Valentine's Day

Chapter 1 (Only Chapter)

Today is February 14; Valentine's Day.

Emily's freshman language class is celebrating by handing out heartwarming cards to each other.

The day before, the class was instructed to make decorative boxes in which to place the cards that they'd be getting today. It's a classic tradition...for fourth graders.

Unfortunately, for Emily's class, their language teacher, Ms. Dillon, is one of those kinds of teachers. You know...the ones who pin high schoolers with rediculous, childish tasks that nobody wants to do.

Ms. Dillon said that she was taking the decorative boxes for a grade, which convinced the majority of the class to actually make them.

Emily was absent the day before, so Ms. Dillon emailed Emily's mother to tell her about the box assignment, which Emily completed on time.

Anyways, the students began walking around and placing cards on other students' desks along with some candy.

About five minutes into this, Emily looks over and notices a student sitting at the very back of the room. The student is writing something down on a piece of notebook paper.

Emily doesn't recognize him, so she walks up to Ms. Dillon and questions her.

"Ms. Dillon, who's the kid at the back of the room?" Emily asks.

"He's a new student, Emily. His name is Peter." Ms. Dillon answers. "You were absent yesterday, so you weren't introduced to him. You should go over there and say hello. Maybe you'll make a new friend."

Emily already has plenty of friends, but she complies anyways. She walks over to Peter, who continues to write on the notebook paper.

Peter glances up, sees Emily standing in front of his desk, and suddenly flips the notebook paper over.

"Hi." Emily says.

"Hi." Peter says extremely quietly.

"My name is Emily." Emily says. "Ms. Dillon said your name is Peter."

"Yeah." Peter confirms, continuing to speak quietly. "Do you need something?"

Emily hands Peter a card.

"Happy Valentine's Day." Emily says smiling.

Peter, shocked, places the card in his box.

"Thank you." Peter says, his voice cracking.

"Are you okay?" Emily asks.

"Uh, yeah. Just...thank you." Peter says smiling. "Happy Valentine's Day."

"Do you have any cards for me?" Emily asks.

"Oh, I...uh, I forgot to bring some today." Peter answers.

"Oh." Emily says, a little surprised. "Well, that's okay."

"I'll bring you one tomorrow." Peter says, a little louder this time.

"It's fine." Emily says laughing. "It's not a big deal."

Peter looks down at his overturned piece of notebook paper. He crumples it up into a ball.

"...It is to me." Peter says as he stands up and throws away the paper.

"What was that?" Emily asks. "Some homework you didn't wanna do?"

"Uh, yeah. It was just some stupid homework." Peter says quietly.

The next day.

Emily heads to her locker a few minutes before her language class is supposed to start. She opens her locker and is startled by a folded piece of notebook paper that falls out.

"What's this?" Emily asks herself.

Emily unfolds the paper.

It's a letter from Peter.

Dear Emily,

Thanks again for the valentine's card yesterday. You have no idea how much that meant to me. I just moved away from all my friends and I'll probably never see them again. Those guys were everything to me. My parents don't care about me, and nobody at this school seemed to either...at least that's what I thought before you introduced yourself. That "homework" I crumpled up and threw away yesterday wasn't actually homework. It was going to be my suicide note. I planned on shooting myself in my bedroom with my dad's rifle when I got home...but you stopped me. You surprised me when you introduced yourself so politely and asked if I was okay. I didn't think anybody cared about me. I know that giving me a valentine's card didn't seem like much, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I hope that we can be best friends and talk to each other just like I used to with my old friends. I will never forget what you've done for me. Never.

Happy Late Valentine's Day.

Love, Peter

Emily, almost in tears, feels something on the back of the paper. She flips it over.

Taped onto the back of the paper was the valentine's card that Peter had promised Emily. It wasn't one of those store-bought ones, however. Peter made it himself. It read,

Happy Valentine's Day, Emily

Thank you for being the nicest person I've ever met.

Love, Peter ❤

P.S. I'm sorry this is late. I promise you'll get one on time next year.

A teary-eyed Emily puts the note and card back into her locker and walks to class. As she enters the classroom, she sees Peter sitting in the back of the classroom, as expected.

Without hesitation, Emily walks over to Peter and gives him the tightest hug that she's ever given to anyone in her entire life.

Peter just can't help but smile.

"Thank you." Emily says, smiling back.

"No." Peter says. "Thank you."