year. The school was one of the best in the city, and it is named “The Tafa Institute.” My classmates and I were in Social Studies class in the morning, while the teacher was grading some exams, we had free time to talk and do other stuff. What is fun, is that I always like to speak with others, I love to express my thoughts about everything and everyone.

We were talking about exercise, especially; pull-ups and one of my classmates named Kendrick said: “Hey, what if we were to do some pull-ups folks? How many can you do?.”

“I can make about 10,” Philip responded.

“For real? You’re a robot, my friend.” Kendrick said enthusiastically.

Philip added, “Yeah, I’ve been…”

But I interrupted him and said: “What? HAHAHA, you can’t even do one Philip, skip lying, please.”

At that moment, Philip laid his head down and went out of the classroom, ashamed. “I only told the truth, that’s why I didn’t understand why he felt like that,” I told myself. And we all continued talking.

The next day, I woke up late. It was a Saturday, like any other Saturday. I went down to the kitchen to have some food. My mom and my dad were at the kitchen table having breakfast, they both said hello to me and gave me a hug of good morning.

Mom said: “You woke up a little bit late, didn’t you?”

I said: “Yes, mom, but it’s weekend. I was tired of the whole week, and I wanted to rest a bit more.”

Mom asked me: “And what plans do you have for today?”

I answered: “I am going to the pool with some of my school friends in the afternoon.”

My dad said: “That’s cool son, hope you have fun and remember to not get in any trouble.”

“Yes, dad!” I said.

My mom started to fix some breakfast for me. I love my mom’s food, well, I love all types of food, but my mom is the best. When the breakfast was ready, I sat down at the table with mom and dad. We talked a little bit about our week. My dad asked for a favor, he said:

“Jacob, have you decided yet what to study? The school informed us that you have been having visits from some universities. Have you made up your mind now?”

“Well, I would like to study International Business and Finance. I love numbers and accuracy, and you can find both majors in the career mentioned above. Also, the fact that I love honesty, and creating relationships with others would play a huge role in this bachelor’s career in the world of businesses.” I responded.

Father didn’t say anything, but with his face, I assumed everything, he was amazed about me and my bright ideas of what I wanted for the future. It is very satisfying when your parents think like that about you, and it makes you feel fantastic.

It was 2:00 pm, and I had almost everything ready to go to the pool. I organized a bag with a towel, my swimsuit, which is the most beautiful and has a lot of styles, some sunscreen because well, I am a little bit pale-skinned and a couple of snacks. I had asked my parents for the car, and they had permitted me to take it, Thanks to the responsibility, I had always shown since I earned my driving license card, when I turned 16, almost two years ago. Around 2:15 pm, I left my house, and

after 20 minutes, I arrived at one of my friend’s house, which is not too far away from mine. The house belongs to Mary, who is also in my class. We gathered all together at Mary’s pool to have a good time and enjoy the afternoon. One of my classmates named Mike said;

“Hello everyone, what’s up? Are we going into the pool or what?”

“Yeah, let’s take advantage of this beautiful sun,” Mary responded.

Everyone took off their shirts and the girls their shorts, and we jumped into the pool. But, when Mike was about to get in, I said:

“Oh Mike, my god, you are a little bit fatty, my dear friend, you could get all the water out of the pool if you jump.” When I finished, we laughed at him. But Mike felt terrible, I saw it in his face, but it was the truth, I was only honest.

Belatedly after that; We stayed at the pool until 6 pm when the sun began to hide. Around seven at night, everyone went to their houses.

On Monday, we had an Art class. We were assigned to watch a movie called; “The Walter Man” and discuss it in groups. One of my classmates, named Chris, added this comment to the conversation:

“The movie was amazing, and I loved it when Walter had to steal that car,” Chris said.

“No, he didn’t. It was not his purpose. Did you even watch the movie? You never pay attention, do you? You’re lying, man.” I responded sarcastically.

“Of course, I did, what’s your problem?” Chris responded angrily.

“My problem is that you are lying, I’m only correcting you and saying what happened in the movie,” I responded defensively.

“Fine, fine, I’m sorry I was wrong,” Chris said sadly.

