Up until this past June, I was a pretty negative person. I don't know how I got that way, or why I was that way, but I was. Perhaps it was the way I looked... which I had been teased for, for the majority of my short life. Maybe it was because of my personality. I am very anti-social when I'm not in school. I don't go out often with friends, because I'm simply not up to it. I keep my group of friends pretty tight. I rather have one close friend that I could tell everything to, than 1,000,000 friends who I couldn't relate with. That's just the way I am.

I had one bad experience with a friend (whose name I wish to remain anonymous) and I thought I was through. This friend was so good to me in the beginning (or so I thought). He would give me compliments and was very sweet most of the time. He was 3 years older than me, which was ok because I always knew I was a mature young woman. Whether others see it or not, I do not know. I would carry on long conversations with him, mostly over the Internet because he lived in Long Island, and I had known him from a few hockey games.

Some times this "friend" would act a little rude, or immature to me, but he would always apologize, and I would forgive, because I thought very highly of him... somehow I blocked out who he really was-a jerk. I was really into him... and he acted the same way about me. I don't know what happened... but one day he just started to turn on me, and finally I ended the friendship, that I had enjoyed a lot.

To make a long story short, this so called "friend" of mine, turned out to be a very big jerk. He still harasses me with disgusting remarks... I just laugh them off. Around the same time that the friendship with this "friend" started getting a little bit rocky, I began to talk to another friend, named Jim, who I had also known from a few hockey games.. except... he was cheering for the OTHER team.

But that didn't bug me. He was very sweet, but in the beginning I saw past that because I was so very infatuated with the other "friend"... that I didn't leave much time for Jim... telling him that I couldn't talk, and whatnot. One night when my "friend" was really being a jerk to me (Over the Internet), I began to talk to Jim. It was like a smack in the face. I had been taking crap from my "friend" for about a month, and then here's Jim who was always being very sweet to me, but I had seen past that.

The more I talked to Jim... the more I forgot about this other "friend" and the more I realized... that this other "friend" had treated me with anything but respect. Jim and I talk now on a regular basis, and when the hockey season starts up again, we plan to meet up and see each other. I tell Jim everything... most things that sometimes I can't even tell my friend of 11 years.

Jim has got me to see the glass half full, not half empty. He manages to put a smile on my face, always. So I guess the point of my story is... that everything happens for a reason. My "friend" turning on me.... then I opened my eyes up to see a wonderful person (Jim) who treats me more than well and with respect. I guess there really is a light at the end of the dark, dark, tunnel.