It's official. I am a 17-year-old high school senior with a girl crush on a 15-year-old. This is new. This has never happened to me before. I've always admired people who are older than me -- Anne Hathaway, Emma Watson and Zooey Deschanel, to name a few -- but a 15-year-old? Never. That is, until the day a certain magazine landed in my mailbox.
Who is this person I have a girl crush on? None other than Chloe Grace Moretz. I've seen her face on Aeropostale ads, best-dressed lists and more, but I brushed her off as just another teen actress. However, Teen Vogue's March 2013 issue changed everything. In it, Chloe Grace Moretz talks about her list of priorities (work, her dreams, friends and charity work), her dreams for college (Columbia University, she "admits reluctantly") and her life philosophy ("Don't play the best friend in the film version of your life. Be the leading lady").
I love how Chloe Grace Moretz talks about going to college. How many teen stars made the choice to go to college when they've already had a successful career? Only a handful that I can think of. Emma Watson, Dakota Fanning and Miranda Cosgrove come to mind, but that's it. So many teen stars choose to forgo the college experience to continue their careers in Hollywood. Chloe's reasons for wanting to go to college are also surprising, as she says in the interview, "I need to be able to say, 'I can quit this business and go live my own life and be whoever I want to be.'"
As a high school senior (and a second semester senior at that) I can only plan ahead to the next year. I'll make the choice of what college to go to, plan out my summer and decide what courses I'll take at that college -- but that's the extent of my planning. College is in part to further my education and get a decent paying job. However, Chloe, who's only 15, sounds so certain of her goals and dreams. I have a lot to learn from her.
Throughout high school, the future was so vague. It's there and I'm aware of it, but it remains only an idea. Now, as a senior, I can feel my future looming overhead, threatening me. What are my goals in life? My intended major? What internships do I need to get? But like Chloe says, "calm down and breathe."
Chloe, you are my hero. Writing this article has made me like you even more. Now that I think about it, having a hero who's younger than me isn't that bad. After all, age is just a number.