The day before The Big Day

In the past three years Becky had changed a lot, she went from being a shy reserved freshmen to being a little shy still but overall a more experienced senior. Yes, a lot had happened to her since starting at A.L. High. She met Terry and Barry, became best friend with aforementioned people, dated Barry for a year, after dating some other guy in Sophomore year, broke up with Barry over the summer which led to her almost losing both him and Terry, but they patched it all up, and now they were starting their senior year.

That’s not to mention all the smaller stuff, her new interest in makeup and clothes, her joining the debate club which made her a ten times better speaker, and we couldn’t forget her foray into volley ball which was a trip for sure. She sucked but her team got into the finals and they almost won, but she kind of messed it up. But that’s a story for another day!

Now, the day before the start of the school year, Becky, Terry, and Barry were sitting in their favorite ice cream shop, the only ice cream shop in Broad Meadows but you could also get ice cream at the Deli but they just did not have as many options.

Becky was silently thinking about the next day and whether or not the outfit she planned back when she went back to school shopping was still good enough. She wanted to start out the year with a good impression.

Terry and Barry were bickering back and forth about who would win in a fight, Iron Man or the Hulk?

“He’s the Hulk,” Barry insisted, probably for the fifth time in this conversation.

“So?” Terry shrugged, “Iron man is practically invincible.”

Barry laughed, “the Hulk is invincible.”

Terry smiled and nodded, “You’re right. I guess he would win ultimately, huh?”

Barry grinning, licking up the last of his ice cream off his spoon, “I guess he would. Told you.”

Terry just shook his head and looked over at Becky, “What got you transfixed over there, Becky?”

Becky jumped a little, surprised to be pulled back to the conversation, “Oh, nothing. Just school. Tomorrow’s the day.”

Terry groaned, “I know! I’ve been dreading it since the start of the summer? Couldn’t summer last forever?”

Barry nodded, agreeing, “My parent’s are going crazy over making sure I’m prepared. They’ve told me a thousand times about the importance of my senior year, with colleges and all that. I don’t even want to go to college, but I’ll never tell them that.  Not until it’s too late.”

Terry laughed and high fived Barry, “good strategy!”

Becky scoffed, “You guys are gonna be poor, living on the side of the road.”

“The dream,” Barry grinned mischieviously.

Becky just shook her head and finished off her ice cream, “so what are we doing now?”

“For our last day of freedom?” Terry asked.

Becky laughed, “whatever you want to call it.”

“We could...” Barry paused to think. “How about we go down to the lake?”

Terry sighed, “we did that yesterday.”

Becky nodded.

Barry shrugged, “I’m out of ideas, we spent this whole summer spending endless days doing nothing. We’ve already done everything.”

Becky nodded again while Terry sighed dramatically.

“Well, this sucks,” Terry said.

Barry nodded, agreeing.

“Well, hey, at least school start tomorrow?” Terry said.

Barry and Becky laughed, that came from the guy who ten minutes ago was whining about how much he didn't’ wanna go. But hey, at least it was something to do.

----

Harriette lay in her bed trying to sleep the day before the start of her Senior year. She was supposed to be excited, and she was but she also felt a little prickly of nerves. I mean senior year was The Year, the year she was supposed to make all those future decisions and stuff. Stuff she did not want to think about, instead she wanted to think about homecoming and prom and her friends and... the good stuff.

But her mind kept wandering to college and jobs and her future.

She sighed heavily before getting out of her bed and walking towards the bathroom, for no reason other than just for something to do. She noticed a sliver of light under Collin’s door and smiled, he was exactly what she needed.

She opened the door slowly, finding Collin sitting crosslegged on his bed sketching something by the light of his bedside lamp. He looked up and smiled at her.

“Hey,” Harriette whispered.

Collin set his drawing pad on his side table and made room for Harriette beside him. Harriette sat down next to him and laid her head on Collin’s shoulder.

“What’s up?” Collin asked.

“I’m weirdly nervous,” Harriette sighed. “It’s just the same old school.”

“Yeah,” Collin said slowly, “but it is our senior year.”

“So?” Harriette said, “It’s not that weird. Remember Fedora’s senior year? Nothing too crazy happened.”

Collin was silent for a moment.

