So if you are interested in going to a selective college, I think you should continue to do your reasonable best in college prep classes. But reasonable best means consistent with a healthy childhood. Indeed, this is an important time for your development as a human being, and while that includes developing academically and intellectually, it also includes developing socially, ethically, physically, emotionally, and so on.
And there should not in fact be a contrast between a childhood you enjoy and a childhood that is good for your future, because learning how to be a happy and fulfilled kid is often very helpful in then setting yourself up to be a happy and fulfilled adult. Of course some amount of delayed gratification and toughing through things you don’t particularly enjoy can be a part of that. But you should be feeling like you are living an enjoyable and meaningful life most of the time.
So if whatever you are doing academically is making it impossible for you to be developing in a well-balanced way, making good friends, exploring your true interests, just having fun, and so on, that is not reasonable.
OK, so do your reasonable best in your classes, and then a couple years from now, toward the end of your junior year, you can start assessing where you are competitive for college admissions. And this is not remotely a binary (competitive/not-competitive). There is a wide range of different colleges in terms of the academic qualifications that they typically view as competitive, and GPA is actually way too crude to capture that variation as different colleges can look for different things in terms of course mix, academic-related extracurriculars, recommendations, and so on.
So, when the time comes, you can investigate colleges in detail and figure out where you are a good fit for what they are looking for, and they are a good fit for what you are looking for. But it is way too early to be doing that, because at your age things often change a lot over a scale of years. So, don’t worry about it yet.
