I used to be a pretty big fan of manga and anime when I was in middle school, and I still read/watch the good ones every couple weeks or so. I’m more into K-Pop right now, but not so much that I spend all my time on it. I just don’t get how fans of any genre/thing/whatever can get so delusional to the point where they make up things about their lives, and this is where one of my friends comes in.

Let’s call her Kelly. I met Kelly in the 7th grade, and I didn’t have many friends back then, so I was quite lonely and desperate. Kelly was half Vietnamese and “half Japanese” and always bragged about how she worked with TokyoPop and flew to Japan every summer. I thought it was pretty cool and believable, since she had a lot of “fanart” in her huge binder and seemed like a good artist. Turns out she traced all of it, but that’s just one of her perks, haha.

Kelly also always wore skirts at school, saying how she grew up in Japan and was too used to the uniforms. She also had really long pinkie nails (just her pinkies, no other fingers) and said that she was raised to be a samurai and couldn’t cut her nails until she found a lord. 

In 8th grade, I began to have a little “slap-in-the-face” moment, if you will. You see, Kelly “worked” as a teacher for kendo at some establishment somewhere, and one day, she asked me if I could give her a ride home. She said that the place was pretty far, and if I could give her a ride home, it would cut the time in half to get there. Kelly also explained that she would be on probation for being late again, as well as going into this nonsense:

“I come from the direct line of Japanese royalty and if I walk alone, people will send assassins after me.”

I was worried, because I was a little pushover back then, so I asked my dad if he could drive her home with us. We both lived in the same mobile home complex at the time, so I figured that it was okay. But upon hearing her “story”, my dad refused to drive her and told me not to hang out with her anymore. 

I SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO HIM. 

Kelly’s stories got worse and worse as time went on, and when I got into K-Pop in high school, she was suddenly a “choreographer for SM Entertainment” and bragged about how she came up with the entire Lucifer choreography. Kelly knew that I had become really cynical at that time, so she only “showed off” to others. My other friend, “Ven”, was Kelly’s main target of lies. Ven always complained about it to me, and I was just really pissed off that Kelly wouldn’t stop lying.

Kelly began to bring designer stuff like Louis Vuitton bags to school as a way of defending her “wealthy” status, and I just found it amusing. I’ve visited her home before, and it’s not exactly millionaire status. Around the time of flaunting her money, Kelly also started to brag around me again, which REALLY pissed me off.

I dropped hints, “shut the fuck up” hints, all the time, but she either totally ignored them or didn’t even know that they were there. I lost it when she didn’t come to my house to finish up our French project (she gave the excuse of family problems) and ended up hanging out with my other friends.  I ended up messaging her on Facebook about it, and here’s her exact reply:

“okay the family problem was my mom and I got in a fight because she didn’t want me working as a model. after that I just need some time away from her and the family, I ddin’t plan on going but I know I’m just going to start another fight if I see her”

And I fired off on why we were friends:

“I’m not your friend because you’re rich. I personally don’t care if you’re rich or not. If I did, then I’d be shallow. But I’m not shallow…. I feel that, sometimes, what you tell me

and what you tell others is quite a big stretch.”

And then she had the nerve to change the topic:

“I don’t lie unless there is a reason behind it, and I don’t do all the stuffs I want simply because of friends. I do my jobs because I enjoy it, but my family is against it. There is two different opinion my life and their; so yes I have problems, lots in fact. The only reason I hide out in Korea during the summer is because my family and I fight so much that it will tear the family apart. In Korea, I need a way to support myself, that is also true. And when I have fights, I need a stress relieve, I’ll go out or stay with somebody and I’m sorry if I don’t inform you. I might be too mad and forget sometimes.”

And then she completely ignored me after I told her to stop changing to the topic. I eventually had to talk to her in person, and when she refused to talk in private, I just raged in front of the rest of our friends:

Me: I don’t mind if you think it’s to impress us, but seriously, if you consider me a friend, please just stop the lies and tell us the truth? Girl, seriously get your shit together and stop with all this bull shit. When you grow up, nobody’s going to treat you nice because you lie well.

Kelly: I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never lied to any of you in my entire life. I’m sorry that I have MORE OPPORTUNITIES than you guys, but you have got to realize that there’s ANOTHER WORLD BESIDES YOURS, and that’s the world that I LIVE IN. 

Me: Did you just fucking diss me and call me poor, and call the rest of your friends poor? You’re a fucking asshole you know that. Realize there’s another world? GIRL.YOU need to realize that there’s another world besides your IMAGINARY ONE.

And she proceeded to leave and not hang out with the group for the next couple of weeks. 

When I drifted from our lunch group, she began hanging out with them again, and apparently never learned her lesson.

Yup. Kelly still thinks she’s royal millionaire choreographer mangaka and bursts out in broken Japanese and Korean during class. 

Oh, and she had no idea what Japanese government was like when we were discussing it in World History as review for the AP Test, saying that she only grew up as a child in Japan and didn’t get to learn about it. 

Nowadays I just get amused at her antics instead of getting angry. I don’t give a fuck about someone who doesn’t even care about her friends’ opinions, you know?