One of my friends from high school was like that. We met because we were both really into a lot of the same things, like art, culture, music, and movies. We became very close and then I started noticing that she played her friends off against each other to keep herself on top of the heap. I think she was scared that if she wasn’t in charge, nobody would want to be around her. If she noticed two of her friends striking up a friendship, she would tell each of them that the other was badmouthing them, didn’t really like them, etc. We grew further and further apart, and now we’re 22 and her two closest friends are 16, and all three of them seem very distrustful of each other at times and very close at other times. It just makes me sad.
When we’re teenagers we can be pretty self-absorbed and selfish. Looking back at myself at that age, I can’t believe some of the stuff I got away with doing and saying. Most of us grow out of it.