Don't Give Up!!!
Time is on your side - you are still young. I'm 48 and just getting back this last year into repairing and troubleshooting my own cars after not touching them for almost 20 years. Three teenage drivers(my 12 year old DAUGHTER is the only one interested in cars!) in the house means owning a small stable of used cars, and I can't afford to deal with the shop labor rates or the incompetence of most of the repair shops out there. Man, is there a lot to catch up on.
Check out this website, it's FREE, most of it is based on Toyota, but cars are all very similar in the final analysis.
http://www.autoshop101.com/techartic...larticles.html
Both the articles and the practice tests(interactive with answers) have a load of great information. If you can squeeze in one or two lessons a day between all of those IM's and online games(joking
you could put yourself way ahead of most of the talking motorheads when it comes to knowing how a car REALLY works. Like you said, "i hear all these people at school who are the same age as me or even younger kids talking about a whole bunch of shit..." You're probably right on the money as far as what they're talking - shit. That said, you still have to go out and bloody up your knuckles on rusted bolts and the like to learn how to approach and perform mechanical work, SEE what all that book stuff looks like in a real life car, and then ACTUALLY FIX the damn thing. Cars can be a true pain to work on, especially without a garage and lift - you'll see. Hopefully the pain will also teach you how NOT to constantly bust your knuckles - before the cursing from under the car gets you in trouble at home ;-). Start small with oil and filter changes, plugs, wires, thermostats etc. and work your way up to more complicated things as your confidence increases with success.
If you are going to make this a career, you definitely need to go to automotive school of some sort after high school. You'll also need to take some business classes - eventually - if you want to open your own shop some day. There are some great replys from other posters in this thread along this line.
And, DON'T GIVE UP!