DR. WALLACE: My parents, my two brothers and I just moved four states away to a new home and I'm now a sophomore in high school and don't really know anyone.

I was really popular at my last school because I had a lot of friends and common activities. My freshman year was spectacular, but now my sophomore year here at this new school makes me feel like I'm in a ghost town.

What can I do about this? I feel beyond awkward and kind of like a fish out of water. Everyone seems to know everyone else quite well, and they all appear to be caught up in their existing friendships. — On the Outside Looking In, via email

ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN: You may not feel much like smiling these days, given your situation, but make it a point to give a decent-sized smile, but not too big, to everyone you pass in the hallways, in the quad area and basically anywhere at your new school. You'll begin to notice that a few people will quickly smile back at you and others will instinctively give you at least a mild smile in response.

It shouldn't be too hard to keep track of a few of the people who smiled the largest back at you, and when you come across one of them in the near future, smile again, and when they smile back at you a second time, take a moment to introduce yourself and tell that person he or she has a very nice smile. Explain that you're new to the school and then have a specific question about your school ready to ask. Hopefully, at least a moderate conversation will follow and you'll soon feel like you know at least one person.

Do this regularly, almost like a shampoo "rinse and repeat" procedure and before long, you'll know quite a few people. From there, opportunities will come up to socialize and you'll feel a lot more comfortable.

Do check out your new high school's extracurricular activities, which may include clubs, sports teams, drill teams, drama, music or anything else you may be interested in. Get involved, keep your smile ever present and make the first move to shake hands and introduce yourself to people who seem receptive to you! Before you know it, you'll start to feel more comfortable, and once your social momentum starts, I trust you'll run with it quite successfully all the way through your senior year.

I RANDOMLY MET THE OBJECT OF MY INFATUATION, NOW WHAT?

DR. WALLACE: I'm a 17-year-old high school girl, and I will confess to you that I haven't had much of a dating career. I went out on two dates when I was 16, and neither of them went very well.

For about a year, I've pretty much stuck to myself, my studies and a close girlfriend who I've known since grade school. But beyond that, my social life has been a big fat zero. I have noticed a particular guy at my high school that I've always found interesting and for one reason or another, I usually end up seeing him nearly every day at our school, even though I've never spoken to him — until last week!

He's nice looking, without being too good looking, and from what I could tell from afar, he looked very friendly and he has a lot of guy friends, but I've never really seen him with a girl on his arm, so to speak.

I'll admit to you that I've been infatuated with him, perhaps a little bit too much. A few days ago, he was crossing the main area of our campus about 15 yards to the left of me and I turned my head to look at him, which I seem to do these days almost instinctively. As I was staring at him and we were just about to pass each other (from a distance), I bumped into another guy and my books went flying. The other guy gave me a scowl of a look and briskly kept walking. The guy I was looking at saw what happened, and he curved around and walked over to me and helped me pick everything up. He even introduced himself to me and he shook my hand! I thanked him profusely and said little else, as I was too shocked by the whole situation to know what to do.

Now my infatuation is rampant and worse than ever, but a little voice in the back of my mind tells me I should make the first move to re-engage with him sometime soon. If I can gather up the courage to do this, what do you think is the best way for me to go about this? I'm nervous just typing this email to you, but I know deep down that I want to make contact even if things never work out. — We Finally Met, via email

WE FINALLY MET: Since the two of you obviously know each other now, and if you see him on campus again soon, be sure to pick a time that's not when everyone is hurrying to get to class on time. See if you can find him when a class ends and the lunch break is about to begin, as this may be a good time to speak with him for a few minutes.

My advice would be to walk up to him and thank him again for being such a gentleman to help you, and let him know you were very impressed with his character. Ask him if it would be all right for you to repay his kindness by inviting him out to lunch, helping him study for any class he may need a study partner for, or any other small favor you could do to repay his sincere gesture of helping you on that day in the past.

Approaching him and making this offer will absolutely send a very heartfelt and tactful signal to him that you are interested in spending a little more time with him if he is open to the idea. He may or may not take you up on any of the things you mention to him, but hopefully, he does.

No matter how things turn out, the two of you should at least be on friendly terms on your campus going forward, and making the effort to attempt to "repay" his kindness will definitely make a positive impression on him, and that's a very good start. Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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