This was sorta me in high school (NYC, mid-1990s) after the anxiety I developed at 11 turned into depression during my sophomore year. I probably missed like 100+ school days my second year playing hooky because I just didn't want to be around anyone. I spent most of those days at home playing video games, fooling around on the Internet, riding the subway, walking around Mahattan window shopping, playing chess in the park or sometimes just sitting there people watching or laying on the grass, hanging out at the library, playing video games at Toys R' Us, etc. Because I started growing facial hair in 7th grade and could grow a full beard by the time of my freshman year, I just styled my beard into a goatee + stache and few people ever questioned my age.
My mother worked 6AM to 6PM, so she would be gone before I woke up. Her and my father were still married but separated. He would come by the house a few times a week, either to pick up his mail, drop some money off for bills, or fix something around the house. He had his own room and the basement where he'd hoard junk and sleep sometimes before working the night shift. We lived in a massive brownstone, so on the oft chance my father slept there, I would just hang out and keep quiet in one of my sisters' old rooms; one got married and moved out, the other was at law school.
I set up an answering machine to pretend to be a pizzeria to deal with any calls from the school during the day. They started sending social workers to my house at some point, so to deal with them, I disabled the ground floor doorbell, then re-enabled it later on in the afternoon. Since it was a four story brownstone and my father spent most of his time on the top floor in his room, he wouldn't hear them even if they knocked. I collected any notices they left and the mail didn't come until around 4PM, after my father left for work, but before my mom came home, so I would just confiscate any mail from the school inquiring about absences.
When it came report card time, I would just forge one and give it to my mother to sign. I was already really handy with computers by then since I'd been messing around with them from the age of 8. Eventually my became suspicious and wanted to go to parent teacher night. Even though I had been playing hooky up to that point, I would still pop into school and go to certain classes I found easy (Social Studies, Computer Lit., English Composition, Physical Ed., Art, etc.) and was still maintaining an A+ average. I just went to the school with her and directed her to those classes, my teachers had good things to say about me, so she left satisfied.
Eventually, because of a bunch of close calls with my sister coming home from school for vacation, a nosy older brother, and all the social workers showing up at the door, it became too stressful for me to handle. I convinced my parents to let me transfer to an unconventional night high school in the city. I kept my nose clean for 3 months, then came home extra late one night on purpose, and when my mother asked me why I was so late, I just started bawling (it was easy, given how shitty I'd been feeling with depression and anxiety) and told her I got mugged.
Later on I told my parents I told my parents I was to scared to go back to school and wanted to get my G.E.D. There was no reluctance on their part because I had been already mugged before and we lived in Bedstuy (super dangerous at the time). I went to this youth center in Manhattan, either setup or donated to, by the Wayans Brothers to get my equivalency diploma. I had it within two weeks because they felt I was ready to take the exam immediately based on my assessment scores.
Afterwards, I enrolled at a community college and completed an associates degree and then later transferred to a four year school. I didn't complete my four year degree however because I got the chance to work for the postal service and the money/benefits were great so I decided to jump ship. That's where I've been since.
I think things sorta worked out for me, but I'd like to go back to school at some point in the future for a liberal arts degree.
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