DR. WALLACE: I'm responding to the girl who's been put under a lot of pressure to be a party girl. So far, she has said no, but her resolve was weakening because of pressure being applied by her best friend, who had been convincing her that she's missing out on a lot of fun and good times.

I'm glad you encouraged her to follow her heart instead of her head. Several years ago, I was in the same situation. For a while, I fought the urge to party, but peer pressure to join in the fun was overpowering, and I finally caved to the pressure. At first, I had a good time. I jumped in and tried every substance they offered me, and I also started to have sex. My grades soon dropped, and my desire to attend college started to vanish rapidly.

After one night of heavy partying, I got a big awakening. One of my best friends was in a car accident with her boyfriend, and they were both injured very badly. My best friend ended up passing away soon thereafter.

I made up my mind that my party days were over. I got my grades back in order, and I ended up finishing college with decent grades.

My reason for writing to you here is to encourage teens to trust their moral convictions. When the wild life beckons them, don't give in. The activities others are participating in might appear exciting, but in reality, they are ultimately depressing and lonely, as I well now know. I've been there and done that and am one of the lucky few who has been able to move on without long-term harm. Some of my closest friends were not so lucky. — Been There, via email

BEEN THERE: Thank you for your message and your personal story. I can tell that your words come from the heart and that you indeed wish to warn today's teens of the dangers that exist.

I trust many teens who hear your firsthand story will take your message seriously, and that's a good thing.

IT'S ALL A MESS NOW!

DR. WALLACE: I have a dilemma. I covered for my friend a few times when she went to her boyfriend's apartment instead of coming to my house. My best friend was lying to her parents about where she was going. Then her parents found out. Now her parents are mad at me because I helped her cover up her lies.

To come clean about all of this, I asked my mom to call my best friend's mom to explain the situation and try to patch things up. But instead, the two mothers got into a huge argument, and they ended up shouting at each other and hanging up on each other.

Now my mother doesn't want me to hang out with my best friend anymore. I never thought things would backfire so terribly with just one telephone call between two adults. What should I do now? I really don't want to bail on my best friend, especially now, while she's under so much pressure from her mother over all of this. Talk about drama! — My Idea Backfired, via email

MY IDEA BACKFIRED: Everyone involved in your story is quite upset at this time. Your situation calls for a cooling-down period so everyone can hopefully look at things a bit more calmly in the future.

Wait until everyone involved comes to their senses and has had enough time to cool down. It's possible they might be able to make a more rational decision soon. During this time, you may want to see if you can make a few new friends. You can keep in touch with your good friend via telephone and text messages, but it might be hard to get together in person for a while. Hopefully, that will eventually change.

There is, of course, a life lesson here. You shouldn't have lied for your friend, and you are now paying the price for that poor judgment.

However, I end by saying that, in my opinion, you shouldn't be forced to lose a friend because of your one lapse in judgment — given the relatively low level of the error you made.

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.

Photo credit: ktphotography at Pixabay