Sorry if this isn't like an actual Valentines Day thing at a public school, because I'm homeschooled, and basing it off of my experience. Also, thanks for 1k reads!
(F/f) means favorite flavor
February 14th, 1989
Your P.O.V
I open my locker to get my school books, and a paper heart falls out. Huffing in annoyance, I pick it up and read it.
Please talk to me.
That's all it says, but I expect there to be something else on the back, or even a name. I know who it's from though, the only person who goes to my school who wants to talk to me that I won't talk to. He keeps bothering me, I think this is like the fifth note he's given me. I close my locker, and Beverly's leaning on the locker right beside mine.
"Whatcha got there?" She says, a smirk growing on her face.
I hold up the heart so she can see. "Another note from Addison."
"Oh." She looks disappointed, probably because she's my best friend, and she knows how much Addison has been bothering me lately. (Totally because of that, it's not like she likes you and doesn't realize it hahahaha)
"It doesn't matter, because I'm not going to do anything about it."
"You know, you should probably do something. Like, I don't know, get a restraining order on him or whatever."
I laugh, but Beverly kind of seems serious. Placing my hand on her shoulder, I explain. "First off, I don't think that I have enough evidence for that, and secondly, it's not hurting anybody."
She folds her arms, and looks at me with a "mom face". I just shrug, and put the letter back in my locker. While we're walking away, I look at Beverly, and notice that she's staring at my locker angrily. It doesn't make any sense to me, but if she wants to do that, I won't stop her. It's not hurting anybody.
I shove my hands in my pockets, and start walking to Social Studies, knowing full well that Addison is in that class. For some reason, he sits right in front of me, which is, you know, not an ideal situation. So I could not believe that he wasn't there. It seems a little suspicious to me, but at least he's not here. I pay attention to the lesson, because Social Studies is one of my least favorite subjects, it's also one of the ones I don't have an A in, my average grade would probably be B.
When Social Studies is over, I walk to my next class, but I don't see Addison on the way to class. But on my desk, there's another note, and this one's asking me to go to the front of the school after the party, but I have plans with Eddie before and after the party.
I would normally have therapy today, but I wanted to go to the Valentine's Day party at lunch instead. Thankfully, we were able to reschedule. I think that Dr. Smith has fewer appointments than most therapists do, because she's a woman. Isn't Derry just the greatest? I unconsciously grit my teeth, and don't realize 'till:
"Are you mad at me?" I look up, and see that Tozier is standing in front of my desk, looking confused.
I smile, and laugh with my mouth closed. Shaking my head, I say: "No, I'm mad at Derry."
He nods, but then stops. "Like the town?"
"No Richie, I'm mad at dairy products." I roll my eyes. "Yes, the town."
He looks like he's about to sit down, but he asks me a question first. "Why are you mad at Derry?"
I shrug. "It's not the town itself, it's the beliefs of the people. My therapist doesn't have as many patients as the male therapists do." I blurt the bit about my therapist out before I realize that it's not the best idea to tell a sort of friend something I haven't told my other friends. "Can you just forget that last bit?"
"Sure, what were we talking about again?"
Smiling, I'm about to thank him, but Mr. Clifton starts taking attendance. When he gets to my name, I say: "Here." Once attendance is finished, we start the lesson. We're all making red and pink heart-shaped cupcakes for the party at lunch, because the school doesn't want to buy cupcakes that we can make ourselves. Tozier keeps trying to make me mess up, by putting green food coloring in the cupcake batter. I'm too quick for him though, because he keeps missing the batter, and hitting the counter. Ha, he has to clean that up. I smirk at that thought.
"Thinking about me?" Tozier tries to look sexy, but absolutely fails.
"As a matter of fact, I am."
When I say that, he fumbles, because probably no one's ever actually said yes to that question. "Shit, for real?"
I nod. "For real." He looks confused. "But not in a romantic way, I was just thinking about how you have to clean this up by yourself."
He drops the food coloring. "Fuck, I forgot about that."
I stick my tongue out at him. He does it back to me, then I put the cupcakes in the oven. It's going to be a little while before they're done, so I have to think of something to do. I am trying to get better at drawing, so maybe I can draw Tozier.
"Can I draw you?"
