My first day of high school is exactly 1 week from today and I need some tips/advice on how to make friends easily.

I have 2 friends that are going to the same high school that I'm going to but we are not in the same classes meaning we will only see each other at lunch and also I want to make new friends, sure I'll keep the friends I already have but I do want to make new friends as well. I want REAL friends I honestly don't care if they are unpopular I'm just looking for real friends. I am very shy when I first meet someone which makes it a problem. I cannot go up to someone and start a conversation. I find it to be very awkward randomly going up to someone for no reason and saying "hi" but I also know I cant just wait for people to come up to me because what if they don't? As I said, I don't have many friends and people in my class make fun of me behind my back for being shy (mostly girls) and how I don't talk a lot but since its high school I want a change. I want to be more confident and less nervous around people I don't know. I don't want to be bullied in high school and I'm very nervous. Im excited about meeting new people but nervous about starting conversations with people. I know there's a lot of people (275 people in each grade) and out of 275 people I may find someone probably who can be my best friend but at the same time I'm very nervous.

I am thinking about joining clubs to meet new people but I don't want to join sports teams because I am not good at sports at all it is my weakness compared to my class in eighth grade. Almost everyone is extremely athletic and I'm like an outlier who is not athletic like them so I don't think I want to join a sports team.

I just need to know how to step out of my shell and go up to that person standing on the wall and say hi or start a conversation because thinking about it makes me feel awkward and I think what holds me back is he fear of that person thinking "why is she here" or thinking I'm weird for saying hinfor absolutely no reason.

The best way to overcome your fear is to just do it. Just say hi. Pick one person and say hi to them every day. There are other shy people just like you who want to make friends too. Joining a club is a good way to make friends as well.

Joining a club that interests you is a great way to meet some people. You'll already have at least one thing in common with them to talk about!

If you find that there is something in one of your classes, an assignment for example, that you don't quite understand, you can always use that as an opener to ask someone nearby if they understood it. "I'm not sure of what she said, did you get all of that?" Or make some other comment about the class, assignment, or homework to get a conversation going. "I can't wait for lunch period, I'm starving" " It's going to take me awhile to get used to getting up so early" Anything that you might say to a friend can pretty much start a conversation.