YOUNG PEOPLE TELL WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR IN FRIENDS

Friendships play a major role in everyone's life. Having someone to talk to can help you get through almost any situation.

People look for many qualities in friends.

Y-Press recently interviewed youths at Wheeler Boys & Girls Club and The Children's Museum of Indianapolis to learn their feelings about friendship.

What is a friend? According to Paige Wright, 11, a friend will "just play with you and be there for you when you need 'em."

To Russell McDonald II, 19, "a friend is someone who is dependable, someone who you could come to if you had any problems or situations, as far as situations that you feel you couldn't talk to other people, who will support you in whatever you do."

Trust is one of the qualities the group looks for in friends. But trust means different things to different people. To Ashlei Galbreath, 13, trust is loyalty. "I want to trust them, and I want to make sure that they don't go talk about me behind my back," she said.

Brittney Taylor, 11, agreed.

"To keep your friendships together, you've got to be trustworthy, and you can't go behind your friend's back and talk about them. And if you lie to them or something, that can break up your friendship," she said.

Trust to Mark Cork, 12, is being able to rely on someone to come to your aid. "Like if they get in trouble, you can take up for them," he said.

The youths agreed that friends also are honest and sincere.

"I think a friend is just somebody who is genuine," said Alex Mickens, 18. "They can't be fake about their stuff, they got to keep it real. I'm a real kind of guy, so I don't want no fake person coming to me and just trying to be all cool when they really ain't. Just keep it straight."

Keeping it straight is how Russell makes friends.

"The way that I make friends or associates is, I be myself. I'm the type of person that I know who I am and I am who I am, and I'm not going to change to be anybody's friend," he said.

Friends also are always available to each other, according to Paige. "Encouragement and being there for your friend," is what she looks for in a friend.

The group agreed friends help each other out. Alex gave an example: "This happened like two years ago. I was supposed to come home at a certain time, but I didn't. And my mom, she thinks she's sneaky -- she called my best friend's house, talking about, 'Is Alex over there?' And my best friend Thomas, he had my back, you know, he lied for me."

Ashlei also lends a hand when her friends are in trouble. "Like when they needed something or when they wanted to go somewhere and they had no money, I gave them some money," she said.

Where's the best place to find friends? People find friends through similar activities.

"Church, youth organizations like the Boys & Girls Club, the YMCA, Black Expo -- just everywhere, really," Alex said.

Some think most close friendships start in grade school. "When you're really young, when you first meet somebody," is when you make friends, according to Paige, who met her best friend when they were in first grade.

Some people choose their friends closely. "Everybody's not your friend," Alex said. "You have to be specific and picky who your best friends are, 'cause a lot of people out here don't care about you or nobody else."

Russell feels differently.

"I'm not picky, and I think it's good for people to diversify and try to get in contact with whomever they can."

But there are also downsides to having friends. Conflicts may arise, and negative influences can break up a friendship.

Russell tries to avoid "people doing negative things like drugs and stuff like that." He talked about one friend he had to distance himself from. "Basically I didn't want to break off the friendship because he's still, you know, my associate. But it got to the point where I couldn't handle it anymore, and the majority of the time that person was always trying to get me to go with them and do drugs and things like that. So I had to break off that relationship so I could stay positive."

Paige also had to break off a friendship. "They were being really bad, and they were lying to the teacher," she said.

Mark had a similar experience.

"Where I used to live, there used to be a old lady across the street. (These guys) used to go knock on the door and run, or just throw eggs through her windows and hit her with the eggs and stuff when they throw through the windows. And I was just sitting there, looking at them. I wouldn't do it. So they just disbanded me and left. She got 'em. They in juvenile," he said, referring to the Marion County Juvenile Justice Complex.

The youths agree that friends aren't able to persuade them to do something wrong. "My friends don't help me choose nothing. I run my life," Brittney said.

Conflicts can end a friendship. Alex described one that he regretted: "This is when I was younger, and it's kind of stupid, I ended up taking my best friend at the time's girl. And, it was like we always used to fight, and it was a big hassle. So what I ended up doing was dropping the girl, and we got back friends again."

Disagreements can end friendships, too. Jazmynn Tyler, 11, said, "Sometimes if you fight with somebody, you don't talk to them for a while. But sometimes you could get back friends with them. Sometimes they say something bad to you and you don't want to be their friend, you just sometimes talk about them back."

Mark's advice when getting into an argument with a friend: "Just make up like real quick, like the next day. It's hard to break a friendship. It's easier to make a friendship."

REPORTERS: Rebecca Salois, 12; Kaleigh Julovich, 13; Joey Gaines, 13.