Today was Valentine's Day and 13-year-old Zayla didn't really care for the holiday, but she did like how it gave everyone enough confidence to tell that special someone how they felt.

She was in English class at the moment- just two more classes to go before dismissal- and Mrs. Donovan announced that there were Valentine flowers and candies waiting to be passed out. As if on cue, there was a knock at the door and in pranced a blond male student only wearing a diaper, angel wings, a red mask and a fuzzy white halo. Most of her peers laughed, but Zayla rolled her eyes, unimpressed.

The fake Cupid went to the front of the room to recite a love poem to the class. Zayla's ears perked in recognition at the first line of Emily Dickinson's My River. They'd been going through the poetry portion of the semester in her Literacy class and she was introduced to the wonderful works of poets filled with such powerful romance, angst or melancholy. The work of Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allen Poe actively caught her attention.

My River runs to thee
Blue sea, wilt welcome me?

My River, wait reply
Oh Sea, look graciously

I'll fetch thee Brooks
From spotted nooks

Say, Sea
Take me

The class clapped and the Cupid took a bow. Zayla's eyes drifted across the room to the boy sitting at a desk in the third row by himself and she felt a tingling chill run down her spine when her pistachio eyes locked with the cornflower-blue orbs belonging to the short-haired butterscotch-blond.

She and Daryl always sat together in each class because he didn't like being partners with anyone else. Against what most people thought, Daryl was pretty smart. He was epically good with handling money and she knew Merle had something to do with that. Granted, his grades hadn't always been good, but as soon as she saw how bad his scores were, she started tutoring him. When she knew her parents wouldn't be home, she'd ask him to walk her home after school, make him a sandwich and they'd work on their homework together or she'd ask to kill time at their beloved creek and they'd munch on snacks while getting through the day's homework. She was proud to say that she's brought him up to a C average.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Donovan separated Zayla and Daryl about two weeks ago. They'd have one of the best partner projects in the class when they'd work together, but they were horrible influences on each other. After one too many disruptions from them and filling out weekly detention slips, Mrs. Donovan decided to put Daryl on the other side of the room and he had to suffer through a week with one of the cheery girls in the class, Alexia Jiro, until she asked to be moved. Luckily for Zayla, her new seatmate was her best friend, Skylar Clarke. Mrs. Donovan would give them stern looks throughout her lesson when she'd catch them giggling, but it was nothing serious because Skylar took his grades just as seriously as Zayla did.

Zayla stuck her tongue out at Daryl and she saw his shoulders lift with his huff, but he stuck his tongue out back at her. There was a glint of mischief in his eyes and she cocked an eyebrow at it, silently asking if he wanted to stir up some trouble before the day was done. He shook his head and she nodded. She smiled at him as he put his head down to snooze for the rest of class.

The Cupid was busy passing out small bouquets of colored roses or heart-shaped boxes of chocolates. Skylar turned around to ask her if she thought she had a secret admirer, being the hopeless romantic he was, and Zayla smiled at the Lechery Lust red kiss-mark still stamped on his cheek. She planted it there this morning and Skylar, even though he wasn't attracted to girls, wore her symbol of affection proudly.

The Cupid got to their row and Skylar received a trio of seductively scarlet roses with a heart-shaped box of chocolate. He read the tags and gave Zayla a snug side-hug when he realized she'd gifted him the candy, then he turned around and sent a particularly flirty smile to Lucas, his steady boyfriend since Summer, who was one desk away.

The Cupid continued to pass out the flowers or candy and Zayla wasn't surprised when she received a box of chocolate from her best friend, but she was genuinely stunned when five white roses, tied together by a black ribbon, were delicately set on her desk. Skylar was already hounding her with questions on who her secret crush could be, but she honestly didn't have the slightest clue as to who would send her flowers and the tag on them was unsigned. She looked around the room at all the other students gushing over their candy and flowers, but none of them met her eyes with a shy smile.

A tiny voice in her heart started screaming a name over and over again until Zayla had no choice but to force her eyes to look at the person the name belonged to. She knew the odds were heavily against her and she didn't know why she was entertaining the thought.

Zayla looked across the room to the desk in the third row, her heart mere seconds away from stopping, but Daryl was no longer sitting at his seat.