He squints his eyes in suspicion. "Why?"
"I'm bored, and you're here."
He shrugs, and I start drawing. Surprisingly he's holding still, as still as he can, considering he has ADHD. Once I finish, the cupcakes are almost done, so I put my signature in the bottom right corner: ꧁ ꪗ/𝓲.ꪑ꧂ (Y/I.M)
"Wow, your signature looks really nice."
"Thanks." I fold the drawing up neatly, and when Tozier's not looking, I write: For Tozier on it. I'll give it to him during the party, because we were supposed to get Valentines for everyone in our grade. We don't have too many kids in our grade, so it's easy. I already got a Valentine for everyone, but the people I made homemade cards for are Brenna, Eddie, Ben, Beverly, and Mike. I guess I did it for Richie too, since I'm going to give him the drawing.
I see Beverly going to Science, so I hook my arm around hers. She seems startled at first, but when she sees it's me, she relaxes.
"You ass." She says, then punches my shoulder. I grab my shoulder in fake pain, and make a sad face. It seems like she believes that it hurt me at first, but I smile, and she frowns. We keep walking to class, and sit next to each other.
Every single lesson has been connected to Valentine's Day, and I can only wonder why. I assumed that Science would be the same, and I was right, we're making "Love Potions" today. It's some pink, frothy concoction. I raise my hand.
"Yes Miss Michaud?" Mx. Valencia sighs, because they know what I might ask.
"Is that drinkable?"
"No, it's incredibly toxic if ingested."
Darn. I shrug and start mixing the ingredients. Beverly is my partner, and she measures the ingredients before passing them to me. Once we finish making the mixture, Mx. Valencia dismisses us to get our Valentines from our lockers.
My locker is closer to Tozier's than it is to Beverly's, so I have to see him when we change books, as well as in class. It's like the universe really wants us to be friends. Too bad, because I don't really like him. Speaking of friends, I see Eddie.
I wave to him. "Eduardo! What took you so long, I could have joined Tozier-"
I get cut off by Eddie covering my mouth with his hand. Since he doesn't like germs, I lick his hand. He yanks his hand from my mouth and uses a wipe from his fanny pack to clean it off.
"You and Rich must be related, considering how similar you act." He rolls his eyes. "Especially when you both do disgusting things like that, I mean do you know how many germs you just gave me?"
Ignoring that last part, I wrap my arm around his shoulder."I only act like this around you, Beverly, Mike, and occasionally Tozier."
His face scrunches up with confusion. "Who's Mike?"
"The homeschooled kid."
"Ohh."
I grab his hand and take him to the bikes. We're going to the flower shop, and I'm getting a flower for Beverly, and one for Tozier. I just asked him to come with to use the buddy system. Of course, he thinks the flowers are for my crush, which it is, just he doesn't know who it is.
Beverly's P.O.V.
I watch as Y/n grabs Eddie Kaspbrak's hand, and that strange feeling in my chest comes back. It's weird, the feeling only seems to appear when Y/n is being flirty with a boy, or a boy is flirting with her. I turn back to my locker, and get out the valentines.
Even though we're supposed to give valentines to everyone, I don't think I'll get many. It might, possibly, just maybe be due to the fact that everyone thinks I'm a slut. Almost everyone except Y/n of course, she's too sweet to believe the rumors. That's gotta be why my chest hurt, because she's the one of only ones who believes me.
I go to the Science classroom, and put my Valentines mailbox up. A lot of other people's boxes are already up, but Y/n's isn't, so I just put mine down randomly. Once I put it down, I go into the cafeteria and wait with the rest of my grade. I see Y/n come in the room with Eddie Kaspbrak, laughing at something, but she leaves him, and comes over to me.
"Hey Beverly, sorry I wasn't here, but I had to go get something."
"For a crush?" Please don't let it be that.
Y/n steps back a little in embarrassment, and runs into the Bowers' gang. I don't have time to think about her having a crush on someone, because I'm too worried about her getting hurt by Bowers instead. Surprisingly nothing happened, and instead she just glares at Victor.
I just look amazed at how they leave her alone. "What's the deal with you and Victor?"
Y/n squints her eyes in what looks like anger. "I thought I told you?" I guess it was confusion too.