Changing the subject, my friend Kendrick had invited us to a party next Saturday. A big party at his apartment, his parents, will be away for the weekend, so he decided to invite everyone. We all talked about that party for the rest of the day. Everyone was super excited and waited anxiously for it.

The day arrived. I got ready for the party and ordered an Uber. The night was awesome, cold as the early morning but also shiny as a big diamond. It provoked a feeling of the party and produced happiness with a little bit of mystery because you know, no one ever knows what might happen at a party.

When I arrived at Kendrick’s house, everything was under control; good music playing, lights like in a disco, enough beverages for everyone to have fun, and enjoy.

I said hello to everyone. We danced a little bit and sat around the dance floor for talking. Mike and Philip joined Mary, Efrain, Carla, and me at a side of the dance floor.

Mike went on flirting with Mary, and Philip wanted Carla. Mike made a comment which made me laugh; he said something about being the best at debates, just to impress Mary, who loves to debate and is incredible at UN models.

I was eavesdropping their conversation, so I interrupted and said to him:

“Wait, you are the best at debates? But you hate discussions and social studies and the UN, don’t you?”

Mike responded furiously. “Well, that’s not true. I’m the best in social studies.”

I responded hurriedly. “So who is the current president of the United States of America? And what type of conflicts that are happening in the middle east?”

Mike remained silent for a short while, and I added mockingly.

“I knew it, my friend, don’t lie to impress a girl,”

Kendrick had been listening to our conversation. He stood up, stopped the music, grabbed a microphone, and said out loud;

“You know, we are all tired of your comments and how you act. You are always making people feel bad, and you don’t have a filter with your thoughts. That’s enough, Jacob, we can’t let you do this anymore, I can’t have you in my house. Please stop my friend, or you will end up being alone forever.” He said angrily

“Go home; you are no longer welcome in this party.” He added.

I didn’t say anything, I just turned around and exited the building. I couldn’t figure out what I did wrong because I was the only one telling the truth, the only one with complete transparency.

The next couple of weeks passed, and I still couldn’t get myself around what happened at Kendrick’s house, It was humiliating, but I came to realize that it happened for a reason. Maybe it was about the time that I observe myself. Loads of thoughts flooded my mind at that moment.

Few days passed by; my friends wouldn’t talk to me, they were mad, and they would not listen to me. I tried to mend what I had done a couple of times, but they ignored me. One day we were all at the cafeteria; I saw Efrain, one guy from my class, leaving his wallet on the table. I Immediately ran and took it. When we arrived in the classroom, he was hopelessly looking everywhere, worried about his wallet. I approached him and told him that he had left it in the cafeteria, and I gave it back to him, and he said;

“Oh, Jacob, thank you so much, you saved me, thank you enormously!” He responded with lots of happiness in his face.

“No problem, man,” I responded. My classmates saw what had happened, and they couldn’t

stop talking about it. Some of them said that they thought I was going to steal it, and others said that I was going to tell Efrain many bad things because he had his head on another planet. They reconsidered issuing forgiveness for all the wrong I had done at the Kendricks’ party. Although; I didn’t pay close attention to all the comments, I was equally bemused by their reactions because some of my classmates were now realizing my true self. I came to realize that being honest could hurt others in an instant, but when you lie to your friends, it hurts them forever. Lying is the worst feeling for everyone to endure. Because sooner or later, the truth always comes out.

When we were leaving the school, a few of my friends came to where I was and said:

“We are sorry, Jacob; you are completely right with your actions; what you were doing was what we all need to do,” Philip told me. Then Kendrick added, “Yes, Philip is right; we need to remove the masks that we use to hide from others and the reality.”

Efrain also said, “ Truth may hurt, but if you care about someone, you will tell him everything with complete transparency, and you will advise him or her to tell the truth always.”

Finally, Mary spoke, “We wanted to apologize to you, Jacob, sorry from the deepest part of our hearts, and thank you for this valuable lesson!”

It was good to see everyone thinking like that, and I was just impressed by how they changed their thoughts for a good deed. The purpose of all my actions was recognized, and I had reached the 21 Black Jack, and the full prize was complete honesty.