I have come to the conclusion that those who are deemed popular, either by themselves, or those around them, have the power to cherry pick their friends. I have seen it occur way too often.
An outing is planned. Everything is setup. Invitations are sent out. RSVP’s are posted. Then others are excluded for whatever reason or another. The reason behind the exclusion? Membership in a exclusive club? Popularity? It’s hurtful.
And so what I’ve seen is that the popular people who think they have the power to pick their friends. There is always someone who thinks they are higher up on the totem pole than you are. And then again there are those lower than you who honestly you’d rather not hang out with. The conclusion? The only way a friendship will work out is if both parties see themselves as equals.
And friendship is prolonged in a twofold reasoning.

• Trust. Each must build up trust in their own mind, either perceived or real. Once trust is broken, for me, it’s highly unlikely to be regained. Forgiveness can be gained, but the original friendship may never be like it once was. During a moment of particularly nasty falling out, it took me a while to figure out that I don’t have to be friends with people who have failed my trust. Forgiveness and friendship are two separate things and must be treated as such.
• Communication. Many many times I’ve lost touch with friends since either myself or them fail to communicate. With the advent of email, instant messaging, social networking, those of my generation don’t have much excuse for not communicating. Now poor communication can be attibruted to apathy, laziness, or general poor planning. It can be very aggrivating, especially when one friend moves away, and puts communication on the backburner.