Adria Week 4- The Cruel Minds of Middle School Girls

Middle school-- when all everyone cares about is popularity, and absolutely nothing can stand in the way of achieving it. This was such an immense period of transition for most kids, but in this case specifically girls. They are trying to cement their friend groups, and if that means cutting someone out then so be it. 

My sister is 12 years old and in 7th grade; she is sweet, kind, friendly, caring, beautiful, and absolutely 100% hilarious. She is my best friend, and probably the greatest blessing I could have ever asked for. When my parents told me at 4 years old that I was going to have a sister, little did I know how much she would change my life in all the right ways. However, we are complete and polar opposites of one another-- she is outgoing whereas I am shy, she is unapologetically herself, whereas I have a harder time being myself around anyone but my friends and family. So when she told me that she feels like she can’t be herself around her “closest” friends, I knew something had to be wrong. I watched her do it, too. If her friends would come over, she would act too different. As I observed, I would tell her, and all she could admit to me was that she liked the way she was around them and that they were good influences anyway. I of course disagreed, but I also wanted to support my little sister. About a month ago, her three absolute closest friends started spreading rumors about her-- horrible, vicious rumors that were simply false. I remember her coming home and sobbing, telling me that they cut her off and told her she was a disgusting person. The first thing I wanted to do was text them; one of them even I was close to. My heart still breaks for my little sister, because middle school is just about the most vulnerable time to lose friends. But, she was eventually okay because of one of her friends who stuck by her, took her side, and believed her. Middle school girls, from mine and my sister’s experience, can be simply cruel. In fact, as I am learning in AP Psychology right now, it is the beginning of the adolescent years which is the state at which everyone is trying to find themselves. Last night, that friend who has been there for her for years and she called her best friend, told my sister that it was “no wonder they said those things about you, you are a horrible person and deserve nothing.” I got home late and my parents told me what happened. I just wanted to hug her, but she was locked in her room hysterically sobbing. That friend had been the one to sleep on the bathroom floor with her because she was throwing up that entire night before. She was the same friend who stood by her side when everyone was turning against her and spreading disgusting rumors. Now, ordinarily, such a topic would not be on my mind-- if anything, the minds of high schoolers would be. But ever since this happened to my little sister last night, I felt that it had to be observed in this blog post. Why must they be so mean? Why must they exclude people and cut them off as if they had never spoken before? Why must they say such things to my best friend and expect me not to call them out on it? Why must I be expected to keep my mouth shut and not say a word to them? Why must a human being say these things to another human being? Why must these things happen, and why must they victimize my little sister?