You’re with us now!
Tommy is a 13-year-old boy who loves playing video games and hanging out with his best friends, Ray and Lizzy. They spend nearly every afternoon together, playing soccer in the park or riding bikes.
One day at school, Tommy noticed Brian and Luke, two ninth-graders. They were the heads of the in-crowd at St Benedict’s school and everybody wanted to be as popular as they were! Brian was a blond tall guy and Luke was the most athletic person you could imagine. They were sitting on a bench in front of the main entrance, laughing loudly, chatting, and looking happily at their phones, the latest phones, of course, and very expensive. Tommy sighed. At least he had a phone that worked now too, but not a phone like theirs. Tommy wanted to be part of their group very urgently. Suddenly, he felt a strong desire to join them. “I want to hang out with the cool kids!” he told himself. I want to be like them.”
At lunch the next day, Tommy approached the cool kids’ table in the cafeteria. To his surprise, they welcomed him with warm smiles, and Tommy felt excited. He would have never dreamed they would even pay attention to him! One of the cool kids, Brian, was especially friendly. “Hey, Tommy! What’s going on? Come take a seat! You’re with us now!” he said. Tommy felt unbelievably proud. But from the other side of the cafeteria he could feel Lizzy and Ray’s eyes on him. What would they say if he didn’t join them today?
As the days passed, Tommy started to hang out with the cool kids even more. They played basketball after school and sat together during lunch breaks. Brian and Luke were really nice! But then he began to notice something strange. Whenever Brian was around, he often talked about Tommy’s older sister, Tina. “She’s so pretty,” Brian would say. “I really like her. Can’t you introduce us?”
Tommy started to understand that Brian only wanted to be friends with him to get closer to Tina. The other cool kids from the in-crowd didn’t seem to care about Tommy at all. They laughed at his jokes only when Brian was there. Tommy felt used, but he didn’t want to admit it.
One afternoon, Tommy was at the park with Ray and Lizzy. They were playing soccer when Tommy suddenly felt sad. “I miss hanging out with you guys,” he admitted. Ray and Lizzy looked surprised. “Why did you leave us?” Lizzy asked.
“I thought I could be cool,” Tommy replied, looking down. “But it’s not fun when your friends only want to use you to get in contact with your sister.” Ray and Lizzy exchanged meaningful glances, understanding how Tommy felt.
Tommy took a deep breath. “I’m really sorry for leaving you guys. I should have appreciated our friendship more.” Ray smiled. “It’s okay, Tommy. We knew something like this was going to happen, so we didn’t say anything and let you make your own experiences. We all make mistakes.” Lizzy nodded. “Yeah, we’re happy you’re back with us.”
Tommy felt relieved. He realized that being with true friends was better than trying to be cool. They finished their game and laughed together, enjoying the moment.
The next day at school, Tommy decided to talk to the cool kids. He approached Brian during lunch. “Hey, Brian, I think we need to talk.” He looked surprised. “What’s up?”
“I don’t want to hang out with you anymore. I feel like you just want to use me to get to my sister,” Tommy said firmly. “That’s not cool.”
Brian’s smile faded. “I… I just like her a lot,” he said. “I didn’t mean to make you feel used.”
“I understand,” Tommy replied. “But I want real friends.”
Tommy walked away, feeling strong. He went back to Ray and Lizzy, who were waiting for him. “I told Brian how I feel,” he said with a grin.
“Good for you!” Ray exclaimed.
From that day on, Tommy cherished his friendship with Ray and Lizzy. They were the ones who truly cared about him, the ones he could trust, the ones who would never go behind his back or drop him - and that made all the difference.
