* * * * *
Friday morning came unusually frosty, but Claudia rolled out of bed as soon as her alarm clock sounded despite the chill in the air so that she could get to the bathroom before Caera did. On her way she glanced at the calendar hanging on her wall and groaned. It was the fourteenth--that one special day of humiliation that wormed its way into the rest of the year with a vengeance.
Grudgingly, her mind was forced to recall the most embarrassing moments of her life. Had they all occurred on Saint Valentine's Day? If the true interpretation of sainthood was the life of a sufferer, then the holiday had been aptly named, she decided. Which year was the worst? They were in close contention.
Let's see... there was first grade, when Alex and Andrew had played a trick on her by writing "I love Mr. Johansen", her teacher at the time, all over her heart on the display board. And third grade. She'd never forget that. She'd bought a present for a boy in school, and had left it on his desk during recess.
And what happened? Her so-called friend, Veronica Mitchell, finked on her. She told him who the present was from and had scrawled large messy hearts all over the simple, unmarked gift in paint-pen. Claudia couldn't escape even in her memories the laughter that had rained around her that day when the whole third grade found out. She'd felt like jumping off the nearest skyscraper--it was a good thing she'd had Caera to sympathize. And, of course, Ana had created an even worse rumor to humiliate Veronica.
Fifth grade—oh yeah. Three or four boys had asked her via phone to be their Valentine. She couldn't decide what to do, so she waited to see them all the next day.
But when she got to school, everyone knew about it and she was the laughing stock for taking the jokers seriously. She'd asked them later who it was that had put them up to it and discovered to her supreme displeasure that Alex and Andrew were the culprits.
Sixth grade, like kindergarten, second grade, and fourth grade had crept past without a disaster, but now the odd year had rolled around again, and Claudia was afraid to face it.
"Saint Valentine should be excommunicated for causing me all this trouble. Nobody should have to be embarrassed because of one teensy-weensy, measly little holiday. Why don't they get rid of it altogether?" Claudia's rumination was interrupted by loud knocking.
"Can you hurry up? I'm desperate!" Caera banged and banged on the bathroom door until Claudia opened it. As soon as Claudia was out, Caera slammed it shut after her, making Claudia wonder. Why didn't Caera have such bad luck?
What Emma Left Behind Page 49