I hate the taste of hard alcohol but I need to be able to drink it

For context I’m 20 and I’ve been drinking alcohol for quite a while now but my problem is that I always need a mixer along with the alcohol I drink I can’t drink the alcohol plain because it tastes like shit. I’ve been made fun off etc but I’m not trying to drink hard alcohol and shots because of that I’m trying to do it because I also want tojusts take shots directly with my friends rather than sit in the corner with coke/mixers. I know alot of people will say that there’s no point if you don’t like It but I’m going on a trip in a month and I really need to be able to drink alcohol without mixers by then because otherwise I’ll just be left out. My friend do try to include me into it as much as possible but shots is always going to beat cocktails/mixers.