When I first cracked open The Clique by Lisi Harrison back in middle school, I didn’t know what I was in for. I was immediately hooked by these Westchester mean girls, and I begged my mom every weekend to take me to Barnes and Noble so I could buy the next one in the series. Even now, I remember their names, their personalities, the intricacies of their relationships and insecurities.
If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading the series–or if it’s been a couple decades–the short version is that it centers on a group of seventh-grade girls at a prestigious private school and all the drama that ensues between them. The members of the titular clique are insanely vicious to each other in ways I’d truly never thought possible for girls for my age. They legitimately scared me. But even so, sometimes I’d forgo plans to see my actual friends so I could spend time in the fictional world of Octavian Country Day School.
I didn’t leave my interest in toxic friend groups behind when I exited seventh grade; no, I doubled down. My next fixation? Pretty Little Liars, naturally. These girls did far worse things than the simple identity stealing and crush-stealing antics of The Clique girls. Identity theft, stalking, murder, just to give a few examples.
But I couldn’t get enough. And here’s the thing: It wasn’t just me. All in all, Harrison wrote fourteen Clique books. There’s even another one on the way (thank you, Lisi!) that follows the girls as they navigate their twenties. Sara Shepherd wrote sixteen PLL novels, and the series inspired a seven-season TV show that people are still watching and talking about to this day.
Even as a thirty-three-year old woman, I still can’t help myself. Any time a new season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives drops, I’m cajoling my husband into ordering Door Dash and sitting on the couch with me for eight straight hours of content. (Don’t worry, he says yes happily).
Whenever I read the back of a book and see complicated friendships or toxic women, I’m already halfway to the register. *Cue Carrie Bradsaw voice* And I can’t help but wonder…why is it that I, and so many millenial gals just like me, are magnetically drawn to these kinds of stories? What is it about dysfunctional friendships that keep us coming back for more?
There is something so delicious and compelling about a group of friends who are terrible to each other over and over again, but still stay loyal. A more recent example: the trio in season three of The White Lotus. These women all treat the others like garbage throughout their entire trip, and even still, they have arguably the happiest ending of any of the loosely connected storylines. When they get on that boat to head home, it’s clear that these women–as messy and horrid as they are–actually do love each other.
I saw several think pieces on this finale when it came out, and I was surprised to see so many people interpreting their ending differently than I had. There were articles arguing that this entire vacation was supposed to represent the last straw in a decades-long friendship that never should have existed in the first place.
Call me messy if you want, but I wholeheartedly disagree. In my opinion, the entire point was that even though this decades-long friendship has been wildly complicated and toxic, at the end of the day, these women have history. And they have each other’s backs, come what may. They’ll never not be friends. Yes, they all showed the worst of themselves on this trip. But that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to find their way back to each other.
To me, there’s something so oddly comforting about that entire story arc. You know how in romance novels, there’s a guaranteed happily ever after? A book cannot be classified as a romance novel if the main couple don’t end up together. I don’t make the rules–that’s just how it is!
And when it comes to these types of longstanding friendships between women, there’s a similar phenomenon at play. When you read a book like Pretty Little Liars or watch a reality show like Mormon Wives, you just know that no matter what happens, there’s going to be a warped sort of happy ending, too.
It won’t be perfect, and it won’t even necessarily be happy. But you can rest assured that the main girl group–somehow, some way–will figure it out. Just like the ladies of The White Lotus, they’ll find their way back to each other.
Consider Gossip Girl, both in TV and book form. To say that I think about Blair and Serena on a weekly basis would not be an exaggeration. I love those girls like they’re my own backstabbing best friends. I would die for them. And they would die for each other! As wicked as they can be, they’re loyal to each other until the bitter end. If that’s not a happy ever after, I don’t know what is.
When I was writing my debut novel, Summer’s Never Over, some of my favorite scenes were those in which my main character, Greer, was arguing with her old frenemy, Margo. Throughout most of the book, the two are forced to work in an uneasy alliance as they investigate the death of another friend, and–sorry for the tiny spoiler–it was important to me that at the end, they saw a way toward real reconciliation.
Now, you’ll have to read the book when it comes out on June 9 to see what exactly happened between these women, but suffice it to say, they’ve got some real baggage to sift through together.
And sift through it they will, just as their many predecessors have before them.
Now, I do think it’s important to note that in real life, I don’t believe that you should actually go back to a friendship that keeps hurting you. I am beyond lucky to be friends with so many cool, gorgeous, smart and emotionally stable women. None of them have ever tried to run me over with their car, blackmail me, or steal my husband. If they had, we wouldn’t be friends! But I still believe that all the incredible women I’ve mentioned occupy an important space in media.
No matter what, I’m going to keep tuning in.
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