This guy in my class won't stop following me around and watching my every move. I don't know what to do anymore.

Throwaway account because people from school use Reddit.

So I (17F) am in my last year of high school. I get along with alot of people in my class on like, a surface level I guess? We're friendly and whatever, but I'm not actually proper friends with any of them anymore due to some complications that happened recently (long story, not really relevant here but basically friendgroup parent drama that left me on my own). We still talk and are civil to each other though. We sometimes hang out during classes, joke, gossip and joke about shit, it's whatever.

There's this guy in my class, 18M, who I'll call Raynold for this post. Pretty much everyone in my class has expressed that they don't really like him. He's freakishly tall (like seriously, this dude is TALL), makes people constantly uncomfortable, and has absolutely zero understanding of personal space. I always felt kind of bad for him honestly because people would avoid him, but I also understood why.

Raynold noticed that I didn't have any friends anymore, and since he's going through something similar (shocker), he offered to be my friend despite everything. I figured why not, maybe everyone was being too harsh on him, so I said okay and we started hanging out.

Here's where things went south. About 2 weeks in, this dude started following me around like a lost puppy. And I mean EVERYWHERE. During break, classes, between classes, when I'm working on projects, lunch, literally any time he can find me. He'll just be there, breathing down my neck no matter where I go. It's gotten to the point where multiple classmates have pointed it out to me like "uh, why is Raynold always right behind you?" which is honestly embarrassing.

I've told him MANY times to go find his own things to do so he wouldn't be following me around so much, especially when I'm trying to work on projects. And he does... for maybe 5 minutes max before he's right back to either standing directly behind me or sitting next to me way too close. Like dude, give me some space to breathe??

Now that alone wouldn't be THAT annoying though, but it gets worse. He also WATCHES my absolute every move. Whenever I'm using my phone or my laptop, he'll lean in VERY close (and I mean uncomfortably close, I can feel his breath on my shoulder close) and just watch everything I do. Everything. He'll even stop working on his own projects or schoolwork JUST to watch me do whatever I'm doing until I awkwardly and politely remind him to "hey man maybe work on your own stuff?"

Oh and he makes these random sounds at me. Like he'll just randomly meow. Yes, meow. At me. For no reason. Multiple times a day. And he thinks it's absolutely hilarious to chase me around whenever we're in classes that don't have too many people in them. I've made it clear I don't find it funny but he keeps doing it anyway.

He's also constantly asking me these weird questions like "are you my friend?" "do you like me?" over and over again. Even after I answer them. It's like he needs constant reassurance or something but it's honestly exhausting.

Important things to mention: He has a girlfriend (I havent met her and him and the girlfriend speak a different language so I have no idea about their relationship properly), this dude has friends outside of our class but they arent english and only seem to hangout at breaks. I am perfectly content with being alone, this whole 'no proper friends' thing wasn't a major issue I complained about and I didnt beg this guy to hangout with me or whatever. Finally, I have absolutely ZERO intentions of becoming anything other than school acquaintances with this guy. Very obviously why. We barely even talk outside of school.. like we'll text sometimes but only about school-related stuff, homework, project deadlines, that kind of thing. Also, he's racist and makes very questionable jokes aimed at a black girl in our class.

Here's the thing though, I am someone who absolutely HATES when people get way too deep into my personal space, especially when I'm not close to them. My class is very aware of what, as they've known me for many years. I've made it VERY obvious that I'm not comfortable with what he's doing, even verbally told him multiple times despite how awkward I am at confrontations (seriously, I hate confrontation so much but I've had to say something). I've been as direct as I can be without being mean about it.

Like don't get me wrong, it was nice to have someone to talk to at first when I was feeling pretty alone, but at this point I just feel very uncomfortable around him. I've started making excuses just to get him to leave me alone for even a second. I'll say I need to use the bathroom, or that I'm meeting with a teacher, or literally anything to get some breathing room.

I don't know what to do here. I feel bad because I know he's trying to be friendly, but I'm also genuinely uncomfortable and it's affecting my ability to focus in school. Am I being paranoid? Do I try talking to him again? I've already tried that multiple times and nothing changes. Do I just tolerate it until I graduate and forget about everyones existance?? Please help redditors I have no fucking clue what to do.