For as long as I can remember, I have had trouble keeping a solid group of friends. When I was around thirteen years old, I thought having a lot of friends and being popular would make me feel happy or whole. It turned out, neither was true. I have had countless different groups of friends, but it took until my junior year of high school to find the few that stuck. One of them ended up being a girl I had known almost my whole life and lost touch with over the years.
By my junior year of high school, I felt defeated. I was distancing myself from people I once thought were lifelong friends and I was trying to learn how to be okay being my own friend. I had a friend named Claire who invited me to hang out with her and her friends, who turned out to be people I went to elementary school with.
The girls I started to hang out with, Claire, Jaidyn, Ryann, and Sara, soon became my closest friends. They were the people I spent the summer with and the people I spent my senior year with. We had other friends outside of our little group, which was something that was comforting to me. I had always hated the cliques that wouldn't allow anyone in or out of the group. These girls were nothing like that.
Emma Piccinini
Claire is probably my closest friend out of the group. We found refuge in each other in a time where we both felt alone and at a loss of friends. I honestly don't know where I would be without her. She is always 100% real with me when I go to her for advice. She never tells me what I want to hear, but she always tells me what I need to hear. This is something I have learned to love about her because no one has ever been as honest with me as she has.
Emma Piccinini
Jaidyn is someone I can always go to whenever I am feeling insecure about myself. She is constantly complimenting her friends and always wants them to feel okay about themselves. She listens when you need to cry out all of your emotions, and she always knows how to calm you down when you are upset. The best part about her is that she never fails to make you feel confident in yourself.
Emma Piccinini
Ryann is the best person to rant with. Sometimes you just need to get all of the weight of the world off of your shoulders that you carry around all day, and Ryann is the person I go to for that relieving feeling. If I didn't have her, I would be a big ball of stress and anger because I wouldn't have anyone to help me get rid all of the anger that builds up.
Emma Piccinini
Sara is the one in my life that encourages me to get my shit together, for lack of a better saying. She works two jobs and pays for everything for herself. She's even moving to Tennessee to go to college there and set up the big move all on her own without telling any of her friends until it was all set in stone. She inspires me to learn how to fend for myself and to take care of myself. She is the one who reminds me how important it is to rely on yourself.
Emma Piccinini
All four of these girls have molded me into the person I am today, and they have taught me so many important lessons. Without them, I have no idea what kind of person I would be today, but I'm glad that I don't know who I would be. Out of everything that they have taught me, the most important lesson I have learned by being friends with them is that having a few true friends is much more important than having a lot of fake friends.