Bye Bye Valentine

By: Zuri Lovelace

Zuri HATED Valentine’s Day. From the day that she was able to know what a boyfriend was she did her best to avoid the holiday. Was she possibly, sot-of, kind-of jealous because most times her Valentine’s either didn’t exist, didn’t care, didn’t make the cut or just didn’t turn out right? Maybe, yes. Was she THAT person that was so insecure in singledom sometimes that the mere thought of seeing other people happily in love/like/lust make her roll her eyes far back in her head? Maybe, yes. Hey, we’ve all been that person sometimes, and Zuri would eventually come around and come to her senses about Cupid’s sole working day. But this is not one of those times. This time she had a reason to want to start far away from Valentine’s day.

Sitting in Health class one day, Zuri was approached by one of the cutest guys in her class, Bobby. He was the class clown and always had the attention on him, and in some weird way, that made him more attractive than his actual physical attributes (this would not be the last time Zuri made a shallow pass of judgement, she was young okay). He whispered to her and told her that he had something important to tell her after class. Her mind started racing. What could he possibly have to tell her? Did she do something wrong? Did she say something to him? Something that might lead him on? Was he going to ask her out? She couldn’t possibly fathom but she felt butterflies in her stomach.

The bell rang and they met up and walked down the hall together. After some small talk, he said to her, “You don’t have a boyfriend do you?”

“No, definitely not,” she laughed nervously.

“Okay good, that’s what I thought,” he smiled. “Because my boy T, he is really interested in you. He is crazy about you.”

*Record scratch* That is exactly the sound that was made in her head. T!?!? T!????? What was so important was for him to tell me that not him but T was secretly in like with me?? This did a total 180 from what Zuri expected. To say T was not her type was a slight understatement. Granted, homely, insecure, high school Zuri was not in a position to really bargain for qualities in a potential boyfriend but she still maintained standards. I mean she didn’t think he was bad but, he wasn’t exactly a looker, she didn’t think he had much of a personality and he was a bench warmer on the football team. Long story short, Zuri was as shallow as a high school junior could come. She didn’t want to risk people talking about her or making fun of her. She was worried about her lowly reputation. Tragic I know, but for high school, it was one of the only things that mattered. And to make matters worse, Valentine’s Day was literally a week away.

She would be seeing T in her next class. She already strategized to sit in the back of class far away from him. What would she even say to him? She already knew, that he knew, that she knew what the deal was. She sat nervously in the back of class and waited for the bell to ring so she could jet out of class and down the football field for their school’s pep rally. And she did exactly that. She caught up with her friends and just had to tell them.

She shook her friend Kamilah, “Girl you are not going to believe what I found out today.

“What!?” she said, her eyes wild. Zuri’s other friends, turned around intrigued too.

“T likes me. I mean like really really likes me!” Zuri said.

The girls eyes were definitely wide now and Zuri’s friend Lana let out a chuckle.

“It’s not funny, this is for real, this is not a drill!” she said.

“Well do you like him?” Kamilah asked.

“Of course, not”

“Well, then you just have to tell him.”

Zuri sunk down on the bleachers. She couldn’t possible just outright tell him like that. She might have been a little shallow but she still had a heart and knew how it felt to be rejected. She just couldn’t bring herself to do it.

All throughout the week leading up to Valentine’s Day, T left her little hints. Notes on her desk and locker. All she could do is smile back and wave at him when she saw him in the hall, or say hi loudly and quickly and always tell him that she had to go. She was becoming an expert at avoiding.

Her school sold these Valentine’s Day presents called Sugar Letters. It was just a notecard and candy that could be bought and sent to anyone in school during any one of their classes. Zuri had NO intention of receiving one from T. It wasn’t like she got a lot of Sugar Letters anyway, so she knew if she got one from T it was going to set off alarms; everyone would ask her who hers came from and she couldn’t avoid that question forever. Who know what else he might have had up his sleeve? Plus, she couldn’t be around all those people and their cute gifts from their Valentine’s while she was trying to dodge her potential one. It left her no choice, she had to ditch Valentine’s Day.

She planned meticulously on how to fake being “sick”. Zuri’s parents were not ones to really let their kids stay home sick, unless we were throwing up or had a fever. She did it though, she convinced her parents she was actually sick and she stayed home from school. Stress-free and Valentine’s -free.

A couple days later, Zuri heard someone come up behind her at her locker.

“Hey Zuri, how are you?” It was T.

“Heeeeeey T, I didn’t even hear you back there,” she said nervously.

“Are you feeling any better?”

“Yes, a lot better now although sometimes the sickness comes back to me spontaneously.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I was going to send you a SugarLetter but Kamilah said you weren’t feeling well.”

“Oh really, that is so nice of you.”

“I’ll make sure to make it up to you.” “Say, I wanted to ask you about something. I know you talked to Bobby after class and…”

“T, do you mind if we talk about this later, maybe in class. I am not feeling so well, I need to go to the bathroom.”

And with that Zuri walked quickly around the corner. They never talked about it again. T either got the hint, gave up or found another Valentine because it never came up again.

Years later Zuri would reflect on her actions, wondering if she hadn’t been so superficial, what might have happened to the rest of her high school years. What might have even happened to her on her dreaded Valentine’s Day; would it have been as bad as she thought it would be?

Have you ever avoided Valentine’s Day or a potential Valentine? What are some times when you’ve been shallow and regretted it (or not regretted it lol)?