Taking a Closer Look at Female Friendship in a New YA Romance

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In my young adult romance, “What Happens After You Confess Your Feelings to Someone?”, Chloe is a high school sophomore who’s deeply in love with a junior at her school named Mordecai. But the story involves a teen love triangle because Chloe has a good friend named Simon who has a crush on her.

At the start of the story, Chloe has already told Mordecai how she feels about him, but he hasn’t told her how he feels. This means they have a complicated friendship. Meanwhile, although Chloe and Simon’s friendship is lovely, Simon struggles to confess his feelings to her. That leaves him in the friend zone.

While all this is going on, though, Chloe has another good friend named Krista who serves as a constant throughout her drama. At the beginning, Krista is Chloe’s best friend—and also the only friend she refers to by name. Simon is new at their school and ends up becoming one of her best friends, but we don’t meet him until a few chapters in.

Chloe and Krista’s Friendship

Before we meet Simon, though, we get to see Chloe and Krista’s female friendship dynamic. We learn about how they’re both studious students at their high school, something that may contribute to the strength of their friendship. We get to see them interact at lunch, we learn about how they prefer to communicate, and we get a sense of the kinds of conversations they have.

Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 2 to give you a taste of the relationship that Chloe and Krista share. For some context, Chloe is going to have a precalculus test soon, and she made trigonometry flash cards to help her review for it.

The next day, when Krista approaches our lunch table, she finds me immersed in rapidly reviewing those cards.

“Sine of 30° is ½,” I say. Next card.

“Cosine of 180° is -1.” Next card.

“Tangent of π/3 is the square root of 3.” Next card.

“Planning to take a break anytime soon?” she asks as she sits and begins unpacking her lunch.

I shake my head. “Test on Friday. Trying to study. Cosecant of 3π/2 is -1.” Next card. “Cotangent of 180° is undefined.” Next card.

“Your test isn’t next period. You still have time to study. Plus, you were studying all morning on the bus.”

I look at her. “I know, but I have to work on an NSL paper today, and those usually take me all day to finish.”

“Don’t tell me that’s due tomorrow.”

I nod. “I’ve been procrastinating. But I think I’ve almost mastered these cards.” I turn back to them. “Tangent of 2π/3 is—”

Suddenly, Krista snatches my cards from me. “Eat first, then study,” she says. “I’ll even quiz you after we’re done if you want.”

I sigh. “All right, fine,” I say.

She hands my cards back, and I put them away and prepare to eat. And as promised, she quizzes me when we’re done.

As you can see, while Krista understands Chloe’s dedication to her schoolwork, she also understands the importance of balance. And just as you would expect from a good friend, she helps Chloe maintain that balance.

How Their Friendship Changes With a New Member

Once Simon enters the picture, though, the love triangle between him, Chloe, and Mordecai takes center stage. And most of Chloe’s interactions with Krista also involve Simon. But Krista is still there as a loyal friend, like when she agrees to accompany Chloe to a party that Krista is less than thrilled about. And like Simon, Krista is there to comfort Chloe when she’s dealing with her Mordecai drama.

In Chapter 21, Chloe has an IM (instant messaging) chat with Krista to discuss some of Simon’s behavior at an assembly that Chloe found annoying. (Chloe’s IM name is Stillstrong93, while Krista’s is KristaKakes44. Chloe is narrating.)

Stillstrong93: Simon was such a snob at the assembly today, wasn’t he?
KristaKakes44: how can you say that when you know he’s in love with you?
Stillstrong93: he is not
KristaKakes44: is too
Stillstrong93: did he tell you that?
KristaKakes44: no, but you should hear the way he talks about you when you’re not around
KristaKakes44: it’s always Chloe this and Chloe that
KristaKakes44: why is Chloe so hung up on that jerk Mordecai?
Stillstrong93: does he really say all that stuff?
KristaKakes44: all the time
Stillstrong93: but if he likes me, why doesn’t he just tell me?
Stillstrong93: we hang out all the time
KristaKakes44: duh
KristaKakes44: because you’re so hung up on Mordecai
KristaKakes44: he thinks he doesn’t stand a chance

Krista’s words are coming as an uncomfortable surprise. I kind of always thought Simon had a special preference for me—even that he liked me—but I never thought he liked me enough to compare himself to Mordecai.

Stillstrong93: this is ridiculous
Stillstrong93: we’re just friends
Stillstrong93: we’re good as friends
KristaKakes44: isn’t that what Mordecai says about you?
Stillstrong93: yeah…so?
KristaKakes44: does that stop you from secretly hoping he’ll change his mind?

Here, Krista helps to enlighten Chloe about something she’s oblivious to, or at least in denial about—Simon’s feelings for her. How Chloe will use this information is up to her. But Krista tries to keep her informed.

One thing you won’t see much of in this story, though, is the friendship that Simon and Krista share. But this excerpt gives you a sense of what their conversations may usually be about. As you can see from this sample, Simon struggles to tell even Krista how he feels about Chloe.

And that may lead you to wonder, will Simon ever find the courage to tell Chloe how he feels? And if so, what will it take? Or will Mordecai get his act together and finally ask Chloe out when she’s allowed to date in senior year? (Remember, she starts the story as a sophomore.)

You’ll have to read the story to find out.

Final Thoughts

In the teen romance “What Happens After You Confess Your Feelings to Someone?”, female friendship plays an important role in a complex high school love triangle. If you would like to read more about the friendship that Chloe and Krista share, don’t wait another second to check out this 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.