DR. WALLACE: I'm a girl who is 16 and I have a good friend who's a guy who has a current girlfriend. This is no problem for me at all as I knew he had a girlfriend the day I met him. We have three classes together and we study well and help each other out with these classes.

But lately, whenever I try to contact him to arrange study time together, he tells me that he's too busy as he's always either playing sports with his guy friends or is out on a date with his girlfriend.

I like him as a study partner friend, and I'm not trying to date him, but I really don't want to lose him as a friend. Besides that, I think each of our grades are better when we work together studying the class material in those classes that we have together.

How can I arrange more study time with him given his current circumstances? — His Study Partner, via email

HIS STUDY PARTNER: It's understandable that you would like to continue to be allocated the same amount of study time that he has given you in the past, but as with most things in life, things change over time.

Just because he's very busy now doesn't mean that he won't want to study with you in the future. The key is to reach out to him and let him know you're available at certain times to study together if he has free time to do so. And if he doesn't, don't badger him or become overbearing with your requests. Simply let him know that you're available and perhaps at the right time, maybe before an important exam, he may carve out time to meet with you. In the meantime, you need to keep up with your own studies and it may be a good idea to keep this boy in mind as a potential ongoing study partner, but at the same time, to seek out other study partners who may also help you to succeed to the best of your ability in your classes.

HE'S NICE BUT I'M NOT FEELING ANYTHING

DR. WALLACE: I'm 17 years old and I like the idea of having a boyfriend while I'm in high school. I've been dating the same guy now for five weeks and he's a nice enough person. Mutual friends introduced us, and I'll admit that he has a good sense of humor, and we seem to get along pretty well.

But my problem is that I was not too attracted to him at first and over time this has not changed at all. In fact, it's going in the other direction!

Should I continue dating him and even though deep down I know I'll never want to be with him long term, or should I let him down easy at this point? I should also mention that all my other girlfriends have boyfriends, so this would make me the only person without a relationship within my circle of friends. — Not Feeling It, via email

NOT FEELING IT: If you had your doubts early on and now five weeks later, you're even further removed from being interested in this boy, then it's probably better to move on sooner rather than later. Think for a minute if the roles were reversed, and someone truly had no interest in you for the long term. Wouldn't you want to know that and have the opportunity to look for someone else?

And comparing your current situation to your circle of friends may be natural, but it's likely not in your best interest to try to keep up with them by extending a relationship that has already passed its expiration date. Have a friendly but sincere talk with this boy so that you both can set each other free. At some point you'll find yourself dating someone that you're more than interested in and you'll be able to achieve this sooner by addressing your current relationship first. And this boy will also be able to date someone soon who has more interest in him than you do.

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 rwallace@thegreatestgift.com. 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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