Music softly played in the back of the studio as the girls stretched. Now that Antonia was done with her health class, she was able to get into the beginner dance class for the semester. She heard the other girls talking behind her quietly commenting about her hair and makeup. To her, it was odd that the girls always had something to say but never had the courage to say something to a girl's face or own up when confronted. She had had enough and knew she needed to say something if they tried to pass off pretending to be nice. "What is that?" A girl from behind whispered as she stretched down to the floor. Antonia looked between her legs to see that the girl was pointing to her chest. Antonia sighed and closed her eyes, "It's a tattoo." The girl smiled, "Oh… okay, is it like one of those DIY stick n' poke tattoos?" The goth opened her eyes again, "No it was done by a friend back in New Zealand." The curious girl looked at her friends as they made the same expression. A pity smile with raised eyebrows, a usual face that Antonia noticed many girls made when conversing. Their teacher then separated the class in two groups. The girls walked to stay on opposite sides of the dance studio. The girl now decided to ask her question for everyone else to hear. "Do you have any other tattoos? You know, ones that your friends did." The tone of her voice indicated she had no genuine interest in Antonia but only wanted to berude. "Ye, I've got plenty of tattoos." "Oh, really? Can I see? I wanna see them." In response to her dry tone, the girl turned towards the wall and pulled her leggings down.
"You got a write-up for that?" Karen took the paper from the girl and looked at it. "Damn… You really got a pink slip, Toni." The goth shook her head, "The front office is supposed to call my mom because I did an act of public indecency. Whatever that's supposed to bloody mean. And the vice principal called me into her office saying the staff will have to discuss if I get in-school suspension." She rolled her eyes and stabbed the lettuce in her salad. Jiya came to the table with Nicole following behind. Jiya sat down and noticed the dull vibe of the group. Nicole looked at the pink paper beside them. "Woah, who got the pink slip?"After a few minutes of chatting Antonia saw that Wally brought a bouquet of roses for Jiya. He snuck behind her, and she was ecstatic to see the card he had also made for her. He had asked her to be his valentine which set the girl off to be in a very good mood the rest of the week. As the day progressed couples were asking each other out for Valentine's Day. After school, Mal had made Karen a YouTube playlist with the first letters of each song spelling out a message. Other girls were given cards or tiny plushies as their invitations and then swooned over their gifts in class. Antonia was then thinking about her own situation since a certain someone had not asked her to be their Valentine. They were more than friends, but he hadn't asked her to officially be in a relationship. When was that going to happen? Every time the goth went to the store for the past few weeks, Valentine's Day would be on her mind. When was she going to be asked? Was she going to be asked?