I don't have close friends?

Hi, my name is Thomas. I go to a decent school, no bullying, but I just don't have too many close friends. I've had this problem since middle school, but then I hung out with a group for the sake of not being a loner. Towards the end of 8th grade I start hanging out with this kid who I'd gone to elementary school with, and was a LOT like me, and we started hanging out. In high school we became really close. We had 2-3 other guys in our group, but it was mainly us who hung out. Sadly enough, he moved away at the end of sophmore year, just as we started getting really close. I stayed with the group we had, but it slowly fell apart as other kids went to different groups, and I went to some random one with guys I used to know. See, while people were making friends with groups, I only really focused on the guy I got really close to, and when he moved, I don't really have anyone.There's a couple there that are okay, but I can't really see myself getting close with them. The thing is, I don't mean to be shallow, but I feel like I should be hanging out with the popular kids. The reason being is I'm generally athletic, good-looking (according to some girls), and I'm down to party. On top of this I get good grades. Now, I'm not narcissistic, I know I have TONS of flaws, I just want put to rest some theories as to my lack of friends, but the description I just gave also describes a group of these guys who are REALLY popular, down to the last word. I'm generally social, not so much with girls, but these guys only see the nerdy me that was in middle school, and don't really give me a chance to let me show them that I've changed and matured, they still see the middleschooler. Please give me some feedback.