BY COURTNEY DUNNING
Junior high is weird.
No matter if you excelled in Mrs. Jordan’s Language Arts class or got picked first in gym class, everyone experiences the awkward, hormonal horror of the middle grades.
Although junior high is filled with cringe-worthy moments, the most humorous are often the numerous and short-lived relationships among 13 year olds. As Valentine’s Day has recently passed, a few students reflected on the romance left behind in the halls of Mariemont Junior High.
“Our song was 1234 by the Plain White Tees,” Grace Brittingham says after contemplating her 7th grade relationship with Eric Tassos. “It was pretty fun although I’ll never forget the time we were kissing goodbye after school, and Mr. Haney saw us. He didn’t say anything, just kind of nodded.”
“I guess Rachel Munschauer and I only dated for a few days, but in my mind it had been going on for quite a while,” says Ryan Fields. “It ended after I tried to kiss her and she denied me, a few years later she told me it was because I had flaming hot Cheetos on my mouth… What’s a guy to do?”
Kyra George elaborated on her junior high romance with Bradley Quick noting, “The thing I remember most was probably the time my boyfriend tried to kiss me behind the elementary school. His hat hit my forehead and he missed while all of our friends were watching. He eventually got it, though.”
Clearly, junior high relationships are full of hopeful attempts at romance, but, it’s not always easy to achieve them.
Charlie Zack broke down the rules, saying, “It was all about how you asked her out. You first had to consult your friends, find a messenger to tell her you liked her, and then wait for a response.”
Daniel Cascella opened up about his most creative ways of “asking out” explaining, “On Valentine’s Day I wrote it down on origami and gave it to her. It was super cute, but we broke up a week later.”
“I was feeling bold after cotillion, so I texted Maddy Moriarty and asked her out, just went for it…what can I say?” says Joe Molski. “Our song was Yellow by Coldplay and most of our conversations had to do with ‘my mom can take if your mom can pick up’. My biggest take away? True love never lasts.”
Unfortunately, young love, as most things do, eventually dies. And the breakups can be complicated.
“I had my friend call him and because I didn’t want to break up with him myself,” Sydney Huber explained. “She told him I was just too sad to speak.”
For a few lucky students, their junior high relationships eventually did turn into something more.
“I asked Sydney out by ringing a bell while surrounded by our friends on a trampoline,” explains Charlie Cowart. “She FaceTimed me the next morning to break up with me, but since we are dating now we laugh about the whole thing all the time. She even used a similar bell to ask me to snowball this year.”
No matter how gross and frizzy you are, there’s always a possibility for love—and something to laugh about later.
