They Seem to Have Destroyed All of My Self Esteem

Hello all!

I am a 14 year old girl. I was in 7th grade earlier this year and had 2 friends I was very close with. But one day they came to class and started making fun of me, telling me that I had conspired to turn them against each other and whatnot. This was a complete lie, I was even absent from school for a week. Looks like they decided to turn against me or something.

The 2 of them were telling everyone at school how bad I was, that I was obnoxious and other things. So all the other kids turned against me, I didn't have any friends because of them and felt awful. They kept making fun of me, insulting me, I even skipped school.

But at some point I stopped caring but it's as if they completely destroyed all of my self-esteem. I live in a big city and I'm in 8th grade now. We broke off all contact and I won't be seeing them again. I'm not shy, I love meeting new people, going out and so on. But there's something about me I really hate and that's when I'm with others I can't think of anything to talk about. I ask them something, they answer and that's that.

Soon I'll be seeing a boy I haven't seen in a long time and I don't know what to say to him. Please give me some topics for discussion, how I should present myself to people so I look sociable. I don't like people who are closed off and maybe because I ended up without any friends that I'm kind of like them now but that's not who I am. Please give me some advice on what I should do!