(My boss called into the store to see how things are going and is telling me about her day.)

Boss: “My friend’s mother died, so now I have to waste my day off tomorrow going to the funeral. I had stuff I wanted to do!”

(It is the first day of my art history class. I am sitting next to a blonde girl who is texting someone and for all intents and purposes appears to fit the stereotype of the b****y popular girl. Being a nerd, I am wary of those I perceive as fitting into that group, so I act very coldly to her when we are assigned to work together on a project.)

Me: “So, just let me take care of this. I always end up doing all the work in these stupid group projects anyway.”

Her: “… Okay?”

(Fast forward a ways into the semester. I happen to catch a glimpse of her sneakers as class is ending. They are ‘Star Wars’ themed.)

Me: “Oh, my God, is that Darth Vader? Your shoes are awesome!”

Her: “Oh, thanks! Personally, I like my belt better.” *shows off Batman belt buckle*

Me: “That’s the greatest.”

(And that’s how I met one of my best friends.)

(My mother has been fighting with cancer for over a year, and I am pretty worn out from going to school, working part time, and helping take care of her. I am worn utterly thin.)

Me: “Sorry I’m late, guys.”

Friend: “Where have you been?”

Me: “I was calling mom. She’s having a rough time, and I might have to skip drama practice.”

Friend: “Ugh. I can’t stand how negative you are all the time. You’re letting this ruin your life.”

Me: “… Okay?”

(It’s winter break, and my group of friends is back from college. We’ve kind of fallen apart, but we still want to form a get-together with all of us. Although one friend has expressed interest, she’s incredibly busy and doesn’t have any free time at all. Eventually, winter break ends; the get-together never happens. After everyone has returned to college, I communicate over IM with this friend.)

Friend: “I was working seven days a week, but I have some time off now.”

Me: “Good! Your schedule was really gross. That wasn’t a vacation at ALL!”

Friend: “I could’ve requested time off earlier, but I didn’t because I was waiting for you or [Best Friend] to let me know when you wanted to hang out.”

Me: “Uh, what?”

Friend: “I have always instigated get-togethers, and I felt like we wouldn’t hang out if I wasn’t the one making plans. So, I guess I was right…”

Me: “Um, [Friend]… Look, you’re really sociable, but [Best Friend] and I aren’t good at social stuff at all. You KNOW that. I’m sorry, but you shouldn’t have left it all up to us.”

Friend: “I know, but I feel like if you guys actually wanted to get together, you would have mentioned something…”

Me: “But… I did. I was posting my schedule online, letting everyone know when I had free time, and asking if you guys wanted to come to my house. It really would’ve been more helpful if you picked a day that you wanted off. I think we would’ve worked around your schedule. I just didn’t get any input from you or [Friend #2].”

Friend: “Anyway, it’s not like I didn’t plan anything so that I could have a reason to be mad. Which I’m not mad! I just wanted to see what would happen if I didn’t say anything, even though I wanted us to all get together and hang out like we used to.”

Me: “Well, I wanted to, too, and I feel bad that we didn’t, but I’m not pointing fingers at anyone.”

Friend: “I’m not pointing fingers.”

Me: “But y’know, we all have a part in the planning… The summer before, we got together a lot thanks to you. But I was able to make plans, too, so long as everyone told me when they would be free and what they wanted to do.”

Friend: “I said I wasn’t pointing fingers. I was proving a point to myself.”

Me: “[Friend], it IS pointing fingers because you told me your thought process. You decided that it was up to me and [Best Friend] to plan everything, and then since nothing happened, you decided that it was because of us. But y’know what? I think something would’ve worked out if everyone actually put forward some effort. You hardly proved anything besides the fact that if you just wait and do nothing, nothing’s going to happen.”

(She suddenly dropped the point after that.)

(It is our second last year of high school and two of my friends are standing in the corridor, talking. Friend #1 can be a bit blonde sometimes. During this instance, one of the other students had thrown a firecracker inside one of the dustbins around school. My friends are talking near it when it suddenly explodes, giving them both a fright.)

Friend #1: “Oh, my God! Somebody shot me!”

Friend #2: “Calm down, [Friend #1]. It was the dustbin.”

Friend #1: “The dustbin shot me?!”