The month of love and chocolate is finally over. Every heart shaped decoration has been put away and the pink aesthetic of the month is finally over. The happy couples will hopefully stop rubbing their “perfect” relationships in our face.

But, that perfect relationship, might have a secret. One of them might be cheating; it doesn’t seem to be that rare. High school students hear about the latest issues in so and so’s relationship constantly. There always seems to be some form of cheating that breaks these adolescent relationships. Why is it so common?

High school is a prime time in someone’s life. It’s that awkward stage right after childhood and right before adulthood. It’s the time of growth, experimenting and extreme hormones. It’s the only time in someone’s life where they can have an “innocent” relationship. Most people encourage a relationship during high school, saying it’s the perfect opportunity to find out what you like and don’t like, but being in such an intimate relationship at such a young age  could be the cause of these issues.

Since these relationships aren’t as “important” because high schoolers are still young, it might be easier to cheat on one’s partner. In such a small space where your classmates are the only people you see for the majority of your day , it’s easy to meet a handful of people you have feelings for. Being around these people day in and day out, you’re bound to find some crushes, maybe if you’re lucky, you date them. In high school, you watch so many people get in and out of relationships with different people. It’s easy to do that and not suffer judgement for it because it’s high school; no one expects these relationships to last. With this mentality, it makes cheating more common. If these relationships are really “not as important,” it’s not a big deal if you mess around with someone else.

Elite Daily asked 15 people why they cheated on their partner. Some  reasons were: because they were horny, wanted out of the relationship, wanted new experiences, they weren’t getting their needs met, etc. If high schoolers are having these feelings at this young age it would be easy to act on their desires. High schooler’s hormone levels are the highest during this part of their lives. These hormones can affect your thinking and you could easily get lost in the idea of cheating physically with another person. Plus, it’s tempting to try something new.

Another way of cheating that’s not talk about as much is emotionally cheating. Emotional cheating is finding comfort in another person while being in a relationship. Not in the sense of being close friends with someone while being in a relationship, but starting to like someone new while in a relationship. This happens all the time in high school. Someone will come across a new person they enjoy being around and start flirting. It can be innocent, but it can be quite damaging. Flirting can lead to talking and next thing you know they are acting like a couple. This can get messy because if the relationship doesn’t get physical  then it doesn’t seem like cheating, but this can be damaging. If someone finds out that their partner has been flirting and talking to someone else in a cute way, it can hurt, but it’s easy to do this in high school.

People are trying to figure out what they’re doing with their lives and meeting so many people in high school, it’s easy to get lost in emotions with different people. When high schoolers meet the real world, it won’t be as easy to start flirting with someone new and text them behind your partners back, it becomes more serious.

There will never be a time in our lives like high school. You can get away with so many things and just say, “I’m a teenager; I’m learning every day,” as an excuse for many things. Cheating may seem a little easier and not as big of a deal right now, so some people will try to get away with it. A building full of hormonal, emotional teenagers is bound to have some repercussions. Let’s just hope they learn that they should never cheat regardless of their age, but hopefully they will grow out of their player mentality.