Is AUTHOR wrong in the post ? POST : I'm a junior in high school. For some background, some kids at my school are very... boisterous, to say the least. They have very negative attitudes, too; if they meet up with each other in the hall or the lunch line, they will essentially trash-talk each other in a relatively loud manner (It's definitely in good fun, but it still comes off as obnoxious imo). Overall I'm just uncomfortable around them. I think they're too much of a bad influence and I'd rather just not interact with them at all.

...which I usually do by literally not looking at them in the first place when I'm walking. When I walk to class, I just keep my eyes straight. If I see one of these particular classmates in the corner of my eye, I'll probably just glance at them and then look forward again, still walking. Sometimes they will say hi to me, but I don't respond. I just don't want to encourage their behavior and let them direct it towards me. 

Now we're not complete strangers; I've probably had one or two conversations with them. The thing is, they acted all nice when they talked to me, but they went to their friends right after and went back to that same negative behavior. I feel like they were just being fake with me.

I've noticed for the past few weeks that I've been acting like this a lot. Am I being mean? Am I obligated to acknowledge them in the hallway, to give that social grace even if I barely know them? I need second opinions.