Arnold, a soon to be college sophomore, was poking around his attic looking for some old crates that he could use to pack up his stuff for the dorm. He had just decided to move his search to the basement when he tripped over a box. He fell spilling the contents of the box onto the attic floor.
What was that? He rubbed his shin and stooped to inspect the papers which were now scattered all over the floor. He picked up the paper closest to him.
"Arnold you are ever so sweet. Even though I just like you and I don't like you, like you will you be my valentine?" That's strange. He looked at the signature. Instead of writing Love, and then a name the person had written. "Like, Lila."
Upon reading the name Arnold realized that these were valentines from his old school, P.S. 118. Not only were they from the school that he had left so long ago, they were also reminiscent of the last holiday he and his former friends had shared together. It had been a week after Valentine's Day that he had left his fifth grade class. How happy Arnold had been when his parents had been found. And yet..he found that he missed the old neighboorhood. This feeling had been growing within him ever since his grandfather's funeral the year before. He had visited the old neighboorhood then and it was this visit that prompted him to transfer to the very same college that most of his old friends went to.
He stooped to pick up another valentine. "To Arnold: From my point of view, you are quite the auxiliary. In other words, I think your a great friend! From: Pheobe." Arnold laughed at this valentine as he remembered Pheobe's vast vocabulary. Perhaps now the rest of his old friends have caught up to her articulations. Knowing that he didn't really need the crates until tomorrow, Arnold decided to read every last valentine.
The next one he chose had some fashion model on it. "Salut Arnold, I purchased this valentine for you during my family's stay on the French Riviera. It is quite sophistacated, No? Ciao, Rhonda." She always did brag about her family's money. Hopefully she's not as bad as she used to be. If she is there's a good chance I'll return to find her without many friends.
He picked up a card with a hamburger on the front. Right away he realized that it must be Harold's. Before he read it, though, he saw that there had been a letter beneath it on the floor. A letter? That's strange. What kind of fifth grader gives someone a letter? He placed Harold's card aside, opting for the letter. It's so thick..why it must be at least ten pages! He looked at the front of the envelope. "To Arnold, to be opened upon his arrival in Peru."
A cold feeling ran over him. He remembered again the week of Valentine's Day. It had fallen on a Tuesday that year. It had been on Monday that he learned that his parents were alive and would be coming home to get him. He had run down to Gerald's Field to tell his friends.
"Guys! Guys! You're not going to believe this! My parents are back!I'm going to live with them in Peru!" Arnold ran up to Gerald and hugged him. "Can you believe it Gerald?". "Harold!", he screamed, "I have parents now!" he ran around hugging and yelling. He ran up to Helga and hugged her hard. "Now your father can't call me 'Orphan Boy' anymore!" "Get off of me Footballhead! Why should I care! Go ahead and live with your parents. Get as far away from me as possible!" with that she had run out of the vacant lot.
He had been busy for the rest of the week. He was packing up his life. He was also studying hard so that he could pass the third quarter early. That way he could start school in Peru on the 4th quarter, giving him time to settle in.
It was now that he realized that he had never read any of the valentines that year. He had thrown them all into a box. He had planned on reading them later but he had never gotten around to it. And now there was a letter which, in some way, was ten years late in being delivered. Whatever the letter said would be outdated and whoever had written it couldn't possibly support anything they might have said so long ago. Opening the letter could only result in unhappiness. Should he open it or not? Perhaps he should bring it with him to college and find out who wrote it first.
Yes, he decided. That would be the mature thing to do. He looked at the plain white envelope and wondered to himself. What surprises do you hold for me?
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Note: A cliffhanger! I'll give you guys the Sarah Collins gaurantee though...if chapter two isn't up by Wednesday you get to hurt me! (that's just at the latest..chances are the 2nd chapter could be done even by tonight!)