I was definitely a "freak" in middle school. I had like 2 other friends who were also considered weird, and together, we kept each other company. I remember one time my school decided to switch everyone's lunch hours and force assigned tables because the new principal thought it was a genius idea to make all the kids get to know each other and "reduce bullying." It certainly wasn't a genius idea. I got separated from my 2 friends, and I was forced to sit at a table with like 9 "popular" kids. It was excruciating. I was already painfully shy and awkward to begin with, but here's what happened: when I first got to the table, I was the second person to get there. The girl who was already there acknowledged me, but she clearly didn't want to be seen sitting with me. Then another popular guy came, and asked me to move over so he could sit with the girl. I moved over. Then like 3 more people came, (all popular, all friends with each other) and each of them asked me to move over. So I ended up moving over a seat, again and again, until I was at the very last seat of the table and everyone else assigned to the table had sat down. I sat there, completely ignored, completely and utterly alone. I still remember to this day the horrid feeling I got in my throat from trying so hard not to cry while swallowing bites of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
By high school, I was still definitely "weird," but thankfully my high school had like 3,000 kids in it, so I and my 2 friends from middle school were able to join the other "weird" kids, and things were a little less lonely. This was also a time when my best friend (who is still my bff to this day) got a lot closer, and she being a NT (and yet actually understanding/accepting me!), I was able to learn quite a lot of social skills from her example.
I am currently in graduate school, and I've found this to be quite similar to when I was an undergrad: most of the students there are there to learn and not really make friends, so I've found that the social rules seem to fall in line with those of the "acquaintance" category, and I've been able to act as such. Of course, I get the occasional person who seems to want to be my friend, and then the awkwardness ensues. However, I did join my college's radio station, which seems to have a lot of people with ASD tendencies, and I find that I feel tons more comfortable with them, even though I'd say I'm not really super-close friends with them. I should also note though, that my college is more of a commuter school. It does have dorms, but I think the ratio is something like 70% commuter and 30% dorm dwelling students.