“Hey, you’re awake too,” Harriette said suddenly, lifting her head off his shoulder to look at him, “What’s keeping you up?”

Collin laughed, “I guess the same thing.”

“You know why I’m nervous?” Harriette said, laying her head back on his shoulder, “I’m nervous about picking out a future. I mean that’s what you’re supposed to do your senior year.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Collin said, “maybe I am too.”

“But you know what you wanna do,” Harriette said, “you wanna be an artist.”

Collin sighed, “but what kind of artist?”

Harriette was silent, thinking that over. Maybe learning that he was just as confused as her should have made her feel sad, but instead she just felt relief. She wasn’t alone, Collin, who was perfect in her eyes, had the same problem as her.

“Well, we can figure it out together,” Harriette smiled.

“Yep,” Collin yawned.

“I guess we should sleep,” Harriette trailed off, lifting her head off his shoulder.

Collin nodded, he pulled the comforters up over them and lay down, patting the space next to him.

Harriette grinned, “I feel ten years old.”

Collin just laughed tiredly as she lay next to him, cuddling in close.

“Thanks,” she said sleepily.

Collin just nodded as they both slowly slipped into sleep.

Hearts and Prom Invitations

(HQ)

It’s impossible to keep the halls of A.L. High from gossiping about you, especially when you get a very public invitation to prom and say “I’ll think about it.”

What Collin hated more than anything was public displays of... well anything. Helso really didn’t like it when people talked about him, and after this morning’s very public prom invitation everyone was. People were staring at him in the halls, and not like they used to. Now everyone casted confused glances his way, like they were trying to figure him out.

All because this morning he had arrived to his locker to find Amado with paper hearts taped all over himself, holding a big sign that said “Will you go to prom with me, amor?”.

Collin stopped a few steps away from Amado, trying to think of a way to get away from this scene without being noticed. But it was too late, people were staring and Amado was grinning in his direction. Collin managed a small smile. Amado shook the sign lightly, a questioning smile on his face.

Then Collin was past the whole people staring thing enough to realise what was happening. Amado was asking him to prom. Obviously Collin had seen this coming, he had just been hoping he would have more time to think. Or that it would just miraculously never happen, and that maybe Amado didn’t even want to go to prom. But of course he did, he lived for this stuff.

The first thing on Collin’s mind was Harriette, her probable reaction when he told her he’d be going to prom with Amado. Before her. Without her.

Harriette used to love to to talk about when they would go to prom, she would talk about how they would wear blue to complement their eyes and how they’d win prom queen and king. She hadn’t brought it up in a while though, but it still felt kind of wrong to go with someone else. Like betraying her.

Obviously it was crazy but it’s what he thought.

And now the people were staring and Amado was looking confused and Collin just said quickly “I’ll think about it” before turning around quickly and breaking through the crowd before he could see Amado’s reaction.

Yeah, he wasn’t sure why he said it either.

--

It was obvious that the news had traveled fast as Collin entered homeroom and the entire room went silent and just stared at him. He just looked down and took his usual seat next to Harriette, who was also staring at him.

“Hey,” he said.

“You got invited to prom?” Harriette said slowly.

“Uh, yeah,” Collin said, “You know, Amado’s a senior... so yeah.”

“You didn’t say yes?” Harriette said, smiling a little bit, “why?”

“I don’t... know,” Collin said, “I guess because, I didn’t want to go... without you.”

Harriette bit her lip, trying to stop herself from grinning.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she said.

Collin was silent, he didn’t exactly do anything. He just said “I’ll think about it”. It wasn’t no.

“You should go, I mean he’s your boyfriend,” Harriette said, “I thought you would.”

Collin nodded, “He’s probably  really upset now, I can’t believe he did that.”

“Really, you didn’t see something like that happening?” Harriette laughed quietly, “This is Amado we’re speaking of.”

Collin sighed, “yeah, I guess.”

“Alright class, listen up,” the teacher called out.

Collin hardly listening at the Teacher filled the class in on everything happening in school that day, the Prom theme had been revealed, “A night under the Stars”, and tickets could be purchased in cafeteria during lunch. Collin was wondering if he really want to go to prom, if he didn’t Amado would be horribly upset, he just knew it. And he didn’t want to make Amado upset, but he didn’t want to make Harriette upset either. But she might be upset if he didn’t go too. Was there anyway where everyone would be happy?

