"I'm Going to Break Ben Out of His Shell"

A friend told me a minute ago, "[Redacted] told me that she's going to break you out of your fucking shell this summer." I get this a lot. I don't have time to build social relationships with a lot of people at school. Instead, I've surrounded myself with a small group of guys who I trust and enjoy and for everyone else my relationship is very surface. One particular jarring incident this year is when I told someone flatly, "I am not going to commit to building a friendship with you." Insensitive? Probably. But what my high school peers don't realize is that building a relationship takes significant time and effort and I'd rather be upfront. I find a lot of value in my social relationships at school - but not enough to divert more time from my other endeavors just to climb the social ladder.

The downside to this is that I have a reputation to a lot of people for being...mysterious, unaccessible, or unemotional. This doesn't bother me; in fact, it makes me laugh, because I don't care what they think.