Friendship and loyalty: A path

It has become a thing with humans to push aside their friendship and the bonds they've made after a long time. They tend to misinterpret the true meaning of friendship and this has led to an outrage in betrayals and disloyalty.

Looking at the picture of me and my friends, I thought back to the time when we were only teenagers without a care for the world. Back then when we would eat from the same plate, wear matching outfits and even tell lies to protect each other. If the world had crumbled back then, we wouldn't have cared since we had each other to look out for ourselves.

Source

Alison and Lilian were my childhood friends. We grew up in the same neighborhood and attended the same school. The most intriguing part of our friendship was our joined interest in music thus, we would converge at my house during our spare time, create lyrics and remix songs, and we would laugh at the ones we got wrong and applaud the good ones. It was good while it lasted. Those were the times when we dreamed of being as famous as the Pentatonix or even the Westlife singers, but it's sad how those dreams ended up as dreams because of the path one of us had taken.

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One day, Alison brought news to us. She screamed with excitement as she barged into my room, where I and Lilian were.
"Hey guys, guess what?" She exclaimed.

"What's the deal? You seem too happy." I asked her.

"Maybe someone gave her money." Lilian said and giggled.
I laughed too. It was a thing with Alison, she would scream so happily if someone gave her money or a gift.

"This is bigger than money." Alison replied.

"So, what is it then?" I asked her.

"Someone liked our song." She announced after a few seconds of silence, probably to get us tensed up.

"Our song? How do you mean?" Lilian asked her.

"I played our song at a barbing saloon where I went to see a friend, some guy said he liked it and asked me to do the song at his concert." Alison told the tale and the room went dead.

"Sorry, Alison, I don't want to get you wrong. This person wants you to perform our song at his concert, with us. Right?" I asked her, emphasizing 'OUR SONG' since it wasn't just hers.

She heaved a sigh and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Well, he wants me to perform with his band." She replied.

"Perform our song with his band?" Lilian asked, wide-eyed. I was surprised as well.

"Alison, I'm sure you already know that it's not going to happen. Right?" I asked her again and peered into her face but she turned away and kept mute.

"Alison, don't tell me you took that offer." Lilian said to her.

"She wouldn't do that. She's smarter than that." I responded in Alison's defense.

"I'm sorry, Jenny, I took the offer and I gave him the song." She dropped the bomb on us.

"You didn't do that, Alison." I said to her, hoping she would smile and call it a prank.

"I did. He's going to pay me a huge sum of money and we could split it equally amongst us. Isn't that a good thing?" She said to us.

"Alison, this isn't about money. If he wants you to perform the song, then it should be with us. How can he ask you to perform a song that we put our energy into making with his band? That's totally out of it." I responded to her, upset at what she did.

"I just want to know, which of the songs did you give him?" Lilian asked, her voice breaking.

"The one you wrote." Alison responded quietly.

"Alison!!!" I screamed her name. Lilian's sniffles were turning to sobs now.
"How could you even do that? We promised not to play that song outside this room and you're aware that the only reason you have that song in your phone is because you have a better phone than ours. You know how long it took Lilian to get that song together." I was already angry and I yelled at her.

The song she had given the guy she met, was the first original piece Lilian had ever written. It took her a year to get it together and she dreamed of recording it and selling it when she grew older. Alison just gave it away for money.
I was angry at Alison but Lilian must've felt worse since it was her dream and hard work that had been given away. She stood up and left my room in tears and for days, no one heard from her. I hoped that Alison would have a change of heart but she went ahead and did the song at the concert and soon after that, she became a part of the band and every single song we had remixed together, Alison sang it with the band and to make matters worse, she claimed they were all hers.

Source

Growth happens so fast. Lilian traveled to live with her aunt who was a surgeon in another state, and I got admission into the university. I still tried to keep in touch with Lilian and she never failed to remind me of Alison's betrayal. It hurt me too but I was soon to leave it all behind me and pursue a greater career.
Just as the saying goes, "COME EASY, GOES EASY"; Alison's band faded as well as the fame that came with it. A time of reckoning was upon her, as her mum fell ill and needed surgery and Alison had no one to turn to.

She reached out to me to seek help but there was nothing I could do. The only person who could've helped out was the friend she had stabbed in the back.
"Lily, I think you should help her." I said over the phone to the angry Lilian who had become a nurse at her aunt's hospital.

"Jenny, she should have a taste of her own medicine. There's nothing I can do to help." Lilian said to me.

"We both know you're lying right now. Your aunt would do anything for you. This is a person's life at stake here." I pleaded with Lilian to let Alison's mom get her surgery at her aunt's hospital.

"My dream was at stake too. How could you forget what Alison did to us?" Lilian was yelling now.

"I did not forget what she did to us, especially to you. But this is her mother's life we're talking about, that woman never supported Alison's betrayal, Lily." I responded.

I knew it wasn't going to be easy to convince Lilian to do Alison a favor, but I had to try. I could hear the sniffling sounds that came from her and I hoped she would give in. After crying for a while, Lilian finally agreed to beg her aunt to do the surgery.
Alison's mother was admitted to the hospital and Lilian's aunt did the surgery without a fee, as Lilian had pleaded on Alison's behalf. It was a tough decision for her but I was glad she helped.

I traveled to visit Alison's mother, who was recuperating at the hospital. Lilian gave me a warm hug amidst the glare she had also given me for convincing her to help Alison.
"You've grown so big, Jenny." She said to me.

"I doubt it. Look at you, you're glowing." I teased her and she laughed.
"Thank you, Lily, for helping out. It means a lot." I said to her when her laughter died down.

"Well, you were right about one thing, I can't punish a mother for her daughter's sins. After all, I'm still living and I'm better off in so many ways." Lilian responded and I nodded approval to what she had said.

"Friendship is always tested by betrayal and you did well. I'm proud of the woman you've become, Lily." I said to her.

"Stop sounding like my mum." She responded and wiped a tear and we hugged again.
We conversed and reminisced on old times. All through the time I spent at the hospital, Alison didn't show up though I hoped that she would. She must've felt ashamed of her actions, but that was the path she had chosen to walk.

So, whenever I went through our old photos, I would wish that our paths would cross again but in a good way and then, maybe we would rekindle the love and friendship that we once shared in the past.

_{the picture is mine}
Thanks for reading