Have you ever made a friend or two that got you through your school years?

[Victor Krumph]

Hello,

I'm posting this because I'm wondering if any others have had the similar experience of having someone with you to get through that awkward, maybe turbulent, and stressful thing that is the k-12 system. My experience personally truly started in middle school when I was becoming less of a kid craving for excitement, candy, and just fun in general to more of an introspective, stoic (I guess), responsible, and studious kid. I found this one new girl who no one seemed to like and people would always make fun of her and I bet thought she was ugly knowing how inane middle schoolers can be. I started talking to her and found she was more interesting and thoughtful than anyone I had ever met my age. I quickly made friends with her despite the k-i-s-s-i-n-g they did which I presumably thought was reserved for the elementary variety.

On to high school where I went to a charter school and she went to Las Vegas to go to school there but we held our friendship still to this day no matter the distance. In high school I did the same thing and hung out with the kids that were kind of ostracized, no luck there but I eventually started making acquaintances with everyone in my grade as I found out everyone was a little "weird" in their own way. That and the curriculum was from a country from Europe which focused on keeping more of the arts in all of the subjects so it was no surprise that they all had their quirks so I fitted right in. However that doesn't mean it was easy as it was a college preparatory school so you were automatically enrolled in AP level classes but I found having a best friend was what really got me through. I'm just wondering about your stories and if you had similar experiences or if not, why if you mind. Thank you for reading!

 

[VictorR]

My high school experience also involved hanging out with the non-conformers / outcasts, and looking back, I wouldn't be surprised if many of them were neurodiverse.

 

[Progster]

In high school, I didn't belong to a friend group, but had individual friends. I tended to be friends with 'fringe' people similar to myself, as they were more likely to accept me and weren't too worried that hanging out with me might spoil their image. At university the same. One was very likely on the spectrum, another one maybe.

I had one particular friend who I did get in touch with off and on, who it turns out has dyspraxia. I'm not that good at keeping in touch with people, though.

 

[AprilR]

Yes, almost all the friends i had in school were outsiders/people who didn't have other friends.

 

[Mr. Stevens]

Yes, and we're still friends, though he lives far away.

 

[Slime_Punk]

I didn't go to high school (it's complicated!), but I would've been king of the 'losers' table for sure. And I say that with pride

 

[Bolletje]

I was queen of the outcasts! My high school years were quite depressing and lonely but at least I made a few friends that made school bearable.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

I had no friends until I got to college.

 

[Aneka]

Hello,

I'm posting this because I'm wondering if any others have had the similar experience of having someone with you to get through that awkward, maybe turbulent, and stressful thing that is the k-12 system. My experience personally truly started in middle school when I was becoming less of a kid craving for excitement, candy, and just fun in general to more of an introspective, stoic (I guess), responsible, and studious kid. I found this one new girl who no one seemed to like and people would always make fun of her and I bet thought she was ugly knowing how inane middle schoolers can be. I started talking to her and found she was more interesting and thoughtful than anyone I had ever met my age. I quickly made friends with her despite the k-i-s-s-i-n-g they did which I presumably thought was reserved for the elementary variety.

On to high school where I went to a charter school and she went to Las Vegas to go to school there but we held our friendship still to this day no matter the distance. In high school I did the same thing and hung out with the kids that were kind of ostracized, no luck there but I eventually started making acquaintances with everyone in my grade as I found out everyone was a little "weird" in their own way. That and the curriculum was from a country from Europe which focused on keeping more of the arts in all of the subjects so it was no surprise that they all had their quirks so I fitted right in. However that doesn't mean it was easy as it was a college preparatory school so you were automatically enrolled in AP level classes but I found having a best friend was what really got me through. I'm just wondering about your stories and if you had similar experiences or if not, why if you mind. Thank you for reading!

I had a friend who was very good with people and no one dared offend me. She was the first true friend wo stayed through bad times.

 

[Victor Krumph]

In high school, I didn't belong to a friend group, but had individual friends. I tended to be friends with 'fringe' people similar to myself, as they were more likely to accept me and weren't too worried that hanging out with me might spoil their image. At university the same. One was very likely on the spectrum, another one maybe.

I had one particular friend who I did get in touch with off and on, who it turns out has dyspraxia. I'm not that good at keeping in touch with people, though.

Yeah its hard to keep distant relationships. I always try even though I'm terrible with social media. I hope you keep in touch with them.

 

[Victor Krumph]

When I started a new school in 7th grade I knew almost no one there. And I think I would have been alone had it not been for one guy in my class who for some reason started talking with me. We ended up hanging out all the time. And the thing about him was that he was very popular. In 9th grade he was a swimmer and a part time model. Just imagine a dude with a swimmers body and a models face, the girls followed him around like puppies and he was just very social and knew a lot of people. So I met people because I was hanging out with him. I like to think I was there to keep him grounded, when he got a little too full of himself I quickly pulled him back down on earth with a snide comment.

Wow a model and swimmer in the 9th grade. Sometimes the popular people are cool with hanging out with almost anyone. When I was in high school there were clicks that I swung around back and forth from and I sometimes hung out with the popular groups, mostly musicians, student council, and athletes but nothing that glamorous. Thanks for sharing your interesting story.

 

[Victor Krumph]

My high school experience also involved hanging out with the non-conformers / outcasts, and looking back, I wouldn't be surprised if many of them were neurodiverse.

Yeah that's probably the case with my experience as well. They seem to be the easiest to make friends with out of everyone since they don't have many options themselves. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Victor Krumph]

I had no friends until I got to college.

That's the experience of many adults I know who could only really make friends in college as it was hard to make friends with unreliable teenagers and below. Thanks for sharing.

 

[AutistAcolyte]

i pretty much always had one or two close friends, and since i went to a small school i knew everyone and was on good terms with most of them even if we didnt hang out at all (though looking back maybe i just thought of it that way)
generally i think i had one or two close friends at a time, and we would spend a lot of time together, and then they would change schools and i would find a new friend.

i tried to be generally agreeable and not do things to make people upset with me, and i think that helped me to fit in better, people were more likely to be kind back to me.

also, most of the time my friendships revolved around playing video games together. shared interest which for me was and still is a special interest.

 

[Ken]

Never any real friends here. At times I thought I had, but it always became clear they were "friends" because I would fix their radios and other electronic stuff.

I was the most avoided, unpopular kid in school. I always thought that Quasimodo would have been more popular.

After high school, I have been able to make a few friends, but it has to be with limited, short duration visits. If they get to used to me that is always the end of the friendship.

 

[Judge]

No.

By the time I graduated there was no one in my orbit. I was so relieved not to have to be in high school any more.