Dear ABCFriend,

It sounds to me like you have a bad case of friendship cling. My guess is that your cling-on (not to be confused with the Star Trek Klingon) friend is insecure and depends on you and you alone to make her feel accepted. You say she is a "really good friend," but good friends do not drain their friends in this way. In the last issue of the NorthStar Navigator, a friendship Safety Checklist was posted. I would encourage you to score Miss Clingee on the items listed and see how safe or unsafe she checks out to be. My guess is that her score will be quite low. Score yourself too.

So what do you do if she turns out to have a low score? You say this is a "really recent" change. That's good that you haven't let it drag on for a long time without wanting to make a change. I'd suggest that you sit down with her in a comfortable setting and mention to her, "I've noticed a change in our friendship recently that I don't understand, and I'm wondering if you could help me understand. It seems to me like you've not liked it when I'm with my other friends, and you've been getting angry when I don't agree with you. This isn't like you, and I'm wondering if you've been noticing this too?" Or something along those lines. Try to talk to her and see what she says. Maybe you can learn more about what's going on so your friendship can return to normal.

Give it your best as you seek to be a safe friend and have many safe and healthy friendships!