My brother is my best friend. There is no one who has fought with me so much and has criticized me so often. He is my number one fan. I know he would hate to admit it but he looks up to me and tries to impress me with everything he does. Nobody sticks by your side like a sibling. I've never met any of my mother's siblings and that makes me sad. I don't understand how people can be so distant with their family let alone their siblings. My brother and I joke around about me moving out like, "Ugh when are you leaving!?" or I'll say, "I can't wait to move away from you" but we both don't mean it. We'll both miss each other a lot. We'll miss all the roast sessions, move marathons, gossip, and nights we spend playing play station together.

As human beings we spend the majority of our time searching for a companion. Almost everyone plans on one day getting married. However, the marriage rate in the United States is dropping. In the article, "Barely Half of U.S Adults Are Married -A Record Low" by, Wendy Wang says, In 1960, 72% of all adults ages 18 and older were married; today just 51% are. If current trends continue, the share of adults who are currently married will drop to below half within a few years. I Personally I don't plan on getting married but I am open for the idea. Actually half of my friends agree with me that they don't plan on getting married. Why are more and more people abandoning  the idea of marriage? Is the idea of spending the rest of your life with someone too much too handle? But also the divorce rate is rising as well. People just can't seem to stay together anymore. 

The next relationship I would like to talk about is between parents and their children. I feel like almost all teenagers have a rocky relationship with their parents. All of m friends complain constantly about their parents and how bad they can not wait to move out or how they can not stand their parents. Even my father said that he would argue with his dad endlessly as a teenager for no real reason. Hormones are running wild in teens and they are constantly testing their parents' patience. I know I am a prime example. I used to test my parents' patience until they finally had enough of it and they just do not even care anymore. It's sad the way teenagers treat their parents these days. Our parents only love us with all their hearts and want the best for us. Kids take their families for granted way too much. Things could be so much worse. Eventually we all grow out of the "i hate my parents" stage once we're adults and have families of our own. Only then do we realize how good we had it. Learn to appreciate your family, they love you. I now know that my behavior was wrong and I tried my best to make it up to my parents but I know things will never be the same.

So recently our squad has left the honeymoon stage. At first we were all totally infatuated with one another and were constantly hanging out. Now we all still like each other but we see each other less and less frequently. Also our good friend Sutta has been nothing but evil to Anouk, Steph, and I. Us three girls are confused on what we should do in this situation. I feel like every group of friends goes through a rough patch and this is ours. Friendship is about promises, honestly, loyalty, and ultimately forgiveness. We are all human and we all have feelings and get sensitive from time to time but you can't be mean to your alleged "best friends". You can not manipulate them or use them for your own personal gain. My feelings have been hurt and I hope Sutta is not doing this to us on purpose. Friends come and go and all of us are going our own ways after graduation but I would have never imagined that this would happen to our friendship now. Our situation is far from over and I hope we can all come out on top of it holding hands.

So another best friend of mine is Anouk Ohayon. I met Anouk freshman year at lunch. I had just transferred to Palmetto from Reef and I was adopted by a group of really sweet drama kids.  Anouk stood out the most out of the group. She was always dancing and making everyone laugh. Sophmore year we sat next to each other in 1st period English. There we would always make jokes about the teacher and the classwork. Anouk was my only real friend in freshman year. Her and I went to rapids for my birthday the summer after freshman year. Ironically my two best friends like each other and talk all the time. Anouk and Sutta are my closest friends and they've come in clutch so many times. Anouk has introduced me to many new friends like Judith and Paula. We have many inside jokes. For example, Anouk can impersonate a famous vine almost exactly and it makes everyone cry from laughter every time. I can tell Anouk anything an I know that she will keep my secrets and her promises. She's a very down to earth and funny girl. Senior year we have grown really close and I'm glad that she is staying in Miami for college with me. Anouk also reminds me a lot of my aunt Debbie. I even call her aunt Debbie sometimes and she get's a little irritated. Our relationship is basically us gossiping, teasing each other, and discussing our problems. Anouk may not know it but she is important to me and I'm glad to have a friend like her.

