Back in elementary, it was easy to tell if someone had a crush on you. It was easy because it was the boy who teased you endlessly about being a know-it-all or the girl who threw the four-square ball at your head on purpose. But now that we’re in high school if someone threw a ball at your head you’d probably punch them in the face.

And so it has become a question old as time itself: how do you tell if someone likes you?

I’m going to be completely honest, I don’t pay much attention to whether boys like me and when I do, I’m just as confused as every other teenager in the world. Just a few weeks ago I spent an entire dinner wondering whether the guy I was with opened my door to impress me or if he was just a good guy. Or whether he was laughing because he liked me or because the sarcastic remark I made was genuinely funny (hopefully a little bit of both.)

When asking people what they think or searching the subject online you can get weird things like, “if they look in your right eye when talking to you they like you.” Or you get the easy stuff like, “if they pay attention when you’re talking,” or “they go out of their way to do nice things for you.” Thank you WikiHow. I think if a boy was complimenting me or bringing me food I would be able to tell without reading a bunch of dumb articles.

Most people from Bingham agree that when you like someone, you want to be around them. You might go out of your way to be where they are, like going to a school event or a friends party that you know they’ll be at. Maybe you strategically sit at a table during lunch because you know it’s around where they sit, or you take the extra long way to class because you know you’ll pass them in the hallway if you do.

Bingham Junior Kamree Kelly summed it up perfectly when saying, “You show someone you like them by going out of your way to really get to know them.” We all know that when we like someone we’re constantly looking for excuses to talk to them or be around them so that you can figure out if you really like them; the trick is to notice when someone is trying to. When they keeping popping up wherever you go or are constantly asking you what’s due in a class where the homework is online, they probably dig you.

But if you’re trying to de-code whether they like you or just want to be good friends, there are (apparently) ways. According to BHS junior and psychology wizard, Kyle Hepworth, it’s easy to see if someone likes you based on body language. No, not kissing or anything, that would be way too obvious (although sometimes even that isn’t a for sure sign.) Hepworth said that it’s a huge sign when someone has open body language, good posture, and is directing their attention towards you. He also pointed out that it’s a good sign when there’s small body contact, like a girl grabbing your arm when she’s laughing. “But then you have the opposite side of the spectrum which involves blushing, inability to make eye-contact tripping in their speech…moving their legs around or rub their hands together, this can all mean the same thing as being open and confident,” Hepworth added.

After scanning a million sites forming the same question, a lot of informed sites say if someone leans in while talking or mirrors your body language, they could have feelings for you. A lot of the articles also say to pay attention to your crush’s friends. We’ve ALL been that annoying friend that either tries to wingman or embarrass your bff in front of the person they like. If their friends tell you a million funny stories about them or are talking them up a lot, it at least means that person values what you think of them.

To be honest, though, there’s no sure fire way to know if someone likes you from just how they act…especially in high school. If you want to know for sure just dribble that ball down the court and shoot your shot! Who knows, you might end up swooshing it.