But the two friends slowly drift apart due to the attentions of Emillio Villanueva and Beka's new drive to succeed academically (a pursuit Toycie had encouraged her in).
To some reviewers, Toycie's plight as a victim of teenage pregnancy has implications for both the social and ethnic development of the nation of Belize.
Professor Ervin Beck of Goshen College, Indiana, claims that the novel presents and confirms the Mestizos' increasing dominance of education and economic affairs in the colony, explained by the girls' feeling that "panias" have it better than they do.
With regards to Toycie herself, Beck claims her desire to "raise her colour" inevitably brings her into conflict with Emillio and with accepted social standards in the colony, not to mention at her school.
Ultimately, though, Toycie's main influence is on Beka, who rededicates her life to education after losing her friend and obeys the call presented by her principal below: Anthony Sylvestre, an attorney writing for the Belize Times in 2007, coined the phrase "The Toycie Syndrome" to refer to the crime of infanticide, or concealing the death of a child.