friendship

Katy Perry’s friends have broken a crucial rule of the 'Girl Code'.

Girl Code.

It is the unspoken laws of female interaction, a deep and ancient understanding that one will always pass toilet paper under the cubicle door, and always, always let a fellow female know if she has food in her teeth.

But this new world is tilting on its axis, goddamit, because this week someone let Katy Perry walk the red carpet with quinoa littered throughout her perfect white teeth.

Yesterday, Katy uploaded a super close-up of a red carpet shot from the iHeartRadio Music Awards on Instagram, along with the caption, “Currently taking applications for real friends who aren’t afraid to tell me there’s quinoa in my teeth.”

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Aside from the fact someone totally got fired for letting her toothy grin loose with a handful of quinoa along for the ride, Katy has called into question the very existence of Girl Code.

Did it die out there, somewhere between the release of Mean Girls and the advent of Snapchat rivalries? IS GIRL CODE DEAD?

Girl Code was the unofficial sixth subject in high school. Rated in difficulty somewhere behind Maths but above Home Ec, the Code was taught in a complex system of death stares, hastily scrawled notes in class, and emphatic lunchbreak bitching.

“Can you BELIEVE she let me walk out to the pool with my tampon string hanging out?” would moan one girl, as the other five took a mental note to never let anyone walk around with a tampon string hanging out.

“I would NEVER dob on my friend for sneaking out on a school night,” would spit another, those surrounding her scrubbing out their previous understanding of underage female safety to follow the Girl Code rules.

Girl Code means alerting someone immediately if they have spots on the back of their dress, food on their face, something funky going on with their hairdo (“Is it meant to look like that? Oh. Yeah. Cool. No, I like it!”) or a wayward pantyline. Bird poo anywhere on their person. Too much perfume. Not enough perfume. An alert that underwear is showing or confirmation that yes, your bum does look big in that.

girl code
(Image: Paramount Pictures)
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It's all about sacrificing your own personal safety to save another. I remember at a year nine disco I literally skidded and slid across a basketball court dance floor to grab a girlfriend who had her skirt tucked into her knickers. I earned myself a grazed knee and dented ego, but the lifelong respect of my fellow sisters.

One might assume Girl Code had disappeared from the red carpet of Hollywood elite; alas, our favourite best-friend-who-just-doesn’t-know-it-yet, Emma Watson, has restored hope.

The 26-year-old Beauty And The Beast actress stopped an interview in London this week to wipe pen off her female interviewer’s chin.

"I'm so sorry, can I stop you? I'm so sorry," she told the reporter.

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"I would—you would do this for me, and I would do this for you. You've got pen on your chin. I'm going to be so sad when you see this and I just—I just have to do this for you. I'm so sorry! I just—I know what it's like to have something on your face."

SHE THEN ASKED HER MAKE UP ARTIST TO TOUCH UP SAID CHIN.

*Golf clap*

Emma Watson, the face of female friendship. (Source: Instagram)

Girl Code isn’t always so easy to follow. One Mamamia writer presented with a sticky situation a few weeks ago when she spotted the boyfriend of a good friend kissing someone that, uh, wasn’t her good friend.

“What am I meant to do?” she wailed.

The rest of us stood staunch. “Girl Code.”

Many years ago now, I received an email out of the blue from my then-boyfriend’s ex. We had never met before, but through some super sleuthing she had found out that he was seeing us at the same time. Moreover, he was lying to me about going to work each day; he had been fired months before, and was sneaking over to her house instead.

Once we moved past the initial accusations - “I’ve heard about you, you’re crazy!” - the proof was exchanged and he was dumped. Deed done, we kept in touch and some five years on remain the best of friends. Girl Code.

So there you go, Katy Perry. Those good friends do exist. We might not be on the payroll, but we’re more than willing to take a hit in order to let you know that, uh, honey? There’s something in your teeth.

Tell us what you think, do you still abide by the Girl Code?