Ashleigh Heaton
Editor-in-Chief

“I brought a book home for you,” my mother said one day.

I immediately stopped my homework and perked up – if there is one way to my heart, it is through a good book. Mom smiled and pointed to the kitchen. I practically skipped to the table, wonder and excitement leaving a glowing trail of happiness behind my steps.

I looked at the book on the table. My mouth dropped.

It was called The Flirting Bible.

And yes, it is exactly what the title suggests: a self-help book, teaching people how to flirt. And my mother bought it. For me.

I like to make a joke of it, but is there any better way to tell your daughter she will be forever alone? I think not.

I guess she does have some reason to be concerned: she was one of those people who married her high school sweetheart, and I am a senior who has never even had a boyfriend. I can be socially awkward and shy, but not to a point where I needed a self-help book, at least, in my opinion.

After getting over the shock value, I skimmed through the book out of curiosity. The gist of it was “make eye contact”, “smile” and “be a living human being” (OK, that last one was not in there, but it might as well have been). I was almost insulted by the fact my mother thought I needed to be told to do these things.

I make eye contact. I smile. I am a living human being. So why the lack of relationship?

The answer came to me too quickly: I do not have time.

Sure, I may be a little socially awkward, but I am not repulsive – just busy. Though I sometimes think it would be nice to have a boyfriend, the thought is almost immediately followed by, “How would I have time for a relationship?”

And, the more I look around me, the more I see how common it is for students at Coppell High School – no, students everywhere – to not be in a relationship.

Why? Because we have band practice. We have mountains of homework. We have church commitments. We have this, that and the other thing, all the time.

Somehow, love and relationships have become shoved aside, pushed to the bottom of our priorities.

To me, the relationship-less teenager, this is a tragedy. We are always working toward the future in terms of success, money and careers, but we are not focusing on the things that make us truly happy – giving and returning love, in any of its forms.

I fear the day will come when we retire after a successful career, and there is not anyone by our side.

And if there is one thing I learned from The Flirting Bible (or, at least, the gesture of it), it is that we have to make love a priority. If we want to be happy, to be a part of one of life’s greatest joys, we have to put forth the effort and fight for it. We have to close the books and get out there in the world. We cannot wait for love to come to us – we have to go toward it.

In a way, as embarrassed and ashamed and insulted I was about my mother buying me that book, I am grateful that I received it. It made me look up from my homework, stop what I was doing and consider one of my lower priorities – and put it higher up on my list.