There's nothing wrong with buying cool stuff. If no one bought cool stuff we'd all be driving some very uncool car (I think if I say "a Yugo" I won't offend anyone - when I said "Civic" before some people got upset - I have a beater Civic with 286k miles sitting in the garage although I also have newer cars). You don't need to need the cool stuff but you should be able to afford it - don't go into debt to get some wheels. As a kid at home I spent every penny I earned on bike stuff, and until I was about 25 I was obscenely proud of the fact that my bike cost more than my car (and even my roof rack cost more than my car). Even at 30 I had more money tied up just in 700c wheels than I had in my car.

At the same time I can tell you from experience that the sh*t don't matter. I had the lightest wheels around (at 5'7", 103 lbs after 3 years of getting heavier while racing, I could use stupid light wheels) and I assure you that when I blew up on a climb I was as slow as if I had cast iron rims laced with lead spokes. Sprints, I could jump hard with whatever wheel I had. When I started doing well in races I was winning by a proverbial mile (in sprints) and it didn't matter what equipment I used - heavy clinchers because I forgot to glue my tires or heavy tubulars because it was raining or light tubulars because I was "peaking".

Nonetheless I still researched everything, bought cool stuff, and had fun racing what I had.

I'd get the Leopard wheels without knowing anything about them (I Googled briefly and didn't find them). They're relatively cheap, you get a good deal, and you won't be heartbroken if something happens to them.

Then focus on training, on riding, on loving to ride and race, on not messing up your cycling on purpose. Don't forget the rest of your life - school, friends, crushes. If you decide in a year or two that cycling isn't for you that's fine. If you pursue it you can make it a life sport, regardless of your potential or lack thereof.