From IM Chats to Late-Night Phone Calls—Experience a New High School YA Romance

Lana_M/Shutterstock.com

In the new YA romance “What Happens After You Confess Your Feelings to Someone?”, you’ll get to experience a high school love story that takes place in the not-too-distant past. At the start of the tale, you’ll find yourself in 2005—a time when cellphones were less common and social media wasn’t as big a thing as it is today.

In this young adult romance, Chloe is a studious high school sophomore who’s in love with a junior at her school named Mordecai. But Chloe’s not allowed to date, and she won’t be allowed to until senior year. Instead, she gets to watch Mordecai go out with girl after girl, often leaving her heartbroken with his insensitivity to her feelings.

But then we have Chloe’s good friend Simon. He’s a new sophomore at her high school, but Chloe and her best friend Krista soon welcome him into their inner circle. And he’s often the one to comfort Chloe after Mordecai does yet another insensitive thing.

Simon has a crush on Chloe, but he struggles to confess his feelings to her. And that leaves him in the friend zone, watching her pine for someone who doesn’t treat her well.

Communication in the Story

Throughout the story, the characters communicate in a variety of ways. Of course, they talk in person. But because Chloe’s friendship with Mordecai is mostly private, at least at the beginning of the story, they start off communicating mostly through phone calls and instant messaging or IM conversations. And sometimes they talk until late into the night. And when Chloe finally gets a cellphone, she throws texting into the mix of communication methods she uses.

While these ways of communicating aren’t unique to high schoolers, it’s interesting to see how they use these methods and what they talk about when they do.

Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 3 to give you a taste of what an IM chat between Chloe and Mordecai is like. (Chloe’s IM name is Simplesnowflake and Mordecai’s is More2come81.)

Simplesnowflake: i saw u at school today
More2come81: o?
More2come81: where?
Simplesnowflake: the library
Simplesnowflake: after school
More2come81: o yeah
More2come81: i was checking out a book for a history paper
More2come81: y were u there?
Simplesnowflake: i was helping a friend with math hw
More2come81: krista?
Simplesnowflake: no, a different friend
Simplesnowflake: a new friend
More2come81: boy or girl?
Simplesnowflake: what does that matter?
More2come81: it matters
Simplesnowflake: y?
More2come81: just cuz
Simplesnowflake: i’m going to need more of a reason
More2come81: fine
More2come81: don’t tell me
Simplesnowflake: i’ll tell u if u tell me y it matters
More2come81: i’m just wondering if this was really all about hw
More2come81: or if maybe there’s a new guy in ur life
Simplesnowflake: well technically there is a new guy in my life
Simplesnowflake: but he’s just a friend
Simplesnowflake: and we were really in the library just to study math
More2come81: uh huh
More2come81: if u say so

This excerpt also gives you a hint of the mixed signals Mordecai sends Chloe. If they really are just friends, he shouldn’t be bothered by the fact that Chloe has a new male friend. So, what does his jealousy—or at least hints of it—say about his feelings for her?

Simon and Chloe also communicate through IM, but their friendship is public. So, many of their conversations are also in-person. Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 4 to give you a taste of what Chloe and Simon’s friendship is like. In this sample, Chloe and Simon are taking a walk together when Simon is still new in Chloe’s life. (Chloe is narrating.)

“Can I ask you a bit of a personal question?” Simon says.

“Sure, go ahead,” I say.

“Was Mordecai the guy you saw at the library and couldn’t stop staring at?”

I smile. “Yeah, that was him.”

“But why do you like him so much if he’s always dating someone?”

I sigh. “I’m afraid you’d have to be inside my head for me to be able to explain that one.”

“Try?” he pleads.

“Well, I don’t know. We have a special connection. I mean, even when he has a girlfriend, he tells me there are things he can talk about with me that he can’t talk about with her.”

“Doesn’t that seem like a red flag to you?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, if you’re hoping to date him someday, he doesn’t seem like the greatest boyfriend if he can’t be totally honest with his girlfriend.”

“But if I were the girlfriend, he could be totally honest with me.”

“Then why doesn’t he just date you now?”

“You know why. I’m not allowed to date.”

“You sure that’s the only reason?”

“Ok, this is getting too personal for me. Can we change the subject?”

“Sorry, sure,” he says.

Simon is already starting to get a sense of the complicated friendship that Chloe and Mordecai share. What Simon hasn’t yet learned is that he has to respect Chloe’s attachment to Mordecai if he wants to continue being her friend.

Having to Leave Childhood Behind

One of the things about young adult stories that take place in high school is that you get to play with the intersection between leaving childhood behind and getting ready for adulthood. Teenagers aren’t yet adults, but they’re almost adults. And so, they may struggle with that transition from being kids to being adults who have to deal with adult stuff.

Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 15 that shows how Chloe struggles with this. (Simon’s IM name is Simonsayz32.)

There comes a time in every high schooler’s life when it hits them that they’re not going to be in high school forever. For me, that day came when my English teacher had us write an essay about our life goals.

In answer to the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, I know I want to be an English teacher. But I’ve never really sat down and thought about my future in the broad, general sense of what person I’ll be ten or twenty years down the road. I haven’t even thought much about what college I want to go to.

My main goals are to earn straight As every quarter, score high on my AP tests, and convince Mordecai to ask my parents’ permission to date me. There isn’t much there that I can put in an essay about life goals, so I’ve been forced to ask myself some deep, scary questions that end up leaving me more anxious about the future than ever.

One day after bombarding myself with some of these questions, I sign on to IM and Simon messages me.

Simonsayz32: hey
Simplesnowflake: hey
Simonsayz32: so i noticed u were a little down at school today
Simplesnowflake: yeah?
Simonsayz32: yeah
Simonsayz32: any particular reason?
Simplesnowflake: I don’t know
Simplesnowflake: it’s just everything I guess
Simonsayz32: what do u mean?
Simplesnowflake: like I feel really stressed about everything
Simplesnowflake: school and life and the future and everything
Simplesnowflake: it’s like everything is happening so fast
Simplesnowflake: and soon we’ll have to make big life decisions
Simplesnowflake: plus all the homework we have
Simplesnowflake: it’s just too much

This transition seems to be particularly hard for Chloe. But she tries to manage the best she can.

A Nontraditional Teen Romance

Just so you know, this isn’t a traditional teen romance. I don’t tell you who the main character ends up with. Instead, I leave it to you to decide that. Because of this nontraditional format, I’ve designed it so that you’ll need to join the What Happens After You Confess membership to read the story.

After you join, you can read all the chapters of the main story. And when you reach the chapter where you get to decide who you want Chloe to pick, you can read the rest of the story based on the outcome you choose. This tale is presented as a sequence of blog posts, with one chapter per post.

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

Final Thoughts

High school romance can be fun because you get to experience the simplicity of youth while also mixing in preparation for more adult stuff, like going to college. Throw in IM chats and late-night phone calls and you have the recipe for the next teen love story you can lose yourself in.

If you would like to dive into a new high school YA romance where you get to choose your ending—or read both, if you prefer—then don’t wait another second to join 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