I have been inundated with requests to write about getting out of the friend zone.

How turn yourself from bruh to bae. But you really can’t. If the feelings aren’t there, they aren’t there. Requited love isn’t like an exotic glass of wine. As though the longer it’s around and the more you get used to it the more you’ll like it. Affection isn’t an acquired taste.

In any case, I traversed countless sites and books and came to a conclusion about friend zone myths that need to be busted- yesterday.

Ron Weasley made it out of the friend zone

He wasn’t in the friend zone. Hermione showed affection toward him from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the boy was too blind to see that Hermione was into him and so when another boy showed her his interest, she went with it. Hermione was heartbroken when Ron decided to start dating Lavender in Halfblood Prince.

Ron was clueless, not friend zoned.

You can’t escape the zone

Unless you want the person to be with you out of pity then it’s unlikely that the feeling will ever be mutual.

S/he will never feel that way about you. It doesn’t matter how much you blame the people they’re dating, how much you change your appearance, or how much you change your mannerisms. It’s not going to happen. You’d be better off trying to meet other people and actually appreciating the friendship for what it is.

It’s a scapegoat

People in the friend zone usually blame it for their situation. So they wallow and pine and blame it on the friend zone for their “sadness”. But you can actually take charge of the situation. Tell the person how you feel. Especially if they aren’t in a relationship, take a chance on love. Or hold your peace. Or let it go and move on.

It doesn’t actually exist

See, there is this thing going around that if the person you like doesn’t like you back and “wants to be friends” then you’ve been friend zoned.

When it comes to individuals who play on your unrequited feelings so as to use you and fleece you for everything you’re worth- there’s a special circle in hell reserved for them.

But when you like someone and they don’t like you back and want to be friends, then it’s you who’s baezoned them.