Since I've run out of lovers to write about I'm going to focus on a different kind of relationship, friendship. My best friend and I haven't been close for long but that doesn't matter. I met Evan Sutta way back in elementary school but we were never close. He was a cool friend but I don't know we just never really clicked well. Middle school was the same, we were in the band together and we would talk but rarely hang out even though he lived down the street from me. In 10th grade everything changed. We grew really close. I don't know what happened just one day in anatomy we started to talk and then we began hanging out almost every weekend. Now we hangout almost every day. I don't know where I would be without him. He has always been there for me no matter what and I have done the same for him. Whether he is having girl troubles or family problems I always have his back. There have been so many times I call him crying at 2A.M and he comes over with junk food and a movie and cuddles with me until I fall asleep and even sometimes he sleeps over. We are so close our parents don't care because they know our relationship is honest and innocent. I greateful for him and I hope to stay in touch after graduation even though we will be attending different schools.

After everything I've been through during these past two years I was honestly ready to be alone. I'm tired of the drama relationships bring and I'm tired of always getting taken advantage of and bullied. I was perfectly content with being alone and spending more time with friends and especially family members. But like always life likes to throw you a curve ball and I can't help myself, I'm a hopeless romantic and I love people. A girl by the name of Jennifer or as I knew her (brobeanzz) followed me on twitter. At first I thought nothing of it and I followed back because I follow back almost everyone that follows me. Anyways days go by and she starts to blow up my notifications. I don't get many notifications on twitter because I don't have many followers so she was very noticeable. It got to the point where it was becoming very irritating to me so I direct messaged her asking her, "So are you gonna just retweet everything or are you ever going to talk to me and say hi?". She responded, "Lol I hadn't noticed tbh". And from there we exchanged numbers and texted one another all day everyday. This girl is exactly like me, it's almost like she's a clone of me. We had to meet in person I couldn't stand the tension anymore so one day we arranged a little ice cream date. We were just as compatible in person as we were on our phones. The rest is honestly history. Normally the both of us hate clingy people and we hate being clingy but we can't get enough of each other. She's different from anyone I've ever met before. So far we seem to really like each other and although it's only been a month of us flirting and hanging out with one another I hope that it can continue. She is such a breath of fresh air that I desperately wanted. Whether we end up dating or not I hope to have her in my life because she is a very good influence and a very fun person to be around. 

I started to become curious for girls. I always found them attractive but I never wanted to do anything with them sexually until a close friend of mine started to flirt with me non stop and give off major hints. I'm going to keep her name a secrete because of our extensive past. Anyways the tension between us built up until one day I just went to her house and we confessed our feelings. We both agreed that we wanted a friends with benefits relationship or an open relationship, so I thought. Due to us hanging out so much she caught feelings for me and started to make me do things for her like walk her to class, kiss her on the cheek in public, and many more things a person in a relationship would do for their significant other. I had no problem doing those things for her because she was my friend and I cared for her. But soon I too caught feelings for her. After that it was all downhill. We were confused on our feelings for each other, our sexualities, and our relationship. The stress and pressure became too much to bare until one day she just had enough and ignored me. We didn't talk for a week. I thought it would be good if we had some space to collect our thoughts and have a break. But the next day at school she's holding hands with who I thought was a good friend. I will also keep this new girl's name private. Either way they became a couple almost overnight and it shocked the entire school. They didn't even know each other the previous week but it's in the past anyways. Both girls blocked me on all social media and they desperately try to get my attention everyday but I ignore them. I wish we could all be friends or again at least friendly with one another but oh well. My peers come up to me everyday saying how she "down graded" and how I could do so much better anyways and that makes me sad. She was a good friend of mine and I really miss all of the wonderful times we shared together. Yes our relationship was a mess but she was one of the best friends I've ever had.  Maybe one day we can smile and wave at one another instead of ignoring each other but either way I'm happier without her in my life. A weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I've never felt better. I'm glad this happened now just in time for the end of my senior year.

It was the end of the summer and Austin and I have ended things for about two weeks. My friend Dustin hits me up (again on instagram in my DMs).  He asked me if I wanted to join him fishing one day and I agreed because I hadn't gone in awhile. Everything was great and he was really sweet to me and I really enjoyed our time together but I had no feelings for him. Dustin kept asking me to hangout and I agreed because every time we were together we had a lot of fun. We grew really close and I could tell he liked me more than I liked him. I thought that since he's going back to FGCU in a couple days there is no way he would ask me out or anything. When someone asks me out I can't say no, I feel so bad rejecting someone I get so nervous. Go figure the day he is supposed to leave he shows up to my house with flowers and asks me to be his girlfriend in front of my parents and I couldn't help but say yes. I felt terrible. I spent the next to months trying my best to end things but every time I would try he would break down in tears and I couldn't stand it. Eventually I got over my fear and broke up with him. I felt and still feel awful for doing that to him but I'm only human. To this day he hates me and blocked me on all social media and if he sees me in person he makes sure to flip me the bird. I just smile and wave and him. I wish we could be friends or at least friendly with one another but oh well.

