Best Friends Forever??
By Stephanie Lynn, age 22, Massachusetts
SDM Editor-in-Chief
I had been best friends with Angie* since the second grade, and I had expected it to always be that way. In sixth grade she bought a "best friends forever" necklace, and gave me half as a gift. Now we were in seventh grade, and earlier that week I had decided to break up with my boyfriend since we never really hung out anyway. I knew Angie was always trying to impress the "cool girls" in the class, but I didn't have any interest in being friends with those stuck up people.
One day I was in the cafeteria waiting in line to buy my lunch like I'd always done. When I went to the usual table where Angie and I and all our friends sat the table was completely full. I thought it was odd, but I was forced to sit at the table across from them all alone. I was surprised that Angie didn't come over to sit with me. I figured she was entertaining the cool girls, and this would only be for one day.
The very next day, the same thing happened. When I asked her why she wasn't saving a seat for me, she told me she was filling up the table on purpose so I couldn't sit with her and her new friends. That's when I realized that our friendship was over. I mean, I had always valued our friendship, but she was only interested in upping her social status. I lost my boyfriend and my best friend in just one week! I was soo crushed.
I'm sure some of you out there are reading this and saying "That happened to me too!" It's a very difficult thing to be suddenly rejected by someone you cared about and thought cared about you. It can take weeks, months, even years to get over it. I remained hurt over this all the way through high school.
One of the hardest things about being a teenager is facing social rejection. Some people remain scarred for life. It doesn't help much at the time, but the fact is that there is life after middle school, and, yes, even after high school.
My "best friend" Angie ignored me all the way through high school, and I haven't heard from her to this day. I can't say that terrible things have happened in her life. All I know is that she has one less real friend today.
(*name changed)
