We all have crushes, but when we’re young, we may not know what we’re feeling or how to act. Our correspondents have decided to relive our first crushes—no matter how awkward.
Margaux Carmel
I low key feel really bad for my first crush when I look back to that tumultuous time of second grade. If I were to treat a potential partner like I treated poor Nate back then, I think I would be served a restraining order. Just goes to show the weird stuff kids pick up from society. Sorry, Nate!
Rebecca Williamson
My first all-in type crush was from 7th grade all the way until the beginning of 11th grade. He was a really good friend, and he was super sweet and funny. I never told him until a large group of my friends were playing a game. I was over him at that point, and he found out that about seven of our friends all liked him at one point in our lives. The look on his face when he realized he was a hot commodity was humble and hysterical.
Emily Tsoi
I think my first crush was genuinely Zac Efron after watching High School Musical, but I remember liking this boy in my second grade class and wrote about it in my diary. Yy brother somehow read it and told my parents. All the way through high school they still thought I had a crush on the boy because of that.
Kayla Glennon
I had a crush on a boy who lived around the block from me. I remember one time he and this other girl were in my basement and apparently we both liked him. He had to rate how much he liked us and he gave her a 71 percent and me a 70 percent, so that was disappointing.
Man, crushes can be hard.