Rumours
By Chelsie, age 14, South Wales, United Kingdom
Recently I've had a lot of my friends telling me how I've changed, because I look different, because I've had a boyfriend, and because of the way I take photos. Now, in my opinion, yes, I have changed, but I haven't changed for the worse. I haven't become b****y and I've managed to grow up. I wear less makeup and I don't care too much about what people think of me.
But this has been really getting to me. Sometimes I wonder if they hate me. My friends think I've become "plastic". I'm sure you've all seen Mean Girls. Well, they think I've turned into one of them. I think that's pretty pathetic, as I'm not a s***, and I'm really not that popular.
In 2007, I started in high school. (In the UK we hit high school when we're approximately 12.) I never wore makeup, and I had a boyfriend I'd dated for about a year. We never kissed, and our relationship was innocent. Then, in year eight, I wore makeup - quite a lot - and my relationship wasn't so innocent. We never had sex, but people assumed we did. We finally broke up because of the rumours that I was pregnant (which was impossible), and we just stayed friends.
Then I hit year 9, the year I'm in now. It has been terrible. I've had a boyfriend since the last one - tall, handsome, and caring. But he got clingy ... very clingy. He wouldn't let me go at all, and he was constantly asking me where I'd been and who I'd been with. We dated starting on January 29th, 2009, and broke up on May 4th because he wanted what I wasn't going to give him - sex. He sent constant texts to me asking, and I said No.
Since then, I've learned my friends thought I had agreed to it, and I haven't. The whole point in this is just to say:
Don't do what you don't want to. Don't let rumours get you down. And most importantly, let yourself grow. If you don't let yourself change, you're not letting yourself make mistakes and grow up.
Chelsie <3
