EAST LAKE HIGH: V- DAY
My name is Matt. I am a junior at East Lake High School. I am in a sophomore home room and I am supposed to be a senior. I was a scholastic slacker my fourth semester at East Lake High and I blew all my finals and failed all my classes my fifth semester. So now, I am paying for my sins. But now I am hard at work, trying to graduate next year.

The story that I am about to tell you recounts V-Day. V- Day, not D-Day. Watch Saving Private Ryan if you want an account of D-Day. V- Day, of course is Valentine's Day. For some, it is a glorious day, but for those normal people, it is more like D-Day.

I am going to tell you this chapter of my life in the third person, because that is just how I tell stories. Sue me.

It was Friday morning and Matt laid on his bed, praying in his head. Matt was definitely not the image of a good Christian boy, so he did not go around claiming out that he was. It did not feel right to him to do so. What is said between a person and the Almighty is personal, so it will not be revealed what Matt was praying about. However due to the relevance to what is to happen, the last few sentences have been revealed.

"... Lord, please at the end of the day, let me be able to say I had a good Valentine's Day..." Matt prayed. Matt opened his eyes and got out of bed and walked out of his room that looks like a twelve year old lives in it. He got ready for school and went outside to catch the bus. Today was the day. V- DAY.

Later on, Matt walked into his home room class. He saw his friend, Ororo, sitting in her desk, working on her Spanish homework. Matt walked past her and put his book bag down on his desk and walked up to her.

"Hey Daredevil." Ororo said. She always called him that. "Oh, I am definitely not The Man Without Fear today. I am about to pass out from nervousness." Matt said. Ororo exhaled hard in annoyance. Matt's affection and longing for the lovely Gwen annoyed Ororo. "What did you get her?" she said.

Matt walked back to his desk and grabbed his book bag and carried it to Ororo's desk. He began pulling stuff out of it. "Remember how she said, she'd want something that when you look at it, it just says GWEN?" Matt said. Ororo nodded and Matt pulled out a small two by four board that he wrote GWEN on. "I don't think that's what she meant." she said. "I know. It's a joke." he said. Matt pulled out a card, a note, and then a cute little teddy bear.

"Ah, that's so cute." she said. Ororo took the note and looked at Matt. "May I?" she said. Matt nodded and Ororo opened the note and read it. Her eyes watered up as she read it. When she was done, she handed it back to Matt. "That is very sweet, Matt. Gwen will love it." she said. She wiped her eyes and then said, "You are going to make someone a good husband one day." Matt smiled and opened the card and handed her a movie pass he made for Gwen, which was to insinuate asking her out to the movies. Ororo looked at the pass as Matt saw the candygram girl walk out of the room. Everyone, but Ororo and Matt, had gotten candygrams. "You left out 'valid'." Ororo pointed out. "What?" Matt said, snatching the pass from her hands and looking at it himself. She was right. The bell rang and Matt's eyes widened.

Matt ran to his second period class and threw his book bag on his desk and asked the teacher could he go to the library for a moment. She said to be back before the tardy bell rang. Matt took off running to the library. He sat down in front of a computer and pulled up the pass from his web space. He looked down at his watch. He had three minutes until the bell rang. He quickly fixed the pass and printed it out. He grabbed the print out and ran out of the library. The quickest hallway path back to the classroom was B Hall and was packed full of students. It was like a traffic jam.

Matt ran down C Hall, the intersecting hallway to get to D Hall. When he got there, he did a Breakfast Club slide, because that hall, too, was full of students. He ran back down C Hall and into the teachers' longue. Common high school knowledge says that five seconds before the tardy bell rings, the hallway will be deserted of students. He opened the window and went out it. He looked down at his watch. He had thirty seconds until the bell rings. He pushed open the window to the teacher's room right across from his second period class. He crawled through the window and fell on his back. He jumped up and looked at his watch- he had five seconds. "Excuse me." he said to the quizzical students in the class and then he ran towards the door. He dove across the hallway and flew into the room just as the tardy bell rang.

He sat down in his desk and exhaled hard. He noticed a small strip of paper on his desk. He picked it up and looked at it. Written on it was - Thank you for the candygram. Love, Gwen. He looked across the room and saw the girl he was hopelessly in love with. Gwen sat there and smiled at him. He smiled back.

After class, Matt and Gwen walked down the hall together. "That was real sweet of you to get me that candygram." Gwen said. "Well, you know I like you a lot and we are good friends. How could I not get you one?" Matt said. He reached into his book bag. "Which reminds me. I remembered how you said the perfect present for you would be something that when you look at it, it just says GWEN. So--," Matt began and then pulled out the two by four, "I got you this." He gave it to her. Gwen laughed. "Oh my God," she said, "that is so cool." "It's meant to be a joke." he said. "No, I really like it." she said. She went into her third period classroom and then turned back around to Matt. "I got you something else," he said, but then he noticed Peter walking down the hall towards them, "but I'll give them to you later. I've got to get to class. I can't get detention." "Okay, see ya." she said. Matt smiled and said, "Bye." He walked to his third period class.

