He is 18 and I'm 17. In total we have been together for 1.5 years, but we have broken up twice due to the fact that he didn't think he was doing a good job at being my boyfriend and making me happy, and he thought I deserved better. He began to want to see me less, text me less and in general seemed less interested, and began to talk to others which made me feel very paranoid and anxious, and I ended up becoming more clingy.
The second time we got back together we were only together for 2 months as he began to distance himself again, and we ended up breaking up again.
Back in February we got back together and he was jealous that i was beginning to talk to other guys.
The first month or so of the relationship was great, he put in so much effort, for example we would call most nights on the phone, we would meet up a lot, and he was so affectionate and caring.
Due to the fact that it's the exam months and he's doing his A-Levels he has become to be distant again, for example we hardly meet up anymore as he always says he needs to revise, but he is able to meet his mates 3-4 times a week because they ask, but I've tried asking loads and he always cancels.
We never call anymore either, and he takes ages to reply to my messages, and I see him once a week if I'm lucky.
I know the majority of the advice would be to talk to him about it, but I've tried that several times in the past and it doesn't help anything, in fact it makes it worse because by me telling him how I want him to 'improve', it makes him distance himself as he doesn't think he's doing a good enough job.
Whenever he begins to distance himself, I begin to become more clingy and I hate it. I don't know why he's stopped putting as much effort in, he is able to see his mates all the time, but never has any time for me.
He has said before to me that when he's in a relationship he tends to not realize his love for that individual until they are gone, for example how he would distance himself and once he saw me talking to other girls over social media, that is when he began to miss me.
To conclude, is there any way he can begin to put more effort in like he used to? Talking to him isn't an option because he will begin to distance himself more because he will think he's not good enough, and he'll think I'm having a go at him and trying to improve him and our relationship, and I have tried giving him space before, for example once I didn't message him all day back in November (before we broke up the last time), and I was hoping for him to miss me, but instead he got mad at me for not messaging him.
I don't want to seem too disinterested in him and play hard to get because he will begin to think that I don't want to be with him anymore and he will distance himself, but I don't want to come on too strong.