You’re laughing, smiling, and sitting with your closest friends. It’s the last day of middle school, and you all can’t wait until you move on to high school together. This is a feeling that many remember from their younger years, but as you step through the doors of high school, things suddenly feel different. You don’t see your friends anymore. You don’t have the same lunch or classes. You don’t even see them passing in the halls. You all start to grow apart, and you don’t even try to connect outside of school anymore. A lot of kids have gone through this experience. Many said that this is a “canon event,” or the “curse” of high school.
Someone who would like to remain anonymous had a lot to say about this. They said, “It was the first day of high school, and my middle school best friend told me I was no longer welcome to eat lunch with them. There was a falling out with one of the people in the friend group over the summer and that was the reason that all of my friends stopped talking to me. I saw them all throughout the year and things with all of them will never be the same; we all will never be friends again. Every time I see them I am reminded of the curse of high school.” This person is an example of how going into highschool can rock your world and change it for the worse. However they also said it wasn’t all negative. They said, “The whole situation allowed me to branch out and make new friends, I left the toxic ones behind and was able to move on. Now I am happier than ever.” The perspective of losing your friends determines how you cope and how you move on from your old friends and onto new ones.
We interviewed another person who also would like to stay anonymous. They stated, “When high school started, my whole friend group was split up. We all didn’t have the same classes, or lunches. Tensions started to rise between certain members in the group, and everyone started taking sides. People were talking about each other behind their backs and it became a mess. We really don’t talk anymore, and it feels like everyone is on a different side.” This person is still suffering through this “friendship break up.” When new friend groups enter high school and get separated, it’s really hard to keep them together.
These two people have gone through such different experiences, but they lived through the same situation. We spoke to a couple others and there seems to be a consensus on how high school seems like it changed everything.
One person stated, “It just feels like my friends have branched off into their own groups, and we don’t really mesh together anymore. After middle school some of us went to different high schools, and it’s really hard to keep in touch.” Some kids leave the school districts that they’ve been in for years to go to different high schools for multiple reasons, such as: religious beliefs, better education, better opportunities, and even moving to a different city or state. This can also be a reason for friendship break ups.
Losing friends from your past isn’t always a bad thing. There are chances in high school for you to branch out and connect with people that you haven’t met before. It really is a chance for you to find your true friends and those who you will be friends with for years to come. So, please enjoy and cherish your friends. Remember that even if you had more in the past, the ones you have now or will have are your true friends—ones that will stick with you no matter what.
