Another Day In 7TH Grade

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Valentine's Day was only a few weeks away; little decorative cupids hung in nearly all of the stores, as well as hearts and flowers of different colors. Girls started wondering what to wear on the big day, while the boys asked their friends what they thought of certain girls. Most of the students waited impatiently at Shylow Middle school as the anticipation grew deeper by the day. You could feel the love in the air during our usual boring school days, or even more love than usual, I should say. There was a lot more note passing and secret hand holding in the hallways. I thought it was kind of cute, but Tommy couldn't help gagging at the sight.

. . .

What really knocked me off my feet was what Lidia kept telling me, “Alex likes you! I can tell by the way he looks at you!” She said, sounding so sure of her belief, but I wasn’t so quick to believe.

“I don’t know.” I said sounding completely doubtful. She had been trying to convince me of his crushing all week, but I wasn’t buying it without hardcore evidence.

“Trust me on this, Sofya, boys are always waiting for the perfect time to confess their love. Don’t you ever watch movies?” She moved her game piece across the board as she spoke.

We were at my house playing Monopoly as the rain trickled against my bedroom window. I watched as she passed my properties and land on a chance space. I hated playing Monopoly; I had the worst luck and ended up with the worst properties. I always took too long deciding on what properties to buy, and then, while I waited, everyone else bought the good ones! It was the story of my life! I take too long thinking things over, and the good stuff passes me by.

“Of course I watch movies, but a lot of stuff that happens in movies doesn’t happen in real life.” I argued. I mean, guys don’t really go around chasing their girlfriends to the airport to apologize, or confess their love right at the last minute. Even if they did, I really don’t think the pilots of the planes would stop takeoff plans just to hear what some crazy guy on the runway was screaming about. Plus, what about the guards? I doubt the guards around the airport would let anyone get that close to the airplanes without a ticket.

“You need to have faith,” she said with a smile, “I had faith for me and Darrin and look at us now!”

“I still don’t know...” The truth was; I was terrified of getting my hopes up. Every time I did they had a tendency of getting crushed on the way back down...

“If I hear one more thing about Alex Stone I'll go crazy!” Tommy butted in. She had her hands to her throat while pretending to strangle herself. It was a bit of an over-dramatization, but Tommy liked to jump to the extreme on these things.

“Fine, I will not mention his name again.” Lidia reassured. “But think about what I said, he really does like you, and he will ask you out on Valentine's Day.” She sounded so sure, and I really wanted to believe her.

“Now that we aren’t obsessing over the one holiday that was solely invented for profit gain,” Tommy grumbled angrily, “Sofya, would you like to roll the dice?”

She tossed the dice over to me, and I caught it with both hands. If I rolled a six I would be sent to jail, so I repeated, “Not six not six.” I rolled the dice, and six little black dots looked up at me.

“Going back to jail, huh?” Tommy taunted as she moved my little dog pawn over to the jail space. It was my ninth time I was sent to jail, and we weren’t even halfway through the game yet!

“I do have a get out of jail-free card.” She said, waving the little red card in my face. “But it will cost you.” She pulled the card away slowly and laughed. She constantly picked the 'get out of jail free' cards, yet she never went to jail.

“How much this time?” I asked with a heavy sigh.

“I’m not greedy, just your Baltic Avenue over there.”

“But, then you’ll be able to start putting up houses!”

“Exactly.” She replied happily.

“I’d rather try rolling doubles.”

“Suit yourself.”

“I like Life more; we should play that next.” Lidia suggested.

“No, I always lose at Life.” I mumbled sadly. They both started laughing, but I didn’t find the humor in it.

 “I’ll be right back. I have to go to the bathroom quick.” Lidia said once she was able to control her laughter. She stood up and left the room still giggling.

“Do you want to just say you win?” I suggested to Tommy. She shrugged and looked at my clock. “So what do you think?”

“About what?” She fanned herself with her chance cards as we waited.

“About Alex? Do you think he’ll ask me out?” I peered into the hallway to make sure my sisters didn't hear me.

“Uggg.” She groaned. She laid down and acted like she was dead.

“Really! Tell me what you think!” I begged.

“I don’t know, Sofy. Why don’t you just ask him yourself?” She had her eyes closed still, and tongue sticking out the side of her mouth.

“Because he might… I don’t know…” I bit my fingernails and stretched out my legs. “Will you ask him for me?”

“No!” She said before I could finish my question.

“Why not?” She flung her eyes open and glared at me coldly, giving me a feeling I should probably stop asking if I valued my life.

Lidia returned shortly, but wasn’t really interested in the game; she was way too busy texting Darrin. “Sorry, I have to get going. Darrin wants to go to the movies with me.” Lidia explained before kissing her cell phone.

“No way! Really!” Tommy mocked, but Lidia was too busy texting him back to care what Tommy had to say. I started putting the game away with Tommy’s help as Lidia cooed happily in the corner of my room.

“I’ll see you later!” Lidia said, not even able to wait for us to finish. She stood up to leave, but kept her eyes on her phone while she walked out. Tommy shook her head in disgust. I did the same, but was secretly jealous... I wished I could have a relationship like that… I wished Alex cared that much about me....

. . .

After my friends went home, I began thinking about what Lidia kept telling me. Maybe she was right, maybe Alex did like me. The more I thought about it; the more Lidia’s theory made sense. I didn’t remember the last time she was wrong about something she was so sure of; well, outside of magazine articles that is.

After a long argument with myself, I decided to dress up on Valentines Day. Nothing too drastic, but if he did ask me out, by some wonderful twist of fate, I would be prepared. Wouldn't it be wonderful if he did? I couldn't get the thought out of my head! I told myself I shouldn't get my hopes up, but it was becoming a struggle with every new thought. I crossed my fingers in hopes I would soon become the girlfriend of Alex Stone. “Oh please,” I begged the world, “please give me this one little thing...”