TOFM, as much as you don't want it to make a difference, the fact that you are 16 makes all the difference. I'm just a few months shy of being twice your age but, believe me, I can certainly remember the misery that was my life when I was your age. In retrospect, it is nothing but unfair that I couldn't have known then what I know now about life. Nobody ever told me, but I never did ask, nor did I have anyone to talk to about things. I don't know that I would have listened anyway, but that's not going to keep me from saying what I believe.
The one big thing you need to understand is that much of what happens in life just happens. You can and should try as you might to make things go your way, but understand that a lot of things are just pure dumb luck and all you can hope is that it is good luck and not bad luck.
When I was sixteen I had the following faults: I was overweight (5'9" and 170lb at a time when most kids were not overweight). I had only one friend. I had no social skills to make new friends, and people in general took an instant disliking to me for reasons I could never understand. That's not just my perception, that was my reality. Kids picked on me, very few people ever stood up for me, I could not much stand up for myself, even teachers disliked me. I don't think I'm particularly ugly, but I'm nothing special for sure. To put it another way, I would never cause anyone to take a second look at me for any reason. I am smart, but was unmotivated by my classes and my teachers and just saw no light at the end of the tunnel to make it worth doing anything.
Seventeen was no better. I graduated at eighteen, never having so much as spoken to a girl for any reason other than mandatory school projects. The pinnacle of my loserdom was lying to my parents about having a friend so they would let me go to a rock concert with my friend. I had to buy two tickets and still have the other one, unused, to this day. The only good thing that happened to me in school was the one time I reacted to being picked on by punching a kid in the mouth. I still feel bad for that, but it earned me freedom from being picked upon. In retrospect, I realize that it was not so much for my fighting prowess as it was for the fact that it was the one normal thing I ever did in front of my peers.
I moved from Florida to Boston on my own to start college, mainly because I wanted to get as far away from my life as possible. Needless to say, my life followed. I went to both a private and a public university and was never picked on or bothered by the other students. Some went out of there way to befriend me, though I suspect it was more because I could help them out with their schoolwork than because I was much of a friendly person. Nevertheless, a few did see me for who I was and appreciated me and became true friends.
Anyhow, what I'm getting at is that I did nothing to earn my way out of my situation. I tried to talk to other people occasionally, but it never worked. I went out of my way a few times to put myself into social situations and ended up being miserable and uncomfortable and leaving when I could stand it no longer. My weekends were spent alone in front of the pc or taking long shopping trips to the music stores. That's it, that was my life. I also experimented with starvation and dropped myself down to 120lb. So I can say my looks improved in that I was no longer fat, but that did not cause anyone to look at me as being attractive.
From the time I was about thirteen I had my own pc and dial up access to the Prodigy online service, which was in the days before the internet was commonly available. I had a few online friends. By far they were the easiest to make. When I was in Boston I managed to get talked into coming down to NJ to meet up with one of those friends to go see a concert. That friend was a girl and we've been inseparable ever since. I moved to NJ the following year, and we married four years later. All of that, all of it, just happened to me.
I've made good decisions that have gone bad and bad decisions that have gone good. You can't calculate anything and you can't rely on anything, you can only do your best to make it through the tough spots knowing that along the way there will be good ones. When you get to the good ones, just remember that there will more bad ones and you'll be able to power through them because you did before.
You'll struggle with lots of things in life. Some of those you'll look back on later and wonder why it was so hard, others you'll be thankful you've left behind. The point I'm at today, with the family and friends and job I have today, have come about almost entirely from the randomness of the universe. What I've come to accept and love is that I wouldn't have it any other way. I have two beautiful kids who cause me endless frustration and joy. They are the reason I can still go on for those days and weeks and months I have where I don't see any point in continuing.
Also, I look back upon my bad teenage years with an added insight that makes is all different. I recently learned that I have Aspergers Syndrome, which is basically a high functioning form of autism. My problems in life kind of make more sense now. I can see that people did not like me because I was different and didn't respond properly to their social cues because I never saw them. I'm learning how to manage around that now, but I'll never be rid of it.
It seems to me that much of life is a waiting game where you just make your way through one more day that was the same as the last in search of the day that is going to be different and better and life changing. Then you start over and search for the next one. They will happen and, for better or worse, you won't be where you are right now and things will be different and you will figure them out. What you can't do is just wait for the one day when things will be perfect, because it will never come. You can only focus on what's going to come and on how what you do today can make that better.
Consider yourself lucky to have the limitless support you can find online. It helped me through many times. Don't ever think you can't have a good internet friend, either, because you most certainly can find very caring people online who will see you through. One thing that helped me through some bad times recently was listening to Buddhist Dharma talks. Don't get put off by the religion aspect of it because that is not what it is about. It is really all about handling life's difficulties and bettering yourself. I particularly enjoy Ajan Brahm's speakings and he has a huge collection for free download here:
Ajahn Brahm Dhamma Talk Podcast :: Buddhist Society of Western Australia
The one called "Smart Thinking, Boy Wonder" is a good place to start, but they are all excellent.