Fake Friend

Anika was looking around. She had a sudden thought of calling her friend who was quite busy these days because of exam preparation, so she thought to call and cheer them all up.

She called Lyria first since it was her first day of college.

"Hey Lyria! How are you?" Anika asked her.

"Nothing much girl, just too tired with all this stuff. One of my main problems are my friends. I have too many friends here but no one is willing to help me so I have less burdens." Lyria complained.

"Yeah, I understand! You must be feeling low, right?" Anika responded as she was unable to comfort her.

"Yep, I do. So tell me why'd you call me?" Lyria asked Anika.

"Well I was just calling you to ask about how you were doing—but now I need to ask, well why don't you come to Teenfix stage today? We can discuss a new topic that will make you feel better and relaxed." Anika suggested.

Lyria thought for a moment.

"Ya it's a good idea. At least I'd be away from fake friends who say they will be here if I need it, but when I look around there is no one. So yep I'm coming." Lyria said.

"Ok cool! When you come we'll ask Divya and Rithika today's topic." Anika said since she didn't know the problems Lyria's facing.

After reaching Teen Fix backstage.

Divya and Rithika were discussing something.

They all went to Divya to ask about today's topic and to prepare about it.

"Well guys, we have a problem. We thought about discussing our childhood, but for that we need more preparation. So does anyone have suggestions?" Divya said as the others began discussing. Nobody noticed new people were present—so when Zohra noticed them she turned to Ritika and asked, "Who are they?"

"Well they are.. You will know soon!" Ritika said, smiling devilishly.

Everyone whined in annoyance, impatient for her to tell.

"Guys, think about today's topic and you will know them soon so be patient." Lyria said as everyone else nodded in agreement.

Everyone started to think about the difficulties they faced while simultaneously, Anika remembers something.

"Hey, how about we do what Lyria is facing now?" Anika suggested. Everyone looked at Lyria strangely, what happened to her?

Lyria panicked, what? Am I sick? She thought to herself.

"No silly. What she is facing means—come here," Anika waved them all over. As they were grouped up, she explained the topic.

"I think it is good." Zohra agreed. Just then, they heard a crunching sound. Turning toward the sound, it was Udita eating a new flavor of chips.

"What? I was hungry alright!" Udita exclaimed.

"You're always hungry! Just an hour before you ate Cheetos, now you are eating another chip bag." Ritika commented as Udita looked at her innocently.

"Um, you know you're getting off topic. It was agreeing with what Anika said—right? Yeah so I am fine with it." Udita said, trying to change the subject while everyone looked at her, shaking their heads.

"Cool! Then we'll finalize the topic that Anika said. Now all of you do some preparation while Lyria, Ritika and I go front stage to see the arrangements." Divya said while dragging both of them out.

They all started preparing.

After an hour everything was ready. So they all went front stage.

"Hello everyone this is Lyria presenting you TEEN TALKS!"

The audience clapped their hands.

"So today we have new members—Lily, Moon and Afaf," Ritika announced.

"Come and introduce yourself," Divya said.

Lily went first.

"Hello ladies and gentlemen, I am Lily." Everyone laughed at her introduction.

"I hope you all enjoy my presence here." Lily said while handing the mic to Moon.

"Hey everybody! I am moon but not like the sky moon, I am down to earth moon. So nice to meet you all." The audience clapped their hands to welcome Moon.

"Hii! Guys I am Afaf. now I can't come up with an interesting intro like they did, so just hello. I hope you are okay with this introduction." Afaf said while smiling, a few chuckles hinting at her.

"So if everyone has introduced themselves let's start with today's topic." Zohra said

"Today, we are going to discuss a topic which our friend has been suffering from. I think I myself go through it. We find it troublesome to identify who is our friend and who wants to harm us. Yes you guessed it right, it's 'fake friends', that I am sure a number of us suffer from." Anika said.

"Why am I feeling sleepy now?" Udita questioned herself out loud, forgetting that she wasn't alone. Looking up, she saw how everyone was looking at her while shaking their heads.

Udita sighed loudly, "Ok, I'll be quiet."