Probably not.

And what did Collin really want anyway?

---

It’s safe to say that that was not what Amado expected to happen, at all. He had expected that Collin would arrive see Amado’s ridiculous get up, maybe laugh a little, and say yes. He expected that Collin would then joke about how stupid Amado looked and help him get all of these stupid hearts off of him.

But that did not happen, not even close. Collin looked horrified instead of amused and he said “I’ll think about it” instead of yes. Not to forgot that he just turned and ran instead of helping Amado with the stupid hearts, he didn’t even wait for some sort of reply or reaction. He just took off, leaving a distraught Amado behind to rid himself of the stupid hearts...

Amado was one half upset and one half angry. As the crowd dispersed whispering to each other Amado stood there with the two feelings battling over him, on one side he really wanted to cry and on the other he wanted to chase down Collin and yell at him for embarrassing him.

Collin was the nicest person he knew, he couldn’t believe that he would do something to insensitive, like saying no to a public prom invitation. Didn't he think for a second how Amado would look?

And why didn’t he say yes? They were dating, this whole asking to prom thing was really just a formality. Amado had just assumed that Collin had already just assumed they would go together.

So what just happened here?

---

Collin knew he had to apologise to Amado, he also knew that if he apologised that meant him saying yes to his prom invitation and he figured he might as well. Harriette was right, Amado was his boyfriend so of course he should go to prom with him. Amado had probably assumed Collin would just say yes, but why did he have to go and surprise him in an embarrassing public invitation?

After the last class of the day Collin waited by Amado’s locker, but when Amado arrive dher promptly ignored him and silently got his stuff out of his locker.

“Uhm, hey,” Collin said, he hadn’t exactly expected Amado to be mad at him. He had never seen Amado mad at anyone but his parents and sometimes his aunt. And especially not Collin himself.

“Hi,” Amado said, not looking at Collin.

Collin tried not to be annoyed, since Amado had a reason to be mad at him.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” Collin continued, “you kind of surprised me, I guess I kind of freaked out.”

Amado looked at him then, smiling a bit as if giving up, “Collin, I don’t think I could mad at you if I tried.”

Collin sighed, relieved.

“But you are going to prom with me?” Amado asked.

“Yeah, sure,” Collin said.

“You do not sound exciting,” Amado said, ”Excited, I mean.”

“I am,” Collin shrugged, “You know I don’t like dances.”

“No? I do not,” Amado said slowly, then smiled, “you are the best boyfriend ever, amor!”

Suddenly Amado hugged Collin, catching him off guard.

“Uh, thanks?”

“No, I am thanks!” Amado said,”No, wait. Thank you!”

Collin tried not to laugh and Amado’s poor english, three years in America and he still has trouble with the language.

Amado pulled away from the hug and kissed Collin quickly, ”I have to be somewhere, but you can call me. Tonight, okay?”

Collin nodded.

“Good!” Amado grinned, “Te amo, amor!”

And with one last kiss Amado skipped away down the halls, looking back at Collin once before disappearing around the corner.

Collin smiled to himself, blushing slightly. Amado was definitely mildly insane, but also incredibly cute.

Sweet sweet Valentine's

Valentine’s day was the sweetest holiday, literally. Only really rivaled by Easter, but high school student don’t really celebrate that much anymore.

Valentine’s day called for chocolate, and lots of it. Which of course called for a trip to Harriette’s favorite store to stock up on all things chocolate.

So after school, a few days before the special day, Harriette stopped by the mall to get all of the chocolate she would need to give people. The sign in the window spoke excitedly about the special chocolates for this holiday; Rose truffles, Triple Chocolate hearts, and of course the favorite Red Velvet truffles. Harriette was greeted warmly by the cashier and asked if she needed any help.

“I’m good, thank you,” Harriette said, grabbing a few of the heart shaped boxes for the select your own variety box. She filled them up with the special flavors, and one up with all the one’s she knew Collin loved. Then she got some for herself, of course, and payed for it all. She felt very accomplished as she left the store with two bags full of chocolate for all her friends and family.

