DR. WALLACE: I'm a girl who is 16 and a half, and I've been allowed to date since I was 15, even though during the first year of my dating experiences I had to have a chaperone present. Anyhow, I've dated seven boys now, and my current boyfriend is absolutely a lucky number seven!

He and I get along really great, and we even think that later in our lives we will get married someday. But I just received really bad news that this summer he and his whole family are moving to Australia, since his father just received a really big job promotion at his company. This company is very famous and is known worldwide, so they have offices all around the world.

My boyfriend said that his father thinks their family will be in Australia for about four to six years before the company has his father return to the United States, and even then, that future transfer might be to a completely different American city than the one we both live in right now.

This means I won't be seeing my boyfriend for a long time! How can I possibly plan a future with him now? He tells me that he has no interest in Australian girls and that he will wait for me, since he knows we are destined to be together. I have always planned to go to an excellent nearby college, and my boyfriend tells me that he wants to go there, too, so that we can be together even before his family moves back to America. I'm worried that we will grow apart during the next two years. By the way, he is the same age as I am, and in fact he is exactly two months older than I am since, we were both born on the 24th day of respective months. — Not Looking Forward to Our Separation, via email

NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO OUR SEPARATION: This news will certainly challenge your relationship in many ways, but luckily for the two of you, at this point in time it has never been easier to keep in touch with another person than it has ever before in history. You can use facetime telephone calls, text messages, telephone calls and a variety of social media platforms to stay connected the best you can in the next few years.

I feel you should both expect to have a social life but should keep open the possibility that you can connect with each other in the future as well. The key will be if he can arrange to attend your college once he graduates from high school in his new home.

Two years is indeed a long time, but in the larger picture of your respective lives it is a small overall percentage of time when measured against your life expectancies. Plan ahead, be open and honest and deal with each week and month of your separation the best you can. I've heard stories over the years where couples drifted apart during a separation, but I've also heard of a few who found that their bond only grew stronger during their time apart, so there's definitely a chance the two of you can remain close enough to reconnect a few years after he departs.

WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THIS SITUATION?

DR. WALLACE: I'm 15 and part of a group of four girls who hang out together. We talk about everything with each other, and we often have a lot of laughs and good times.

However, one girl in our group recently has been telling what I know to be absolute lies about another girl at our school. I don't know this other girl at all, but I do know these lies are being used to try to pry her boyfriend away from her so that this one girl in my group can try to date him.

Is there anything I can do about this situation? I don't want to upset my group of friends, but I don't want to see these obvious lies hurt someone else. And don't ask me the details, but trust me that I know for sure that these are deliberate lies we are talking about here. — Not Happy About This, via email

NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS: You've just experienced an important crossroad in your social life. Are you going to be the type of person who stands by and tolerates unsavory and manipulative behavior by your so-called friends? Or are you willing to make a stand to keep your own character intact?

I see your options as threefold:

No. 1: You can confront your friend either privately or in front of the group and suggest to her that this is not an appropriate way to behave.

No. 2: You can notify the other girl that this is going on so that she can have time to confront the lies before they impact her negatively.

No. 3: You can exit the friendship with at least this one girl who is engaging in this premeditated unsavory behavior.

It's usually best to speak privately to the specific friend to voice your viewpoint and to encourage her to take another approach and even to make an apology for her behavior. None of us is perfect, and you can mention this to her and even ask her to step in to help you in the future if your roles are reversed. You can tell her that's what good friends do for each other, which is to help them be better and stronger going forward.

If you take this approach, you might be able to persuade her to apologize to the other girl. And if she does not, at least you'll have made your point and it will be easier in the future to sidestep this friend so that you will not be associated or tainted by her lies if she persists in telling them.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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