"You better be." Zohra said

"Okay, so let's start. What's a fake friend? What's their purpose?" Lily asked

"The world is full of fake friends. Everywhere you go, anywhere you see, there they stand, under the mask of someone kind and loyal." Divya said. People nodded their head, agreeing because it's true. We can't identify who is a real friend or who wants to harm us.

"These friends are always there beside you, ready to jump at you if given any reason to betray you." Lyria said

"Yeah they want the opportunity to show they want good for us, but in the end they themselves betray us." Afaf said all nodded at her totally agreeing with her.

"These are associated with others' views about you. One moment you're the star and they are with you, like bees with honey. But in the time of need, at times when you count on them to support you and boost your morale, they back down and show their true colour." Moon said.

"Yes, that's why it's said that you'll know who is your real friend when you find yourself in need of their support, but they will leave you to show if they're real or fake." Zohra said.

"They prove their disloyalty. I always say that these are the worst—worse than your arch enemies." Ritika said as everyone nodded.

"Yeah, an enemy you know they'll try to hurt you so you'll have to prepare for it, but when your friend back stabs you that hurts a lot because you didn't see it coming. So fake friends are really worse than your enemy." Udita said while everyone gave her stares.

"What? I can be serious sometimes you know." Udita defended herself

"Yes you can be, sorry our bad." Anika eyed her.

"No problem. Okay, well I have said my part I am going to eat something." Udita shrugged as everyone facepalmed.

"Really! You want to eat something now?" Divya's eyebrows raised.

"So what do I do? I'll go to sleep if you don't want me to eat." Udita pouted.

"You know what? Now you will not go to eat anything, and no you will not sleep in this session." Lyria said sternly.

"Cool then." Udita sighed.

"Ok then, where were we? Yeah now you know what fake friends are so let's see some interesting facts about them." Zohra said

"Well then as we already know fake friends are worse than enemies! Sometimes it is difficult to understand who is a real friend and who is fake!" Ritika said.

"These are 10 interesting facts about fake friends & friendships:

1 - They get jealous of your achievements!😬

2 - They won't help you in your needs!😞

3 - They just want you so that they can show off on social media!🙄

4 - They always make you feel that you are not worth it!😖

5 - They use you for their needs!😞

6 - They don't understand you properly!😑

7 - They get angry with you easily!😥

8 - They don't apologize to you easily!😶

9 - They gossip about you with others!😔

10 - They are selfish and don't like you, really!😣 these are fact about fake friends." Anika said.

"Just that it is said "Everybody isn't your friend. Just because they hang around you and laugh with you doesn't mean you are your friends. People pretend well. At the end of the day, real situations expose fake people, so pay attention." I think this one really is right." Afaf quoted.

"Yeah! this really sho- Wait a second. I have to take this." Lyria was interrupted by her phone ringtone.

"Who is it?" Divya asked

"Umm Friends." Lyria responded.

"Okay then take it." Ritika said

"Hello?"

"Hey Lyria, where are you? We were searching for you for like an hour" said Lyria's friend.

"So you were worried about me?" Lyria smiled widely, at least her friends weren't fake, they cared for her.

"Of course sweetie, we care for you. Anyway where are you? You have to complete my project, remember?" her friend said.

Now Lyria understood.

"So you want to know about me not because you were worried about me, you just want your work done." Lyria said angrily.

"No sweetie, it's not like that. Oh I have to go, my boyfriend came. So remember to complete that project of mine." Her friend hung up.

Lyria's mood became off, asking herself if she was really her friend if she went on a date with her boyfriend while giving her project to Lyria to complete even though they know she already has a lot of work to complete.

"Who does she think she is? I will not complete her work, I am not her maid to complete it while she is enjoying herself." Lyria muttered angrily to herself, going to the front stage after calming herself down.

"What happened? Do you have an emergency?" Zohra asked.

"No, nothing. Just angry with this fake friend stuff." Lyria said. Anika put her hand on Lyria's shoulder to comfort her, understanding perfectly.

"Don't worry we are here for you." Anika said as everyone nodded.

"I am sleepy now, can I sleep" Udita yawned.

"No you will not." Lyria snapped.

"Okay so where were we? Yeah now we will discuss facts with you. Let's see some quotes on it." Afaf said

"Ok, I'll start then." Lily said as everyone approved it.

"A close friend can become a close enemy." Lily said, a very simple saying but has a great meaning in it.