About a month passed since Robbie broke up with me and I was still pretty devestated. I was getting better day by day but I still had this melancholy vibe lingering inside me. My neighbor Austin, a sophomore at FSU was fishing outside on our lake one day and asked me to join him. I hadn't talked to him in years so it was really nice to catch up with him and see how he was doing. He was in the Zeta frat at FSU and would tell me all kinds of crazy party stories and since I'm going to TCC I was really interested in what he had to say. I feel like he took that the wrong way. He thought I was interested in him when really I just liked hearing his stories because I'm going to be living up there soon. Either way we had a little friends with benefits relationship for the rest of the summer. I told him I wasn't ready for another relationship right now and at the time he seemed to understand. The end of August came around and Austin went back to school and so did I. A couple weeks passed and we didn't talk to each other and to be honest I kind of forgot about him. Then one day he just started texting me asking how my day was and trying to carry a conversation even though I was really uninterested. He has been obsessed with me ever since then. He texts and calls me everyday to see how I'm doing and even though that's really sweet of him I wish he would just leave me alone. I'm a little scared and intimidated to move up to Tallahassee now.

After Alec and I ended things someone really special came along and he will always be remembered to me as my first love. It was the end of 10th grade only about two more months left and I was ready for it to be over. My grandma had just passed away after being very sick for years and everyday walking past her room was a mission for me. I was very alone ans very distraught for weeks until another boy 'slid into my DMs'. His name was Robert but everyone called him Robbie and he was two years older than me. He was 6'8" tall, super slender, bright green eyes, and a quirky grin that can be spotted miles away. He asked me one April day if I wanted to go to the park with him. I knew him because we hung around the same group of friends so I figured why not it would be good to get out of the house for awhile. He turned my world upsidedown. I never met someone so similar to me. It was like we were the same person, I could really open up and connect with him. From the first day we hungout both of us could feel the chemistry between us. It was all fun and games from then on. We did everything together. Not a second went by where I wasn't with him, on the phone with him, texting him, or snapchatting him. He wasn't just my boyfriend he was my bestfriend. We both knew it was only a matter of time before he had to go off to college and I would be left here in Miami. We didn't let the distance stop us. My whole junior year I soent with him in a long distance relationship. He went to FGCU which is only 2 hours away but to us it seemed like light years away. He came down to visit me twice a month and I would go up once a month. We had our own little system and it worked so well for us all of our friends couldn't believe we were making it work. Out of all of my experiences and relationships I've had I know this was love. I did everything for his happiness that I lost myself along the way. Summer finally came around and we could finally be together again...so I thought. Robbie made me promise not to get a summer job that way we could be together but as soon as he gets back he takes a lifeguarding job where he has to work 9-6 everyday except sundays. I was furious. How could he do this? He made me quit my job for him but he takes this job without even telling me? We got into a huge argument that lasted about a month. When our one year anniverssary rolled around (July 4th) he went M.I.A.  I couldn't get a hold of him. The next day he finally contacts me to tell me it's over. I knew we had our problems but I wasn't prepared to lose him over something so ridiculous. I fought and fought and fought for him but I just couldn't get through to him. A momth passes by and I fell into a deep depression. My family was gone for the summer so I kept the house dark and to myself. I didn't sleep, didn't eat, and didn't talk to anyone for weeks on end. My bestfriend at the time Tyler was so concerned about my health. We thought that I would never get over it. To make matters worse a friend called me and told me that Robbie was with his ex on the fourth of July. The ex that ironically cheated on him. I called up Robbie and he confessed and said that he was in fact cheating on me for more than half of our relationship. At that point I wasn't sad anymore I was over it. Neverless if he called me up today I would answer and be more than friendly with him. He made me feel alive and I thank him for the memories and valuable life lessons he has taught me. Robbie will always be remembered to me as my first love.

