My Valentine

Six

Nightingale Phillips

"OH C'MON MAN! I CANT FEEL MY-" The skinny kid's scream was cut off by Mr. Valentine's roar, "Everybody seats now!" I slowly shook my head in disbelief. This was the next generation.
I was currently in his classroom, rearranging the huge locker in which he kept all his History textbooks from freshman to senior year.
Now, I personally thought the Freshman year was actually pleasant because of how the little critters conducted themselves around the school. They minded their own businesses and didn't...interfere with the senior boys like the girls my freshman year had done. But, there was something seriously wrong with this particular group who were having their History period with Mr. Valentine.

"Jada! Get off the desk and Samuel, I'm daring you to throw another piece of paper across the room!" Yes, Mr. Valentine was pissed...again.

See, he'd been writing notes on the board about the Mayans and the Incas when I saw a lanky guy with bleached blonde hair and glasses bigger than his face throw a crumpled piece of paper at a muscular male student who was seated on the other side of the classroom. At the time I was separating the grade ten textbooks from the grade eleven ones. I wasn't alarmed because I thought they were both friends. The potential quarterback threw the paper back at the nerdy guy and that's when I lost interest and swiftly wiped the perspiration off my forehead. When I was a freshman, kids did that in class all the time, mostly because they wanted to get the teacher angry. This was Mr. Valentine, though. Students tended to avoid him than go looking for trouble when he was around.

This was why I wondered what on Earth could've gotten into those kids when I saw a piece of paper make contact with the back of Mr. V's head within the range of my peripheral vision. I silently whipped my head around to find innocent expressions staring back at me; Mr. Valentine had frozen. He stayed that way for a split second, until he finally spoke without turning around to face the class,"Who threw it?"

His voice was calm, but I sensed fire below. I bit my lip nervously when no one answered.
"Okay then! Who's up for a game of dodgeball!" His expression was eerily bright and I heard a few of the students moan, hell, I'd moan too!

Dodgeball was another punishment for him when I was a freshman. He'd make us go to the gym where we'd stand in a line while the senior football players would batter us with balls until we finally told him what he wanted to know. I'd be in pain for weeks whenever we endured that punishment. That's why most kids confessed without blinking when he asked them certain questions. He had zero tolerance for disobedience.

"It was Jamie, Sir! He started it!" The skinny one who was responsible for all this blurted and all eyes went to him. The big guy's face reddened with anger, I'm guessing he was Jamie. I couldn't blame him for what he did next.

The potential quarterback, Jamie, glared at the nerd and before I knew it, he was holding him by the neck. That's when Jada got on the desk and screamed "Fight!"

-
"Are all your freshman classes this...eventful?" I asked him as he squinted his eyes at a class activity he was grading. This was his free period.
"Not always" His sounded distant and I narrowed my eyes at him because he couldn't even spare me a glance. Yes, he was distracted but that was still so impolite!

Whatever.

"Is there anything else I can do before I have lunch?" I muttered.
At first I thought he was going to say no,then it seemed an idea dawned on to him.

"I'd really appreciate your help in grading these papers." He smiled then reached for some squared, thin rimmed glasses in the drawer of his desk that I had never seen him wear before.

I blinked at him as he handed me some papers.

"Now you're the perfect nerd." I would have almost guffawed if the look he'd given me didn't leave me drooling.
When I'd said it, he wasn't looking at me directly, he was focused on dividing the papers evenly. When he finally did, he shot me a sarcastic smile and tucked his bang behind his ear. The glasses gave him this mature look and brought out his captivating blue eyes while the dimples in his freshly shaven cheeks made him seem young and vulnerable. It probably didn't make any sense, but that's what I thought.