"If you did, I forgot."
She shakes her head in annoyance. "It's not important, but he kissed me on New Year's Eve, and I haven't really spoken to him since." She sticks her hands in her pockets, and then Principal Davis comes in through the main doors. When they see him, everyone shuts up.
He starts explaining what we need to do, as if we've never done it before. Since we have already done this before, I mostly ignore him. Well he's talking, I feel somebody grab my hand. I look down and see that it's Y/n, so I feel a little embarrassed. She leans over and whispers: "Do you want to go in at the same time?"
"Yep."
They start letting people in alphabetically, from their last name. Me and Y/n both have last names that start with M, so we can go in at the same time. To pass the time while we wait, we start playing Concentration 64. Y/n taught it to me when we had to wait for some cookies to cook.
"Concentration (clap, clap, clap)
Sixty-four (clap, clap, clap)
No repeats (clap, clap, clap)
Or hesitations (clap, clap, clap)
I'll go first (clap, clap, clap)
Then you follow (clap, clap, clap)
Category is: (clap, clap, clap)"
We both sit for a bit, trying to think of a category. Then Y/n's face lights up. "Constellations! Delphinus." (Clap clap clap)
"Cassiopeia." (Clap clap clap)
"Andromeda." (Clap clap clap) I hit her hands, accidentally grab a bracelet on her arm, and it falls on the floor. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry!"
She bends down to pick it up, and smiles. "It was an old bracelet anyways, that was bound to happen eventually."
"How long have you had it?" I can't keep my curiosity to myself.
"I think I got it when I had my first Christmas here. It was a present from Mike, because I wouldn't play chess with him, so he bribed me."
"Why didn't you want to play chess with him?"
She shrugs, and then our letter gets called. I go get my bag, and she gets hers. We walk into the Science classroom, and start on opposite ends of the table. I put the valentines in everyone's boxes, but they don't have my name on them, except for Y/n's, since she's the one of only ones who believe me. Oh, and Bill too, since I like him.
When I get to Y/n's box, I look in, and see actual present things inside. That makes me regret not getting her anything, maybe I can get her a necklace? She seems to like them, considering the fact that she wears the one she got for Christmas all the time. Why is that so special to her?
I finish putting the Valentines in, then I leave with Y/n. She runs into Eddie again and he drags her away. He's strong for a little guy. Since I have nothing better to do, I decide to watch them talk. They seem to be having a good conversation, judging based off of how they are smiling at each other while they're talking.
Since Y/n left me, Richie Tozier walks up to me. "Hey sweetcheeks, what's a pretty girl like you doing out here alone?"
"Well, I wasn't alone, I had Y/n. At least until your little buddy came over and stole her." I cross my arms over my chest and huff.
He stands up straight, and clears his throat. "I kind of sent Eddie Spaghetti over here, but that's so I can talk to you alone."
"And why would you want to talk to me alone?"
Y/n starts walking back over to me, and Richie sees, so he goes over to Eddie. "I guess you'll have to find out later." He winks at me as he walks off.
When Y/n finally gets over to me, the first thing she does is apologize. "Sorry for Tozier, he flirts with everyone."
"No-" I wave my hand to dismiss that. "-it was... interesting."
She puts her arm around my shoulder, and side-hugs me. "Well if he was too annoying, I'd be happy to beat him up for you."
I look her up and down with doubt. "Is this coming from the person who got dragged away by Eddie Kaspbrak?"
"I was going to talk to him anyways."
"Mhmm, suuurrreee."
She turns around. "Oh, would you look at that, it's time to get our valentines." Without any warning, she starts pushing me to the classroom. Once we get there, we split up and go to our boxes. Mine's next to Tozier's, so he tries to talk to me again.
"Couldn't stay away from me, huh?"
"As if, you just happened to be by my box." I open the box, and see only five things. There's a valentine/gift from Y/n, one from Brenna, one from Bill, one from Eddie, and a flower with a note from someone. Someone actually gave me a flower, and it's a . I read the note, and it's very sweet.
