As a kid did you feel like school friends were more "real" than people from other places?

I don't know if this is the right place to ask exactly but I would say up until mid-high school, I only felt real connection with other kids from my school. Kids I met at other places like sports lessons always felt more shallow, like the "click" was missing. I'm guessing it had something to do with shared experiences. I mostly liked school and felt like that was my reality, so kids outside of that environment felt more like side characters.

I have no such feelings now as an adult. If I like your vibes and we have similar interests, we'll click and I don't care in what context we met.

Did anyone experience something similar? I've asked some people and they also said that school friends always felt a bit different.