DS (16) has recently started 6th form college. Main reason he chose to leave secondary school for college was because he didn't have any real friends at school and we encouraged him to make a fresh start at a place where everyone starts "new".
4 days in and I am really worried. All through primary and secondary school, DS has struggled to make friends with kids his own age. There is nothing "wrong" with him, but socially he is just very awkward with kids his age. When he was a little boy, he was quite show-off-y with his peers. These days, although I don't know (because I'm not there at school), I think perhaps he can be a bit the same - he can talk a lot in a group setting and not really listen to others, IYKWIM.
With adults he is fine and in fact nearly all adults who meet him say what a delightful, lovely boy he is.
He has never been sporty. For various reasons, has never been able to pursue any organised outside school activities. He loves gaming and would spend all his time online gaming if he could. He has a couple of friends in another country who he's met through the game they play and those are basically who he considers his closest friends.
I so hoped that college would be a fresh start for him and that he'd make a few friends. But he's coming home each day saying everyone seems to know each other already and he can't bring himself to go up to any groups of people, or even people on their own, at break time and just say hi. He has already formed the view that "everyone thinks I'm a dick, so I can't be bothered trying to talk to them." He's going to the library at break so he won't have to be obviously alone. There is a lot of "I don't care", but he so obviously does care. I just feel so sad for him as I desperately want him to feel worthy of having friends, instead of the social misfit he believes he is.
Any ideas as to how to help? I really don't want his school years to end without him ever having had a real friend (in real life as opposed to online).