"Fluff Friends"

Today I observed something which gave me mixed feelings. I was eating my lunch when I saw a girl named Kiera with her friends. All of her friends were acting extremely immature for their ages and were laughing at the most infantile of jokes. But what I especially noticed was that they were all surrounding Kiera. This girl, Kiera, is actually very pretty and I think she knows it. But she always complains how she’s too fat, she’s too ugly, and no matter what anyone says, she’ll never agree with them. Everyone has self-esteem issues. I know that I do. But what really gets me is that Kiera had “trained” her friends to tell her she was pretty but every time they did so she would tell them she was fat. I also noticed that she treated them as though they were beneath her. I don’t know exactly what was going on in this situation, but it reminds me of something I have heard about before; fluff friends. These “fluff friends” are ones who make you feel good about yourself. Whether it’s because they follow commands, they “aren’t as pretty” (but who’s to judge that?), or other things. But the point of fluff friends is that they make you feel better. To the one surrounded by these fluff friends, she (or he) is superior to them. And their opinion shows. It makes me sad that these other girls were letting her do this to them. I don’t know if they realize that it’s happening or if they are fully aware of it. But I hope Kiera’s fluff friends decide that they’re worth more than what they are getting. love, ~emilia blue