I have a friend (I call her Michelle) who is very co-dependent on a few certain people. Her reasons for being this way are understandable: her parents are distant, she's got terrible self-esteem... It makes sense that she would cling to a few people.

At the start of our friendship, it was freshman year of high school. So I didn't mind walking with her to the bathroom, even if I didn't need to go. I was still finding my feet, myself. As the year progressed, though, I was more comfortable and more confident, but Michelle... Just wasn't. In fact, she seemed more open about putting herself down.

Lately, she's gotten downright annoying. In some ways that are connected to this co-dependent behavior (she tries to monopolize me if I'm in a group), others are completely unrelated. Regardless, I can't remember the last time I identified with her, let alone the last time we had any fun without making fun of each other.

Not to mention she's gotten really rude to me lately, trying to push me around for some reason. I told her I was angry about one situation, and immediately she breaks down.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. Do you forgive me? I just want to be friends again. I can't have you mad at me. First Ben's mad, now you?"
Not wanting to fight with her, I told her I forgave her for that incident.
She came back with, "Let's start over. Hi, I'm Michelle. I think we're going to be really good friends."
I told her, "In the end, that has to be a mutual decision. It's my choice, too."
"You mean you don't think so?"

At this point, I simply don't want to be her friend anymore. We're pretty much incompatible. But I'm not sure how to help her understand that it doesn't have to be all or nothing. The way she's percieving it now is if I'm not mad, we're best friends. I don't want her out of my life totally, but I could deal without her calling me and saying we should hang out more often.