Okay, I need advice very, very badly. I'm attending evening classes at a career college four nights a week, and in most of my classes, there's a woman who absolutely terrifies me. She's not mean, she's very nice and friendly, but she's so like all those people with whom I've dealt before - she doesn't accept or can't understand that I handle my relationships differently than her. I am much more reserved and withdrawn than she is. Why? Because I have been burned so many times in the past, and I refuse to wear my heart on my sleeve anymore. And yes, I am a bit moody - I am bipolar, and although my condition is stable, I still can experience situations when I need to be as alone as possible (which is difficult when I work and then go to school, so I'm constantly around people). She doesn't pick that up, she still comes over to me and talks to me. But she can definitely sense that I'm a bit more intense than she may be comfortable with. Don't get me wrong, I am not rude or mean to her when she does this, but I am a bit withdrawn and I don't say much. I go back into my shell. And she doesn't seem to accept that it may be different from the way she handles her emotions, but just because it's a different coping style doesn't automatically mean it's bad. She seems to think it is because of something she has said or done, which is never the case. But I resent that, in order to clear my name, I would have to share my whole life story and be exposed. Why can't she simply take me as I am? I won't hurt her, but people have to give me time. Time to get comfortable around them. Time to open up. Because I don't trust people until I get to know them in my own way. And I am absolutely terrified that, because (although I've done nothing wrong) she can sense that I am different and she doesn't understand, this woman will start a"witch hunt" against me and ruin me at the school. I know this sounds extremely paranoid and psychotic, but maybe it wouldn't if you understood just how many times it has happened to me before. By exactly that sort of person. And what can I do? We take a lot of the same classes and we are around the same people when we're at the school, and if I outwardly avoid her, it will probably make things worse. I'm so, so scared...