Someone Will Be Mad at You

The blond twin walked by herself after school. Her sister was in front of her. Ayanna and Erin walked behind her. No one looked happy. I knew the problem, but wasn’t happy that it still existed.
The school Spring Battle of the Books teams were being formed last week. The blond twin was sitting between two factions. On the one side was her twin. She formed a team with the brunette twin and three other students. On the other side were her friends. The blond twin told them she would join their team after the last Battle of the Books. She was so excited about the team she formed with her sister that she forgot her promise to her friends. She was so excited that she was going to be on her twin’s team for their last Battle of the Books. They talked about their team, planned their strategy and organized a team meeting. Her problem was her friends wanted her on their team. Of course, she had told them that she’d be on their next team, so it was only natural that they thought she’d join them. At lunch today her friends wanted to talk about the Battle of the Books. The blond twin told them she was on her twin’s team, but left the door open that she might switch to their team. The blond twin didn’t want to disappoint anyone. In the process, she was creating friction in both teams. After listening to her waffle for a while, I told her that she had to make a decision and inform the other team. It was wrong to go back and forth because she was being mean to both teams. She said that she didn’t want anyone to get upset. I said, “Baby, someone is going to be mad at you. No need to drag it out. Just make a decision, inform the teams and move on.” She had tears in her eyes as she tried to change the subject. I would not let it go. I talked about why she had to make a decision and how much worse she was making it by trying to keep everyone happy. She decided to stay on her sister’s team. She was dreading her conversation with her friends, but seemed to understand that she needed to do it quickly. Of course, this conversation happened on Friday so – for better or worse -- she has all weekend to figure out what she is going to say.