new here. where to start? ****ty rejection today.

hey guys ive read this site a few times in the last month as well as david deangelo's column in askmen.com but i haven't joined this forum until today.

just a quick little intro
senior in high school. terrible, embarassing past. i'll never admit this in person, but i think i am very well-liked in general because i'm real nice, don't always try to fit in, and am "amazing" (in our community) at tennis and an instrument. most people know who i am because of tennis. i'd say i'm more of a man's man and more popular among the guys; all the popular guys love me (but we don't hang out) but i hardly know any of the popular girls. i'm good friends with about 4 or 5 girls who would never date and i would never date (except 1 or 2 i wouldn't mind ****ing).

biggest problem in the past i'd say is being too nice and not a challenge. in other words, WUSS. starting to change that. also, letting my interest level get completely out of hand. and being a little naturally shy.

i had been thinking about joining this thread but what happened today really put me over the top. since i have never ever had a girlfriend, i'm honestly pretty desperate and pretty much any girl who likes me would get reciprocation. there was a girl (an 8 who is underrated, short and cute) in one of my classes who had given me a few IOI's, just a few(and most likely these were just friendly ones i had misinterpreted as attraction):

saying hi more than normal
starting conversation with me
increased eye contact
laughing a lot at what i say.

as soon as i got the slightest notion that she liked me, my own interest level started soaring dangerously high. i started interpreting every single thing she did as a sign of interest.

well today i felt forced to make a move i usually wouldn't have done because i need a date for homecoming. i pretty much don't have anyone else to ask (since the girls in my friend group are NOT options to me.) so with hc 3 weeks from tomorrow i decided i had to make a move on this girl.

we can't really talk in our only class together cuz we sit a couple rows apart (im in front) but we catch each other walking out at the same time sometimes. so today i was a little slow getting out and had to catch up to her (another thing i wouldnt have usually done) and we talked for a bit. i was trying to do c & f but it was only f cuz i was talking about myself. she was laughing and enjoying it tho. then she was at her locker and when she was looking down, opening her lock (bad timing in retrospect) this was my only chance so after about 1-2 seconds pause in conversation i said "wanna get lunch with me after school"

as soon as she hesitated, i knew i was lost based on the information i had been reading on askmen.com and this site. she turned, her face had kind of a messed up look and she said something about having to be somewhere. i said "ok" and then "cya" and i don't think she responded.

that was after 1st period, so i had to spend the whole school day repressing that ****. but i did manage to pull off some ****y & funny with another girl (a sporty kind). it could have been better as i havent been using it for very long but she kept telling me how mean i was, sticking with me and laughing the whole time.

anyway, if you read all that thanks, i just wanna get started here. any articles anyone would recommend me starting with?

my FAILING girl history, don't care if you read this i just feel like laying this out after a bad day

