Hilda Pulaski wasn't the only student at RS 59 that couldn't get over that Valentine's Day.
As the school year wound to a close and students cleaned out their lockers for the summer, Rhoda Floyd couldn't bear to part with the collection of chocolate wrappers she had squirreled away in a small envelope; an odd memento at first glance, but other than the fact that they still retained the faint yet ambrosial odor of the cocoa confectionaries they once sheathed, the chocolates were the first Valentine's gift she had received in years.
Despite her appearance, Rhoda's locker was rather organized all things considered. Her books occupied the top shelf in alphabetical order by class. Her coat was hung up on the hook and other than the aforementioned wrappers, little if any clutter occupied the floor.
"With all the love in my heart Rhoda. Give it up."
Embarrassed, Rhoda quickly stuffed the envelope back into her locker before turning around to see (arguably) her only friend Harry Bergen standing next to her locker. By all accounts, their friendship seemed the oddest of the RS 59 atmosphere; he was a preppy neat freak while she came from a family of perpetually economically unlucky pig farmers.
"And yet…I just can't help it y'know?" She says glumly. "This is the first time I felt something good on Valentine's Day in years. I can't remember the last time today made me feel happy, or at least at peace. Maybe in elementary school when; everyone in class had to get some card with a licensed cartoon character and a cheap cherry lollypop."
"But, what's the alternative Rhoda? Keeping these wrappers for all eternity…(he sighs, clearly hurt how crestfallen she is)…Tell ya what. How about we get rid of them together."
Rhoda nodded glumly as she gestured to the door of her locker. Closing her eyes as if the scene before her was one of terror, the grotty girl stands stiffly as Harry gently removed the envelope of wrappers and tossed them reverently in the garbage before walking down the hallway and out the door…ignorant to the peering eyes of a boy with blue spectacles and a duck-ass haircut.
"Thank God." He whispers to nobody in particular while sinking to the floor and clutching his heart. "They're gone."
"Theodore Garrigan!" Principal Canker suddenly interjected as the boy leapt five feet off the floor in fear. "Reminder that tomorrow you're on ball monitor duty for recess. And I assume you'll do a good job as usual?"
"Yessir!" The lad replied with a salute for good measure.
"Oh, don't be such a brown-noser about it." He growled before entering his office and slamming the door.
With the hallway now silent, Theodore looks to his left and right before shuffling to his locker. He catches his reflection in the mirror briefly before grabbing a hairbrush and gently combing at the mound of his pompadour; nodding to himself in approval upon seeing the front corkscrewed to his liking. Reaching behind the stack of books on the locker's top shelf, Theodore reverently and gently takes out a commemorative heart-shaped tin container bearing the words "Herley's Hazelnut Filled Kisses" ribboned around the image of a boy and girl in a wooden barrel dressed in old-timey clothing and (presumably) feeding each other the confectionaries in question. He sighs heavily thinking of all the trouble this good intention of his had bought him all year.
(Flashback/POV Corkscrew)
Rhonda was always formidable when it came to how little she cared in regards to how she looked, working on a pig farm will do that. Yet I could see the façade take a couple of hits as Valentine's Day came around. Naturally, Shana and Noreen wielded the proverbial hammer.
"Your stupidity is actually admirable. I honestly stand in awe of how you of all people expect anything short of a dead rat in your desk on Valentine's Day."
"I mean look at you Rhoda. You dress in clothes even a scarecrow would dismiss and possess appalling lack of hygiene. I mean, that matted and mussed up mane of yours must be teeming with at least a thousand insects…(shudders)… But what surprise is that when your family's line of work."
"A thousand? Make that nine hundred and ninety-nine."
As evidenced by the evil smile, it's clear she is savoring the look of fear on Noreen's face as she pulls a rubber cockroach off her person-hood and flings it at the prissier of her two tormentors. With a final scowl as if to say 'I hope you have enjoyed walking', Shana rushes after her friend who by now had descended into hysterics and bolted down the hallway in terror.
But once the girls are gone, it becomes clear that Rhoda was obviously cut by their words. The upper lip she had kept stiffened begins to tremble and the beginnings of a small river of tears make themselves manifest in the corner of her eye.
And I, I a bystander solely present for a drink of water chose to do something about it.
My intentions were strictly platonic, just a nice little box of her favorite candy. I even switched out the cheap heart-shaped tin it came with to further highlight the non-romantic nature of this gesture. All that needed to be done now was make sure she got it without me giving it to her in public, and with the little window of unsupervised time I had as ball monitor that week, I Theodore "Corkscrew" Garrigan put the candies in her locker thinking that would be the end of that. Rhoda would have gotten her gift and life would have gone on peacefully.
But I've been wrong before-
"Have a good fall Corkscrew!"
Before the boy could fully register Shanna's voice, Theodore feels himself falling over the girl's outstretched foot before summersaulting forward and falling flat on his face. But it's the hollow noise of tin clattering on the floor near him that causes his heart to stop. He scampers toward the container, only for Shanna to stomp on his hand and reach it first.
"Well, well… Herley's Hazelnut Filled Kisses." she says slowly as her face breaks into an evil grin. "Funny, Rhoda was wondering all year who happened to send her these…and who pray tell is that coming just around the bend?"
Theodore and Shanna look up to see Rhoda making her way through the hall, fuming to herself about forgetting her backpack.
"Hey slop-bucket!" Shanna shouted as she heaved the container. "Corkscrew has a little gift for you."
Theodore felt every fiber of his body pleading with him to run, but fear paralyzed the lad to the floor with each step Rhoda takes closer and closer to him.
"Is. This. True?"
"Well…I…"
It all happened so fast, and yet time for Theodore seemed to slow down and come to a grinding halt. As he stammered and felt the room spin around him, the lad suddenly found himself lifted off the ground and coming face to face with Rhoda who rather than be angry, stared at him with pure unfiltered lust. Were this a cartoon, her heart would be beating from her chest and her tongue would loll onto the floor as the sound of a steam whistle filled the air. Finally numb, he powerlessly feels Rhoda's lips press against his after she utters her command to him.
"Give mommy some sugar!"