After my relationship with John ended I was pretty lonely. This new app called Hot or Not came out and I decided to give it a try. Why not? I met this guy named Alec. He was also a year older than me and he lived in Fort Lauderdale. He was also a professional drift car driver for formula drift. Our first date was something to remember. He drove down in his 1989 dodge dually pickup truck. The truck was falling apart from rust but it ran and he enjoyed working on it in his downtime. We went to what is known as "the hump" which is where all the rednecks go to go mudding. We just wanted to drive down a dirt road and get to know one another. I showed him where to go and what trails to take. The trails I took us on were all really mild and his truck could tackle them easily. However, there was one mud hole. I warned Alec that it could get pretty deep but being a boy and wanting to show off for me he put the pedal to the floor and hit the mud hole. The entire front end of the truck was swallowed by the mud hole. We both stare at each other eyes big and our mouths open. Water began to fill up in the cab of the truck. He tried putting it in reverse in an attempt to back out but it was no use. I had to call my friend Tyler Dixion who has the biggest monster truck in South Florida. Hours pass and we ended up having a really good time talking and getting to know each other until Tyler finally showed up and pulled us out. The front end of the truck was destroyed but Alwc didn't mind. He loved working on his truck anyways. He drove home and sent me a long text about how much fun he had. We went on a couple more dates after that but nothing really sparked between us two. Today we still talk occasionally to catch up. My first date with Alec however will always be remembered as the craziest date I've ever been on.

I was in 10th grade when I had my first serious relationship. His name Was John and he was a year older than me and went to Southridge High. I guess you could say one day he 'slid into my DMs'. He messaged me on instagram telling me how cute I was and how we should fish together sometime. Me having a soft spot for blondes replied rapidly to set up a date to fish. After that the rest is history. We were close and hungout almost everyday for two months. One day we went on a bike ride from my house to Black Point Marina which is about five miles away from my house. Both of us were sweaty and breathing heavily when we finally got to the marina to watch the sunset. He looked over at me with those soft blue eyes that I loved to get lost in. "Danielle will you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?". I've never smiled so hard in my life. I reached up and grabbed his face and pulled him in for a kiss. That was one of the best relationships I've ever had and I still think about him every so often. He lived on my street so we would hangout everyday and eventually it got too much for the two of us. I started to distance myself and he began to talk and flirt with another girl who also lived on our street. I found out about the other girl and was obviously furious. His friends told me not to break up with him and that it doesn't mean anything but I couldn't contain myself. On valentines day he showed up to my house with flowers, candy, and a card. I couldn't look him in the eye. I tried my best to hold it in but it built up inside me till I finally caved in. "I can't do this anymore. I'm not happy. You need to leave me alone". Then I slammed the car door and stormed off into my house. John was left there with tears in his eyes and a confused heart. I didn't mean to hurt him so much but my temper got the best of me. Honestly if I would've talked to him we could've worked something out but I was beyond mad. After that day he tried reaching out to me but I shut him out. Now neither of us look at each other. He works at Publix and sometimes it's awkward when I go into his checkout line. We exchange looks but no words from either of us. I still wish I could go back and handle things differently or say I'm sorry but it's too late. John will also forever be with me in my memories along with Mario.

I can still remember my first boyfriend. Sixth grade, Mario Sanchez. I still remember the day he asked me out like it was yesterday. It was justt another day in April when he passed me a note that said, "bs my girlfriend? check yes or no". I looked up from the paper nervously and saw him staring at me then he winked and turned back around. I'd never been so scared in my life. Then all of a sudden he got up and asked to use the bathroom and left class not without giving me another wuick wink. My friends all turned around and started telling me to go follow him. "Danielle you have to go follow him, he wants you". To be honest I didn't really want to, sure I liked Mario but I wasn't ready to take such a big step. After about five minuets of my friends nagging me I finally got up and asked to go to the bathroom too. The teacher gave me the pass and as soon as I stepped foot into the hallway I was grabbed and pushed up against the wall. Mario grabbed my waist and kissed me. Those were the longest ten seconds of my life. So many emotions started to rush through my brain. He let go and said "I'll take that as a yes". He returned to class while I stayed there pressed up against the wall stunned. My fingers feeling my lips, did that really just happen? I didn't even say yes. I felt forced. The relationship lasted until the summer where we decided to end things because he was moving away to Las Vegas. We never went on any dates or anything we would just see each other at school and kiss in the hallway, no tongue, just a long slow smooth kiss. Mario actually came back to Miami and I see him around school sometimes. We haven't talked since sixth grade but he will always remain in my memory