If you've ever been a student at an American high school or college, you know what these are. They are the drama club, the sports jockeys, or just a group of friends that genuinely like spending time with each other.
As you get older, cliques change. Friends grow up to get jobs and go to college. New cliques form, and some fracture. They become harder to manage the older you get, and you only stay in contact with those that really matter to you.
As I've grown up, I've realized that I prefer having a few select friends that I'm really close with than a mass of people I don't know very well, but think are pleasant to be around.
This doesn't change the fact that I try to be friendly with as many people as I can. Life is a lottery; you never know who you'll share a deep connection with in life until it happens. It's all about certain personality types clicking at just the right moment, and before you know it, you've built a sturdy friendship with somebody you've grown to care about.
I used to be in many cliques, and for the most part, none of them have really stuck together. Sure, we say "Hi" to each other when we run into each other. Sometimes we even randomly check in with each other. But we haven't maintained the friendship we once had, and there's a very good reason for that.
Cliques are held together by convenience, not always love or passion. Some try to act like a family, but that falls apart almost as soon as those bonds are tested. In my experience, moving is the biggest clique-killer.
In the aftermath of a clique, only the very best remnants seem to remain, the so-called cream of the crop. Your very best friends, whom you wouldn't trade the world for. You quite literally learn who your "real" friends are.
And that's alright. Sure, you might wonder where the other remnants are, and it does suck losing touch with them, but they're probably doing fine, and you'll be able to catch up with them during the next reunion, or when you bump into them at the grocery store.
Once you have a few really good friends, you might find the whole clique thing unnecessary, as I have, or you might participate in a few more until you have a solid core group of friends, who will follow you through thick and thin.
And who knows? Maybe I'll give the clique thing another shot, but it's nice to know that I have all the support I'll ever need with the handful of individuals I consider my very best of friends.
