Not a Valentine

Chapter 3

Febraury 1

There are at least a hundred people around me when I get to school the next day, thirty minutes early. I look around at the faces and realize that it's my senior class, the ones that were very excited about the launch of our website.

"Excuse me," I whisper to the people as I pass through a few acquaintances, people whom I've had classes with the last three years. Everyone wears a warm smile, which causes my cheeks to warm as well as my ability to grab my laptop out of my backpack. I place it on the table in front of me, and the people around me give me all of a minute before they start huddling toward me.

I sigh, knowing that they weren't going to step away as I log into the website. My fingers hover over the launch button.

"Do it, Thea." I hear the sound of my best friend coming from behind me. Turning around, I find her walking toward me with a smile as she walks through a few people. Once she gets to me, she places her hand on my shoulder and says, "So many people are waiting for this. The next two weeks are going to be super exciting."

I give her an exasperated sigh, suddenly overwhelmed with the amount of excitement around me. "I know. How are these many people excited?"

"It's the month of love, Thea," Quincy says with a smile sent straight at me. Her eyes practically shine when she says, "Of course they are excited for this. Plus, it's a fun function."

"Okay," I say softly as I move my finger to the touchpad of my laptop and hover over the button to launch this again. I close my eyes and say, "Here goes nothing."

"Here goes everything," Quincy murmurs as soon as I feel my finger press the button. I wait a few seconds before opening my eyes and finding the homepage for the website. What I am staring back at is a fully pink website with tiny hearts along the page as a border. In the center, there is a big white envelope that can be pressed on for students to request giving a telegraph to their person of choice.

I smile when I see it. I hadn't expected the idea that I had just thought about on a random Tuesday night to actually work.

I almost let out a shout when a notification popped up on the screen. There is a big red heart on the center page, which then moves toward the envelope, ready for me to press. I bite my bottom lip and then turn to the group of people. "Should I send out the first one?" I ask with a heavy smile on my face. It was hard not to smile at this.

There are several answers, but all of them are varieties of yeses to my question. I let out a squeal and said, "Well, I'm going to do it."

I'm still smiling when I move the mouse toward the envelope, where it opens up and a piece of paper pops up. I scan the paper, and I find that there is a public message. Holding in a grin, I say, "It's a public one! Oh my God."

"Read it out loud," Quincy says in my ear as she eagerly reads over the card as well. I clear my throat and say, "From Hayes." I start with a smile when I realize who this person is. It's the quarterback on our football team. "I know we have been dating for a full year, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make you feel special, because that's what you deserve. You deserve to feel special because of how special you are to me, Hannah. I love you, baby."

There is a loud coo in my ear, not to mention the ones all around the room. There are a few claps around the room, and I hold the card by pressing on it and say, "I'm going to send it out." The crowd around me is filled with anticipation as I read over the options and press the send mail option. There are a lot of claps around the room now, and I cannot help the way my cheeks heat up at it.

Not for myself. This is a good thing, and I feel pride all over myself. That mail was so cute, and if I had gotten it, I would've been over the moon. A guy who knows to give attention to their girl even after dating for a month. I wanted that; I could've used that in the past.