Why do guys take my stuff?

[castaway00]

Lately, I've noticed a lot of guys steal things from me at school - binders, pens, my cell phone, etc. It's just ANNOYING and I'm sort of wondering where they're going with this. It's not like they're all friends or anything and I know they're not doing it to hurt me. They're just joking around but it was only funny the first time. It's hard to believe ALL of them like me but I know two of them do because they asked me out.

Oh, and I always get my stuff back. They're not thieves. :)

[A-spot-of-trouble]

Usually, when guys do this, it's either because they like you (and from the question, this is the case with at least some of them) or because they consider you a friend and are just messing around with you, in much the same way they mess around with their male friends.

The ones that like you are pilfering because it makes you pay attention to them (and they really don't know how to act around a girl they're interested in). They steal, you react, you talk to (probably yell at) them, and they get the chance to flirt with you. They'll eventually figure out better, (slightly less immature) ways to do this. You can hurry this along by only paying attention to them when they're -not- stealing your stuff.

The ones that are just treating you like one of the guys should be understanding enough to stop if you ask them to (without getting flustered or otherwise reacting). The rest will probably keep flirting.

[KikiSakura]

They probably like you. Which you mentioned. Don't worry, it'll be alright. That is if you like it. If you don't, try to calmly tell them to stop. If they truly like you, they'll listen and stop. No guarantee though. If they don't find a person you trust to help sort it out. Hope this helps.