I knew I was in trouble when I walked into the house and saw Jocy and Jackie crying. Then my mom gave me a disappointed look.

Jocy, Jackie, and me were next-door neighbors. I was eleven, Jackie was nine, and Jocy was five years old. They were sisters and sometimes we would go to each other’s house to play with our bicycles. Often we went to a nearby store to buy snacks or to meet other friends there. The store was small and there was a big section in the back of the store were they sold many cakes. The people that worked there were friendly but always busy.

One time we realized that we didn’t have enough money to buy candy. Then, while we were in the store, Jackie started to stuff her purse with a bunch of candy. Most of the candy was kit-Kat and Twix. Soon we left the store without paying for the candy. When we got home we ate some of the candy but didn’t know what to do with the rest of it.

Out of the blue Jocy announced that we should sell the candy to make money. We decided that we should sell the candy at the stop sign, because a lot of people passed by and at school so we can sell the candy to our friends. Almost all of our friends bought the candy eagerly. None of us told our parents anything because we didn’t want to get in trouble.

Eventually we were done selling all of the candy. It took us a month to finally finish selling everything. We decided to split the money equally so we met up at my house and dumped all of our earnings on my large glass table. I was about to start counting the money, and then I noticed that Jackie had a debating look on her face and it made me suspicious. All of a sudden, Jackie grabbed all the money, ran out the door, went inside her house and slammed the door shut behind her. Jocy didn’t look surprised she probably already knew that was going to happen. I was mad because I also sold the candy and Jackie was going to take all of the credit. I ran to her house and started knocking impatiently but she didn’t open the door. It was hopeless so I just went back home.

When I got home, my mom had a disappointed look on her face. She found out about what we did. The manager of the store we stole the candy from, saw us on camera and our neighbors saw us selling candy at the stop sign.

As punishment my mom took away my phone and made me do volunteer work at the store. She grounded me and didn’t let me watch TV. For three months. When she told Jocy and Jackie’s mom they were in big trouble. Their mom didn’t let them eat any candy for a whole two months as punishment. She also, spent thirty minuets yelling at them about how stealing is bad. They were both crying and tried to blame the whole thing on me but their mom knew them well and she knew that they were lying. Their mom had to pay about twenty dollars to the manager to make up for the candy they stole.

Now I realize that you become who surrounds you, you pick up their habits and learn their ways. Next time I will not get involved if my friends do something wrong.