Yeah. Sadly, where I'm from, it usually isn't a compliment.

In high school, I was "friends" with this one girl. She tries to talk to me today. I try to speak back. It's awkward, though, I admit. Well, her younger sister one day told me that she called me 'weird'. And by the way she said it, I could tell she hadn't meant it in a good way. (Ah, from the mouths of babes. They're always snitching on people without realizing it) That day on, I didn't speak to her much.

Because I never found my place socially, I tried hard to do so. It came across as awkward. Which I was told several times. One guy recently confessed that he thought something was "wrong" with me mentally and was surprised to hear I'm actually quite intelligent. No genius, but I pick up on things fast. My memory of my childhood might be fuzzy. But I can quote many Psych and dog books. I'm a walking encyclopedia on subjects that interest me. I guess that only made me seem weirder. As to try to make conversation, I'd ramble about one specific thing. Eh, guess people don't like that much. Still guilty of it to this day.

So, yeah, I've always been... the "weird" one. It didn't help that I went through a goth phase. In hindsight, that probably made it worse.

How do I respond to it? Well, I sit in my corner and watch as all the seats next to me clear instantly and then doodle in my notebook. I've essentially given up trying to socialize outside of immediate family and people I know already.

And yeah. Quirky is cool. I'd rather be quirky than weird. Unfortunately, everyone calls me weird.