Dear Sarah,I switched schools this year. I went from a small Catholic school I had been at for eight years to a prep school on the other side of town, the east side. At the old school everyone knew who I was, and I was popular. But at this school, I’m nothing, no one knows me except for the thirty other people in my class, in fact I sometimes get made fun of. That part doesn’t bother me so much as the fact that I don’t fit in. I don’t feel like they’re a part of my class or that I’m a part of their class. I still see all my old friends every weekend, I feel like I’m more a part of that class. I don’t want to be popular, I just want to feel like I fit in.

I would never presume to tell anyone else how to fit in, because I didn’t fit in so well in high school – didn’t wear enough Benetton, studied a lot, blah blah blah. And I won’t bother giving you that “just be yourself” nonsense either, because you’ve probably heard that a hundred times already, and anyway, it doesn’t always work.

The kids at your new school have probably all gone to school together for years, and they don’t seem inclined to let you in socially. Fortunately, you still have all your old friends, so act civilly towards your new classmates and try not to let their coldness bother you. Just keep your head down, do your schoolwork, and wait for the weekends and for college. Not terribly helpful, I know, but if memory serves, busting your ass trying to make other people like you is usually a big, humiliating waste of time.

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