School teaches us many things besides reading, writing and arithmetic; many of us have learned that kids can be cruel -- especially young boys left unchecked. A lot of the time the damage they do is more permanent than some people realize, particularly the jokes they play on young girls. It's not because they like her; it's because they want to laugh.
One of the crueler jokes they play is a classic heart-breaker: one boy will go up to a girl, tap her shoulder, point back to one of his friends and say, "Hey! My friend likes you." There are two ways this can go. The first option, the girl is shy, hopeful, maybe smiles and does a wave back at the boy before the boys snicker at one another for making her believe it. The second option, she shakes her head and tries to go anywhere else to get away from them, knowing that the joke comes from the implication that nobody could really like her. It pains me when they purposefully prey on a typically plain girl or one people choose to whisper about for not wearing makeup or dressing "like a prude" in comfortable clothes. It isn't fair and it isn't right.
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Girls can also be mean if television and theater has taught us anything. As seen in "Mean Girls" and "The Heathers," girls can be unjustly critical toward each other. I've seen it happen first-hand where a group of girls will take in another member. This girl very obviously does not fit in with the look of the group. They let her tag along when they hang out in school, but she's rarely invited to be around them after that final bell rings. She doesn't often get the chance to speak her piece in any conversation or she is often ignored and talked over. This girl is so common that we have a term for her and her kind: the D.U.F.F or Dumb Ugly Fat Friend. She can be any combination of the three, so long as she makes everyone else look better by comparison.
The worst things happen when you put your faith in someone you believe to be a friend. I once was one of those kids. I thought it was a blessing that a couple of the more popular kids let me join them at school and we actually were friendly toward each other without ulterior motive. I wouldn't say we were best friends or even good friends, but we were civil and fair. At least, until one of the girls and I saw each other on Valentine's Day. She saw a valentine card that I'd made for someone I liked. I was too scared to sign it so I made it anonymously. Even then I didn't care for the card; it was a stupid mushy poem like a hundred million other cards written by a smitten seventh-grader. She told everyone in our grade that I'd written the valentine and my crush never even had the chance to reject me to my face. It was a fact that it was a complete joke. Never tell people about someone else's crush unless they ask you. You're robbing them of an important moment.
Boys or girls, nobody should play these disgusting games. People get hurt everyday. I don't want to see another girl cry because someone thinks she's ugly enough to be a joke. I don't want an entire grade to laugh at a boy for writing something meant to be private. Please, next time you tell a girl that your friend likes her, be sure that he actually does.