Her plan was to give everyone in her house some chocolates and give some out at school to whoever she felt like it at the time. The chocolate for Collin was a tradition of course, she wondered what Collin was gonna get her, if anything. But thinking about the fact that Collin could get her nothing because he had a real valentine that year made her feel sick so she pushed that out of her mind.

---

Collin felt terrible that he was leaving Harriete alone on Valentine’s day, that they couldn’t celebrate like they used to. Instead he had a “Big Date” with Amado and he was determined to do something nice for Harriette to apologise.

And after mulling it over for a while he thought of what seemed like a nice plan that Harriette would love. So one afternoon he told Amado he couldn’t hang out after school and went home to work on her gift.

One of his newest artistic endeavors was water color, he had been playing around with it for some time. He used to hate it, and couldn’t ever make anything nice out of it but he thinks he might be getting good.

So he pulled up a picture of Harriette on his computer and got to work painting a portrait of her with water colors. Harriette loved his art and he knew she loved it when he drew her so he had a good feeling she would love this gift.

Thankfully Harriette was out that day, shopping with her friends or something, so he had most of the evening to work on this painting for her. By the time she got home, her voice calling up the stairs to announce her presence, he was done and it was drying by the window.

He felt pretty good about it, and figured it was probably one of his best works to date.

---

Harriette woke up on Valentine’s day already tired of it, but the smell of strawberry pancakes pulled her out of bed and down the stairs to the kitchen where the smell was wafting from.

“Good morning,” her mom greeted her as she put two plates of the pancakes in front of the twins who were already reaching out greedily.

“Don’t eat too fast or you’ll get sick,” her mom said to the twins, patting them both on their heads. They wrinkled their noses at her and wolfed down the pancakes. Her mom just sighed and shook her head.

“Morning, mom,” Harriette said, taking a seat.

“You’re not even ready for the day yet, are you okay?” her mom asked, concern creasing her forehead.

For a second Harriette just stared at her mom, a little confused, before realising she was right. She had just came downstairs without getting ready, that was unlike her.

“Oh, I guess you’re right,” Harriette said, laughing a bit, “I’m fine, just tired. And I guess hungry.”

Her mom laughed, “why don’t you get yourself ready and come back down for pancakes?”

“Yeah, okay,” Harriette said, getting up from the table.

Up in her room the outfit she had picked out for this day hang from her closet, a cute lacey pink dress and a pair of polka dot tights with mary jane flats. It was cute and so sweet for Valentine’s day. The prospect of getting dress and ready brightened her mood a little bit, and by the time she had done her hair, applied her makeup, and gotten dressed into her cute outfit she was feeling a lot better about today. Who cared if the only valentine she ever had had a different valentine? At least she looked cute.

Upon arriving in the kitchen she saw she wasn’t the only one looking especially cute that day, Collin was looking pretty good too. He was sitting at the table, his hair done perfectly as always and wearing a light pink button up with light brown jeans. He looked pretty sweet too.

“Happy Valentine’s day,” Collin said as Harriette took the seat next to him.

“Right back at you,” Harriette said, nudging him a little.

“Are you busy after school?” Collin asked.

“The question is, are you?” Harriette asked, “of course I am.”

Collin laughed a little, “yeah, I am. I don’t know what amado has up his sleeve but he promised me an hour of free time after school, so I was wondering if you wanted to grabs some sweets from the bakery and exchange Valentines?”

Harriette couldn’t stop herself from grinning as she nodded yes, “of course.”

“Good,” Collin said.

Just then their mom set down their plates of pancakes, that were to die for especially with a little chocolate syrup and whipped cream, and few seconds later Tamarai came down and handed each of them a little wrapped truffle and a paper heart.

“Happy Valentine’s day!” She said before taking a seat and accepting some pancakes from their mom.

“Thanks,” Harriette said, “this is really cute.”

“Yeah,” Collin agreed.

“You’re welcome! And thanks, I guess,” Tamarai said brightly.

“Okay kids, eat up, we gotta go,” their mom said, “I’ll be back in five minutes.”

And with that they all finished eating their pancakes, got their bags and headed out to the car. Ready for school.

---

“Are you not excited for our ‘Big Date’ tonight?” Amado sang as Collin approached his locker where Amado had been waiting for him.

“Uhm, I’m supposed to say yes?” Collin asked.

