ex-friendships

I thought the courage of leaving my toxic friend group would never grow inside me. All throughout middle school and most of high school I dealt with a group of people that made me feel belittled and worthless. They would constantly leave me out, talk about me behind my back, and disrespect my family and cultures. There were 5 of us in total, 4 girls and 1 boy. Though I'm only truly friends with one of the girls now, even she acted the same as them. She went to therapy and matured and we agreed to leave the group together. The 2 other girls were nothing but blunt rudeness. One of the girls would constantly put all of us down, dismissing my friend's ED by saying "You eat more than me, you don't have an ED", and she excused her disrespectful, disgusting attitude with saying it's just her personality. But what I started thinking today was how we see each other differently after ending our so-called friendship. Where once they used to compliment my new shirt or new hairstyle, it is now replaced with shit talking and teasing. When I walked to class, I wore my new zip up and they were talking about how ugly it looked, but however long ago, they would've complimented me about it. Do we not see the slightly disguised flaws when we have a fond connection with people because we choose not to or does ending that connection open our eyes to their imperfections? I'm even guilty of doing this. I would compliment my ex friend on how shiny and long her hair is, but now I realize it's knotted and greasy. Was that fog cleared when I decided to put myself first and choose peace? I guess we all have situations like these. I didn't think I'd ever be able to leave them because I was scared of being alone. As I get older, I'm okay with being alone. I'm lucky enough to have a supporting, loving group now. I don't feel insecure or depressed around them. They understand me, love me, and accept me. No jealousy, betrayal, or judgement. Just pure love for each other.