In my first secondary, it was good. I had three groups of friends and used to flit between them depending on if I wanted to talk about football, talk casually or talk about politics/books/smart arsed stuff.
In my second secondary, I got bullied. I had friends when my teacher realised the mistake and put me in the classes I was meant to be in but the bottom set rougher kids hated me.
In my sixth form (still technically school by American standards), I hung out with the lads and was just one of the gang.
I struggled to get on with girls platonically but even at my first secondary, when it was Section 28 etc, I managed to get girlfriends. And in my first secondary, girls were part of that second - casual conversation - group.
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Not actually a girl
He/him