The 100 Wonderings of A Teenage Girl

Chapter 1 - Friends

I'm going to begin this chapter with a different word.

That word is:

Family.

The definition of Family is a group of people related by blood or marriage. Family is not something you can chose, it is something you have been given. Some people get the luck of being included in a wonderful family (such as myself), however some do not.

Friends are the people you chose to surround yourself with, and it is your decision who you fill your life with.

If you want to be cool, then you have to get into the "in" crowd; you have to be friends with all of the other cool kids; you have to be fashionable, you have to drink, you have to be slightly bitchy and you have to be popular. But what if being cool isn't what life is all about?

I'm not a cool kid: I'm the weirdo that the "cool" guys will poke fun at, and the "popular" girls will gossip about. But do you know what? I'm much happier than those kids. Yes, occasionally, I'll feel anxious about other students and what they're saying about me, but I don't have to worry about my friends.

I have friends that have once been part of the popular clique - I, myself, was once in the slightly popular but not quite there popular group, and I remember getting pretty down about it. The popular clique is essentially a battle field of words: two people have a heated argument, they each go off to their preferred allies in the group and slander their opponent, and soon a vicious fight where wounds are inflicted and tears fall begins.

I don't have to worry about that because I have chosen my friends wisely. I have chosen the kind people, the quirky people, the people that are different. Some of my friends chose me. And yes, maybe I haven't got myself a hot boyfriend, and yes I get laughed at from time to time, but on the whole, I am happy. In the three years I have known my current friends, I have never had a fight with them - small disputes, but never a fight. The people I have the privilege to call my friends make my life joyful and funny, they offer me support and don't judge me (well, most of the time, anyway (insert laughing face here - I'm trying to be as formal as possible)) for my actions. They are truthful and they give me their honest opinions, they don't ridicule me behind my back and they don't secretly detest me. I am proud to say that I have kind and caring friends, that are decent humans and have great futures ahead of them. I have had the good fortune of meeting these people, call it destiny or fate (I personally don't believe in that, but we'll talk about that later), but I am glad that these people have stumbled into my life - or rather, I have stumbled into theirs.

Search for people you can make great memories with, that you can have a laugh with and that you can trust with your deepest, darkest secrets.

Your friends aren't your family. Your friends are your life.

To my mates:

Thank you. Thank you for being there when I need you. Thank you for being hilarious, thank you for being passionate about mad and wonderful things. Thank you for being good influences on me, thank you for your encouragement and your support. You make my (at times) dark life brighter, and you inspire me to be great. Know that I appreciate you. Please don't ever change.

(A/N: I'm not trying to make friendship look superior to family, and I'm not trying to make family appear bad. I'm just trying to show the importance of friendship)