My original, instinctive move when high school me liked a girl? Talking to them or even making eye contact was much too frightening. Instead, I would hang around in their general vicinity with one of my male friends. Ignoring her completely, I would talk and laugh with my male buddy, stealing an occasional glance her way to make sure she was seeing how fun, cute, and affable I was. I’m not sure what I expected to happen, but nothing fruitful ever came of this tactic. The object of my affection was never so wowed by my distant energy that she came and talked to me (in which case I would have melted into jelly anyway). There was no backchanneling (as far as I know) where she asked her friends who that cute fellow was and they hatched a plan to talk to me later or ask me out.