7th-was in love with a 6th grader i never, ever talked to. pretty much stalked her in the halls and never said a word.
8th-same thing with a different 7th grader.
9th-first year of high school. i sucked. wore the same ****ty clothes every day and hardly ever talked to a girl. was nervous even talking to guys. very self-conscious. somehow i started talking to that girl from 8th grade online. after about a month of talking like twice every three days online (and for hours at a time sometimes) i got her phone number to hang out. we did so a couple weeks later and it was terrible. we sat in her basement for 2 hours sitting on separate couches facing each other having what was pretty much a boring, adult conversation. she stopped going online, i was seriously depressed for about 4 or 5 months and couldn't let go and couldn't understand why.
later that year-started liking a really weird girl in a class. talked to her sometimes. friday before spring break i asked her to hang out and got her number. called within a few days, no answer. then got message from her blaming her dad for not being able to hang out and hen her letting me know when she'd be able to. she never called.
10th-oh, i also forgot to mention that freshman year i spent every friday and saturday night on the computer. by now, i actually had some friends that i hung out with. didnt like anyone for a while. 2nd semester became friends with a crazy girl (no interest in her) and actually started hanging out with some girls, mostly crazy girl's friends. at this point i was just really glad to be hanging out with girls. then i met another one of crazy girl's friends who was a year younger and really cute (7 or 8 but thinks shes like a 5). i started liking her and a month later we started talking online a lot. decided to tell crazy girl i liked her friend and crazy girl said she'd arrange for us to hang out cuz i was a ***** and couldnt do it myself. crazy girl never made it happen, i got pissed. girl of interest asked crazy girl if i liked her, and she let it spill. i was ****ed up. girl of interest was nice to keep talking to me online. great.
11th-got a lot more popular and confident. hc. i had kinda liked a girl (an 8 or 9, study-nazi type) in our group for a while (one of the ones i want to ****) and decided to ask her to hc. long story short she said no. also me and my friends stopped being friends with crazy girl cuz we realized she was crazy and i actually had friends who were girls to hang out with now. one of these girl friends set me up with a girl from another school who actually turned out to be gorgeous (a 9). we went to hc together (my first ****ing high school dance, note) and it was fun. nothing happened on the dance floor, but i guess she really liked my personality. after that night my girl friend who set us up said that my date wouldn't stop talking about how funny i was. we hung out a couple times with my friends around so i didnt really talk to her. then after a couple weeks i, the genius, decided i liked her. i started calling and texting her and things started going south. she lost interest, and my girl friend randomly told me "oh she don't like you no more" even though i never actually knew that she did like me. i continued banging my head into that wall for about 4 months after hc, not realizing she just had low interest level.
2nd semester-started getting more popular and confident. i started talking to a girl in one of my classes a lot. i didn't like her at all and actually had for a long time kinda thought she was a *****. we did a group project together. me, her, and her good friend (HOT. bf of a year tho.) she literally laughed at everything i said and it made me feel like god. she touched me a lot and asked for to hang out and got my number. texted me every once in a while. i kept my distance (at this time, i had never read anything on this site or askmen so i was unknowingly providing her with challenge) because i didn't like her that much and only talked to her because she liked me a lot (still not sure if just friendly or attraction). actually, she had a bf in the beginning of this who she went to tb with (our winter dance). crazy girl asked me to tb really really randomly and "got sick" and ditched me there after grinding hard with me for a little while. this was really my only real grinding experience and i really really wanted to do it again. then girl in my class broke up with her bf almost right after tb (which i danced with her at, in front of her bf) and we kept talking and getting close. we hung out in groups a couple times. prom was coming up and her HOT friend asked me if i was asking anyone. i said no, and her HOT friend said i should ask her. i was basically like "ok" and i did it. we went to prom and i still didn't particularly like her. at the dance tho, since i had had such limited experience with girls, the slow dancing had a huge impact on me. i basically fell in love with her on the dance floor as we were hugging. (also, hugging at this point had a huge effect on me) some were making out during the slow parts but we were just hugging. she kissed me on the cheek at the end and i began wondering if i should have kissed her. i started liking her after prom, and she started getting distant. i was pursuing her now and started texting her a lot more than i did before. we went to a movie alone but i hugged her goodnight. summer comes, she says she's gonna go to a 9 week camp but that we would "hang out every day before that". we hung out a few times. she left.
summer-i met a girl one night by playing guitar (i started learning junior year, mostly romantic songs). she said she was "in love", got my number, and drove me home. she basically kept texting me saying things like she would always be up for hanging out, would do anything for me kinda like i had her under my power. first night we hung out was with a group, we ended up going to someones room alone together but just talked the whole time, i didnt even think about making a move. she didn't make eye contact a single time as she was making me a friendship bracelet (...i was dumb.) we went to a movie together which i tried to pay for but she gave me $10 and i said "oh ok if it makes you feel better" to which she responded "yes it does" and we got ice cream. then one night i was out with some friends, she was supposed to be there but she wasn't, and then her friend who was there told me that she wanted to tell me she was really sorry that she couldn't hang out and she really wanted to hang out the next week cuz her bf was gonna be out of town. in my head i was literally like WHAT THE ****. i was almost certain that she liked me based on the texts she had sent. i was an idiot.
prom date came home. we had a surprise dinner for her, at which she announced that she's "engaged" with a 24 year old from camp. marvelous.
12th-currently. ive been reading askmen and this site, working on c & f. i can do it pretty well online because i have more time to come up with c & f responses. just needs to get more natural. first interest of the year, details above.
additional kicks in the nuts
girl from when i was in 9th (the online one) i've been hanging out with through the summer. a guy in our group who i don't really like is asking her to hc.
girl from when i was in 10th is in a class. haven't spoken a word to her. she's not outgoing.
hc date from 11th-has a bf. i had labelled her as a girl who didnt want to date in hs.
prom date, the one who's engaged to a 24 year old-showed up at my house once before a football game, asked me to get lunch after school this week. i have been kind of ignoring her. all my friends think im in love with her, which i've repeatedly denied. for that reason i am pretty adamant on not asking her to hc even though i am pretty sure no one else would.
so there it is. pathetic, ****ty ass history. i never EVER talk about it tho or reveal i have this level of self-pity on my past. i have gotten very confident socially and most people would probably never guess that i've never kissed, never dated, never seen anything, never touched a boob, never anything sexual. right now i'm mainly working on c & f, which i had a hard time at first getting because i have such strong habits of being a nice guy, the provider. i used to take pride in giving people things, like rides and favors. i'm trying to balance the c & f and when to do it and when not to. working on my humor. my c & f id say is just a little slow right now and in progress of improving.

