Junior High and the Start of Drama Season

Well a new school year has started and with the advent of football/volleyball and fall, comes the most important season to Junior High Girls....Drama Season. It breaks my heart that girls everywhere have to go through this very trying time of growth and development. The maturing difficulties, gossip, bullying, and just plain mean.

Last year Rebecca had some very hard lessons to learn about being on the other side of the table and what it meant when a "mean girl" gets rehabilitated. This year she starts off being a recipient, and learning a new lesson.

She has liked a boy from a neighboring town for a few months now. She has seen him sometimes at the home of mutual friends, and then last Friday at a football game. They have talked a bit and she thought that over the next few months maybe he would ask her to be his girlfriend. Imagine her excitement on Monday then when he texted her on my telephone that he liked her and would love to have her as his girlfriend.

She was so excited!
She couldn't wait to share the news with all of her best friends who are her support system. Many of them who knew that she had a crush on him. She spent the evening, and the next day calling and telling her friends from school. She also tried to get ahold of on her best friends "C" from the boy's town to let her know.

Yesterday at the gym when her "C" came in for class Rebecca nearly tackled her in excitement to let her know....but "C" brought with her the news that the young man had changed his mind, and did not want to do the boyfriend/girlfriend thing after all. Well Rebecca was disappointed but an hour later she was ready to move on and didn't give it to much thought.

"C" left the gym to head home for the evening and then texted Rebecca on my phone a little while later with a confession. It had been her all along, pretending to be the boy Rebecca liked the day before. She had thought it would be a funny prank to play, and that she was sorry.

Now Rebecca is angry because one of her best friends played such a mean trick on her. She is embarrassed that she told so many people and now has to go back and correct the situation. She is worried the young man will find out, and never want anything to do with her again. She is heartbroken because the trust that she thought she had in a loyal friend was not really there.

This morning I called the girl's mother to tell her about the situation and she is handling it. I am sad that a joke went bad at the expense of my child, but I understand the lessons that have to be learned with it. Rebecca learned to not trust blindly things that come from text/Internet. She learned that her friends make bad choices, just like she has made in the past. She has learned that friendship and trust are treasures to not be abused. She has learned not every joke or prank is funny especially if you are the victim.

What lessons did you come away with in Junior High?