I (17) met my best friend (17)- who I’ll call Sam- around four years ago in school (this is all relevent, I promise.)

For a long time I’ve noticed some behaviors that I feel I can’t do anything about. Things such as telling me they were going to give me earrings but they liked them too much to give up, so they asked if they could keep it. I told them “no, you bought that with me and my style in mind.” After a bit of back and forth, they ended up keeping them, then didn’t wear them for months and gave them to me because they “actually didn’t like them that much.”

Once, I got tickets for my first concert, they couldn’t go with me. Sam told me they hoped my tickets were fake. They gave me nothing but an “oh” with dissapointment clear in their voice. when I told them they were real.

Around a month ago, I applied to an art school for my senior year. It’s a prep school and most of my life revoleves around music and litterature. I told Sam over the phone a couple days after I applied, reassuring them I hadn’t decided if I would even go. They cried (they’re a big crier), but stayed mostly silent.

Fast forward to current day. I had my interview two days ago*, which I thought I totally biffed. Yesterday I asked my friends if I could talk about it. They said yes so I explained the whole thing, they pretty much said nothing. Today, I got accepted. The exact order in which I reacted was: hit the hands on the head (like that monkey gif or that meme with the guy in a white tank top who’s eyes are practically bulging out of his eyes [it started as a joke but became unironic real quick, sorry for being a loser]), shouted it out into the room, texted Sam, then group chats with other friends.

After texting my giant friend group consisting of four people, I got one “congratulations.” I went back to texting Sam solo, talking about it not feeling real, feeling nervous, and being unsure if I should go at all. After six texts, they silenced their notifs. I took the hint and stopped texting.

A few minutes later, Sam sends me a text saying “I can’t do this right now”. A common response I get when I set boundries or critique them. Still, I asked what they meant. They sent back “I can’t talk about this right now.”

I chose not to respond, because I don’t want to anger or upset them more. I will see them at school tomorrow, and I’m dreading it. I’m dissapointed they didn’t even try to fake being happy for me.

I don’t want to talk to Sam, partially because I’m upset, but I also don’t want to see the look of betrayal or feel their dispair in the air. Thankfully, I won’t be there long because I’m shadowing at the new school tmrw.

They asked me if I would call them, I said no, they asked me if I was gonna tell them anything else or communicate. I stopped answering, am I the asshole?

*I mentioned it to my friends, no one said wished me luck or said anything

Edit for grammar