Teenage girls in trouble

The conversation at the kitchen island as the girls make cookies skips around from sex and who hooked up with whom, to parties and drinking, parents and divorce, cheating boyfriends, and why so-and-so isn’t a friend anymore. And then the discussion grows somber as the girls discuss their friend’s attempted suicide. On one hand, they sense the significance of such an event, but within several minutes they move on to other topics of importance and, as such, an event becomes part of their everyday challenges. 


High school dances are the culmination of expectations, peer pressure, hormones, flirting and social hierarchy. Guys and girls come decked out in their sexiest wares, bare skin an unspoken part of the dress code. Hopes are won and lost on the dance floor, and the endless hours of prep a girl goes through may or may not be for nothing. Within the first few minutes of arriving at the dance, Kelly freaks out after getting gum stuck in her hair.

"I kind of put on this fake appearance to seem happy and to seem OK with everything, but I don't really know how to be happy right now," Kelly said during an interview. Juliette Lynch/Alexia Foundation



Carly, Hannah and their friend, Erika, break out in laughter after Erika shares an embarrassing moment about a friend. Although short, lunch provides ample opportunity for friends to laugh, connect and spread gossip. Juliette Lynch/Alexia Foundation



Hannah has a conversation with her off-and-on-again boyfriend, Trevor, while a friend flicks him off in the basement of a friend's house during a party. While Trevor and Hannah dated on and off throughout the rest of the year, they were not together at graduation. Their relationship was a source of stress and often a topic of conversation. Juliette Lynch/Alexia Foundation



Hannah picks up her conversation with Trevor later in the evening. They flirt over a beer as beer pong is played in the background in the basement. Despite the fact that the parents who own the house are teachers, their son threw a party while they were out of town. Juliette Lynch/Alexia Foundation



Abby, Kelly and Caroline slowly wake up after an impromptu sleepover at Kelly's house following a local high school hockey game. Despite laughter and genuine interactions, the girls are comfortable with silence. During their senior year, Kelly (middle), tried to commit suicide while Caroline (right), continued to heal from her mom's affair and her parent's subsequent divorce. Juliette Lynch/Alexia Foundation



Age and gender don't matter at the homecoming dance as four girls grind to Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA" while it plays over the darkened cafeteria-turned-dance-floor. Juliette Lynch/Alexia Foundation



Caroline, Abby, Brigid and Kelly search for friends and family amongst the dispersing crowd at graduation. As is the custom, all four as well as Carly, jumped in the lake after getting their diplomas.

While all five girls were tight friends in high school, they will part ways in their freshman year. Caroline elected to take part in a rotary program, and will spend a year in Argentina before starting her freshman year. Abby will head to Binghamton, Brigid to Syracuse and Kelly will head to New York City and stay in her parents apartment, taking classes at an arts school. She hopes it will be the real start of her singing career. Carly, not pictured, will head to RIT in the fall. Juliette Lynch/Alexia Foundation

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