Looking for Your Next High School YA Romance? How About One With a Full Love Triangle?

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While the love triangle trope is used in YA romance, it can be hard to make sure it’s a full triangle because, typically, the character with two love interests has to choose one of them. But how would you like to read a high school YA romance where the main character can choose both?

In the story “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. At the beginning of the story, Chloe has already confessed her feelings to him. “One too many late-night phone calls dragged the truth out of me,” she says in Chapter 1. But Mordecai has never shared how he feels about her.

Instead, they have a complicated friendship—one that often leads to Chloe having a broken heart. After all, it’s hard for her to watch Mordecai go from girlfriend to girlfriend when he knows she likes him. He says he would date her if she were allowed to date, though. But she won’t be allowed to until senior year. So, why doesn’t he just wait for her? This is something she wonders.

But Chloe also has a good friend named Simon, also a sophomore. He’s the exact opposite of Mordecai. He’s generous, reliable, and parent-approved. They have a beautiful friendship, although it’s not without its complications. And one of the biggest ones is that Simon is in love with Chloe. But he’s reluctant to share how he feels because she’s so lost on Mordecai.

Who will Chloe choose in the end?

Well, in this high school love triangle, she can choose both.

An Atypical YA Romance

This isn’t a typical young adult romance. Instead of me telling you the ending, when you reach a certain chapter, you get to choose the ending. You get to decide who Chloe picks. And if you want her to pick both characters, you’re free to read both endings of the story. In this way, the story involves a full love triangle—the main character can actually end up with both of her love interests.

If you enjoy rereading your favorite YA romance stories, you might be interested in this spin. Because, with the two endings, you can read the story once with one ending and then read it again with the other ending. So, if you first want to find out what happens when Chloe chooses Mordecai, you can find out. And then, if you want to discover what happens when she chooses Simon, you can discover that, too.

But, of course, if you prefer one ending, you’re free to reread the story with that same ending as many times as you like. That’s one of the big choices you have here—the choice of how you want to experience the romance.

Because this is an atypical way to experience YA romance, I’ve made it so that you’ll need to join the What Happens After You Confess membership to do so. When you join, you can start reading the main story. And when you reach the chapter where you get to decide who you want Chloe to choose, you can read the chapters that correspond to the outcome you select.

Interested? If so, feel free to click here to learn more about the story and the membership.

The High School Aspect of the Romance

The high school aspect of this story is key because, at the start, Chloe is a high school sophomore and she won’t be allowed to date until her senior year. It would be a very different story if she were allowed to date right away since Mordecai’s excuse for not asking her out is her parents’ “no dating until senior year” rule.

But with the story the way it is, Chloe has to wait two years to go out with anyone. And that means you’ll go through two years of the roller coaster ride of emotions she goes on with Mordecai and two years of Simon being a good friend, pining for her in silence.

And when you come to the chapter where you get to decide who you want Chloe to pick, you’ll be able to do so after observing her friendship with these two guys for all that time—compressed, of course.

A Taste of Her Friendship With Simon

Here’s a sample from Chapter 6 to show you what Chloe’s friendship with Simon is like. In this excerpt, Simon and Chloe are in his car as he drives to their mutual friend Krista’s house to pick her up for school after winter break of their sophomore year. Chloe is narrating.

“So, how was your break?” he [Simon] finally asks.

“Fine,” I say. “Productive.”

“That’s good. I wish I could say the same.” I say nothing. “Are you ok? You seem a little glum,” he says.

I laugh quietly at his word choice. “I’m fine,” I say.

“I know. You’re not ready to go back either. I always wish they’d give us like one more week off school after New Year’s, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess.” A tear falls from my left eye. If it had been my right eye, I could have just let it fall and dry on its own. But because it’s the left, I try to wipe it away subtly so Simon won’t see. It’s a vain effort.

“Ok, Chloe, seriously. What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

“It’s nothing.” Another tear. I just leave that one.

“Really, Chloe, what is it?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“If it’s bothering you, I do.”

“It’s really stupid.”

“Try me.”

“Mordecai and I had a fight the day before New Year’s Eve, and we haven’t spoken since then.”

“So, you miss him?”

“I told you it was stupid. I miss him like we were dating when we’re not even really friends.” I sigh. “I just have to get over it—over him.”

“If it were that easy, I’m sure you would have done it by now.”

I turn to him then and smile. “Thank you,” I say. “You make me feel less crazy.”

“You’re not crazy,” he says. “You’re just passionate. If only you could be passionate about someone who shared your passion.”

“I know. If only…”

We’re in front of Krista’s house now. Usually Simon honks to let her know we’ve arrived. But today he doesn’t honk, and he’s quiet for a while. Then he says, “You know, Chloe—”

Suddenly, Krista knocks on Simon’s window. Neither of us saw her approaching, so we both jump. She waves, and he unlocks the backdoor.

“What, did you guys forget me or something?” she asks as she gets in and shuts the door.

“No, we were just lost in conversation is all,” I say. Simon pulls out of her driveway and starts heading to school.

Simon is there to comfort Chloe after the argument she had with Mordecai. Simon is often the one to comfort her after Mordecai does something to hurt her or leave her in tears. It’s frustrating for Simon to watch this. But since he struggles to share how he feels, he finds himself stuck in the friend zone.

A Taste of Her Friendship With Mordecai

And here’s a sample from the same chapter to show you what Chloe’s friendship with Mordecai is like. This scene takes place after the scene with Simon, and most of the excerpt includes an IM conversation between Chloe and Mordecai. (Chloe’s IM name is Simplesnowflake and Mordecai’s is More2come81.)

More2come81: so what, ur never going to talk to me again?
Simplesnowflake: what?
More2come81: u haven’t talked to me since we got back to school
More2come81: even before that
Simplesnowflake: i thought u were mad at me
More2come81: y?
Simplesnowflake: cuz i brought up tanya when u were still in pain over losing her
More2come81: oo that
More2come81: yeah just ignore that
More2come81: i was just PMSing or something
Simplesnowflake: lol
Simplesnowflake: do u even know what PMS stands for?
More2come81: sure i do
More2come81: pathetic man syndrome
More2come81: or maybe it’s pitiful man syndrome
More2come81: 1 of those 2
More2come81: i always forget which
Simplesnowflake: *smiles*
Simplesnowflake: and how r u feeling now?
More2come81: much better now that i’m talking to u
More2come81: how r u?
More2come81: how’s ur new year been so far?

Mordecai and I have a long conversation that day—about two hours of nonstop chatting. I’m ecstatic to see that my Mordecai has returned, and I wish I could hold onto him forever. I hope there’ll be no more mood swings—no more PMSing. But I know I’ll love him no matter what.

In this chat, Mordecai messages Chloe after having disappeared for a while. Following the argument they had, Chloe doesn’t want to be the first one to send a message because she doesn’t want to accidentally say the wrong thing. Mordecai can be unpredictable, and Chloe never really knows what might set him off.

But Mordecai also has secrets—secrets he only feels comfortable sharing with Chloe—secrets that help explain some of his erratic behavior. Even though Chloe loves him before she learns any of them, they allow her to understand him better.

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking for the next high school YA romance you can lose yourself in, “What Happens After You Confess Your Feelings to Someone?” is the story for you.

Not only will you get to experience all the highs and lows that come with an intense high school crush—and a crush on a good friend. But you’ll also have the option of reading the story with two different endings—one where the main character picks one of her love interests and one where she picks the other.

So, if you choose to, you’ll get to experience a full love triangle. This is something you don’t want to miss.

I hope to see you in the What Happens After You Confess membership!

~ Ashley C.

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

Last updated: April 20, 2025