I walk into the familiar halls of my high school after waking up on time, which is a very rare event. The sun shines in the windows by the cafeteria, warming me up, and I know that today is going to be a good day. After putting my books into my locker, I go to join my friends in the huddle we always form nearby. On my way there, though, I overhear something that will annoy me for the rest of the day.
In another huddle next to ours, I hear someone say quietly, “Hey, man, I heard you and Stacy went on a date last night. Are you two going to hook up now or what?”
Walking by, I think to myself, ‘Why would you even ask that? Everybody knows that Stacy and Rob have been close friends since the second grade. They are not going to hook up.’

Our school has one of the best student bodies around; just about everyone is friendly, happy, and can get along with most people. The only problem is that our school blows dating way over the top. I do not reject the concept of dating, but I do reject the way students imagine dating at my school. In the school, students think that there is something wrong if someone does not have a boyfriend or girlfriend, and most students are so eager to gossip that they will blow everything out of proportion to talk about the newest “couple.” I have many friends who are girls, and I do not want to date them. I do want to be able to go out and do something with them, though, because we are friends. Whenever I ask if one of them wants to go see a movie or come over to watch TV, other people find out and think that I am in love with her and that we are dating. This is not true, but no matter how much I tell those people, they continue to spread the word about my newfound love.

Unfortunately, this does not just happen to me. Many other people get annoyed that they cannot go hang out with a friend of the opposite sex without being asked if they are dating. Once a rumor starts, friends start pressuring the person to actually date the girl. Even if he does not want to date his friend, it is almost impossible to escape the constant nagging.
“You and Michelle would be so cute together!”
“Michelle secretly likes you! You should totally ask her out on a date!”
“Hey, bro, my girlfriend told me to tell you to date Michelle because she wants someone to double date with us.”
It is like a fly buzzing in my ear when people constantly tell me to date a girl whom I don’t like, just because some immature students had to start a rumor. The fly, an annoying being in general, just keeps zooming into my ear canal after I swat it into submission. Antagonists need to stop being annoying flies and realize that someone can have friends of the opposite sex without falling in love with them.

After dwelling on the gossip that I overheard that morning at school, I walk home and flip on the TV. The TV warmed up to a reality show with so many bleeps that I am almost positive someone is sending me a secret message in Morse Code. Quickly, I click to the next channel. Another reality show comes on, but this show exchanges the vulgar swearing for puffy-eyed teenage girls, crying about their recent breakups with their boyfriends. ‘Seems like school,’ I think to myself. Click. Yet again, a show appears that has an unnaturally short, crying woman fighting with a man the size of a gorilla. Click. The mess of tears and screaming vanishes and is replaced by a familiar yellow sponge flipping Krabby Patties. I finally find a show that I can watch without getting a headache, and I can’t help but wonder if all of the reality shows are a cause of the dating drama in my school. Cheating, fighting “couples” make for great ratings during prime time, and it seems that most of the troubled couples in my school watch those shows. Wanting to be like those reality stars, teens try to recreate the scenarios in reality television, and they not realize that most of those scenarios are not real.

Dating is definitely not a bad idea. On the other hand, it is not a great idea for immature high school students. I am just not pleased with how most of my school handles dating and how dating controls the lives of some teens. If only people could realize that dating is not everything in life, and in the end, forcing friends into romantic relationships often ruins those friendships. Anybody can have a friend of the opposite sex, as long as others allow it.