Dates can go one of two ways. There are really good dates, the kind where you laugh a lot, time goes by fast, and you don’t feel awkward the whole time. Those dates usually aren’t fancy. Maybe you’re walking around, getting food, or just talking somewhere cheap because, let’s be honest, we’re high schoolers. Somehow, those are always the best ones. But then you have the bad dates, the dates we’re you really don’t know what to talk about, the ones where you want to run to the restroom to call your mommy to fake an emergency so you can dart out.  

As high schoolers, we honestly have no idea what we’re doing, let’s be real. Most of the relationship advice we get comes from whatever soap opera our moms watch on Sunday nights during their “relax time,” or from an older cousin who whispers about her latest blind date like it’s a huge secret. That kind of advice sticks in our heads, even though we never stop to ask if it actually makes sense. Sure, our parents try to help, and sometimes their advice is useful, but other times you can’t help but wonder if you should really take dating advice from someone who started dating in the late 1900s.  We end up mixing all this advice together and hoping for the best, even though none of us really know what we’re doing. 

One random day you could be worried about homework, and the next day you’re overthinking a text that says “k.” Is that mad? Is that normal? Did you mess up somehow? Nobody knows. But this is the human in us, the part that can visit other planets but can’t navigate a high school relationship. 

Then there are the bad dates. The painfully awkward ones that feel like they last forever. “On a date, we went to the science museum, and it was completely silent. He only said things like, ‘Oh, those are cool.’ My mom picked me up early because I was done, and after that, we never talked again,” explained senior Lauren Gonzalez. Nothing ends a date faster than silence and a parent rescue mission. 

Sometimes the problem isn’t even the people, it’s everything around them. “I went on a date with a girl I knew from middle school. The first date at the mall was fun because her mom let us walk around alone. But on the next two dates, her mom stayed right next to us the whole time. By the third date, at an Indian festival, she was only a few feet away, and that’s when everything got too awkward,” said senior Cole West. It’s hard to flirt when someone’s mom is your date too.

And sometimes, a date just goes wrong in the most unexpected way. “I went to the movie theater with someone I was dating and found out the movie was in 4D. The seats moved, water sprayed everywhere, and I felt super sick. He tried to kiss me, but I ran out because I thought I was going to throw up,” junior Natalie Herbst commented. Nothing says romance like motion sickness. 

Dating shouldn’t be this hard, but there’s no class on how to plan a date, how to keep a conversation going, or how to say how you feel without panicking. We were thrown into the world of dating with zero instructions and expected to figure it out while still learning who we are. 

We’re still growing up. We don’t fully know what we want, how to communicate, or how to stop apologizing for things that aren’t our fault. Everything feels daunting at this age. One awkward moment feels like a disaster. One bad date feels like the world is ending.  

 This “perfect date” You may compare your date to others, believing that what you can provide isn’t the best. While one girl may be getting gifted ginormous bouquets, you may feel that your grocery store flowers are as worthless as weeds on the ground. 

Instead of trying to have the perfect date, or hangout, we should focus on having the best time with what we have.  

Not expensive. Not dramatic. Just comfortable. A date where you can be yourself, laugh at dumb things, and not feel like you’re being judged. 

High school dating isn’t just about finding your soulmate. It’s about learning what you like and what you don’t, and what makes a date memorable. So, if your date is awkward, chaotic, amazing, or just funny to look back on, that’s normal. We’re all figuring it out together, one uncomfortable date at a time.