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Dear Jellybean,
I've had this friend (let's call her Amanda) for eight years, and we've been best friends for about six of those years. However, for the past few years, we've been having a great deal of problems. For all of elementary school, I was literally her only friend, and she was my only friend too. Then, sixth grade began, and I made about 5 or 6 new friends. Amanda would then constantly ask me why I was ignoring her for these new friends and if I liked them better than her. She was so clingy, and granted, she eventually became friends with them too, but that was just the start of my problems with her.
That same year, I had all sorts of issues. I had a very low self image and I was having all sorts of issues with my parents, school, and life in general that I don't want to get into. I didn't want to talk about it with anyone, but one of my new friends found out. Eventually, my parents found out and called Amanda's parents about it, who immediately told her. Less than a year later, Amanda suddenly turned goth... or at least tried to, writing dark poetry, listening to depressing music, and talking about death all the time. It was obviously fake, and I was so mad, because I know that she has such a nice family and really didn't have any reason to be acting so emo. This continued up until this year. She confided in one of our mutual friends that she was depressed, but even this friend admitted that she thought it was more the music she listens to than anything else. Amanda also told this friend that she purposely tries on different "personality masks" every day just to see how people respond. So she even indirectly admits that this is for attention...
I'm just so frustrated. And she STILL thinks I'm making other friends to avoid her. I do make friends more easily than she does, but I never leave her out when planning anything, so I don't know what her problem is. These past few years with her have been so frustrating, but I'm afraid if I call her out on anything, she'll tell her parents who will call mine and this will be an even bigger and more stressful issue. I DO care about her as a friend, but I don't know how much more I can take. What do I do?
-Frustrated
