Chapter 1.
I walked into the main entrance of the school. The outside area leading up was a sidewalk with red-bricked pillars placed in supportive statures. I walked past the entrance for the swimming pool, and then various other exits. I was already counting the hours and minutes left in the day. I swatted at giant pink balloons and heard the crunch of empty heart shaped chocolate boxes crumple under my feet. Valentine’s Day was here, and it was a bigger event than ever.
I’m a freshman at Summit High School. It was my first time seeing Valentine’s Day in action at school. Valentine’s Day was an excuse for women to get candies, chocolates, flowers, whatever you name it, just for the sake to make all their single friends jealous. However, this year, for me, was different. I had a boyfriend at the time; things weren’t serious and I didn’t really expect to be with him for long. That’s how high school relationships work. Other girls are looking for that true love figure in their lives, while I’m just trying to figure out what the fuck I’m going to do with myself. Having a little boyfriend on the side for personal gain never hurt anybody.
My boyfriend, however, was a grade below me. He went to the middle school down the street. He would always wait for me after school, (the middle school let out an hour early and he always would walk home after seeing me), and we would chat for a minute before I caught my bus. I knew today he’d amp up his game today, with it being Valentine’s Day. Every guy wanted that “best boyfriend” title.
Meanwhile, I had to cut through couples at school and try to miss getting tangled up in ribbons and banners from balloons and the decorations hung up. Turnabout was almost here; just about two weeks away. My school had almost no room for the student body to fit into a dance, so that allowed for no one from any other school to be there. Of course, I didn’t care that my boyfriend couldn’t be there. Dates to dances are boring. All they do is sweat and complain the whole time. I’d much rather have went with a group of girls.
Classes seemed to whiz by. I was leaving the school and everyone else in it, towards my boyfriend. He looked like he normally did. As I walked up, I noticed his leather jacket and his dark washed jeans. Normally, we look completely opposite. I’m always heavy on eyeliner, darkly dressed, with my red hair being the only poof of color. You would’ve never guessed we were a couple. Today, I was wearing a white t shirt, hung over a bright red skirt, with vans, since I didn’t own any other shoes. He wore a black v neck, a leather jacket, and black boots. He looked amazing. When I smiled he made a comment about my freckles and we hugged and quickly kissed. He pulled out a bouquet of flowers and he handed me a worn out bear plush. He explained that it was from his child hood and it meant a great significance to him. Then, he pulled out a 36 pack of chocolates. I practically tore at the box right there.
Now, behind him, was my bestfriend. A while ago, I endured a nasty break up (which ensued my viewpoint on the relationship roles in high scool), and my bestfriend really helped me get over it. My bestfriend, Josh, took all of the material items my ex left with me.. i.e., his jackets, the necklaces he bought me, the bear we made together at build a bear, etc. And as I looked at Josh behind my boyfriend, I noticed he had the bear that my ex and I made together. At first I was really aggravated. And then I was confused on why he kept it all this time. It was a stupid bear and the breakup happened over a year ago. However, if I let my current boyfriend see any reaction to the dumb bear instead of being excited over the gifts he got me, he’d be upset. So I pulled out my best pokerface and acted like I normally would. I squealed and showed off my gifts to everyone and anyone around me. We went back inside of the school, sneaking Josh and my boyfriend in because they’re a year below, and we went to find Josh’s valentine. It turns out that his valentine was completely random. He never had any interest in her, and he just bullshitted the plan to give her chocolates and my bear to her.
We crossed the hallways and we finally found her at someone else’s locker. She was helping her friend ask a guy to turnabout. The whole thing was a giant scavenger hunt where he had to go around the school to find pieces of the puzzle, and then, eventually, her. The girl that Josh wanted to give the stuff to was called Laurel. She was Filipino, and she was short in stature. She had shoulder length hair and a curvy frame. She was my close friend at the time and I was sort of annoyed with the fact that Josh was going to do this when he obviously had no interest in her. I know that’s a bit hypocritical to say, but sometimes situations are different. Josh strived off of playing with girls emotions. It was like a game to him.
Laurel ended up ignoring us the whole time until Josh gave up and just left the gifts at her locker. I desperately wanted to make up an excuse to go back and get the bear and shove it in my bag. But that risked someone seeing me and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.
We hung out for a while until it was just Josh and I hanging out in an apartment buildings basement. It was my exbestfriends apartment. We got into a huge blowout a couple months ago. She ended up dating my ex, the one that made the stupid bear with me, and it turns out she ‘’hated me’’ the whole time we were friends.
Josh and I had nowhere else to go, and with it being February in Illinois, it was cold. We didn’t plan on disturbing her or even letting her know we were there. It wasn’t just her living in the apartments; there were multiple floors with multiple apartments. She was on the second floor. We sat in the laundry room, which is below ground. The floor was chipped with gray paint and there were cold drafts coming in the window. I looked down and realized that I was still wearing my boyfriends leather jacket. I hugged it tight around my torso and felt a sense of guilt as I did.
Josh and I talked about nothing for a couple of minutes. Then, my ex, the teddy-bear-making-best-friend-dating ex, came into the laundry room. I froze completely until Josh said, “What?” he shifted and said again, “What do you want?”
My ex, Andrew, practically rolled his eyes. “That’s what I was asking you. Why are you two here?” He made it a big deal to pointedly look into my eyes. I rolled mine at the sight of his.
“We’re not on your property,” pointed out Josh. “We’re not making a disturbance. Just leave, dude. We’re about to get picked up.”
Just then, the stairs started creaking. I saw my exbestfriend at the top of the stairs. She was wearing sweatpants and her hair was bright pink.
“Andrew, come on. Come back up.” Selena, my ex best friend glared at all three of us, and she shot daggers my way.
Andrew said “Whatever.” And shuffled up the stairs. Josh kept yelling out terms and calling him whipped, while I kept cackling with laughter in the background. It was tense and the jokes seemed to ease the serious vibe in the room.
At the back of my mind, I couldn’t have helped but missed Andrew and Selena.
