Some Things Never Change

In 8th grade the door to my locker didn't shut properly. You had to make a conscious effort to close it all the way, something few people besides myself bothered to do. Knowing that fact, the weekend before Valentine's Day, I ran to my classroom (I must have been at the school for some function or sporting event, I don't remember any more) and I peeked in the window of the door. Then I saw it! The top locker, closest to the door wasn't shut properly! That only meant one thing. The preceeding Friday, Valentine's that had been sold for 50 cents had been distributed after school. Someone had delivered a Valentine to MY locker, and not bothered to shut it all the way. My heart raced, and it was all I could do to wait until Monday to see who it was that sent the Valentine.

Monday morning I jumped off the bus and ran to my classroom yet again, and this time opened my locker to find my Valentine. I pulled out the pink, heart shaped card and I held my breath as I opened it. When I read the name on the inside, my stomach dropped. My head told me that this boy would never ever in a million years like me. It's not that he was heart throb (far from it) but he was the skinny little kid that really didn't pay attention to me a whole lot other than to occaisionaly make fun of me. My heart, on the other hand, held onto a glimmer of hope. I thought that even though I may not like him back, if the Valentine really was from him, SOMEONE liked me. This was something that, at 13, had never happened to me, and considering I was slightly overweight, had frizzy hair and braces, and was extraordinarily awkard, that's really no surprise. That I had received a Valentine from ANYONE was exciting and thrilling to me.

But, as usual, things weren't as I had expected. Later that day as I sat in 8th grade home ec, trying desperately not to mess up the hem I was working on, I overheard the "popular kids" behind me. "Did you see Brianne's face when she opened it? She was so excited!" followed by "Shhh! She's right there, she'll hear you!" and finally "That's so funny, she actually thinks someone sent her a Valentine!"

Well as I said before, I really didn't like this boy a whole lot, but for a couple of hours, I felt like someone could actually like me. And when reality set in, a tiny part of me was crushed.

Seven years later, some people still act like 13 year olds.