Valentine’s Day — No longer the horror of childhood

Posted by ViktorcloseAuthor: Viktor Name:
Email: viktor_malkin@yahoo.com
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About: I am in love with the game of Hockey, when I am not read about, watching, or playing my beloved sport I am either writing, playing video games, with my girlfriend, or at work. I am always looking for ways to improve, whether it be my writing, or my health, I am always trying to better myself. I always try to hold a respectful manner and help people, although this code is usually broken when Hockey is involved.See Authors Posts (11)

We have all been there, some eager, some anxious, and some a little scared. We tied our little boot laces, buttoned our little coats, gathered our bag of cards and made our way to school on this day. When we arrived we made sure all the final touches were made on our modest handcrafted valentine mailboxes. We worked so hard to build a unique and wonderful box; some were decorated in flowers and hearts, others in transformers and comic book heroes. Our little hearts pounding with anticipation and hope that our special crush would give us a Valentines Day card.

At the tender age of seven, I was like any other young boy; I had a special girl that I was in love with. I would spend long hours at night thinking about the upcoming Valentines Day party, and the days following. Oh how I thought it would be grand, magical and everything I had hoped for, we would spend the rest of our days together. I poured my heart and soul into finding just the right valentine card for her, one that would sweep her off her feet. After days of debating, I found the card, a large pink heart along with beautiful roses and the elegant lettering “Be my true valentine” adorned the card.

Days before the party, our teachers would stand before the class and describe one of the grandest and most special days of the year, and how came to be. Our teacher would give us the supplies and instruction to create our own unique mailbox, in which our class mates would place valentine cards. The teacher would tell us to make sure we make one for all of our fellow students, and insist that we make no cruel remarks on the cards we were to hand out. Cruel remarks? Surely this is not a problem, I remember thinking to myself.

The day was finally here, the most anticipated day in the month! I gathered up my cards, and my jacket, and I was off to school. After a half day of study we broke out the punch and cake, it was time to commence the party. We all delivered our cards to each others mail boxes. After the delivery, we would eat our cake and drink our punch. After a rousing game of “heads-up seven-up” we would retrieve our boxes and we could then go through them to our hearts content.

I nearly tore my box in half when the teacher gave us the order; I searched all the cards with care, sifting through to find the card from the one I mostly admired. After a minute, I had the card in my little hands! The words “Will you be mine?” with flowers and rainbows adorned upon its card frame. My heart began to pound, my eyes lit up, it was just how I had imagined it! Lost in my heart warming day dream I did not notice my two pals approach and sit next to me.

“What did yours say Vik?” Joe asked with a sullen voice.

“Will you be-” I began but was quickly interrupted.

“No, not that! The back! What did she write on the back of yours?”

“What do you mean-” I began again.

“You did not look at the back!” Thomas interrupted, his face showing a grin.

“What are you talking about?” I asked puzzled.

“Flip it over” said Joe with a half hearted chuckle.

As I flipped the card over and began to read the neat hand writing, my heart sank into my stomach.

“Like I would want you, UGLY!” the words “Ugly” in capital letters to make sure it was emphasized.

At that moment, I looked over at the girl of my dreams; she was in a crowd of her girlfriends. They were all looking at me and laughing amongst themselves, some making cruel comments. I had not only lost my appetite, but the tongue in which I used to speak! I watched her later kissing the popular boy on the check and smiling. The teacher and the attending parents would comment “you do not seem like you are enjoying yourself?” I would just hang my head and say “I am fine” and put on a fake smile to appease them.

After this heartbreaking event, I was determined to not let this happen again. I shut my self away from the world on Valentines Day. I would not show up at school and would rarely make human contact on this day. This became a common occurrence until one year.

I was fourteen years old, and my mood was becoming even fouler as Valentines Day neared. Just as the seven years before, I had my “illness” planned; every line was scripted and ready to be portrayed skillfully. Everything was going according to plan until my childhood friend caught on to my string of absences.

I had become close with a girl who I traveled to school with daily. On our way to school she asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks:

“You are coming to school tomorrow?”

“What do you mean?” I said caught off guard.

She knew, she told me how she noticed that every year I was absent from school on that day. I told her I would not be attending, to which she was not happy. After a heated discussion she convinced me to attend. I still had no plans of participation.

I grudgingly went to school that day, irritable and in no mood for games, with the clock in the school’s library showing but ten minutes until the party I came up with a devious plan. While the class was quiet and studying, the librarian had to leave for the office. When she had left, I stood and walked over to the computers and turned the volume settings to their maximum allowance. I began to turn them on, one by one as fast as I could. I was just finishing my devious plan when I turned around to see the librarian looking at me curiously! All of the sudden the computers began making an extraordinary amount of noise, as they chimed and made the “start up music”. The librarian shouted at the top of her voice, but no one could hear her, but it was clear what she meant when she pointed me in the direction of the principles office.

I would miss all but five minutes of the Valentines Day party; I arrived just as everyone was cleaning up. A smile strewn across my face in triumph. Someone tapped me on the shoulder; I turned around to see the face of my childhood friend. She was red with anger, with tears in her eyes she threw something at me and turned and walked out the door as the others were leaving. Surprisingly enough, no one seemed to have noticed. I picked up the object which had been thrown at me; it was a beautiful Valentines Day card with a note inside.

Years went by, and she did not speak with me. Until one day, years later when I was in the grocery store. As I was shopping, I heard a familiar voice, and turned to see a familiar face. My old friend stood their, and we began to talk. She had become a teacher and was shopping for supplies for her students Valentines Day party. Minutes turned into an hour and we both were late for our prior engagements.

We would meet each other a couple days later, and shared coffee and memories. I brought up the note, and I asked her onto a date on Valentines Day. One year later, and we have a wonderful relationship. Would this have happened if things turned out differently? I can not say, but things seemed to have worked themselves out quite fine.

~Viktor