This Isn't What Sixteen Was Supposed To Look Like
I thought by sixteen, I’d have a perfect boyfriend, know how to flirt, and laugh with my friends at the mall. I thought my friend group would be made up of tons of girls who always got along and we would all be besties for the rest of our lives. Today is my sixteenth birthday. I don’t know if I got it wrong, or if my expectations were too high. I don’t have a boyfriend—so far only a homeless man and 45 year old stranger have been interested in me—I don’t know how to flirt and end up talking to guys the way newborn giraffes walk, I don’t have a perfect friend group. Calling the group of girls I know a “friend group” is a bit much, though. In recent months, my friends won’t talk to me. If it were just one girl giving me the cold shoulder, I’d think it was just her, but when it’s all six girls, ignoring you but chatting about their new love interests and life updates right next to you in class, it makes me think I’m the problem. I’ve started replaying every interaction with the...