IS FRIEND AVOIDING HER?

Dear Jellybean,

My friend and I grew really close during the summer. She said that we would be BFF's through high school. Before high school, we had orientation and I asked her to go. She said she was already going with someone else. When we got to orientation, she completely blew me off, only saying "hey" once. I felt terrible. I wondered if I'd done something to upset her. We really had fun over the summer and I don't want our friendship this quickly. I'm afraid to confront her about it, because she might get mad. What should I do?
-Confused

Dear Kat,

How strange. Usually when something like this happens, we have an inkling of what we might have done to cause our friend to blow us off. If you really have no idea, I do think it's worth asking your friend. Don't make it a confrontation, since you have no idea whether she's acting this way on purpose, or what's really going on. In fact, maybe your friend does plan to still hang out with you this year, she just went to orientation with another friend. After all, she's going to have other friends, and it doesn't mean you're going to be cut out.

Why don't you give your friend a call and ask her to do something with you, like going to a movie or planning to meet for lunch at school. If she says yes, chances are you're getting worried over nothing. But if she makes an excuse, and doesn't seem available to hang out with you at any time you suggest, you could ask her if anything's wrong between you. Don't be pushy about it, just say something like, "Have I done anything to upset you? I was looking forward to hanging out this year." Good luck - I hope you work things out with this friend.