“I already told you,” Lilly said. “NOTHING. I don’t take part in barbaric pagan rituals. I’ve never celebrated Valentine’s Day. You know that, Mia. I mean, have I ever given you a Valentine? Except when some dumb teacher MADE us sit there and make Valentines, because it meant she could sneak off for half an hour to smoke while we were doing busywork, another example of how inferior our educational system is to the rest of the world’s?”

“Well.” I was genuinely shocked to hear all this. “No. But I mean, this is your first Valentine’s Day with an actual boyfriend. Aren’t you even going to get Boris a card?”

“And contribute some of my hard-earned income to the already burgeoning coffers of Hallmark, who by the way barely pay a living wage to the artists who work for them? Not likely.”

Which is when the limo pulled up, and we had to get out of the car.

But I wouldn’t let that daunt me. Because as we went into school, I said to Michael, “But you don’t feel that way about Valentine’s Day, do you, Michael? That it’s a barbaric pagan ritual?”

“What?” Michael looked amused. “No. But I agree that it’s become a gross commercial byproduct of the card manufacturing, floral, and candy industries, and that the best way to protest that kind of materialism is to refuse to take part in it. Have fun in Algebra.”

Then he kissed me—causing my oxytocin levels to rise—and ran off to his own class.

I’m pretty sure when Tina hears about this, she isn’t going to take it as a good sign.

I mean about the Valentine’s thing. Not about my oxytocin levels.

Wednesday, February 12, Gifted and Talented

I was right! Today at lunch—which was the first time I got to talk to Tina all day—when I told her what Lilly and Michael said, she was like, “That’s bad, Mia.”

We were standing in the jet line to get Nutty Royales for dessert, while Lilly and everyone else were back at the lunch table. So it wasn’t like we had to worry about anyone overhearing us. Well, except other people in the lunch line. But there was no one behind us and the only person in front of us was the Guy Who Hates It When They Put Corn in the Chili, so that didn’t matter.

“I know,” I said. “But what am I supposed to do? Michael’s a Valentine Hater.”

“You’ve got to cure him,” Tina said. “He may hate Valentine’s Day only because he’s never actually experienced a good one.”

“Neither have I,” I pointed out.

“That’s all the more reason why you have to work to make this, your first Valentine’s Day together, the most special one ever.”

“But I told you, Tina,” I said, “I don’t have any money.”

“You don’t need to spend money to make a gift special,” Tina said. “That’s the part Lilly and Michael are right about. Don’t let the greeting card and candy companies—and jewelers and florists—make you think that unless you purchase something spectacular for your loved one, you obviously don’t love them very much. Homemade gifts are more meaningful, because they truly come from the heart. Why don’t you make Michael a Valentine?”