My 14 year old lost all his friends

[marrella]

My son is 14 and just graduated 8th grade. He was the class valedictorian and we are so proud of him. My son would hang out with other boys in his class during the school year. After graduation 3 weeks ago, these so called friends have been unbelievably mean. My son tried texting them to see if anyone wanted to hang out. My son was told: no one likes you, your fat,the only friend you have is your double chin, you're gay,and the list goes on.I am devastated but he tells me he's fine. And I can tell he's lonely. I'm pretty sure no one from his class will come to his graduation party and it breaks my heart. My son is a good kid,smart,funny,kind. Hes a little shy and would prefer to play games on his computer. He starts high school football next week so I'm hopeful he will make new friends. I'm kind of at a loss right now though. I want to help him but I'm afraid im pushing too much.

Cancel the party and do something else that he will enjoy. The party will be mortifying if no one shows up.

Get him enrolled into lots of local teams, he can make new friends there. Invite your friends with teens over for dinner, they can hang out together. Maybe a summer camp?

He will make new friends in high school in the autumn, so this is a temporary problem op. Celebrate your sons achievements, let him be cool about his old friends, and don’t add emotion or drama into the situation. It all make things worse.
Just move on and focus on this new start. He is a clever kid and will find his tribe.

In the US I believe you do graduate every year.

I am sure if you do not pass the year you can do summer school to make up the grades and you can be held back.

But this is purely based on watching a lot of US TV shows.

I would concentrate on summer activities and having fun.

I am not sure how it works in the US with reporting the disgusting text messages he received but I definitely would report it. My youngest son is targeted because he is in the top 3 students for maths and science but has the full backing of the school.

I believe the school system is completely different in the US - kids change schools at 14 not 11 so my understanding is that there are three schools not two in the education system - is that right?

If so can he go to a different high school for a fresh start, or is the high school one where lots of different middle schools feed in and they are streamed so he’ll be with other bright kids & make new friends?

Being clever is always something kids (wrongly) pick on - it’s their problem not his, but must be heartbreaking. I hope he moves past it & makes new friends, those nasty ‘friends’ are not worth the aggro OP