Avoid trying this in school for the first time. You’ve got to find a slightly more romantic location. This doesn’t mean you should try to kiss your girlfriend the second you’re alone together. The moment has to feel right, and privacy isn’t the only requirement for that.

You can also put on some lip balm a few hours before to soften up your lips, but don’t use it right before you make a move or your lips won’t feel too pleasant.

If you want to kiss your girlfriend, then she has to feel like you really like her for who she is, and that you see her as more than just a person to kiss.

If she’s always trying to pull away when you’re alone together, and moves further and further away from you, then she may not be ready to take it to the next level with you. This doesn’t mean that she doesn’t like you, but it does mean that she’s not ready yet.

This will also be a good time to see if she’s ready. Does she respond well to your touch, move closer to you, or even initiate some touching? If she’s not comfortable with physical touch, she’s probably not going to be interested in kissing, either.

French kissing. This is not for everybody, and most people don’t start French kissing until high school. For your first kiss, keep the tongue out of it, or your girlfriend may be unpleasantly surprised. If you come out of the gate with a French kiss, it’ll be too much, too soon. The roaming hands. Just because your girlfriend is ready for a kiss doesn’t mean she’s ready for you to start creeping all over her body. You can touch her in safe, PG areas to show her that you care, but you don’t want to creep her out by suddenly touching her in a place where she’s definitely not ready to be touched. The sneak attack kiss. Avoid just jumping in and kissing her without any indication of what’s going to happen. Though some element of surprise is nice, you don’t want your girlfriend to not know what’s going on when you make your big move.

You can lightly lick your lips a bit to soften them, if you’re not too obvious about it.

Try to match her throughout the kiss. You want to fit together like a puzzle, so it feels comfortable.

And hey, nobody’s stopping you from going in for that second kiss! If the first kiss went well, it’s okay to pull away and to go back for more…and more again! Remember—practice makes perfect when it comes to kissing!