Amado nodded before giving Collin a quick kiss.

“Well then, yes,” Collin said, “And a little scared.

Amado frowned and punched him playfully, “no need to be scared, I don’t bite.”

Collin just raised his eyebrows at him before shutting his locker and heading off to homeroom, with Amado by his side.

“It’s going to be really really romantic,” Amado said, “but I have to go, do not want to be late. I will see you then.”

“See ya,” Collin said as Amado turned and started down the hall in the opposite direction.

The rest of the day was uneventful, Collin found a ton of valentines from “secret admirers” in his lockers and on his desk in various classes. At lunch the more brave people went right up to him and gave him things like cute paper heart and chocolates.

“Wow, you got more than me,” Harriette said, eyeing the rapidly growing pile next to Collin.

Collin just shrugged.

Ella was looking spectacularly bitter that day at lunch, she didn’t say much and eyed everyone who came by their table to give Harriette or Collin valentines with such disdain. Collin wondered what was wrong, and after lunch while Harriette went off with Mariah on their way to math class Collin followed Ella out of the cafeteria.

“Hey, you okay?” he asked.

Ella stopped walking and eyed him, biting her lip.

”It’s Valentine's day, I’m single,” Ella said as if that explained everything.

Collin nodded, “sorry. But you know, it’s not all about having a date.”

Ella just laughed and continued walking.

“Hey, don’t let it bother you,” Collin said, walking beside her, “it’s not worth it.”

Ella stopped again and stared at Collin, “maybe, I guess. But it sucks. It’s worse that I haven’t gotten a single stupid valentine from anyone. Well other than my mom who got me an ridiculously expensive perfume and a store bought card.”

Collin frowned, “that sucks.”

Ella smiled a bit, “exactly.”

Just then the last bell rang and Collin winced, realising he’d be late to his next class.

“I gotta go,” Collin said, “and you do to, so I’ll see you later.”

“Alright, see ya,” Ella said.

Collin liked to think she looked a little bit more upbeat as she walked away, just a little.

---

Finally school was over, Harriette had been counting down the seconds all day. Lunch was miserable, with Ella acting extra bitter and Mariah overcompensating for ella’s bitterness with her sugary sweetness. All of Collin’s valentines....

But school was over and that was the past and now she had a “date” with Collin and she was overjoyed that Collin still wanted to do something with her. And that he got her a valentines gift.

Things weren’t so bad.

They walked together to the bakery/deli/cafe as Collin told her about his day.

“And I swear Amado was stalking me, he kept appearing everywhere,” Collin laughed, “just to remind me to be excited for tonight.”

“I would be scared if I had to be reminded to be excited for a date,” Harriette teased.

“Oh, trust me, I am,” Collin joked.

Harriette laughed loving the warm feeling of just being with Collin.

Once at the cafe they got their sweets, cream puffs for both of them and a milkshake for Harriette and a iced coffee for Collin, and took a seat.

“Mmmm,” Harriette said after taking a sip of her delicious milkshake. The milkshakes there were to die for, and the the special red velvet flavor for Valentine’s day was her favorite.

After talking a bit and eating the delectable cream puffs Harriette noticed it was almost already time for Collin’s date.

“Oh, I guess I better give you my gift,” she said, getting the box of chocolates and the paper heart she made for him from her bag.

“I hope you like them,” she said as she passed the gifts to Collin.

Collin read the note on the heart and peeked inside the box, smiling, “I love it. I can’t wait to devour all of these.”

“Don’t eat it too fast, or you’ll get sick,” Harriette mimicked her mom.

“I’ll try,” Collin said, “but I don’t know if I can help it.”

Harriette laughed.

“Okay, my turn,” Collin said. He reached into his bag and handed Harriette the gifts, a lollipop bouquet from her favorite candy store, a tradition, and a beautiful watercolor portrait of her in a pretty blue frame.

“Wow, it’s beautiful,” Harriette grinned, she really loved it when he drew her. It made her feel special.

“You like it?” Collin asked.

“More than like it, I love it,” Harriette said, grinning ear to ear.

“I’m so glad,” Collin said.

Harriette was too. So glad.

“Oh, I gotta go,” Collin said, frowning as he checked his phone, “but thanks for the valentines, I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah, see ya,” Harriette said.

