"Friendships" by Alejandra R

   I’ve always been told that people change with time. When I moved to California from Texas, I had always thought that I was the same, and I didn’t change at all. Every day I made efforts to talk with my friends in Texas, whether it be through texting or phone calls. I was starting school, which made me nervous, because I wasn’t sure how different schools, or the types of people were between the two states. To my suprise, Texans and Californians were almost nothing alike, Californians being more free thinkers, unlike in Texas; there was always so much of a feeling or need to conform. School went by as it always does, and I made friends. My friends in Texas would ask me constantly how school is, and what kinds of friends I had made. As just a general description, my friends in Texas were all extremely materialistic, and looking back at it, shallow.

   Two years after I had moved here, my mom decided it was time to go back and visit. Of course, I missed Texas a lot, but it wasn’t like I wasn’t getting used to California. I had friends and was already accustomed to school. I told all of my friends that I was visiting, which led to a flurry of excitement from them. We planned sleepovers, trips to the mall an hour away, hangouts at Starbucks. I remember being overjoyed that I had my old friends back, we were all together just like in elementary school and middle school.

   On the first day we hung out together, I immediately felt like an outsider. The three girls I had thought I could relate to about everything weren’t there anymore. We had all started high school, and I was the only one who didn’t go to the same school. We all ate a dinner made by my friend’s mom, in which I didn’t eat, because I wasn’t hungry. Immediately, my friends commented if I was trying to be rude, or if this was some kind of “California thing” where you don’t eat food offered to you. I shrugged their comments off, thinking it was just joking around. After we ate, we all went to my friend’s room, where they had decided to talk about what was going on at school, gossiping. I didn’t know who they were talking about, so I couldn’t participate in the conversation. All I heard was, “They’re dating?!..” “Did you hear about so-and-so?” “What was she wearing?! My blind grandma could’ve picked a better outfit than the one she was wearing!” I couldn’t relate to them anymore. Everytime I tried to enter the conversation I got, “You don’t know who we’re talking about.”. Constant judgement was being passed around.

   My friends told me I was different than before I moved. If they had told me this before we hung out, I would’ve disregarded the thought, because I had always thought I was the same, how could I change so much in two years? My friends had stayed the same, and they were right. I did change. I couldn’t relate to them, because I’m no longer the snobby, shallow minded person I was before I moved here.

The friendships we shared were ones I like to remember, but not ones I’d like to keep. I’d rather keep friends that bring positivity into my life rather than judgement. I’ve learned that in life it’s a difficult thing to let go of things that you’ve gotten used to, but if it can improve you as a person, it’s something that has to be done.