Miss Grande

Chapter 55: Valentine's Day

January went by smoothly, but nothing changed between the two of us. It was starting to make me nervous. Of course I would be happy just being friends with Ariana, but I wanted more. It was clear that she did too, but she seemed too scared to ruin things. I knew that I had to make the first move.

February coming meant Valentine's Day was on its way. The holiday was cheesy to me and way overdone, but it was the perfect excuse to set something up, just the two of us, and not have my intentions misread. It was obvious that things done for Valentine's day were done with romantic interest.

   I bought a giant teddy bear, one of those that everybody seems to be in love with, and some chocolates. I doused that poor teddy bear in my perfume and gave it to Trent to 'gift' to me.

   Since we were dating, it would look weird if he didn't give me anything. Lincoln had a strict policy about things like that on Valentine's Day, for safety, which wouldn't allow me to carry it around all day. I would have to turn it in to the office and collect it at the end of the day, or I could leave it in my last period, which happened to be in my favorite teacher's room, all day and conveniently forget to grab it before I left. It was the most inconspicuous way I could think of to give her something.

After finding out a way to get her present to her, I worked on our date. I knew exactly what to do and how to do it, and when the time came, I was ready to perfectly execute my plan.

Trent and I went out for breakfast, and I gave him the bear and chocolates. I had convinced him not to actually get me anything, but I had to settle on allowing him to pay for breakfast. We drove to school in our own cars so that he could 'surprise' me at the front of the school during lunch. The more public, the better. We had to put on a show.

Ariana's POV

Valentine's day was the day I dreaded most. In my past, it only seemed to serve as a reminder of my lack of genuine connection with those around me. Sure, I always got something, but I never had anybody that I wanted to do something for. Flowers, chocolates, and hookups with random people never made the day special. It was always just another day.

This year I hated it for a different reason.

This year it was a reminder that I did have somebody that I cared for, and that I had been the one to mess it up. We were on great terms, but we could have had something really special by now if I hadn't been so afraid of commitment at the beginning. I resented myself for the position I ended up in.

I got Y/n something, though I wasn't sure if I was going to give it to her yet. It was only a simple box of chocolates and a card. The card was basically me saying 'I appreciate you dealing with my bs for the past 6 months or so. I know I've been an ass.' It wasn't much, but I was still scared to give it to her. What we had was nice, and I knew making the wrong move could make it all fall apart.

My morning classes were rambunctious, but I had prepared. Teenagers were so obsessed with the idea of love, so I did the easiest thing for the both of us. I made the assignment for today just a free response to some random question about what love means to them. I allowed them to talk amongst themselves while I kept myself busy with grading.

Lunch finally came around, and I decided to stay in my classroom. The most obnoxious part of the day was seeing couples act like everything was magically perfect. You wouldn't necessarily think it, but teachers knew all of the school drama. We know which kids cheated on their significant other the week before, and I was personally refusing to have such falsehoods shoved down my throat. That and I was trying to avoid Justin and Trent.

Justin and I didn't have any hard feelings between us, but I was trying to give him space to get over the softer feelings I knew he still had for me. As for Trent, I knew he was only fake dating Y/n, but I also knew that they had something between them at the beginning of the year, before I was even in the picture. I figured that there was likely to be a big scene between the two of them on the day of love. I really preferred to keep my lunch and what was left of my breakfast in my stomach, so my classroom was the safest bet.