I don't know; it might be a cultural difference (I'm from the UK) or maybe because I'm bisexual (though I only realised that at 17), but I wouldn't say boys were my primary interest at 14/15. My personal experience as a teenage girl was pretty chaste, though there was always a fair amount of gossip about other people's "relationships" going on the in background. One of the things I like about Alexandra is her indifference on this point so far, though I would expect it to be addressed this year - and I love that we've also been given just enough hints about Anna that we (at least, I) can speculate on her sexuality, even though Alex hasn't given it a second thought.
Honestly, my main concern was friendship, rather than romance - at around 14 my 'two or three close friends' system grew into a much wider social group (and at around 16 I realised most people in that group were dicks, and developed a really great close-knit friendship group in its place). Trying to find a place in a group, particularly - people you admire, people you challenge or compete with, that sort of thing. Becoming more self-aware in terms of knowing if people are attracted to you (and enjoying that, even if you don't reciprocate - awareness of yourself as female, maybe, and the negatives of that too, where you're so cripplingly self-conscious and you KNOW you're going to be judged for everything you do), or if they envy you, or if they resent you, or if they make you feel like shit - in short, as a teenage girl, everything came back to myself. I'd expect the parties and rebelliousness to start up around now, too. I think as long as you include the vulnerability of being a teenager as well as the bitchy annoying-ness, people will forgive a fair amount.
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Date: 2011-02-26 02:36 pm (UTC)Honestly, my main concern was friendship, rather than romance - at around 14 my 'two or three close friends' system grew into a much wider social group (and at around 16 I realised most people in that group were dicks, and developed a really great close-knit friendship group in its place). Trying to find a place in a group, particularly - people you admire, people you challenge or compete with, that sort of thing. Becoming more self-aware in terms of knowing if people are attracted to you (and enjoying that, even if you don't reciprocate - awareness of yourself as female, maybe, and the negatives of that too, where you're so cripplingly self-conscious and you KNOW you're going to be judged for everything you do), or if they envy you, or if they resent you, or if they make you feel like shit - in short, as a teenage girl, everything came back to myself. I'd expect the parties and rebelliousness to start up around now, too. I think as long as you include the vulnerability of being a teenager as well as the bitchy annoying-ness, people will forgive a fair amount.
/essay