Making friends final semester of high school? Help?

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I'm a 16 year old male and a high school senior.

The school I am going to, I started going here at the start of the year, and went to a different school last year and earlier.

This has been such an amazing year for me, start to finish. Much better than my last school, have practically come out of my shell, am much more happy, confident and social person.

But even though I have become more happy and social, I have made very few 'true' friends.

I've made plenty of acquaintances, but I'm honestly very worried I will lose most of them after high school.

I might have alot of good friends at school now, but come graduation, it will all be taken away from me.

Every day the thought haunts me.

I have started to become miserable and depressed.

All year I have been very lonely, spending every single weekend at home completely alone.

I thought I would have made at least a few more friends by now.

Since the start of the year I have wanted friends to hang out with outside of school. People to spend time with on the weekend, holiday's, etc.

I have my best friend who I use to live in the same city as, and my two other good friends, but they all live in different cities now because I moved away.

I still keep in contact with them and meet up with them when I can.

I saw my best friend last holiday's.

Anyway, I have become very sad, upset, depressed, miserable, and lonely, etc.

I feel like time is running out for me...that I don't have any time left.

It is the final semester here in Australia.

This semester has gone by very quickly as well, much quicker than I would have ever expected.

Basically, I graduate in about 13 and a half weeks...so yeah...

Basically, this is my social life:

'True' friends:

-Best friend
- Two good friends
- My good friend Sarah.
- My other friend Alex. Have been TRYING to hang out with him outside of school, but something always seems to come up for the both of us.

My acquaintances at school:

3 groups:

Group 1: 3 males I am friends with. Not really interested in being friends with them but only acquaintances.

Group 2: The group i hang out with the most. Mostly females but some males. 1 male I am interested in being getting to know better, 4 females. The other people there are alright, but little to no interest.

Group 3: Lots and lots of people, mixed group of males and females. Know 1 male and 1 female there decently well.

So...13 and a half weeks. These are my options.

I could also work on meeting more people in my last few weeks and working on making friends, but like I said, time is short.

It just feels hopeless.

I am just so alone and depressed/miserable on weekends because I have NO ONE to hang out with. I actually cannot call anyone and ask them if they want to visit my house. I actually don't have that with ANYONE in my city right now..

Is there any hope left? What do I do??????

Is it time I just start making an EFFORT?

Like I said I have been talking to these people for a while now, the 2 males and 5 females in the two different groups. Is it about time I start trying to hang out with them more, start trying to hang out with them on weekends, etc.?

I feel ready, determined, etc. just need a PLAN OF ACTION...! !! !! !! BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.

If anything this is one of the WORST times to be focusing so much on a social life - I still have my final graces and studies to worry about.

But I am an aspie, and we have difficulty with a normal social life even when we AREN'T busy with studies.

I want to use all the time I have left, make it all worth it and make it count so that I will leave high school happy.

I don't want to look back and have regrets that I should have gotten to know certain people better instead of closing myself off to these people and potential friendships.

I don't want to leave high school lonely and friendless, which is a road I'm going down.

The few friends I do have at school is not enough for me. I want more, and I want to get to know the people I am friends with now much better...before we go our separate ways.

I don't know what to tell you but "stop asking for validation".

I have the same issue as you!
Except in the USA high schoolers seem to be more conformist and clique based. A covalent bond can be as weak as a hydrogen bond.
I have many tolerable acquaintances, however , real friendship seems intangible.
I do have "friends" at school but I'm afraid it'll all end after graduation.
Don't fear you can always be awesome and make new friends or try to make new friends from your graduating class.
I made a friend through my Biotechnology class

What exactly do you mean by that?

I don't care about 'conformity' or fitting in or what others think of me.

It's just that I've been lonely and depressed all year this year, but been my most social as ever and trying to meet new people, but have made very few 'real friends' aside from two.

I won't be happy leaving high school with NO ONE, NOTHING.

I have my three good friends in other cities, and I know that I'll still be friends with them. We still keep in contact, I visit them or they visit me.

But what about someone local? Someone in my own place, my own city? I don't have that, I haven't all year and I miss it badly.

Sure, I'll always meet new people. Sure, I'll always make new friends. I'm not acting like my social life is over.

It's just I don't want to be ISOLATED after high school. To have no one to spend time with other than my family in my city for the next couple of years.

