<p>Has this ever happened to you? And how do you deal with it?</p>
<p>Usually, peer pressure doesn't affect me. But there is one exception. I have this friend, he is a boy, and up to anyone's standards, he is not good looking. At all. The guy has really bad teeth, bad hair, bad skin, and is pretty much plain down "ugly". But this guy and I get along pretty well and he is actually one of my greatest friends. </p>
<p>Anyway, so people come up to me all the time and tell me stuff like: "Why are you hanging out with him?" My initial reaction was: "You know, he's a great guy." But then, the comments escalated. It was more and more people coming up to me. One day, he came over to my house and when he left, my mom went: "Why are you hanging out with him? He is so ugly. You can't be seen with people like that."</p>
<p>She was kidding of course, but there was some truth to what she was saying. </p>
<p>Eventually, it got to me and I stopped being too friendly with him or taking him along when I hanged out with other friends. I feel kinda bad about it. I mean, augh, he IS a great guy. At the same time, he has no friends besides me. He is an outcast. On top of his looks (or lack thereof), he is one of those people that are always complaining about how much the world sucks and uses any opportunity to preach socialism and communism to random happy people that don't want to listen to his woes.</p>
<p>I feel really bad. </p>
<p>Have you guys been in a similar situation? How have you handled it? How would you handle this?</p>
<p>interesting. i have an ugly friend (i'll call her friend x) that is a girl (at least to me, she isn't physically attractive, but beauty really is in the eye of the beholder). nobody at my school really likes her because they're superficial and they always say stuff like "why do you hang out with her, she's so ugly", very similar to your experience. one time a friend of mine was speculating girlfriends for me (lol i know) and friend x was mentioned since i talk to her a lot. immediately, another one of friends said "hpa10, would you ever seriously date her? why? that is so gross" but friend x is awesome though, she's really funny and cool to be around so i just don't really listen to the other people. she has an amazing personality and honestly, a lot of people at my school would like her if they just talked to her once. if you want to hang out with him, do it, and if you don't because of something your friends said, then that's pretty sad. you should try to help the guy a bit though....</p>
<p>Wow, unusual experience. I really say try to help him and hang around with him, maybe get him to talk with some adults and stuff...if you really think he's a great guy, then try to hang out with him too, if you're too adamant about peer pressure, try to hang out with him as much as you can undetected.</p>
<p>i invited a bunch of friends over to play some vid games (halo 3!!!), and most of them left at about 11. one of them stayed a bit later, and told me that hanging out with _____ is apparently "lowering" my status in high school. he told me that this kid was banned from their group years ago, and the fact that i am bringing him back in is bothering some. since he is apparently "dangerously" ugly, he can't have any friends. i honestly don't care, i'm still going to bring him into my group no matter what.</p>
<p>I have no problem hanging out with people who aren't exactly physically attractive. It sounds to me, though, that you don't really enjoy this guy's company. If he's "one of those people that are always complaining" is he really such a great guy? If you genuinely like his personality, don't let other people ruin your friendship. If you don't, then don't feel guilty about breaking it off.</p>