Have you ever heard someone make fun of you, then they say, "Relax! It's just a joke!" If you are someone who does this, please stop. You don't know how much words can hurt someone. This is one of the things that contributed to my self harm. My "friend" would talk about planning her party and she would talk about who she would invite. She then proceeded to say, "Definitely not Nadetta. No one wants her there!" This gave me the idea that no one cares about me. That nobody wants me. I've never confronted her about this because I believe she's gotten nicer, but when this happens to you, confront them. Tell them to stop. If they're really your friend, they will stop. If they're not, they will continue to say, "It's just a joke." Stop being their "friend". Find someone who really cares, and there's always someone who does. I have this one friend that left my school. I believe she is a true friend to me. All my other friends would say things like, "She's a bad influence," and "A second grader has more manners than her." They don't understand that she was like that because she felt like she didn't fit in. She never told me this directly, but I can tell. She thought if she acted tough, more people would want her as a friend. Within those "friends" she tries to find the true friends. I know this because she even made a google classroom called "Real ones not fake." It made me really sad that she feels like that and I'm glad I'm in her true friend group.