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" You would think keeping up grades while balancing a steady sleep schedule would be the hardest thing when you get to college. I actually had a different obstacle to overcome: making friends. I thought that I was on top of the world when I managed to snag a group of friends who wanted to hang out with me as much as I wanted to hang out with them. The memory of eating alone my first few days made me cling to them. There was even a cute guy in our group, and, out of all the girls, he had his sights set on me! We even became FBO. Everything seemed perfect! But it was not perfect at all. It became one giant psychological mess. Whenever I began to branch out and make more friends, I would receive subtle threats for betraying the group. I had to constantly show that I put them first or else I would hear about it later. I constantly felt on edge, worried that they would leave me. Before I thought it was so convenient that my boyfriend and I shared the same social circle. The thing is, after we broke up, he still remained in our friend group (which otherwise consisted of all girls.) The whole situation then became awkward and his actions managed to cause tension between my other friends. I constantly felt insecure and trapped. It wasn&amp;#039;t until the last couple months of school that I actually forced myself to branch out and take the leap from acquaintance to friends with the other people that I had met throughout the school year. Sometimes, this meant doing things by myself, but I didn&amp;#039;t let anyone make me feel guilty about spending time with other people anymore. I spent the whole second semester contemplating the idea of transferring, thinking there was no other option. Within the first week of stepping out into new territory, I realized there is a whole spectrum of friends beyond my tiny, original group. These kids were nicer to me and we had even more in common! What I took from this experience is to not root yourself in the first friend group you make, no matter how comfortable it may seem at the time. Don&amp;#039;t be afraid to get involved in activities that your current group is not a part of to build independence and make even more friends. Remember: only you get to decide who you can and can&amp;#039;t hang out with! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/life/school/advice/a20892/dealing-with-possessive-friends/>