Peter and Matt were once best friends, but due to circumstances not even Matt knew, they barely talked to one another anymore. Peter was good friends with Scott, Gwen's college attending boyfriend. Scott and Matt were not the best of friends and Matt would hate for it to get back to Scott that Matt was "macking" on his girlfriend. It was more innocent and complicated than that.

Matt walked down C Hall and saw his friend, Bruce walking in front of him. Matt ran up behind Bruce and kicked his heels, causing him to stumble. "You dork!" Bruce yelled. "I'm just messing with you. Don't get all green and kick my butt." Matt said. "So, did you give her the stuff yet?" Bruce said. "No, not yet. But I'm going to. I gave her the two by four and the candygram and she loved them." Matt said. "You're definitely going to have a good Valentine's Day." Bruce said. "Well, I don't want to jinx it--" Matt said, but the bell interrupted him. Matt and Bruce bolt into their third period classes.

At lunch, Matt, Bruce, and Peter sat at their table with another friend of theirs', Al. "Did any of you guys get a candygram?" Al said. "No." the other three guys said. "And I don't care. It doesn't bother me that I didn't get a candygram. Forget the whole concept!" Bruce said, jokingly making a scene. He got up and put his lunch tray away. A girl came by, selling cupcakes. Al bought one and put it where Bruce was sitting. Then he wrote a note that said- Please be mine. I love you, Bruce. Love, Al. Then he drew little hearts around the message. Peter put the note under the cupcake. Bruce came by and sat down. He read the note and then looked up at Al. Al winked at him and blew him a kiss. The four guys bust out laughing. Matt noticed Gwen walk by and he sighed. "Moment of truth." he said to himself. He got up and walked with her outside.

Outside, they stood beside a group of Gwen's friends. "I told you I got you something-- a real present. The two by four was just a joke." Matt said as he reached down into his book bag and pulled out the card and handed it to Gwen. She took the card and without opening it, she opens her book bag and puts the card in her book bag. "I'll read it later. Don't you hate it when people gather around you and are like, ooo, what's that or who's that from?" she said. Uneasily, Matt looked at the her and said, "Yeah." He did not know what she was thinking on the inside. He looked at the door to the lunch room and saw Peter walk out and look dead at them. Now he knew. "I'll talk to you later, Gwen. I----" Matt began, but he stopped and walked towards the Construction lab, his fourth period class. The bell rang.

In fourth period, Matt sat on his desk in a morose state, staring off into space. Johnny, another friend of Matt's, walked up behind Matt and asked him, "Hey man, you got a pen I can borrow?" Not coming out of his state, he said, "I don't know. Check my book bag." Johnny opened Matt's book bag and saw the bear. "Who's this for?" Johnny said. Matt's eyes widened. He had not wanted anyone beside Ororo and Bruce to know about his feelings about Gwen unless he and she got together as a couple. But now he figured, why not tell Johnny. "It's for Gwen." he said.

"What's going on between you two?" Johnny said. "I don't know, man." Matt started, "We are great friends and I like her a lot, and I think she likes me too. Maybe I'm crazy, but I think it's time for me to stop pushing girls away and not be afraid to fall in love again." Two years earlier, Matt had a girlfriend named Jean, that he was unimaginably in love with. They had a horrible break up and Matt has been scarred since. "It is about time." Johnny said, pulling out the note Matt wrote for Gwen. He began reading it. Matt did not say anything, because he figured he could use a guy's point of view. When he was done, he folded it back up and handed it to Matt. "Verdict?" Matt said. Johnny looked at him and said, "You are smooth, man. That was some deep stuff." He was moved by the note and tried to hold back the tears that were forming in his eyes. "Just don't tell me what she says. Good or bad." Johnny said, before getting up and wiping his eyes. Matt just smiled and waited for the bell to ring.

After school, Matt ran out of the construction lab and waited for Gwen. He was ready to finally tell her and give the note and bear. But she never showed up. He did not get to give her the bear or the note.

That evening, as the sun was setting, Matt stood outside watching the sun. He was extremely sad. He had failed. He looked down and closed his eyes and put his hands in his pockets. Then he heard someone walk up to him. He looked up and saw Gwen, almost like she was an angel descending from Heaven, walking towards him. He was shocked. "Gwen?" he said, not sure. "There is someone that I cannot stop thinking about. That person is amazing, smart, funny, and just knowing that they are in my life takes my breath away and makes my day brighter." Gwen said, holding the note Matt had wrote her. Matt had heard these words before. It was from the note. "That person is you, Matt." she said, before kissing him. They stood there, in that moment, the moment Matt had been waiting for months, maybe years, possibly even his whole life.

But Matt felt something in his pocket and pulled it out. It was the note. He opened his eyes and Gwen was gone. In reality, she was never there. Even though, she was only in his head, she put him in a better mood. He smiled and looked up at the sky and said right before the sun set, "I had a good Valentine's Day."