I don't know why I even bother having friends.  If all they are going to do is criticize me on how I look, then I don't need 'em in my life.  I get harangued enough by my old man and old lady; why add my friends to the mix?

Talk about adding fuel to the fire ....

I won't be responsible if I snap ....

I guess my friends mean well, but come on! REALLY??  Do they have to act like extensions of my parents or my nagging older sister??  Just because I don't dress like a lot of the other kids at school (hey, I'm my own person!) or like a lot of the same things they do doesn't make me a bad person!  I happen to be a good kid with a good heart; I just have my own sense of style!

So what if I like to wear khaki pants, button down sweaters over lame' shirts or hiking boots or my trusted, lucky fedora ... hey, they may not technically go together, but I'm my own man.  I like to be different.  Why conform to the crowd? I'm a kid, not a fish or a sheep!

I am tired of hearing it from my friends.  If they don't stop ragging me about how I dress, I just might have to ditch 'em and find myself an entirely new group of friends to hang out with!

And I hate their making assumptions about me, thinking I'm gay.  I am NOT gay in any sense of the word: I'm as straight as an arrow.  I go to church (I believe in God and call myself a Christian), I have a stable home and family life, I have many varied interests to keep me busy, and I score good grades at school.  So what's the big deal about how I happen to act, look, or dress??  I just don't understand it .....