Freshman year was probably one of the hardest years for my family and I. I was completely new to Stockton and didn’t know a soul.

We moved here with only our furniture, clothes and other belongings.

Eating out wasn’t an option. In fact, we hardly had any money to buy food at all. Therefore, Top Ramen was our breakfast, lunch and dinner for about a month.

Once summer was over and I started high school, I went weeks without talking to anybody. I remember when I made my first friend. She told me that there were soccer tryouts and that she was going to play and so should I.

I went out to play, but I didn’t really talk to any of the girls on the team.

Eventually some of them became my closest friends. That’s when I met my best friend Adrianna Gimenez.

I didn’t always have a ride home from practice, so my friends Jessica Casillas and Gimenez (and others) would give me rides when I needed them.

Regardless of the situation these friends were always there for me.

Since my freshman year, things have dramatically changed.

I now live in a beautiful house and have my own car. Things changed in my social life as well. Ever since I got my car, many people want to act like they’re my friend.

People who never noticed me before, people who were rude to me, people who never even spoke to me just randomly tried to get close to me.

I hear the questions, “Are you going off campus today?” and “Can I get a ride?” at least five times a day.

I hate the fact that when certain people see me they ask me for a ride rather than greeting me.

I don’t really know how they don’t feel bad using somebody, but I do know that they are not my real friends.

My friends are the people who were there when I had basically nothing, the ones who gave me rides when I needed them or invited me over to their house all the time. Most importantly, they’re the ones who have been with me since day one.

I am completely open to making new friends.However, the mentality of being used is always on the back of my mind.

I enjoy making new friends, especially when they don’t know that I have a car or things like that.

In the end no one can stop people from using others — I just hope that my friends actually want me for me and not for what I own.