John Tucker Must Die | Teen Ink

John Tucker Must Die

February 27, 2009
By Haybby. BRONZE, Salem, Indiana
Haybby. BRONZE, Salem, Indiana
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

The movie John Tucker Must Die is known for the revenge that four girls take on a boyfriend that they recently found out they share: 'Okay, let me guess. Does he always use pet names like 'baby' and 'sweetheart?' Yeah, it's not out of affection, it's so he won't mix up your names. And he's all about an unspoken bond or something special, but never about a relationship. And the whole arrangement was your idea, so you feel guilty that he cheated. It seems to me that if a guy treats you like that,' says Kate.
'You'd break up with him, blah, blah, blah,' says Heather.
Kate replies, 'No, I didn't say break up. I'd get even.'
You wish it could just be simple, like a retro pop song, 'I want you to want me.' End of story; we all live happily ever after. But it is never really like that, is it?



There's the infamous phrase, 'Let's just be friends.' All girls have heard this once in their lifetime, guaranteed. It's the most popular excuse that guys use to break up with their girls. It's simple to look in his clear, ocean blue eyes and believe that you can still potentially save the broken shards of your 'friendship.' Wrong. The translation of this phrase in guy language is, 'I just want to explore my other options.' You may ask why he couldn't just tell you that. It seems really plain and simple to you, but you know what guys enjoy? They enjoy giving you a small sliver of hope, and by saying we can still be friends, which gives you the impression that they will still be in your life. But two weeks after the breakup you try talking to him at lunch. Does he stop and actually listen to you? No, he will blow you off because it's just that easy for guys to drop you at the tip of a hat. And where will you be left? You will be right back where you started, wondering what in the world went wrong.
Here's another original break-up excuse: 'I listened to the song Freebird, and I took it as a sign that I should be free.' This leaves you speechless. At first thought you think, 'Is this guy kidding?'Then once you talk to him a little bit more, you realize, 'Wow he really is being dead serious.' This excuse is really one of the only ones that you can laugh off. You could go to school and tell your friends about what your loser ex-boyfriend thought of as a sorry excuse to break up with you. The most memorable line in this song is: 'But please don't take it so badly, cause Lord knows I'm to blame.' Well, duh, who else would be to blame? My imaginary friend? Guy translation: He would rather be out partying or hanging with his friends than waste his time with someone who actually cares about him.
The last excuse that is also most commonly used is 'I don't have enough time for you right now,' also known as 'I want to focus on other things.' This excuse is a tough one to figure out. This excuse requires you to interpret. Let's say we have Bob on the left side and Joe on the right side. Now Bob is involved in every extracurricular activity that is known to man. You name it; he is most likely involved. Bob and you have only been dating for a couple months, and basketball season is getting ready to come into play. He has a reputation about breaking up with girls right when a sports season kicks off. When Bob tells you that right now, he just doesn't have enough time to balance a girlfriend, schoolwork, job, and basketball season it makes sense because he is involved in a lot of things. You're not too worried about it because he told you that after basketball season is over, you can pick up where you left off.
Now we have Joe. Joe only runs track. Right now is football season. You are both on your way to the homecoming game when he pulls over on the side of the road. He breaks the news to you that he wants to focus on his academics and sports. Wait a second, back up. It's football season'NOT TRACK! Red flag there. His academics? Since when does Joe ever care about his grades? He never does any of his homework, and as far as he has told me he always gets his answers from other people. Red flag again. That's two of them! Hate to break it to you sweetheart, but he's playing you. Guy translation is: You're just not good enough to date right now. Ouch, that's definitely a punch to the gut. Not good enough, are you kidding? Don't believe him. All your friends tell you that you're their backbone. Your family says you're special. Here's nothing but the honest truth: It's not you. You may think that for a while, but it's him. He's the one who's missing out, not the other way around. So when he comes around again and says, 'Babe will you take me back?' Don't even hesitate by saying, 'Definitely not!'
Of course, love is not always fair. There are very hurtful and demeaning ways for relationships to end. The most hurtful way for a relationship to end is if your significant other is found cheating on you. Your first assumption of this situation is that maybe you didn't give him all he wanted, or maybe everything was a lie. The first one is not true. The second one could very well be. You may be asking yourself how you can differentiate between the truth and the lie. Well, the critical answer is you can't. If someone who you love deeply betrays you like that, then you're going to have some major trust issues. Now, it's not to say that you shouldn't try to work things out for the best. Who knows the guy could figure out that he made a big mistake, and he now realizes that he couldn't live without you. Or he's just not worth a second glance. This type of situation usually needs to be handled by a strong person.
Then there are drugs. You aren't going to always know if your boyfriend is doing drugs. There could be some mood changes or differences that only you can tell, but you can't prove anything. You want to believe him so badly, but you just aren't sure. This is tough to figure out. If you think that you can get him to agree to help, then go for it. Try and don't give up until you think it's a lost cause. If you think there is no way on this Earth that anyone can get through to him, then you shouldn't even try. It's definitely going to be hard. But you have to ask yourself if you're willing to put yourself through that situation and potentially hurt the people that you are close to, including your family and friends. Everything depends on the situation and what you think the possible outcome could be.
Nobody likes a liar, especially if he's your boyfriend. You always ask yourself when he's finally going to tell you the truth. That's no way to live your life. If you constantly have to ask yourself that, then you shouldn't even be with that person. You may love him more than anything in the world, but until he can change, he probably doesn't deserve to be with you. No matter how many times you try to reason with him, it never works. You have to ask yourself, 'Is it worth it?' If you have enough respect for you and him both, then you will end it while you can, before you get any deeper.
Boys can sometimes be nothing but trouble. They can play you without you even realizing it. They can lie, cheat, and make up excuse after excuse. They know how to be players. They know how to keep things from girls. It's like they were born with this so-called 'sixth sense.' Boys have ways of manipulating girls into believing everything they say. If they always tell you everything is your fault, then every time they tell you that, you're more apt to believe it. Boys have to blame others because they think it's not their fault. They don't see the problem in hurting people, and they seem to believe that they never do any wrong whatsoever. The truth is that it's not a one-sided relationship. If you blame someone, the other person is just as much to blame. A relationship is supposed to be equal. It's supposed to be filled with honesty, care, love, and definitely loyalty. But, love isn't a fairy tale, and it never will be.
Bottom line: Girls get their hearts broken every day by some stupid boy. Sometimes the excuses are legit, sometimes they aren't. Relationships end with tears and hurt, too. They end because of cheaters and drug abusers. They end because one person loved too much, and the other person loved too little. No matter what, you have to believe that somewhere out there someone is looking for you. Sometimes in the middle of life we do find things that are worth it. Sometimes it's love and sometimes it's lifelong friendship. Sometimes you find liars, deceivers, and players.


The author's comments:
I wrote this piece based on the movie John Tucker Must Die. Please feel free to comment!

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