7-2-I-Search-Jessica

= How Can You Tell if True Friends Really Are True Friends? = by Jessica Bodeta

**Introduction**
I once saw a little girl, in tears, being excluded from her friends. When I went asked the girl what was wrong, she said her friends just didn't want to hang out with her anymore. She told me that she felt she wasn't good enough. No girl should feel she's not good enough to hang out with anybody. I wish i could tell her that I knew how she felt, but I couldn't. I thought that it was unfair, the way she just got dumped by her friends for no reason at all. A few weeks ago, I came back to school because of a terrible skin disease, which I'm still fighting. But I realized that everything had changed. The friends that I used to hang out with, were hanging out with each other. I would sit alone and wonder why i wasn't hanging out with them. At that moment, I felt like the little girl. I felt excluded for absolutely no reason of which I could think of. If they were truly my friends, why wouldn't they hang out with me? How come they had changed? How could I tell if they were really true friends?

**Body**
A true friend is someone you can depend and rely on. Good times, or bad, you know they'll be there. So, what i was trying to figure out was why i felt so alone, even though i was surrounded by so many people. Putting yourself on the line for someone, in my opinion, makes you a true friend. But, someone who just leaves you, in your time of need, doesn't exactly sound like a "true" friend. It could even be stereotyping! Two people from two different cliques, just don't mix. You and your friend might not even really know each other. But for this matter, stereotyping is only a thing in our teenage minds. It's not true how there's a destiny for every one. In my old school, people would match other people up because they looked good together. Even the most stupidest things can reveal who a best friend. For example, clothes. People love your clothes, so people love you. But clothes go out of style...and so will this type of friendship. A friendship shouldn't be based on clothes, it's much more than that. This also goes for shoes. You can have the hottest shoes, or the most expensive "kicks", but just as clothes...shoes go out of style. If you have expensive shoes and clothes, you must have money. But money is one of the biggest foundations of fake relationships. Friendship is based on time spent //with// each other, not money spent //on// each other. I went to interview one of my previous teachers. She was my 5th grade teacher, and has been around a lot of kids. I was wondering if she observed anything like this before. At first, i asked her what the definition of a fake friend meant to her. She said that a fake friend was secretive, dishonest, and 'puts on an act'. Then i asked her if these type of situations happened to her, and what caused it. She said, "These things have happened, especially with boys. My friends and I tried to avoid it, but it was one of those inevitable situations."

**Conclusion**
There are definitions of a fake friend. But who am i to point out that someone is fake? Don't they say, "It takes one to know one". Well, I guess it takes an untrue friend, to know an untrue friend. People who seem to be fake, or untrue might have insecurities which makes them act a certain way. They may feel intimidated, and the impression to them may cause them to think certain things. Or you could be stuck in an unavoidable situation, such as boys, which may get in the way of a friendship. I've learned that "looks aren't everything", but have we all really applied that moral into our lives? And I've learned not to stereotype, so what's the reason why most of us do it? We could all find true friends, if we start focusing on the good that's inside people, instead of the material things.

**Works Cited**
Pasculli, Kristen. "The Definition of True Friendship." __Suite101__. 9 Apr. 2008 <[|http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/living_loving/72954/2]> Pasculli, Kristen. "Friendship Hardships, Part Two." __Suite101__. 9 Apr. 2008 < http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/living_loving/89035 > Pasculli, Kristen. "Times are a'Changin..." __Suite101__. 9 Apr. 2008 <[|http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/living_loving/74445]> Pasculli, Kristen. "Does Anyone Understand?" __Suite101__. 10 Apr. 2008 < [|http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/living_loving/74020>