Everyday when we read the newspaper we see the names of overachievers in our society. Even when you read a regular teen novel you hear how amazing high school is. Well guess what? It is called ‘fiction’ for a reason. Simply because it is unreal!

High school can be the most difficult period of a student’s life. It is when most boys and girls go through adolescence, their hormones start acting up and they simply start acting mean.

This is something I have always failed to understand. How do girls become so mean? No, not mean – cruel, cunning and manipulative. Luckily others have wondered about the same thing.

I have had many run ins with mean girls. One specific girl tormented me and called me names so horrible that I cried myself to sleep every night. My best friend had been hanging out with the mean girl for over a year in spite of how she treated me. I didn’t understand, if she really was my best friend why didn’t she support me and stand by me?

After a few months of telling my best friend of this behaviour, she saw – really saw – how the mean girl was treating me. She stood up to her and the mean girl seemed unfazed as if she didn’t care. I finally was able to agree with my mother who told me constantly, "Mean girls are everywhere. You have to deal with them everywhere. Everyone deals with them and sadly everyone has to do it on their own."

Later I found out the mean girl had a lot of issues at home and not the normal issues a teenager faces. Everything came into perspective when I found out what was really going on in her life. I tried my best to forgive her because I know it is not good to hold a grudge over some one. Even now when I think about her I feel a surge of anger which is clouded with sympathy and understanding.

Now I was left only with one friend. Strangely, I was glad about it! I was able to see who my true friends (or should I say friend) was! I realised then that the quality of friends matters more than quantity. No matter how cliched that sounds, it is true! The sooner you realise this, the sooner you find that group of girls who will lend you a hand!

I know that many high school girls feel left out as if there is something wrong with them. They try to be like everyone else and don’t have friends who really know the real person inside. I have felt that desperation where I didn’t really care who I was, I just needed to have friends. I didn’t want to stand out! What I didn’t realise was how important it is to be myself.

I have managed to find friends that are totally different from me but I can be myself around them without being like them.

Why do girls feel the need to fit in so much? Hang out with the right people – that is people who accept you and love you for who you are – you just have to look harder!

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