They both got up and after throwing away their trash and a hug they split up, Collin to Amado’s house where Amado had told him to meet him and Harriette back home where she was planning to spend the rest of her Valentine’s day skyping with Fedora, her equally lonely best friend.

And she didn’t feel a bit pathetic about it at all, just happy.

A little bit to Sweeten your day.

Oh, Valentine's day...

Ah Valentine’s day. Does anyone even still care about that holiday?

The answer is yes. Yes they do. And if Harriette heard another person boast about what their “sweetie”, “honey”, or even “honey bunches of oats” was doing for them on this stupid holiday she would burst.

Harriette wonders when she became such a bitter person, even last year she felt a little bit of the whole Valentine’s day lovey dovey spirit but this year she would prefer to just coast over the holiday.

The obvious reason was that this was the first Valentine’s day ever that Collin had a boyfriend, so the first Valentine’s day ever that they wouldn’t do something together to celebrate.

Yes Harriette would very much like to coast over this holiday.

Another person who agreed with Harriette was Ella, how was she supposed to feel the Valentine’s day lovey dovey spirit if she was currently fawning over a gay guy?

Yes Ella was upset for the exact same reason Harriette was, except of course Harriette was Collin’s sister and upset for a slightly different reason.

But Collin also wanted to coast through this holiday, oh how he wished that he could just celebrate as he usually did with Harriette. It’s not that he didn’t like spending time with Amado, he did. He liked Amado a lot, but he would rather skip all the fanfare and just go on as normal.

But that wasn’t gonna happen with Amado, no Amado was extremely excited to spend his first ever Valentine’s day with Collin and he had lots of plans. He even made reservations at a restaurant.

On a different note, Mariah just wished that people would forget all this stupid fanfare around Collin and just spend Valentine’s together as friends. She asked herself often, when listening to Ella whine about Collin, why was all of this that important? Maybe she didn’t understand because she’s only ever really liked one guy and he moved to england in the middle of seventh grade and she hadn’t felt much pain over that.

Tamarai liked the idea of celebrating Valentine’s day casually, with little gifts and maybe a date night, since it did land on a friday this year. And that was exactly what she was planning to do with that cute basketball player she was now officially dating. She was excited, but not boasting about it to all her friends.  

Ah Valentine’s day... Does anyone even still care about that holiday?

The answer is yes. Yes they do. Either they love it, hate it, are confused by the fanfare, or just kind of whatever about it.

Thousands of Valentines

“What happened in here?” Harriette asked, staring at the mess covering Tamarai’s room. It looked like the local craft store exploding in there.

“Valentines,” was all Tamarai said as she pressed a small purple paper heart onto a slightly larger red one.

After closer inspection Harriette could see the pile of decorated paper hearts sitting next to Tamarai on the floor.

“For everyone in school?” Harriette asked.

Tamarai nodded, smiling up at Harriette, “Everyone deserves a valentine!”

Harriette smiled, laughing a little, Tamarai was just so nice.

“And how are you gonna deliver these thousands of valentines?” Harriette asked.

“I’m gonna drop them in their lockers throughout the day,” Tamarai explained, writing a short message on the heart she was working on.

“That’s gonna take some time,” Harriette said.

Tamarai shrugged, “I’m catching an early bus.”

“You’re too nice,” Harriette said, amused.

“No such thing,” Tamarai said, sprinkling some glitter on the heart before placing it delicately to the side. “You wanna help?”

Harriette shrugged, “Why not? You’ll need it.”

Harriette joined her on the ground and grabbed the closest pink heart and got to work. They sat like that for a while in companionable silence before Harriette noticed Collin standing the doorway.

“Valentines?” he asked.

“Yep,” Tamarai said, “we would love your artistic eye.”

“Alright, I’d love to help,” Collin said. He took a seat next to Harriette and together they worked on valentines until they were called down for dinner.

“Thanks for all your help guys!” Tamarai said as she dusted off the glitter all over her.

“That’s a lost cause,” Collin said, about the glitter, “you just gotta accept the sparkle.”

Tamarai laughed, looking down at her still sparkling pants, “yeah, you’re right.”

They all laughed and headed downstairs for some dinner.