You heard me. This is your sign.

I feel like we have so many discussions on romantic relationships ending, we often forget that our platonic ones don't work out. Yes, friends fade, but what about best friends? Best friends that start to become manipulative and clingy. Sometimes things get messy and complicated, believe me I know. Matters can get even more complicated if you share a friend group. You don't want to get ostracized and lose more friends in the process, but if the friendship is seeping with toxic emotions and thoughts, it's time to leave.

With my own personal toxic friendship, I did not get out unscathed. In fact, I lost a lot of friends as a result. It was probably better this way, this friend was so negative if I tried to stay friends with these people she would have brought her negativity into those relationships as well. My friend, we'll call her Jane (I don't want to put her on blast ya know?), was my best friend for about three years. She was older than I was, and we did some extracurriculars together, and even went to the same high school. In these after-school activities, we had a group of friends we always hung out with. I loved my friends, and like any 15-year-old girl, they were my whole world. Jane was my best friend. She helped me through a really hard time, and for that, I will always be grateful, but as we grew closer in our friendship, it seemed as though she used that against me.

Jane was always having a hard time, and I was always willing to talk it out with her. The first time, I felt like I had repaid a debt, and we were now even. But then week after week it happened, again and again. Jane would talk to me about her problems, and then try to force me to give her a solution, but when I gave it to her, she never took my advice. After about a few months of this, I started to get very frustrated with her, she did not take this well. She started to manipulate me, and make me feel like I was the source of all her problems, and that if I tried to leave our friendship, I would be like all of the other horrible people in the world that left her.

It became a codependent relationship, and we would have many of these arguments and makeups. It was exhausting and damaging to my own self-esteem, which was already plummeting due to the after-school activities we participated in and my unrequited crush at the time. I was a yo-yo, Jane would throw me out and then real me back in. The hardest part about this process was that my other friends really couldn't and wouldn't help me. They would stay wrapped around her finger and leave me isolated when she didn't want to speak to me.

It went on like this for three years, I grew tired of being hurt by the politics in our after-school activities. These were Jane's life, and they were all she would talk about. I wanted to experience new things outside of the group, such as school dances, new friends, and getting my first real boyfriend. Jane wanted nothing to do with this kind of thing and would make me feel guilty for talking about it. She would tell me to leave her alone and say that I was a bother to her, but then text me that she was hurt that I didn't try to hang out with her. Finally, after three years of being a yo-yo, cut the string. I was free.

I lost so much in the process I couldn't go back to my extracurricular activities without getting whispers behind my back or daggers in my direction. I lost the passion that I had loved for so long. I lost friends that I truly cared about. However, I gained high school experiences I will cherish forever, new lifelong friends, and the world's best boyfriend. I gained confidence and love, and while I was not meant to be Jane's friend, I still wish her the best in life, we just couldn't make it work.

There were so many signs that I missed that could have saved me a lot of heartaches, I hope that my story could be a sign for someone else who is struggling to keep a friendship together. If your friendship is making you miserable, if you feel manipulated, used, rejected, and frustrated, it's probably time to go. It's not that you're giving up on that person, it's that you're gaining the courage to grow and continue on your own. I can't promise it won't hurt, but I can promise it will open your eyes to a world full of amazing people and experiences.