1. Puppy Love

Puppy love is the kind where you say love but don’t really comprehend what it means. You don’t go on dates together because you’re not allowed. It will be fun having someone to call your “boyfriend” because only a few of your friends do during that age. You will go on double dates with your best friend because you can tell your mom you’re going out with friends (which isn’t a lie). You won’t stay up all night talking on the phone because you need to catch up with extracurricular school activities. A text here and there will be enough to sustain the relationship. After all, you guys are teenagers.

Unfortunately, even puppy love will hurt you.

You think you don’t understand what love is but you might do. Because of all the misunderstandings, blurred lines and young age, the relationship will end. You will still see each other in the hallways and each glance will matter less than the previous one. He will leave a scar you’ve never thought will be probable in the first place. He will be puppy love but regardless, its still love.

Puppy love will teach you that listening to your parents isn’t a bad thing. To break the rules means to accept the consequences that comes with it.

Puppy love will teach you that boys are not nice.

It will teach you that friendship is gold and true ties will bypass the troubles high school serves you.

2. First Love

First love will be your high school sweetheart. He will be the first boy you picture as your husband. He will be the person you grow up with because as a tender teenager, life is only just beginning. He will say he will wait for you while you finish college on the other side of the world. First love will send you flowers for every occasion and bring you to the nicest dinners. He will take you to meet his family and you will share many inside jokes. You know each others friends quite well because everyone basically grew up together. He will comfort you during all those nights you will cry because you don’t want distance to rip you guys apart.

But life doesn’t roll the way you want it to and the oceans will put a strain on your relationship. Timezones will be too difficult to keep track of and both of you will be consumed of your busy schedules. Your heart will be jet-lagged. He will make excuses for not calling and “I will wait for you” turns into “I don’t know if this will work out.”

One day out of the blue, he will give up one you. No reason more than “long distance,” the one thing he promised to go through with you. Just like that he will leave you with questions never having any answer to. So many, but so useless.

First love will teach you that sometimes the best answer in life is to get no answer at all.

High school sweethearts don’t often turn into long time life partners, but first love isn’t a waste. First love will teach you that the best way to get over someone is to see them with someone else. First love will always have a special place in your heart, even after all the hurt he will cause.

3. Best Friend Love

Just like in the Lizzie McGuire, you will find the Gordon to your Lizzie. What you have been searching for will be right in front of you. You will find comfort in his words and feel at home wherever he is. But it isn’t romantic, its purely platonic and you would never have imagined the friendship turning into something more.

You will find yourselves in the same events, the same social circle and see each other everywhere. He will make you laugh all the time and is the one person your boyfriend is jealous of. Everything that you have ever wanted in a boyfriend will be in him, and maybe once in a while you think “what if” the stars align for you and you guys get a chance.

But you don’t want to ruin the friendship so you tuck that thought in the back of your mind. You will enjoy his presence and his corny jokes. But then things take a turn and he will have feelings for you. The friendship will prance on blurred lines and you won’t know what to make of it. You will question your emotions and he will question his too. You guys are the perfect couple in a perfect world, one complimenting the other. But another guy will come along and sweep you off your feet. You will decide to choose him over your best friend. Your close kindled friendship will be a distant memory. Still friends, but not best friends.

Best friend love will teach you to live with the consequences of your mistakes.

It will teach you that forgiveness is a road full of struggle, especially the one trying to forgive yourself. It will also teach you to accept the way things are, but best friend love will keep you thinking, what if.

4. One-Sided Love

He will be the guy who gives up his happiness for yours. One-sided love will help you finish a project until 4 AM and catch the bus home at dawn. He will buy you the shoes you’ve always wanted but will think twice about getting a pair of new boots for himself. He won’t care about the places you go to as long as you’re with him.

This love will be one you’ve always dreamed of, but you will not reciprocate.

It is not that you don’t want to, you desperately want to feel the same way. But feelings cannot be forced and even though he loves you with all his heart, it is not fair. The relationship will be rocky as you question the pain in your chest when he’s gone but the discontent feeling of being unable to feel the same way when he’s around.

In addition to these feelings, he will have different views on life with you. You will have disagreements that will turn into yelling and fighting. The relationship will emotionally drain you and one day you will have had enough. You will get tired of compromising and will start being honest with yourself, you can’t see him in your future. Not having the same values will burden your future. You will try ending it a few times and finally, you decide to end it once and for all for the better.

One sided love will teach you about guilt. It will teach you that time heals all wounds but it doesn’t let love grow if there wasn’t much in the first place.

One sided love will teach you that good guys exist but relationships still depend on compatibility. This love will teach you that you’re capable of hurting others tremendously too, not just the other way around.

5. Perfect Love

It will be the typical guys-meets-girl story. He will tell you sob stories about his past relationships and his crazy exes. But you will be blinded by his witty charm and hilarious sense of humor, and will look pass his exaggerated narratives. He will be funny, kind, patient and everything good. He will make you feel like the most special girl in the world. He will convince you that this is love and you’re different than the other girls, to the point where he will shed tears claiming he is so very thankful for you.

He will make promises and talk about the future. You will spend the days cooking, binge watching Netflix, taking cute pictures, and going on a dessert sprees. You will put his needs before yours because you love him so much. It will be the perfect love story to tell to your grandchildren.

You guys will think this is too good to be true, and you are right.

In time, the daily phone calls and goodnight messages will fade. The sparkle in his eye will turn to mundane gazes and the relationship will spiral down south as quickly as he said he loved you. You eventually find out his promises were clanging tin cans, empty and cold. He will take back all his words and hide behind another sob story to make you believe that this failed relationship wasn’t his fault.

Perfect love will teach you that there is no such thing as the perfect love.

There are imperfections in every relationship and it takes hard work to keep it steady. Perfect love will teach you to put your needs before anyone else’s and to not be controlled by your emotions. Perfect love will teach you that sweet words are like popsicles on a hot summers day; they melt under the sun. They disappear with the heat.