The difference between good friends and bad influences is, good friends won't betray you and set bad examples. Bad influences do bad things, like stealing and hurting other people. Good friends are nice to you and won't steal from you, they'll make you laugh and make you happy. A bad influence will make you get in trouble, they could make you get detention or they could end up getting you killed. It's not good to be friends with bad influences, especially if they are in a gang. Good friends will protect you when you are in trouble, you could trust them with your deepest secrets, unlike bad influences, they'll go tell your secret to the whole world. You should make good choices about who you want to be friends with, and you should be friends with someone who won't turn their back on you.
It is very important to be yourself no matter what. It's not good to be fake, it means your not real. When you're fake you won't have many friends, people won't talk to you and they won't like. If you pretend to be someone your not just to impress somebody, you're basically going to make a fool of yourself. It's not good to go around acting one way, then when you get around somebody else you act totally different. For example, if you act crazy and goofy around your friends, then once you get around other kids that live in your neighborhood you act really proper and classy just to impress them, that's not right at all, that is completely fake. You should just be yourself no matter who you hang out with or who you're trying to impress, if you be yourself, that will always be impressive to people no matter what.
It's important that you stay in school and get your education. There are all types of way to get and education, you could read books, get education at home, or you can get self education, which means that you can teach yourself and learn how to do something on your own. You can teach yourself the alphabet or anything that you want, you don't always have to go to a school to learn, but if you're able to go to school it's important to stay in school. Anything and everything that you learn is education, no matter how you learn it or where you learn it. For example, if you don't know how to read and you want to learn, you could ask a family member, you don't always have to go to school to learn everything you need to know, you can ask your parents or you could ask friends. Whether you're in a school or not you should find a way to get an education or you won't get anywhere in life.