I was always pressured in order for me to fit with the popular friends. My friend Snowethu was able to fit in with those people because she was no longer a virgin. She sacrificed her virginity to some ‘cool boys’ she didn’t even know.

She was my only friend in Soweto that I knew well and we had been friends for a long time. I began to miss her because she didn’t want to hang out with me anymore. So, I was left alone with no friends.

I didn’t know what to do. I was alone and bored. She was having a lot of fun with her new Soweto friends. They went to all the night clubs and they always had money to spend.

I felt that since there were also other girls in her new crew that I should join them. I thought that if I lost my virginity that I wouldn’t die. But…then again, those boys slept with almost all of the girls. I don’t think they even used protection to have sex.

In time, I became desperate. I saw Snowethu passing my house with her new boyfriend. They were driving in an xv-BMW. I noticed as they were passing that she really had changed.

One day, I was sitting in my room thinking of giving myself up to the crew, because it’s where the fun was anyway. I didn’t even care that they took drugs; nothing mattered anymore. My mother found me sitting there, sad. “Amanda, I know why you are sad my daughter, but look…don’t go to them. It’s good that you didn’t go with Snowethu.”

“But mama, she’s having fun and I am bored. They are even calling me a nerd.”

“This makes you wiser, child. Think of the consequences if you go there. Oh, I have to go now my child. Bye,” she said.

“Bye mama.”

I saw that my mama was right. I decided to go and join a girls soccer team instead since my friend had abandoned me. It was actually really fun playing soccer and meeting new friends. I knew that I had made the right decision.

As for Snowethu, she became pregnant and she didn’t know the father of her baby. She had to take care of the baby alone at home. At night, she would sneak out of her window while her mother was sleeping to take drugs with her new friends. The girls were treated like prostitutes. I am so happy I didn’t choose her path and sacrifice my future.

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Tell us what you think: Do you think the author made the right choice? Have you faced similar choices in your life?