I really want to be harsh here. I'm trying not to be.

Those "friends" you ditched? A lot of them will carry that hurt for decades.

I was the kid that "didn't care" about all this stuff.

Of course, I really did care to be accepted, as everyone does, but I was a skinny geek who's musical tastes and love of knowledge meant that the "cool people" viewed me as a pinata.

I'm in my sixth decade, and there are still people, using the term advisedly, who are extremely lucky that I'm not going to seek them out. It would end very badly.

To be blunt, the people who care so much about being popular that they abandon friends and family are either bullies, or enabling them. Most never realize it, and keep right on being assholes till the day they die.

Good on you to realize it. That part, and that alone, is why I tried not to be harsh even though I had to say something.