Do you ever wonder what your friends hide from you? I know I did after I was at City Walk with 3 of my friends: Stephanie, Emily, and Theo. Emily had gone to Taco Bell, while Stephanie and I followed Theo into a store that had shelves stacked with large figurines. We examined the intricate details of the figurines as we waited for Emily to come back. Stephanie and I walked to the front of the shop when we saw that Emily had come back, but we realized that Theo was not with us. We ran to the back of the store, only to find that Theo was stuffing a packaged figurine into his small knapsack. I could see the outline of the figurine in his little bag. I was rather oblivious to the situation at that moment, but Emily and Stephanie seemed concerned. Emily asked Theo if he had purchased the figurine, as it seemed suspicious that he was hiding the fact that he was putting the figurine in his bag by doing the deed in the back of the store. Theo insisted that he had thrown away the receipt at the front, and he had done nothing wrong.

We all strolled down towards the movie theater when a staff member chased after us, whisking away Theo back to the store to check the security cameras together. Stephanie, Emly, and I, at this point, realized that he had stolen the item. We were left shocked and panicked that our friend would commit a crime, and we were there to witness it. After all, Theo had seemed like a normal kid, and he had never commited a crime before, at least not to our knowledge. The man called security, while I played a Smule piano game on my phone, Emily scarfed down her taco, and Stephanie waited anxiously. The security questioned us, but they had found that we were not in on the crime. They revealed to us that Theo had stolen the figurine, and he was permanently banned from the park. With many of our questions unasked and unanswered, his parents were notified to take him home, while the rest of us watched Beauty and the Beast together.
 
Looking back on this memory, I feel like I should have realized that Theo was stealing the figurine. Now, it seems painfully obvious what Theo was doing, and I remember now that he said he had no money with him when he was in the store before he stole the product. While I still trust my friends, I sometimes wonder how much I really know about them. Maybe, if I had known Theo more, I could know what drove him to make the choice that he did. On the other hand, Stephanie and Emily were closer to Theo, and even they could not anticipate what he would do. I know that everyone has their secrets, but I often feel that someone could have predicted this event if they knew Theo’s motives.