It's the beginning of the fall semester at college. It's time to leave all your friends and family, including your significant other. It's sad, I know, but you have many opportunities ahead of you. Alas, there is a thought creeping in the back of your mind, "Will they cheat on me?", "Am I gonna slip up and do something I regret?" The answer to that is no, you will not and they will not. Contrary to popular belief, if you love someone you won't cheat on them.

"I still love you, it didn't mean anything!", a common phrase said by individuals who have cheated. The act of cheating may not have meant anything, but oh my, it definitely meant something for that relationship. To that relationship, it meant that it wasn't as important as it was thought to be. Sure, everybody has their reasons for cheating, but are those reasons ever good? More often than not, they aren't very justifiable. Some common themes in college cheating scandals are: couldn't do the distance apart, a drunk mistake, an "accident", and unpredictable love interests.

Long distance relationships are very common in college. I, myself, am in one. This is how I know they are completely manageable. Yes, they are hard. With them being so hard at times, it may cause an individual to cheat. Is this a good reason to? Abso-freaking-lutely not! Oh, you miss your boyfriend? Well, going out with another boy is NOT going to fix that. I am going to say this once, and many more times, if you love someone there is no reason to be seeking such attention from other people. If you are missing the love and affection you were receiving from your significant other, that's good! It's good to be longing for those feelings. It makes receiving them again feel amazing even if you only get it a few times a year. You should not, by any means, try to receive such attention from someone else. If you are seeking for that sort of attention, then what are you doing in a relationship still?

Partying in college is obviously very common. It's not really my scene, so I don't go out. I only watch Netflix in my dorm like a hermit. This does not mean I don't have a lot of knowledge about what goes on. A lot, clearly, goes on at parties. One of those being hooking up. If you are single and ready to mingle, by all means, go ahead and live it up with the cute girl in the corner you always see in math class. When should you not live it up with the cute girl in the corner? When you have a girlfriend. Your friends are pressuring you into it? You need new friends. You're drunk and it won't matter the next day? Oh, it'll matter. Intoxication can make you do stupid things, that is a fact. If you can't handle yourself and your actions in situations like that, do yourself a favor and talk to your significant other. If they don't feel comfortable with the way things might turn out at a party, then you shouldn't be together.

Many people have claimed their cheating was an accident. By "accident" they mean one thing led to another. Now, please tell me how you accidentally perform such activities. How are two people studying and then accidentally start making out? That doesn't happen. Maybe one person kissed the other and they weren't interested and that was that. That's perfectly fine, one side saw something the other side didn't. Maybe they didn't know the person had a significant other and read the situation wrong. Regardless, I'm not sure you should go off smooching other people unless there is some form of obvious consent, especially if you're in a relationship.

Ah, yes, unpredictable love. It's great really unless you're in a relationship. If you seemed to have sparked a love interest in someone else other than your significant other, it's best to end things with them before it gets worse. You should not "see how it goes" before breaking it off. There obviously was some form of doubt in the relationship, to begin with if you wanted to test the waters some more. If you are really meant to be with that person, then you will be! If you break up and don't get back together, you were not supposed to be together. On the other hand, if you do get back together after some time apart, you have something strong. It's just best to not be involved when the relationship becomes questionable.

There certainly are instances when cheating is not someone's fault. In college, a lot of crazy dangerous things happen. In situations when something that you didn't ask for happens, you need to talk about it with your significant other. They will be understanding. You may even need to tell others, but at least say something to someone you trust.

To sum everything up, if you go to college you will not cheat on your significant other and they will not cheat on you. As long as the both of you love each other and trust each other, there will be no cheating. I know some people will say, "You're allowed to do what you want", but most of the time those people are the ones doing the cheating. This is a bold statement, but the ones condoning such behavior are usually the ones who have gotten broken up with because of it. If you have cheated, and your significant other was perfectly okay with it, maybe you should think for a second about how outlandish that is. Someone being okay with you cheating on them usually means they are cheating on you. Just please remember that there is always someone on the other end of these things and chances are, they are hurting a lot more than you.