> I am only 13, and am going to start High School next year. However, I am (and have been for all of middle school) in an advanced placement program, and hve always cosidered myself more mature than "most" children my age. (I say "most" because the school I attend is the only school in the are that has full-day advanced placement.)
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What I'm about to say is full of crazy generalizations and assumptions, so bear with, ok? =)

A theory that I have formulated during my time here at RinkWorks is that for us adolescents, we are all the same in that we all consider ourselves unique.

You hear all about the heightened emotions of the big P and the mood swings of teenage years, but somehow we all think that we're unique when it comes to it. What we've done is we've confused unique with dramatic. We think of ourselves as tragic heroes, single people struggling against the uniformity of our peers, when in essence we are acting just like them.

You are definitely not alone in feeling that you are more mature than your peers. Other people feel that way, too. The two years before high school, I too was in a full-time advanced class of sorts. This manifested itself in my largely antisocial behaviour in grade 9. However, in grade 10, it was as if the shyness and fear just vanished overnight, and I was out and being active.

This just goes to show you that people change. In their minds, they feel they haven't changed at all, but in truth they are very different people. This is what will happen to you. You may continue to believe that you are more mature than your peers, but you will adapt to relating to people you feel are less your peers. And if you don't, you will still find more people like you who feel the same way, and if you understand each other, then it doesn't really matter how people look at you now, does it? Just hide behind the guise of teenage cluelessness and live your life as you see fit.

So, to sum up something that I'm not entirely sure what I said, we all like to dramatize ourselves in the epic film that is our lives. Just understand that it is normal to feel abnormal, and don't let it get in your way.

--Pliff"Man, now even I'm confused"ilif