*Valentine

Intro: In honor of tomorrow’s holiday.

This is my 50th story. Hooray!

The big red box sat proudly on Lindsey’s desk. When she came back with the cards from her backpack in the hall, Lindsey kept an eye on the box. She walked around the classroom handing out the valentines she’d organized a week earlier. One for Bill, one for Joe, one for Greg, and even one for Ryan, though he liked to call her names and was smirking at her. Every time she slipped one of the small white envelopes into another box, she took a peek at her own. It remained alone, no one even walking near it. Some of the other students in her class started taking seats behind their own boxes, twiddling their fingers as they waited for the rest to be delivered.

She slipped the last envelope, Melissa’s, in the box and trudged back to her seat. The bell rang. All of the other students scooped up their boxes and hurried from the room. None of them looked at her. Some laughed.

“Are you okay, Lindsey?” Mrs. Peterson, her fifth grade teacher, asked.

She nodded and grabbed her box and nearly dropped it in surprised. The top fell to floor as she jostled it. Little white envelopes stared up at her, almost filling the box. She clutched the box to her.

“When?”

“While you were out in the hall, Ryan thought you would enjoy the surprise.”

Lindsey nodded and hurried from the room. Ryan waited by her backpack, his normal scowl there. She walked up to him hesitantly, not sure how to thank him for the wonderful surprised.

“Hi, Lame-sey.”

Apparently he hadn’t changed at all and she turned her face away, flushing. She slid her box into her backpack and pulled it on. She paused for a moment and looked at him. Leaning forward, she kissed him quickly on the cheek. For a moment he stood there, staring at her with a wide eyes and a sort of slack mouth. A second later, he reeled back wiping at his face.

“Gross.”

“Bye, Ryan,” she called skipping out of the school. All the way home she thought about which valentine was from Ryan, and how everything had changed.