NEW GIRL IS CAUSING PROBLEMS

Dear Jellybean,

Well me and my friend Amy used to be really close friends, that is until a new girl moved to our school named Brittany. Well when Brittany moved I tried making friends with her, and so Amy me and Brittany were all like really good friends. Then later Amy and Brittany became really really good friends and now they hang out with eachother more than they hang out with me or any of our other friends! For instance they sit together at lunch every day and then one day they didn't and they "missed eachother" and they had to go sit by eachother. And I told them how I feel and they told me and my friends to quit moping and grow up and they said that there's no time limit on friendship and all that, so basically they don't care! And I don't know what to do cause frankly they treat us like dirt and they still call us best friends.

Dear Writer,

Aw, Amy and Brittany are in friend love. This happens all the time - maybe it happened with you and Amy, too, when you first met. The start of a friendship can feel just like the start of a love relationship - you want to be with the new person all the time, because everything they do seems fascinating and new. It's totally normal - so you probably shouldn't have confronted them about it, although as Amy's "old" friend, I do get why it's also annoying you.

Now, you need to stop being angry about their friendship, and just accept that it's going to be around for a while, at least until they have their first fight and Amy realizes that Britany isn't as perfect (and different from her other, older friends) as she thinks.

Do your best to be nice to Amy and Brittany, because Amy is still your friend, if you want her to be, and Brittany can be too, if you're willing to put some effort into making that happen. At the same time, you've got other "best friends", so cultivate deeper friendships with those other girls and enjoy spending more time in their company.

There's no time limit on friendship, and there's really no room for bossing people around either. Everyone has the right to be friends with who they want, and be closer to some people, at some times, than others. It's just the way of the world. Work on making all your friendships better, and you'll have a place to go when one friend gets sucked into the new-relationship haze with somebody else.