It started off as a sleepover during winter break. My friend had four girls over a few days before we'd be going back to school. She invited one friend who couldn't go. But that was okay. The group was just fine, and everyone got along perfectly. At about two in the morning, one of the girls suggested that we all have a sleepover once a month, and rotate whose house it was at. I said I'd have the next one at my house. Nothing wrong there, right? Wrong.
Later, I was at the house of the girl who hadn't invited, and I opened up an e-mail regarding the sleepover club. Uh-oh.
The next day online, I mentioned the girl who wasn't invited to everyone. She happens to be one of my best friends. I told them I would invite her to my house, too, for the next sleepover. Everyone went crazy. "You can't invite her." "You're going against the group." "It's the group's decision, not yours." I reminded them that it was at my house, and I could invite my friend if I wanted to.
When we went back to school, it got worse. Everyone was mad at me for inviting the girl (who I'll call K) to my next sleepover. Well, everyone was mad at me but K. She told me, "It takes a lot of courage to do that. I don't know if I would have done that myself."
Finally, I quit. I couldn't stand how everyone formed a big group and wouldn't let anyone else in. Eventually my sleepover friends came to their senses, but it took a while. This little innocent sleepover could have turned into so much more. What if my sleepover friends never looked back, and stayed in that group forever?
That, my friends, is how cliques form. Cliques are groups of people who don't let anyone else in. They stay together and punish anyone who doesn't want to be in their group. Hopefully, no one reading this is in a clique. But, if you are in one, there is a way out.
Telling her miserable story,
Jill20 has gotta go.
