Changing Friendships In High School
MTV’s Awkward is coming out with a new season tonight (!) and let me say I’m really excited. Last summer, I wrote reviews for every episode in season two and some pretty cool things happened. Molly Tarlov tweeted me and Lauren Iungerich actually read them.
I really relate to Jenna and all the other characters in so many ways, but my topic for today is changing friendships in high school. I’m that one girl who has moved everywhere and doesn’t stay in one place for more than 4 years. It’s fun, moving around to different countries and having new experiences, but it’s also heartbreaking. Most teenagers don’t know how difficult it is to leave your friendships in distant places, because it ruins them. I moved from Canada last year to Portland and I’ve kept probably 1/4 of all the friends I had. Sometimes, Facebook and Skype just aren’t enough to maintain the friendship that you previously had.
A more common cause for changing friendships, though, especially when you’re a teenager, is poorly made decisions. One bitchy comment or backstabbing move can ruin a 10-year-long friendship. Any girl who has said she’s never instigated drama before is lying, because it’s just in our nature. Of course, it’s not the right thing to do. Whether it was intentional or not, or a one time thing, girls cause drama, and it changes friendships. I’ll walk down the hallway and see a 12-year-old girl crying because of something that came out of someone’s mouth. Those remarks really don’t mean anything though, because it’s just drama. Girls get mad at the most pointless stuff and love to blow things out of proportion for attention. Sometimes I question why girls my age let themselves get so offended by simple words. You can choose to take offense to the comment that someone says, or you can brush it off. Girls love drama though, and knowing that people are talking about you, or sympathizing for you, can be exciting for anyone. A lot of friendships change because the involved people choose it to be. In Awkward, Lissa and Sadie get into a huge fight because Lissa decides to become friends with Jenna, and their friendship changes in a huge degree. This happens so much in middle school and I can tell it’s going to be the same for high school, too.
I recently stopped being friends with these girls because they were bad influences, and I guess the reason why we stopped being friends were because I had a change of heart. I decided that I didn’t want to be associated with them because I just wasn’t like them. If two people wanted to still be friends, they’d bury the hatchet and let it go. Some people don’t though, and that’s okay. At this age, of 13-18, grudges and disloyalty are the foundation of fights and changing friendships. Jenna and Tamara hated each other for a while because Jenna accidentally kissed the boy that Tamara liked, even though they’ve been best friends forever.
A friendship isn’t easy to maintain. Not only can distance, a change in heart, or backstabbing change a friendship, but so can a boyfriend, or a new sports team. Nothing stays the same when you’re a teenager, and Awkward really captures how easily a friendship can disappear.
Do you have an example of a changed friendship? Are you excited for MTV’s new season of Awkward? Leave me a comment below or talk to me on my Facebook or Twitter.
