What’s more confusing than calculus? Actually nothing, but high school relationships are a close second. How do you know when someone likes you as more than a friend? Is it okay to be committed to someone in high school? What’s the best way to ask someone out? George Ranch students answer these questions and more below.

Would you say that relationships in high school are worth it?

Jordan Bradley (11): I think the benefits are just always having someone there that you know you can rely on for emotional support and just having like, just basically having someone who means a lot to you that you know you mean a lot to them. Something I think that helps though is not seeing each other every day at school [because he attends a different school]. [It] makes the time we do spend together more valuable.

Marissa Vrba (10): Occasionally they’re worth it. Sometimes you can find the person you like in high school, and then you don’t have to deal with that in college.

Arturo Compean (12): I think relationships in high school can either be a building block or the start of. You can get that high school sweetheart, and you can find love, and you can be like, boom, automatic. But that is a really, really lucky chance [for] people who find each other on that really soul-deep level. And I’m like, I’m always happy for those people cause like you were so lucky to find somebody on the first try, or like maybe the second try at it and you’re still in high school.

How do you let someone know you like them?

Alesondra Cruz (10):  I just make a lot of jokes, and if they laugh then I know it’s real. I think the thing with me is I always try to do the opposite of what your normal instinct would be. I try to be as much of myself as possible so they’re in for the real deal from the start. I think it’s better for the most part if people just stay friends in high school.

Grace Elliott (10): I think the natural instinct is to like stop talking to them, but you need to try and push yourself outside of your comfort zone. I guess that I would try to talk to him and get close to him. I’d try to get to know him better to find out if I want to date them. You don’t want to get hurt; you don’t want to get your hopes up. The easiest way is just to tell the person that you like them.

How did you start dating your significant other?

Jeffrey Bonilla (11): It’s funny because we started out as friends last year. Basically I got to know her for a couple months. I got integrated with her family. I had to meet her family before we started going out. Later on, we just kind of started saying that we liked each other more than friends. It ended up with us going out. What I did was like, I talked to her dad first, and he said it was alright, so then I asked her and then we started going out.

Jared Hernandez (11): Well, we started talking, I asked for her number, and we just started talking more. We made sure we were friends before anything else. We just talked and I guess connected. We were in downtown Houston on a bridge because there’s a sight that she really likes, and she really likes the view. So I took her to that spot and I asked her.

Shelby Morales (12): Well we had classes together and we’ve been best friends for over a year. We just talked in classes and then we would meet up at a dance hall every weekend. Then my boyfriend [at the time] and I broke up, and then [my best friend and I] just started talking. On his birthday, he came a little early, he got into my car and he put candy and a monkey and a gator on my dashboard with a note on my steering wheel asking me out.

What is the difference between talking, going out, and being in a relationship?

Viviane Nguyen (12): Typically, talking implies getting to know a person in a more intimate setting that is very public to other people. When you see two people that seem interested in each other spending a lot of time together, they’re talking. Going out implies that they’ve been on some sort of “date” and/or “meet-up”, but it’s scheduled. Being in a relationship, means it is all over social media, and there’s proof.

Stefano Ortiz (12): First off I hate the term talking, because it’s a really stupid term. I mean, we’re talking right now. I don’t know, I guess talking is when people don’t know what they are. It seems like they could be in a relationship, but they don’t really know. Going out is going on dates and all that. I don’t know how going out differs much from being in a relationship because I think that’s what being in a relationship. Going on multiple dates and calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend.

Darla Ramirez (12): Talking is when you can give each other space. It’s like when you see if that person has anything in common with you at all, instead of just physical attraction. You know how people like someone from the outside? But don’t find them quite unique on the inside? Going out is when you have things in common, and you like that person from the inside and the out. Going out and being in a relationship is the same isn’t it? Being in a relationship is you’re spending time with that person, and going out is… going out. It’s right there.

Have you noticed any differences between the dating culture in Switzerland and the United States?

Leo Wittwer (10): There’s a difference that the girls here tell you when they think you’re cute. Girls in Switzerland, they hold back until they know they like you. Other than that, I don’t know if relationships last longer there. Maybe, maybe not, it depends on the people.