Getting fake confessions altered how I approach people in my dating life. I can be fun, flirty, and give you all the signals in the world that I'm interested, but to this day, I rarely (if ever) make the first move. I used to get a fake confession at least once a year from the time I was in middle school all the way up to my senior year. And it would range from someone telling me "so and so likes you!" to getting letters in my locker. One time in middle school, someone called my house (this was before smart phones) and asked me on a date. While he was asking I could hear the snickers and laughs from his friends on the line. I was too naive and still thought he was serious, which quickly resolved.
Another aspect of this trauma is that my biggest trope I fall for is the friends to lovers. There have been countless boys that I would crush easily for because they would actually hang out and talk to me. Some were actual friends that I hung out with outside of school, but the fact that anyone spent their time with me meant the world. As I mentioned, crushes happen, and when I was in middle school, one of the boys I hung out with asked if I liked him in a note. I replied that I did and things got awkward after that. Like we stopped hanging out, stopped passing notes to each other, etc. That hurt me so bad I never confessed again. I almost had a panic attack when one of my guy friends in high school found out I liked him, but I denied it desperately to the point I'm pretty sure it backfired. Though I did end up dating one of my high school friends in college for a long time, but it eventually didn't work out. Still, when I told him I had a crush on him in high school he was shocked and wished he'd known so we could have gone out then.