Best friends are things you come by only once in your lifetime... Or are they? I've had a lot of "best friends" during my life and I don't think I'm still friends with any of them. They have all ended for the normal reasons; growing up, moving on, changes. One of my friends, though, that is a different story.

It all started after we graduated high school. I was just finding out that I was unable to go to a writing college in New York due to how expensive it was and since my family was just my mother, my sister, and I on a very low income - it wasn't happening. I was very upset and I had spent about six hours crying in my bedroom. After all this time and only the noise of my sobs ringing in my ears, I decided I needed to vent. I needed someone to talk to. I grabbed my cell phone and began to text one of my closest friends at that time. I texted her all about what happened and that I really needed someone to talk to, so I asked her if she could stop by. I cheered up thinking about the pizza we would order and her kind words that would cheer me up.

That thought was shattered after my phone lit up with her response.

"No."

Now this was weird. We never used punctuation and I know that sounds like a strange reason to be suspicious or worried, but we had known each other for some time now and I just knew she was not happy with me. I sent her a paragraph of feelings, and all she had to say was no? I was and in need of a friend and I expected more.

I texted her back:

"what is wrong?"

"nothing"

I was slightly less worried so I joked around and texted her back:

"oh okay, are we still friends? lol"

And that's when she replied with the most random answer I'd ever gotten from someone I thought was my best friend.

"No."

I was really upset now. Of course, I texted her why and I asked her what I did wrong and all of that, but she had stopped texting me back. She was ignoring me purposefully and I was completely clueless as to why she was doing all of this. I had spoken to her the day before and we even went to see a movie with my boyfriend and she seemed fine. We were friends like normal. I didn't know what went wrong.

I was hysterical. I jumped out of bed sobbing and ran to my mom. I begged her to drive me to my friend's house so I could find out what was wrong since she wasn't answering me on my phone. I texted my friend that I was on my way over because I thought maybe she didn't mean to text that or she was having a rough day so I wanted to be there for her and help and find out why. She lived about 45 minutes away, so this was a lot for my mom to get up and do on such short notice. But she did. She was nice and tried to relax me during the ride there and she was asking why my friend was being so mean and cruel out of nowhere and I had no answers for her or myself.

Once we got to her house, I ran out of the car and was abruptly stopped by her mother and her brother. The first thing said to me was "You better get your ass out of here, we don't need you people slashing our tires." This was said to me by her 20-some year old brother who lived with his parents and had a child with a girl who worshiped Satan. I was appalled at such an accusation because in the car was my mother and my little sister. Why would we slash your tires? I just came here to work out whatever was wrong with my friend and I, and I was being accused of things that her brother - the person who said this to me - is more likely to do than me.

I ignored her rude brother and turned to her mother. Now, I was still crying at this point and I tried explaining to this woman why I was here and that I really wanted to fix whatever my friend thought was wrong with our friendship. What she said to me I will never forget, "She doesn't need a terrible friend like you anymore. She told me what you did. It's all because of that shifty boyfriend you have. Before you started dating him you were a sweet girl, now you are a slut." This surprised the hell out of me because first of all, I was far from a slut and my friend should know that. She knew I was too afraid to do anything with my boyfriend and she knew that I had not changed upon dating him. Her mother was either given false information or she was making up things to try to upset me more and make me leave.

I was so confused at this point. I didn't know what she was talking about "what I did" because I had not done anything. I woke up this morning, got the news about college, cried and texted her. I had not done anything mean to her that would lead her to abandoning me like this with no reasonable explanation. It especially hurt that my friend wasn't even coming out of her house to speak to me directly. I was 17 and she was 19. We were both old enough to deal with our problems without having our moms fight our battles for us. I always knew my friend was slightly on a younger mentality than me, but this was worse than I thought. It was also surprising to me that my friend was having her mother stand up for her against an unknown battle. This is a mother whom she had called me in the middle of the night several times before crying about because her mom and dad had yelled at her for being bisexual. I always supported her and all my other LGBT friends and I never have done anything to make her feel otherwise. I was hurt. I was hurt that she was allowing the person she had called a religious monster yell at me and treat me like garbage on her front lawn. I thought I was her best friend and then this? Anyway, after her mother and brother were done yelling nonsense at me and not giving me a reason why my friend was suddenly abandoning me, I left. I realized this was a losing battle. My "friend's" crazy family was cursing at me and calling me names when I just wanted to know why my friend suddenly hated me.

This bugged me for a week or so, but I got over it. I realized how much better my life was and how much my ex-friend had used me in the past. I got new friends and I also had the old friends from high school who used to be friends with my ex-friend too - but they hadn't heard anything from her so they stopped being her friend because of what she did to me. I realized how much my ex-friend had used me for money whether it was for food or to buy movie tickets - she never paid me back. Her family was more wealthy than mine and she was taking my money that I worked hard for. She didn't even have a job. After a bit, I understood that it was best for her to have left. I'm really honestly glad she did because now I got why my mom was always telling me she was bad and generally a mean friend. I just didn't see it until it was too late.

A few months went by and I was over it and forgot about her and everything she did. I deleted her number and deleted photographs and such. I actually started forgetting my ex-friend's name too. But that's when she texted me. I asked who this was and when she said her name, it took me a few minutes to realize it was her before I deleted the texts and ignored her. I didn't know if she was contacting me to be friends again or what but she wasn't worth it. I didn't need that kind of poison in my life anymore. I didn't need a friend whose family would call me all kinds of names on her front lawn or accuse me of trying to slash tires with my mom and sister in the car. I was done with her.

My life got better once she was out of my life. I started a new college with all of my friends in the spring and my boyfriend, Dylan, and I got closer because we didn't have my ex-friend telling us what to do and what not to do. I was happier. I am happier.

I understand that I should have friends who treat me like a friend and actually stand up for me and tell the truth - which she rarely ever did.

So if you're ever reading this ex-best friend, I want you to know one thing: You made me happier by leaving and Dylan and I wish you well, or as well as you can get. So, thank you.