I could never tell whether anyone was interested in me, either. In grade eight, this girl kept calling me and I basically told her to go away and leave me alone. Why not? I thought she was making fun of me like everyone else did. (Grade seven and eight were not good times for me.)
There aren’t many advantages to turning 40, but one of them is that one doesn’t need to worry so much about one’s chances. After 40, you’re forever beyond the struggle of being cool or not-cool; you’re in the “I’ll do what I want, and &^%$'em if they don’t like it” zone. 