Thank you, Kathy for your understanding. I agree that you must stand up for yourself to be respected but—most importantly— earn self-respect. But some people don't want to rock the boat; unfortunately, I am one of them. I think it relates to my upbringing and how my mom and, later, my husband treated me. Sufficiently to say, it didn't boost my self-esteem. I described it in my story Shut Up! But I feel that the situation with my friend needs a resolution. Unless I tell her how I feel about her insults, I will continue to take her BS. The question is how to approach that so it won't look like retaliation between high school girls.