Bella just told her friend, paulina, that she has a crush on dante. paulina is honored to know this information, and both keep it a secret from dante. bella and paulina are in the same stage of developing romantic relationships in adolescence.
The developmental tasks of adolescence require a certain amount of privacy and risk. It means that teens are in the process of trying to form their own identity separate from their parents. Keeping secrets is a way teens learn to make their own decisions and face their own mistakes.