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I’m tired of stereotypes influencing how people live their lives. You know the deal: the high school quarterback ends up with the cheerleading captain. I just want to see something different. Just once, I wish the quarterback would end up with the rival high school’s National Honor Society’s public relations officer.
People can fall in love with people who are different than themselves, people who run in different social circles and have different interests. Just because he likes football doesn’t mean he can’t show interest in the posters she’s making for the charity 5K she’s been organizing. And just because she’s so busy running her NHS chapter’s Twitter and doesn’t go to the same school as him doesn’t mean she can’t cheer him on at the big game. They would be so happy together.
We can all agree that opposites can attract, right? Like if the quarterback and head cheerleader were dating, they wouldn’t have much to talk about. Homework? Sports? Boring. On the other hand, if his one and only was a midlevel officer in the rival high school’s second biggest club, the sky’s the limit for topics of conversation. They could bond over all kinds of things if we just gave them the chance to be together.
The quarterback scores the game winning touchdown and kisses the head cheerleader, blah blah blah. Just one time, let’s see him score that touchdown, leave the game, drive to the high school in the town next door, and go to the bake sale his girlfriend — the high school’s NHS PR officer — has spent weeks organizing.
I want something more than just one big cliche. I don’t want the most popular boy and most popular girl to win prom king and queen again. I want to see the kind of love that breaks all those rules. I want to see the quarterback have to get a guest permission slip so that he can take his girlfriend from the rival high school as his prom date. And then I want to see her have to reschedule that week’s NHS meeting so that she can go. Sure, it’s not the easiest relationship, but they’re willing to make sacrifices for each other.
Love shouldn’t have to follow any rules. The quarterback can have feelings for the NHS public relations officer. That would be real love and it would be beautiful.
