Dealing With the Pressures of High School While in the Middle of a Complicated Crush

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In “What Happens After You Confess Your Feelings to Someone?”, Chloe is a studious high school student who just happens to have a huge crush on a boy at her school named Mordecai. I don’t even know if you can call Chloe’s feelings for Mordecai a “crush.” It might be more accurate to say that she’s irrationally attached to him. Because, while he does sometimes do things to make her feel special and while they enjoy their share of IM chats and phone calls, he’s not always the easiest person to get along with.

In fact, he often breaks her heart with his seeming indifference to her feelings, especially since he already knows she likes him. Even so, she continues to love him anyway. And he always seems to know just what to say to get her to let him back in when she tries to get distance.

At the same time, Chloe is good friends with another boy at her school named Simon. He’s the opposite of Mordecai in many ways except one—neither he nor Mordecai has told Chloe how they feel about her. But Simon has a crush on her. And unlike Mordecai’s feelings which can be hard to read, Simon’s feelings are constant. Even so, keeping them secret means he’s stuck in the friend zone. And that means he’s also often the one to comfort Chloe after Mordecai leaves her in tears.

Managing Schoolwork While Dealing With Drama

While juggling all of this, Chloe still has to manage her school load. For instance, in Chapter 6 this is how she describes what she gets to look forward to doing during winter break of her sophomore year:

Winter break is coming up, but it’s not going to be much of a break for me. I have an English paper due the day we come back to school and a presentation for my French class, plus a math test the day after.

That doesn’t sound like a very fun break to me. And although Chloe is able to enjoy Christmas with her family, as soon as Monday comes, she has to dive right into work. But doing that would be a lot easier without getting involved in Mordecai’s girlfriend troubles.

Finally, on Monday, it’s time to get to work. By avoiding IM and other distractions, I manage to study for my math test, finish my English paper, write out my French presentation, and finish the accompanying poster in three days. But on day four, I make the mistake of signing on to IM before starting my work for the day, thus derailing my progress.

Apparently, Mordecai has officially broken up with his girlfriend Tanya, and he needs someone to talk to. Of course he chooses me. Maybe he wouldn’t if I didn’t always make myself available. But I always do. We talk for hours that day, and it’s not until the next day that I finally manage to get back to my French presentation.

According to Chloe, Mordecai gets a new girlfriend about every two weeks. So, this isn’t the only breakup she has to help him deal with. In fact, Chloe can sometimes find herself in the role of counselor to Mordecai when he’s dealing with girlfriend issues.

It might sound odd that she would be helping her crush with his relationships with other girls, but this is likely a way she tries to stay present in his life. At least that’s a theory I explore here where I discuss some reasons that Chloe stays friends with Mordecai in spite of all the pain he causes.

You see, Chloe starts the story as a sophomore and she won’t be allowed to date until she becomes a senior. So, helping Mordecai out with girlfriend drama might be a way she makes sure he doesn’t forget about her when she is allowed to date. Plus, since she values their friendship, this could also be her way of trying to be a good friend to him.

More Pressure in Junior Year

This young adult romance is a coming-of-age story, and it takes you throughout Chloe’s high school career as she navigates the highs and lows of high school love. But as she gets older and closer to applying for college, the workload and pressure only increase.

In Chapter 23, here’s how Chloe describes what it’s like to be a high school junior in May:

May is a stressful month this year. In fact, I think May is the most stressful month for all high school juniors—especially those taking AP tests. In addition to having to study for those exams, we have final papers, projects, and presentations in pretty much every class. And even after the official AP test, some AP classes still have their own final exam in June. Plus, many students start taking or preparing to take the SATs around this time—I sign up for a June test, as do Krista and Simon.

(Krista is Chloe and Simon’s mutual friend.)

If you’ve ever been a high school junior taking AP tests in the US school system, you might be able to relate to the kind of stress that Chloe and her friends are dealing with. In fact, if you’ve ever had to deal with any high school pressure, you might be able to relate. But when you add that to the teen love triangle Chloe is in, you have the recipe for a roller coaster ride of emotions and study sessions.

Fortunately, Simon doesn’t tend to distract Chloe the way Mordecai does, although even Mordecai doesn’t always realize what he’s doing or how much he’s affecting Chloe with his actions. Mordecai is actually dealing with his own stuff, like the secrets he carries with him from his troubled past. I go more into that here. At least Mordecai doesn’t get in the way during this very stressful month, though.

But just wait until you see what happens after.

Final Thoughts

In my new YA romance “What Happens After You Confess Your Feelings to Someone?”, Chloe is a high school student who wants to have a successful high school career. But this would be a lot easier if she weren’t also dealing with an intense crush on a complicated boy.

If you’re curious to see how she handles this, don’t wait another second to check out the story! You can click here to learn more about it or here to start reading Chapter 1 on Medium. (The first three chapters are free and you don’t need an account to read them. But you’ll need a Medium account to read the rest. And you may also need to become a Medium member.)

~ Ashley C.

P.S. If you would like to sample more of my story-writing style, feel free to click here to read some stories that are currently available.