What is the fastest way to solve a rubik's cube?

I'm on the rubik's cube club at my middle school and there's a competition coming up in 2 weeks against our rival school. I know how to solve a cube already, I started out with my record being 3 minutes then i brought it down to 2 minutes and now it is 1:30. But there is a kid in 6th grade who can beat it in less than 30 seconds, and I feel a slow, and a little stupid. I'm not trying to beat him, I just want to bring my time down to around 45 seconds.

My friend told me about solving it with 2x2x2 first then 3x2x2, but I haven't found it anywhere online. I keep seeing the Fridrich method and the F2L but it looks too complicated and confusing :P

I'm willing to try it but I was just wondering if there was an easier method. (A tutorial video would be great too :D)