I have plans to get a part-time job/do volunteer work, join clubs/groups/activities and attend social events, and once I move out with my friend (we agreed to be roommates and share a place) I will begin to attend university (I'm guessing I'll be about 20-22 when I choose to start) but other than that I WILL be very isolated.

I've heard from a lot of other aspies that, after graduating high school, in the recent future they ended up spending a lot more time alone and isolated, having less opportunities to see people and meet people.

Well, I'm already tired of it and I still AM in high school. Socializing at school is not enough for me. I am one of the few aspies that LOVES social interaction and crave it significantly.

I do know shy or awkward introverts who don't like to hang out with anyone ever outside of school, but I am NOT one of those people and never have been.

Soon enough spending the entire weekend alone, might just be spending the majority of my time absolutely alone.

Like I said, it's not like I'm talking to complete strangers here. I understand that friendships have to be something more natural, they have to take time to build and maintain. Patience is the key.

But I do NOT have the time for this...

I already have a lot of great acquaintances, and I get along well with them all.

So why should I let them just fade away from my life after graduation instead of reaching out to them NOW?

My school is quite cliquey and conformist as well, but I have always gotten around this. I consider myself a 'drifter' meaning I don't spend time with any one particular group but alternate between quite a few, which I listed above.

Anyway it feels so much better knowing somebody else feels the same way as I do.

Maybe we can find the answer together.

Tbh, the number of 'real' friends I have, as in the ones now that I imagine I would still be with when I am, say, 25, is 3.

There are 5 people I consider 'true friends', but the two most recent I am unsure if they would stay in my life not just after graduation but also after other points in our lives e.g. if I moved away, if they moved away, etc.

Just ask them for their email address....and whether you could "friend" them on Facebook.

I hope you could keep in contact with at least some of them.

Nothing wrong with seeking "validation"--because you are valid!

It is normal to lose your highschool friends after graduation.

The friends made in high school are situational; there's less to chose from and you are usually 'stuck' with your clique.

Don't worry too much; you have now learned how to make friends. you get a do-over in college, and with a larger pool to choose from, you'll make better friends.
Also, since you are more adult (all of you), the friendships can be deeper so these ones are more likely to last after graduation

I agree most high school friends are situational.

I don't mean keeping high school friends, I mean making new friends to keep after high school in what little time I have left.

I've attended 3 different high schools over the years, my first one the beginning of 8th grade, my second one 8th to 11th grade, and my current school 12th grade, senior year.

I've made 3 very good loyal friends that I care deeply about and I know will continue to be friends with after high school (considering I don't go to the same school as any of them anymore already but still have a strong friendship with them all).

It's just, they all live in different places. The closet being 4 hrs, the other two about a day's drive or a few hours plane flight, but still.

I'd like good friends in my own city. Someone to actually be able to hang out with on the weekend, as I do not have that at all. I already find my weekends lonely enough due to the distance, I can't imagine how it would feel now that I'm out of high school and not seeing people on a regular basis.

It just makes more logical sense to have at least one friend in the same city as you. I'm sure most adults do. And not only does having at least one friend in the same city as you mean you have someone to spend time with, it also opens you up to the ability to meet more people. Whatever friends they kept after high school, and friends of friends of friends, etc.

And while I do plan to go to university/college, I'm not one of those seniors that plan to go immediately after high school. I was planning to take a few years break to do a variety of things to get my life together.

I want to be moved out of my mother's home, have a steady part-time job, etc. before beginning my first year of college. It's also expensive, and giving myself a chance to find ways to pay for it first would be better than jumping straight into severe debt like some college students do.

"The friends made in high school are situational; there's less to chose from and you are usually 'stuck' with your clique."

Not really. I always moved between groups throughout high school and only associated myself with those I genuinely liked as people. But even them I don't know well enough to be deeper friends with them.

"Don't worry too much; you have now learned how to make friends. you get a do-over in college, and with a larger pool to choose from, you'll make better friends.
Also, since you are more adult (all of you), the friendships can be deeper so these ones are more likely to last after graduation"

Hm, true. But, is it really that easy to make friends in college? Doesn't the struggle of making friends just start all over again?

I've heard it is harder in college because people care less about the social aspects (they still do, but less) and more about the actual education they are getting there.

Also, obviously there are different social rules/conventions than high school.

I've also heard that people who live off-campus notoriously find it harder to meet new people and make new friends than those who live on-campus.

Maybe it is just about putting myself out there after high school. I'm sure I'll meet other people in my own city in the next few years then, but still.