JUST ANOTHER DAY
Carly Taylor woke up in a terrible mood. Why you may ask, well because today was Valentines Day. The one day of the year when it really came back to bite you in the butt if you were single. Which exactly what Carly was. She knew most girls loved Valentines Day. It was a day that you could be super mushy-gushy with your boyfriend and no one could laugh at you. The day you got more chocolate than could eat and so many flowers, you could really have a bed of roses. And to Carly, that was the most annoying thing ever.
Every year when it got closer and closer to the day of love, People could pay to get a personnel cupid. The cupid would then follow around the receiver with messages from the buyer. It wasn't as romantic as everyone thought though. Cupid was normally very rude and it shoots out confetti if you say anything against Valentines Day. Carly could clearly remember getting hit with confetti too many times to count.
Carly begrudgingly got out of bed and scowled when she saw her reflection in the mirror. Maybe it was her stringy pale blond hair that was the cause of her never having a boyfriend. Or maybe it was that her eyes were slightly to big for her face. Or possibly that she was so quiet she didn't think that her dorm mates (who she had been bunking with for six years) even knew her name. Whatever it was that seemed to repel the opposite sex, Carly wished it would go away. She walked away from the mirror trying to not think of anymore reasons to bag on herself. Carly got dressed and walked down to the Great Hall to get some breakfast.
As usual, Carly was on of the first ones down to breakfast. There were maybe fifteen kids divided unevenly between the four house tables. Carly sat down a the Gryffindor table and put some eggs and bacon on her plate. After a couple minutes, Carly heard the unmistakable hoot of an owl. Carly sighed, knowing that the torment of Valentines Day had already started. Then she thought for a second. Mail wasn't suppose to come until 8:45 when everyone was suppose to go to breakfast. It was only Seven. She got even more confused when she saw the owl was coming towards the Gryffindor table. Only two other girls were sitting there, both as shy as her. Well, She thought, at least I know it's not my shyness. But what surprised her the most was that the owl dropped the letter in front of her. Not even minding that the letter cause her eggs to plunge over the rim of the plate, she reached out to read the letter, heart pounding just a bit. She couldn't help but let her thoughts go a little astray. I mean getting a letter before mail time on Valentines Day was a little bizarre. But she calmed herself, thinking of how realistic that was. Not very. She opened the letter and read it.
A Girl,
Her soul a deep-wave pearl
Dim, lucent of all lovely mysteries;
A face flowered for heart's ease,
A brow's grace soft as seas
Seen through faint forest-trees:
A mouth, the lips apart,
Like aspen-leaflets trembling in the breeze
From her tempestuous heart.
Such: and our souls so knit,
I leave a page half-writ —
The work begun
Will be to heaven's conception done,
If she come to it.
Carly sat there completely Shell-Shocked. Trying to decipher weather or not it as real or fake, nice or mean, but couldn't come up with anything. Carly decided that it was just sent to the wrong person. There was just no way anyone could like her. No one even knew her name.
Carly walked to Charms (only after sitting in the bathroom for an hour and a half to calm down), and went to go sit in the back, just like she always did. Not because she didn't want to play attention, but because it was easier to pay attention. Everyone who wanted to talk sat upfront, it was like an unwritten rule. Don't know why but it just was.
Slowly but surely the class began filling in, both Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. You could tell when the two loudest students entered the class. The Weasley twins always walked into class stumbling over their feet, laughing so hard they were still catching their breath twenty minutes after Professor Flitwick tells them to, "Calm down and sit down." As you can imagine, they sit upfront. But today weirdly enough, George sat by me.
He did it as if this wasn't out of the normal. As if we were the best of friends and talked everyday. In all her six years here, she had never talked to either Weasley more than three times, if that. So the look she gave him was of great curiosity.
"What's up Taylor?"
She didn't answer him, but continued to give him her what-is-going-on look. Then he laughed.
" Why do you keep giving me that look?" She laughed a tiny bit.
"Why are you sitting here?" She asked him. "It's not like we have ever talked much." He gave her what looked like a thoughtful face and told her, " Yeah that's true. But I figured it's time I grow up a bit, ya know branch out more" She raised on of her eyebrows but said nothing.
Nothing was said for the rest of the class, at least between George and Carly. But one thing she was thankful for is that it wasn't an awkward silence, just peaceful. She still couldn't help but to wonder why he was sitting with her so randomly. And it's Valentines Day, shouldn't he be with his girlfriend? She was pretty sure he has one. After all, Fred and George Weasley were not bad looking boys. They weren't jerks, they had nice bodies. She tried to focus more on what the Professor was saying until they got interrupted, by Cupid. You could tell that the teachers get mad anytime they have to stop there lesson for Cupid, but there was nothing they could do about it. Carly wished there was though.
The cupid cleared his throat before it started. It pulled out a piece of paper and began, " I, Cupid am here on this fantastic Valentines Day to deliver a personal message to Ms. Carly Taylor" She looked up immediately from the book she had took out as soon as the Cupid have even come in. She gave him a confused look and out of the corner of her eye she saw George's eyes sparkling with happiness. Why? Because she was about to get humiliated? The Cupid looked around, probably waiting for someone to claim that name, and when no one did, he said, " Okay, where is Ms. Carly? C'Mon don't be shy!" She feebly put her hand up a little while George use both hands put point to the top of her head. The whole class was laughing now, and she had no idea weather it was at her or with her. The Cupid flew over to Carly and handed her a paper heart and a copy of the message. Her face was beet red and she tried sinking lower and lower into her seat, trying to see if she could just melt onto the floor. She had never had so many people staring at her at one time, it was actually kind of scary.
Dear Carly,
You are so pretty and smart
I wish I could go back in time
and tell my younger self to become
the best of friends with you
So I could know all about you
and Not have to admire from afar
Your not as invisible as you think
Because your beauty shines as bright as
the sun in my world and your all that I
see when I wake up and go to sleep.
It's always you I'm thinking of
Love,
Your Secret Admirer.
The Cupid finished with a little bow and a twirl and flew off to humiliate someone else. The whole class cheered. Her face was as red as a tomato, and she could not, for the life of her think straight at all. The whole class settled down after a while, but Carly could still feel those quick over the shoulder stares she would get from different students in class. No doubt, that as the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to her, but still the cutest thing. And she knew that she had a big smile on her face at the moment, but she didn't even care. The fact that anyone liked her was enough to make her weak. Let alone, someone who liked her enough to send secret letters. She then wondered if it was the same person who sent the letter this morning. Carly tried to refocus on Professor Flitwick's lesson but found that she was not able to and just began to doodle on her parchment instead of taking notes. She felt a small poke on her arm and looked down. There was a note there. Weasley was looking the other way and was whistling, trying to be secretive about sending the letter. She smiled to herself and picked it up, careful not to let professor Flitwick see it. For he had a very strict rule, get caught passing notes in class and he will read them out loud. No matter what content. And normally it was funny, but today she didn't want to be the subject to any more humiliation.
Well, that was pretty entertaining.
She wrote back: Coming from who's perspective?
Everybodys!
Except mine.
Oh you didn't like it huh?
Oh no! I loved it actually, it's just a little weird. And plus I don't like being embarrassed.
Why is it weird?
Oh just because, you know I don't talk a lot. So not a lot of people know me and I'm not that pretty. So it's just different.
Hey! I Know you. and that has to count as something. And I beg to differ. Personally I think you are the prettiest girl in this whole school.
Why are you being so nice to me?
Because I think your worth being nice to. And you wanna know something else?
Should I be scared? and What?
I sent those letters.