Losing friends

by Alice
(United States)

In 3rd grade, I met one of my best friends. He's a guy, I'm a girl. We sort of started out hating each other, but by 6th grade we became best friends. During elementary school we were on the same bus so we would see each other every day. In 7th grade, we weren't on the same bus and we had no classes together, but we would still talk online every day. Slowly, we drifted apart. By the end of 7th grade, he only talked to me to ask about homework.

Over the summer, after 7th grade, many of my friends thought I liked him, although I really didn't. I missed him a lot, though. One of my friends wanted to see if he liked me. They started to talk a lot. By 8th grade, he was the only thing she would ever talk about. Last month, he asked her out. They are always together and she talks about him nonstop. He still never talks to me except to ask me about homework. I still want to be friends, but I'm not sure if he does and I'm too shy to talk to him first.

I don't want to talk to my other friend about this, the one that's going out with him. No matter what I have said, she still thinks I used to like him and I don't want her to feel bad. Other than her, we don't have any close mutual friends. I think about him all the time and I really want to be friends again. What should I do?