She waited at the flagpole. She always waited at the flagpole for her sister. How was it that her younger sister always got out of class after her?

A boy from her class emerged from the hallway and approached her. He thrust his hand out and without a thought she took the handmade card from him. Before she could say a word, he fled.

She stared at the handmade card. Red paper and white paper, a drawing of Charlie Brown. Shy and hopeful and hopeless Charlie Brown.

“Will you…” One page read.

“Be my…” The next page read.

“Valentine?” The last page asked. His name written with just the right kind of flourish. A boy’s flourish.

She thought back to just a moment before. The flush to his face, the downcast eyes.

Why me? She wondered. What did it mean? But she managed a smile to herself. And when her sister came out so that they could walk home, she didn’t say a word about her handmade Valentine.