“I’d Rather Be Me” from Mean Girls the Musical

It’s been a rough week. Not because of tests, or quizzes, or any of that sort. It’s been a rough week because of Laurie. My best friend. Well, I thought she was my best friend until she stabbed me in the back and took all of my secrets and feelings with her. How could she? Telling all of my secrets and feelings to Emily, the worst person I’ve ever known. She’s no murderer or anything like that, but she’s so mean and utterly disrespectful to others. Well, apparently not to Laurie. But this isn’t my first betrayal. This has happened to me twice.

It was all fun back in Elementary School. Emily and I were actually friends. Once we were in middle school, we were even closer. Best friends. Studying together, having lunch together, braiding each other's hair, having countless sleepovers, everything! But that suddenly changed. She started ignoring me. First, it was my texts and calls. Then it was me altogether. Every gym class, I would try to get on to her team. Most of the time I failed.

I thought she was just taking a break from me at first, but then I noticed she was hanging out with all of the people I didn’t like. I had never told anyone else but Emily about those people who do bad things to others. Once, I was walking past Emily and her “new” friends in the halls. They whispered and snickered. When I left, they burst out laughing. It happened several times more. Sometimes I would be tripped or teased by Emily’s friends, but never Emily herself. Looking back, she was being cowardly. Why would you ask others to do your dirty work instead of doing it yourself? But I didn’t tell anyone about this. No one. It was mainly because I was scared that Emily would think of me as a bad friend for getting her in trouble. But the thing was, she wasn’t my friend, or at least acting like one.

Now it’s happening again-several years later-with Laurie. She and Emily have made it loud and clear that they don’t like anything about me. The color of my hair, the color of my eyes, the way I dress, the way I do anything. They hate anything and everything about me. Since they’re so “popular” in school, everyone’s been feeling the same way. Honestly, it’s the most immature thing. But this time, I’m not going to sit around and let my voice go unheard. I’m not going to listen to their opinions. Everyone has opinions, but opinions aren’t facts; they’re thoughts. I’m going to stand up for myself because I would rather be with me than be with anyone who’s too scared to say what they want to my face. You wanted to break me, Emily, but all you did was make we brave.