"Not everyone is there to help you in life, they can and some will use your secrets against you." Divya said

"Yes, we should know who to trust and not to trust." Moon said, all nodded

"Stop expecting loyalty from those who can't even give you honesty." Moon said.

"If your friends can't even tell you the truth, then there is no way they will stay there by your side." Zohra said, totally agreeing with Moon.

"You know true friends will always find a way to help you, fake friends will always find an excuse." Lyria commented on it.

"Someone who is truly there for you will drop everything to help you, but others will pretend they have something else to do and ditch you—they're not honestly there for you. You've got nothing to lose, you don't lose when you lose fake friends." Ritika said

"Yeah, very true. Fake people need reasons to do something, while actual friends make reasons to do stuff for their friend." Anika said.

"Even if it feels bad, if you lose fake friends, you only make your life better and less toxic—there is no loss." Udita said.

"Yeah, at least we will know who really cares for us. Those who leave us don't really care for you, they just pretend to be your friend." Ritika said.

"Hmm, it's true sometimes it is hard to identify who is fake and who is not, but gradually we will know who wants us to do good and who wants to harm us." Lyria said, everyone nodded.

"Yes, now story time or else I am going to sleep." Udita said.

"No you wouldn't dare to sleep." Divya said

"And yeah we are going to tell you guys a short story about a boy Mario." Zohra said.

"Cool, then let me bring popcorn," Udita said, about to go find some.

"No you forgot you will not eat anything when this session is going on." Moon said.

"Hmm, you all remember," Udita said

"Yes we remember, now shut up and listen." Ritika said.

"Ok then I am starting. There once was a boy called Mario who loved to have loads of friends. He showed off a lot, always talking about how many friends he had at school, and how he was so friendly with everyone. One day his grandfather said to him,

'Mario, I bet you a big bag of popcorn you don't have as many friends as you think. I'm sure many of them are nothing more than companions, acquaintances, or partners in crime.'

Mario accepted the bet without hesitation. However, he wasn't sure how he could test whether or not his schoolmates were real friends, so he asked his grandpa. The old man answered,

'I have just exactly what you need, it's in the attic. Wait here a minute.'

Grandpa left, soon returning as though carrying something in his hand, but Mario could see nothing there.

'Take it. It's a very special chair. Because it's invisible it's rather tricky to sit on, but if you take it to school and you manage to sit on it, you'll activate its magic and you'll be able to tell who your real friends are.'

Mario, brave and determined, took the strange invisible chair and set off for school. At break time he asked everyone to form a circle, and he put himself in the middle, with his chair.

'Nobody move. You're about to see something amazing.'

And Mario attempted sitting on the chair. Having difficulty seeing it, he missed and fell straight onto the floor.

Making another attempt. But again he missed the seat, causing more surprised looks, and a few laughs. Mario wouldn't be beaten. He kept trying to sit on the magic chair, and kept falling to the ground... until, suddenly, he tried again and didn't fall. This time he sat, hovering in mid-air.

Then it was that he finally experienced the magic that his grandfather had been talking about. Looking around, Mario saw George, Lucas, and Diana—three of his best friends—holding him up, so he wouldn't fall. Meanwhile, many others he had thought of as friends had done nothing but make fun of him, enjoying each and every fall.

And there the show came to an end. Leaving with his three friends, he explained to them how his grandfather had so cleverly thought of a way to show him that true friends are those who care for us, and not just any acquaintance who happens to be passing by. Even less would a friend be someone who takes joy in our misfortunes." Divya said

The audience clapped their hands.

"True this is a really good story, and it also shows us how great friendship is." Afaf said.

"Yeah, right there is negative energy—but that doesn't mean there is no positive energy. Wherever negative is, there will be positivity too." Moon said, everyone agreed.

"Yes. In simple words, if you have fake friends that doesn't mean you have zero real friends, you just have to identify who is who then everything is solved." lily said

All nodded.

"So this is the end of the story, I hope you all can get help with the information we showed you guys." Divya said

"Well then bye, see you soon guys," Ritika said, and that moment Udita runs off shouting.

"Food and going to sleep! no one is disturbing me now." Udita said

Everyone laughed at her.

"Ok then see you soon guys," Divya said and went backstage.

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- TEEN FIX