Your friend was riding correctly, if you are not accelerating through a turn you are not loading the rear tire. The rear tire steers the bike once it is leaned over. Look at the size difference between your rear and front tire, do you want to try to use the much smaller contact patch of the front tire to carry you through a turn? The only way to regain your confidence is to practice the proper techniques. Try finding a good curve (I know this is difficult in Fl) and ride through it at a speed that you are very comfortable. Try to roll the throttle on as soon as you get the bike leaned over. Once you roll the throttle on you have to continue to roll it on through the remainder of the turn. After youi become comfortable rolling on through the turn (should'nt take long as the bike will feel much more stable with the rear tire loaded) start to enter the turn with more speed, not too much maybe two or three MPH more. Once you become comfortable again increas speed again. Remember lean angle is directly related to speed: you will be able to drag your knee when you have enough entry speed to require such lean angle. I'm not going to preach about ATGATT, or riding fast on the street as these topics have been covered enough but if you are goint to practice on the street at least find a curve with some run off. If you slide you dont want to slide into a guard rail, tree, oncoming traffic etc.