Dude. First of all good to have you here. You are a mirror of what I was, like, two months back. Only it was football i was good at, not tennis. It would be interesting to see your progress. Dont worry about girls. They will certainly follow after you have found this site. But the best thing is you will be on your way to become a real Man. Now listen carefully. Go to the DJ BIBLE. Search it on this forum. It is easy to find. Start with Pook's posts. That guy will change your life. He changed mine. After you read all of his posts I would recommend Senor Fingers' posts. That guy will nail it down for you. After that you will be pretty much prepared to be on your own. You have a perfect mindset for great change. Now dont waste time. Go. Start working on your life today.

Haha, thanks a lot man. Football's definitely a lot cooler than tennis. Anyway, I'm just kinda realizing that I'm a LOT better with girls when they're not number 1. But ya I'm gonna get reading thanks again man.

oh and also something kind of interesting. over the summer a girl made me a friendship bracelet, a kinda girly one so it's pretty obvious to most people that a girl made it for me. i decided to keep wearing it because it might make me seem like more of a challenge. the girl who i asked to lunch asked me randomly one day who made it for me, and it was a second after my hand was out of her sight. i took this as an IOI of course.

Nothing wrong with that, sageproduct. Sport that bracelet, to your own benefit. Consider making your own bracelet out of paracord, to give to the girls in return. That way, they would not be caught with their pants down, in a survival situation.

Hi, sounds like you've come really far (a lot farther than me, anyways.) I'm happy for you and good luck in the future.

By the way, it seems that you're attractive (physically) but aren't assertive enough with girls. Thats why they will display the interest and then lose it after a while.

Thanks for the input guys, feelin great to be here. I would read askmen.com all the time and keep wondering about how different it would be for a high schooler

Hey, I got a little weirded out because your post just sounded so much like me. senior, tennis, self-conscious freshman, gaining popularity..all that and I'm like wth haha. maybe we could help each other

Anyway I think the key thing to learn here is to NOT react to every little thing a girl does. That will just define you as an AFC.

Girls are "social butterflies" as they say. If they're just naturally being fun and you're taking those as IOIs, then you're just fooling yourself. most of the time these so-called "IOIs" don't mean anything. You start to realize that after talking to more and more different girls

Haha, pretty weird. But ya I totally agree, I think a lotta guys get nailed by taking friendly behaviors as IOIs and I read something about it being guys aren't really used to very friendly social behavior all the time.

Just gotta remember, actions not words