How to stop a copycat?!
There's a girl I've been friends with for about two years. When we first met she was soooo sweet. She was an amazing person with a beautiful personality. For a couple months it stayed like that. As we got closer she started to give backhanded compliments, give dirty looks, mess up my hair, put pen on my face etc. All of which would be passed off as a joke. I could cope with that as it wasn't anything malicious, just little things. Then the copying started. I constantly wear glitter in my makeup and this has always been something that said friend had always been a little judgemental about. Suddenly she starts wearing it daily, pointing it out to everyone. Not a big deal. Then it was my perfume I wore daily. She'd constantly tell me how much she loved it then quickly changed her mind when she heard the price. Despite that, she still bought it and wore it daily. It's a very popular perfume so again, no big deal. I understand this is silly, but I like having a perfume that is recognisably mine so I bought a new perfume. The new one is pretty niche and took quite a lot of searching to get a hold of. As soon as I got compliments on it whilst in her presence she decided she NEEDED to know what I was wearing. I have no idea how to politely gatekeep or if that's even ok to do so reluctantly told her. She somehow managed to get it within a matter of days. She wears it all the time. And it's little things too. Pins on my bag, lipgloss I use, phrases / mannerisms I have. Interests aswell. I like to carry crystals around with me because they bring me a sense of comfort and I find it cool learning how they form. Friend labeled them as hippie bs. She now constantly carries crystals around and misinforms people about their properties, saying she's so "witchy" as she likes to call it. If it was the copying on its own I feel like I wouldn't mind so much but it's the fact she's started being rude to me as well. She goes cold with me and tries to make me feel guilty for talking to my other friend instead of just her. If she's not in the mood to talk she won't communicate that, she'll just ignore me. When we have conversations, she'll turn around and go talk to someone else while I'm mid sentence. What really got to me was the other day she was all teary (not sure why). I notice and hug her (something we've always done). She doesn't hug back, instead laughs and points me out to all our friends, calling me a creep. I don't know why but that really stung. It really felt like a reminder I'm just a joke to her. I don't know what to do now. I really want to shut it down but I think I also need to accept the reason this bothers me is probably rooted in insecurity and I shouldn't be so caught up about it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