Ma Chérie Beverly,
I wanted to give you this pink gardenia, because it means to love in secret, and that's how I feel. I know people usually give roses on Valentine's Day, but this flower means more than just love to me. Though I doubt you will ever like me back, and you don't even know who I am, I just wanted to get these feelings off my chest before they became too much for me to bear. I hope that you have an amazing day, and stay strong, ma chérie.
Sincerely,
A Secret Admirer
I silently gasp, and smile. Grabbing the rest of my valentines, I start going over to Y/n, but I hear Richie say something about her. I stop moving, and eavesdrop on his conversation.
"That's what I said, Y/n gave me a valentine, and a drawing of me."
Oh, she gave him a drawing? I thought she hated him? And she didn't give me one. That feeling comes back, but it's even stronger now. I try to brush it off, and show Y/n the note. I tap her on her shoulder, and she turns around.
"Yeah?"
"I wanted to show you what I got from somebody." She smiles a bit, she's happy for me! I grab the flower from behind my ear and note, and show it to her. "The only thing is, I don't know what ma chérie means. And since you take French, I was wondering if you could tell me?"
"Sure! Ma chérie means my dear, and it's typically used for someone you really like."
I nod my head. "So would you be ma chérie?"
She blushes a little, and shakes her head. "No, it's usually reserved for your kids, boyfriends and girlfriends. I'm none of those, so I wouldn't."
"Okay, that actually makes sense. Now let's have some fun!" I grab Y/n's arm, and try to take her to the food, but she takes my hand off her arm. "What are you doing?"
Y/n sighs, and looks disappointed. "I have to talk to Addison right now." What? Now? But he's such a dick. She must see the look of disgust on my face, because the next thing she says is: "Yes, he was a shitty person, but he might have changed, and I need to apologise to him."
I want to tell her not to do it, but I can't, it'll just make me sound desperate. She leaves the table we were standing by, and looks for Addison, leaving me alone, holding the note that meant so much to me. It seems so meaningless to me now that Y/n isn't here with me. I crumpled up the paper, look up, and see a black butterfly fly by the window. Y/n was supposed to spend the day with me.
I get distracted when I hear gasps and 'aaaaaawwwww's' coming from the direction Y/n went. A crowd has gathered in that area, so I have to push past them to see what's going on, since I'm so short. Before I make it to the middle, I hear a familiar voice. "Of course I'll go with you!" It's Y/n's, but she sounds excited. When I finally make it to the middle, I see Addison and Y/n hugging each other, but it doesn't make sense, she told me she hated him no more than ten minutes ago. There's also roses on a desk and a sign that says 'Will you be my Valentine's day date to the dance?'
"She doesn't look excited."
I turn to see Brenna standing next to me. "Yes she does, can't you see her face?" I point to Y/n's face, which clearly has an expression of excitement on it.
"I've been friends with her for almost three years, I think I can tell when she's genuinely excited. For example, when she saw the valentine you gave her, she didn't look so stiff." I look over at Y/n, and Brenna's right, she does look sort of stiff.
Soon, the crowd disperses and Y/n runs straight to me. "Can we still spend the day together?"
"Of course!" We link pinkies and run out of the school, since today is a half-day. Our first stop is an ice cream shop, I tell Y/n what flavor to get me and that I'm going to get something too. As I speed-walk to the mall, I count my money. All together, I have around $20. I look around the shop, and see a necklace that costs $17.45. It's a double heart necklace with black gems.
I come back with a smile on my face. Since Y/n is nowhere to be found, I sit down to wait for her. It's a bit boring, so I admire the necklace that I bought, not as good as the blank she gave me. A few minutes later, Y/n comes over with the ice cream in her hands. Even though it wasn't super busy, she probably couldn't find where I was sitting.
"Hey," Y/n is about to take a lick of her ice cream, but then she looks at me. "I-i want-want-wanted to... say thank you for the valentine and the gift, and sorry for not getting you one." I hold the box they put the necklace in, tighter.
She laughs, which turns into a small snort. "You didn't have to get me anything, one of the greatest presents is you being my friend." She reached over and hugs me.
A friend. Well, I don't think a friend wouldn't buy a necklace for their friend on Valentine's Day, so I'll keep it to myself.
3566 words
It's Valentine's Day, hooray! At least in the book. More conflicted Beverly, which is great, and Addison drama.
Stay safe and don't do drugs kids.
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