At first, I couldn't believe it when Katelyn starting dating Jared. Every girl at school wanted him--how did she do it? He played baseball, his family was well-off, and he was so hot.

I thought he was really thoughtful too--he was always picking Katelyn up for school, buying her lots of gifts. He even bought her this really expensive cell phone that she wanted. I was jealous, my boyfriend never even bought me flowers. Whenever we hung out, she was always telling me how much she loved being with him. He called her all the time just to see what she was doing and tell her that he loved her.

After a while, it started getting old. It was like they were totally obsessed with each other. Actually, it was more like he was obsessed with her. She stopped playing soccer because Jared wanted to spend more time with her. I know when you start dating someone, it's new and everything and you want to spend time with them, but giving up your favorite sport? He was always buying her stuff , but they weren't thoughtful little gifts anymore. It was like he was trying to own her or something. I kept telling her it was weird, and that you shouldn't have to buy people things to make them care about you. She told me he'd been so good to her and she felt guilty about not being with him.

We barely saw each other, and if we did, he would always check up on her. How annoying is it to go out with your friend and her phone never stops ringing? We couldn't even get coffee without him wanting to know where she was. I finally had it and told her he was being so controlling--buying her things so she felt like she owed everything to him, wanting to be with her all the time. Of course, in the middle of our conversation, her cell rings. She didn't pick up. It rings again, so she turns it on silent. Finally, after the fourth time, she answers. Guess who? She asks him to stop calling her, and you know what he said? "I bought you that phone and I can tell you when to pick it up and when not to!"

We stopped hanging out after that. I told Katelyn she wasn't the same person when she was with Jared, and she told me I didn't know what it was like to be in love. Well, if being "in love" is having to be with your boyfriend 24-7 and always worrying about upsetting him, I'd didn't want that kind of life. How could she not see the way Jared was turning her into something else he owned? She let him buy her like he bought all those presents. It was so obvious to me that something was wrong, but when I pointed out his controlling behavior, she was all defensive about it. What else could I do?