'To All the Boys I've Loved Before'

We all love a good high school love story. With movies like Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, 10 Things I Hate About You, A Cinderella Story, and Love, Simon, the world has had and loved its fair share of high school love stories. We always hope that the lead lands the boy—even with Love, Simon all we wanted was for Simon to find his special boy, too. Recently, Netflix provided the world with the newest [and extremely popular] high school romance, To All the Boys I've Loved Before. Leading lady Lara Jean Covey [played by Lana Condor] only wants love, too, and she finds it in a very uncommon and unexpected way.

If you haven't seen the movie and you plan on watching it, now might be the time to read something else because some serious spoilers are on their way.

Lara Jean fantasizes about love. She never engages with it because acknowledging that it exists only means that it can disappear. So Lara Jean writes letters to the boys she has ever loved. Letters that sit in a box in her closest, never to be sent. She's written five letters. One to Josh Sanderson [played by Israel Broussard], the boy next door who became her best friend and eventually her older sister's boyfriend. One to Peter Kavinsky [played by Noah Centineo], the first boy she kissed in seventh grade. One to Lucas, the boy she danced with during freshman homecoming. Another to Kenny from camp and the last one to John Ambrose from model UN. Lara Jean never meant for the letters to be sent, but her rascal of a little sister thought otherwise. When the boys receive their letters Lara Jean has to face the emotions she's kept bottled away and embrace the love that comes with them.

Team Peter or Team Josh

When Lara Jean's letters are sent out two of them become the focal point of the story. While Kenny from camp's letter was returned to Lara Jean, there was no indication that John Ambrose had received his letter [until the scene right before the end credits], and Lucas revealed to Lara Jean that he was gay, the letters to Josh and Peter created a tornado for Lara Jean. Lara Jean knew that she could never date Josh because of the fact that he had previously dated her older sister Margot—Margot broke up with Josh when she moved away for college. In her efforts to convince Josh that she no longer had feelings for him, Lara Jean decided to start a fake romance with Peter—who was attempting to get his ex-girlfriend Gen back by making her jealous. Although I understood why Lara Jean could never be with Josh, a part of me rooted for him the entire movie. Maybe it was because the situation hit close to home, but a small part of me wanted Lara Jean to be able to date her best friend. It wasn't his fault he didn't know how Lara Jean felt and his sad eyes throughout the entire movie made it clear that he was upset about Lara Jean not telling him and pursuing a relationship with Peter. A rivalry between the "Bon Iver wannabe" and "a complete dick" [their words not mine] emerges during the course of the movie creating yet another "Team Edward vs. Team Jacob" scenario making fans wondering if they were "Team Josh or Team Peter." A small part of me will always be Team Josh.

Covinsky

As Lara Jean and Peter create and maintain their fake relationship, feelings that neither one of them thought would emerge, do. Both have to navigate the feelings they have for one another as well as for others. What started out as something fake blossoms into something that is very real. The thing that was most intriguing about the emergence of these real feelings was that they stemmed from the boy in the movie first, rather from the love seeking female protagonist. Even though Peter said when he first received his letter, "I appreciate it, but it's never gonna happen," we know that he has developed feelings for Lara Jean because he gets upset when she says they are "only pretending," he travels across town to buy Lara Jean her favorite snack, and when she tells him she "likes him" he responds with the fact that he "is in love" with her. Lucas has to tell Lara Jean that Peter likes her, which allows her to embrace and act on the feelings that she has developed for Peter. While Lara Jean constantly convinces herself that the two of them are only pretending, Peter uses the smallest things to show her what he is feeling. The back pocket spin, the little notes he gives her, inviting her to his house for dinner and talking about "real stuff" with her, moving the popcorn before the pillow fight with Kitty, and defending her in the hallway are just a few of the ways that Peter shows Lara Jean he loves her. Once she realizes that Peter's emotions are true—with the help of Kitty and Josh—she allows herself to love him back.

You gonna break my heart Covey?

What makes this movie so impactful is that it says what we all want to say and it shows what we inevitably all wish we had. It gives the boy in the high school love story the chance to be vulnerable first and the girl the chance to embrace feelings that she once believed were scary. We've all closed ourselves off to people we care about or who care about us because we're afraid that they'll eventually leave. We've all decided to keep our feelings a secret because we're afraid of what may happen once they're shared. We all hope to receive a love letter. And now we all wish that we had a Peter Kavinsky, or someone that will go out of their way to show their love with even the smallest of things.

No matter what age, we all love a good high school love story. And this one can be added to the list of great high school love stories. So now, go write those love letters to all those that you've loved before. Send them, keep them, or throw them away—but write down your feelings and see if they inspire you to share them. I have. I've written four letters and right now they sit in a box on my dresser. Will I send them? Maybe not anytime soon, but who knows. All I know is that Lara Jean, Peter, and Josh have infiltrated my heart and I'm about to go watch the movie for the fourth time.