How do I let him down easily with completely putting him in the friendzone?

The problem with trying to be nice to everyone in your situation is that you can far too easily end up being nasty to everyone - including yourself.

So far you have told Derek what you doubtless consider to be a white lie to spare his feelings: that you are not ready to date. You have allowed him to believe that when you are ready, you will date him, even though you want to date Jake.

The current situation is bad for both of you, and possibly for Jake, too, if he actually likes you, as he will doubtless see you and Derek together or hear rumours that you are going to date and get the wrong idea.

A shy nerd type is not ever going to believe he can compete with a jock. Worse, you are setting the two of them up to be enemies in the event you ever do date Jake.

Your first priority here is to be actually truthful with Derek. You cannot now avoid hurting his feelings, and he is certain to think you led him on. He has made his intentions absolutely clear from the start and you have hidden yours, which is not good. He does not want to be just a friend to you, and I doubt he will accept being just friends. That door closed the instant you allowed him to think you might date him in future instead of admitting you wanted to be with someone else.

You should not tell Derek you want to date someone else unless you have to. You absolutely should tell him that having got to know him you can't see him as any more than a friend, and you should definitely apologise to him for leading him on when you didn't mean to.

He's going to be very hurt, but the sooner he knows the truth, the better for both of you.

This will be hard for you, I know. But sometimes in life you can end up being the bad girl by trying too hard to be the good girl in all the wrong ways...

Derek came on way too strong, you need to tell him you're not interested soon because it'll only get worse. Dont say you dont want all that drama BS and then say "oh but i like Jake." You're going to get some, if only a little.

all of this detail is not necessary ---- you like him but not in a romantic way ----- it happens all the time ---- just because you like someone or even love them (stop thinking that saying "i love you" is like swearing ---- the "L" word!!!!!) does not mean they MUST feel the same way ---- the friendzone does not exist its not a choice ----- so tell him that you are not interested in him in a romantic way ---- if he cant accept that if he gets upset its not your problem ---- be honest no excuses and be polite ----- how he reacts is up to him not you ----- of course its going to hurt him at the same he has to get used to being rejected ---- we are going to spend our lives being rejected for college for loans for jobs in love ---- dont ever ever say you dont want a relationship now ---- that is a lie ---- because you want to have one with another guy ----- be honest get into the habit dont be like all these other girls that think its ok to lie and make excuses because it will hurt the guy less ---- it really hurts more in the long run than being honest

i dont exactly know what to say but he did come on waaay too hard and i would tell him that hes sweet but you dont like him that way and you like someone else