my "first" "crush" lasted from kindergarten til like 5-6th grade, he was a close friend the entire time I just never said anything. I moved away during 6th anyway
in reality I don't think it was really a crush, I loved him a lot platonically and probably mistook that as more than it actually was. I highly felt the need to have a "crush" on a boy at all times because it was so normalized literally everywhere I saw, I wanted to be like everyone else who had crushes n stuff and he seemed like the closest candidate. I only bothered to include this because it lasted for so long and was so significant that I had several diary entries with his name as a kid
I reconnected with him a few years ago, told me he turned out to be gay. which is funny because I turned out to be a lesbian. like yeah no wonder we got along sm
in 7th grade I had my first REAL crush, it was a girl and ironically I thought this was platonic at the time. I was in my """emo""" phase at this point but she was this really bright and bubbly girl who became my best friend. she loved pusheen and these bizarre animals called pangolins that I hadn't heard of before that. I was pretty closed off and asocial due to unfortunate events that freshly happened, but she SOMEHOW got me to join the drama club to make props with her after school everyday. I thought she was so cute, but like platonically right???? yeah you get butterflies for your bestie too right?? not just me??
lol anyways she got me through really tough times. she gifted me plushies of things I said I liked once and tried so hard to get me out of my shell to socialize with people more, she truly cared more than anyone else in my life did at the time. I was DEVASTATED when I had to move away again the next year :( I highkey didn't get over it for years. her mother was the type to be restrictive with social media, so we weren't able to talk a lot until we drifted apart entirely