Ah, yes. Bad Friends. They make us become better people… or do they?
Elena learns a valuable in lesson about bad friends during the final episodes of the first season of Diary of a Future President. After upsetting BFF Sasha by not attending her poetry reading, she is forced to confront her poor treatment of her friend during a road trip with her mother, Gabi.
In the lead up to the finale, Sasha had been hanging out with their former best friend Jessica who had ditched them for popularity. She herself [Jessica] had been dumped by popular girl Melissa.
Elena apologise to Sasha and they go back to being friends. Though, we’re actually here to talk about Jessica’s behaviour throughout the season and why she thinks her ex-BFFs are bad friends to her.
[CAUTION: Spoilers For The First Season Of Diary Of A Future President]
Middle School Is Brutal
In order to have bad friends, you need to know the root of the problem. In Jessica’s case, she didn’t want to be seen as a nerd. She reveals this to Elena when they make up. The now-former popular says that she isn’t confident like her former friend and feared being left behind and slipping through the cracks.
As Elena says Middle School is a jungle. Having bad friends can often reflect on your behaviour too. Look at how everything went down with our protagonist and Sasha. Jessica, however, is a completely different story.
Selfish Desire To Be Popular
Jessica is one of those bad friends who will take any opportunity to be popular. She ditched her two BFFs for a mean girl and bad mouths her former pals just to appease Melissa. Moreover, she is even selfish enough to lie her when she and Elena were caught arguing in the bathroom about whether she’d had her period or not.
Her desire for popularity also made her obsessed with her looks. She also thought Elena and Sasha would humiliate her so she cut ties with them. This also shows that Jessica is a follower and not a leader. The first chance she saw into a ‘better life’, she took it without question.
Melissa seems like one of those girls who will manipulate their prey with false promises. This shows she herself is insecure about who she is. Being a bully is what presumedly gives her purpose. When she sees an opportunity to make Elena and Sasha’s lives a living hell, she’ll take it. She knew that they couldn’t be corrupted so she targeted Jessica.
To Right A Wrong
Elena learns very quickly that to have bad friends is often a reflection on your own behaviour. Her abandonment of Sasha in order to pursue her crush asking her to the dance drove her BFF back to Jessica and it came back to bite her.
Thanks to her mother and her short-lived breakup with her boyfriend Sam, Elena realises if she wants Sasha back as her friend, she needs to change her behaviour and to be there for her as well as the other way around.
