The Advice Column I

Fifty-Six

Advice Request
This person is in a friendship that she is not comfortable with but feels like she is at stake if she breaks it off.

Answered Submission
I am going to give you the best possible scenario here, but you have to realize two things: first of all, this won't end up resolved without some sort of fight or repercussion, and, second, you don't have to listen to me. The final decision will always be yours. The first thing I realized upon reading your situation is that your friend is an extremely rude, snobbish person, and I can't, for the life of me, understand what compelled you to be her friend. I understand the pressure of being friends—especially since your mothers are—but that doesn't mean that there is some contract between you two to be friends. I am sure you realized how her personality is from the start but continued on with the charade for the mothers' sakes. This needs to end. A friendship like that is unhealthy, honestly, and will only place more and more stress on you as time goes on. Here's my suggestion: you need to confess all the secrets you have kept from your mother and accept whatever comes afterwards. Only then can you break off whatever form of dysfunctional friendship you two share and move on. You seem like such a nice person who is stuck in a messy situation. You can clean this up and get over all of this. I believe in you. Stay strong, and, as always...

Love,
The Advice Column