I have changed. No doubt about that.

Last Thursday, I had a seven-hour shift at work and during my ten-minute break, I caught sight of a man I once knew. He was the father of my ex-best friend, whom I now have a very convoluted, unstable relationship with. Amused with seeing a familiar face, I sent his daughter a text. I then received a friendly reply about him being unemployed and using the restaurant’s free Internet connection to complete online job applications. I simply informed her about my manager’s store policy: customers are not allowed to loiter and will be forced to leave within thirty minutes. With that in mind, I suggested that her father go to the library for its Wi-Fi to avoid an unfavorable encounter with my manager. Plus, the library is open until nine on weekdays, leaving a wider time frame for those type of tasks. For that, I earned disrespect from her. Frustrated with her for accusing me of being “judgmental” and “trying to kick him out,” I told her specifically that choice is entirely up to the manager as she is the only one with the power to do so.

That experience made me realize something important: she was not far from the person she was back in middle school, over-sensitive and delusional. She hears what she wants to hear and cannot bear any negative feedback. Time after time, she has proven herself to be selfish and completely ignorant of how she hurts other people. Most interactions with her are stressful. Not once did I remember not having drama in my life because of her constantly instigating drama and then hiding behind a guise of innocence. She misused my kindness and hid behind excuses. For insulting my appearance, she told me she was feeling terrible about hers and, wanted a "confidence booster" and outlet for her negativity. According to her, she knew that I "would understand." For never visiting me, she told me it was because my mother hated her. That is a fact. Because she did not visit me, I visited her because she begged me and for that, my mom beat me. Of course I was angry with her for multiple reasons that I don't remember now, but she never gave me a proper apology.

She is eighteen-years-old and, does not know how to take responsibility and admit her wrongs because of her victim complex. I remember the days when she had straight As and in high school, her grades plummeted, leaving her to resort to home schooling and charter school where she had little outside social interaction. As of now, she is in community college and I do not know whether she will transfer. It seems that our stages in life have flip-flopped. While I have never let my grades go below average, I was once an uncomfortable little girl. I had no direction with carrying myself socially. I took the longer path to destinations to avoid being seen. I hated what I saw in the mirror and regretted the majority of my actions because I felt that I was an absolute failure in social conduct. Going into high school, I realized my passion, yet I chose to skirt around by enrolling in a community college. I kept my options open and in the end, this has only reaffirmed my love for art. I know where I am headed in life, though I can't say the same for her.

I do not necessarily hate or dislike her. In fact, she was a large part of my life when I was younger and that has shaped the person I am. However, I am astonished by how varied our lifestyles are now. Never would I have guessed that this would be our paths in life back in eighth grade.