Valentine’s Day

Their teenage daughter came bursting through the door, with boundless energy as usual, to find her parents, Hannah and Declan, gazing fondly at a very old faded portrait of a stunning red-haired young girl.

‘Oh you two!’ she said, ‘What on earth are you looking at now?’

‘Happy Valentine’s Day,’ Hannah said to Freya, laughing.

‘Valentine’s Day? Who on earth would be bothered about that?! I don’t need cards and flowers for one day of the year. What a load of tosh!’

Hannah and Declan exchanged knowing glances as Freya wolfed down her breakfast, breezily waved goodbye and, like a whirlwind, was on her way out to catch the school bus.

‘Laters Oldies,’ she called out ‘Have a good day,’ as they simultaneously winced as the front door slammed shut.

In the aftermath of their daughter’s exit, followed by the equal exuberance of their son (as usual at the last minute) they recalled, as they did every Valentine’s Day, how they met…

‘But I don’t feel well!’ protested Hannah as her exasperated mum was bundling her and all her school paraphernalia into the car.

‘Hannah, you have to go to school, you have your maths mock exam.’

Her mother’s tone brooked no argument and Hannah knew she was beaten. Her stomach plummeted and, although she was perfectly well, she actually felt sick with nerves – absolutely nothing to do with the forthcoming exam.

Having dropped her beloved daughter off at school, Hannah’s mum, Lisa, felt a tear slide down her cheek. She knew her lovely daughter was dreading going to school on this particular day because of the date – 14th February, Valentine’s Day.

Despite constantly telling her how gorgeous she was, both inside and out, all Hannah could see were the braces on her teeth, an outbreak of teenage acne and her ( beautiful) wild mane of curly red hair, which was the bane of Hannah’s life.

Hannah was also very shy, and Lisa knew that the thought of being teased mercilessly about her lack of Valentine’s cards and admirers, would fill her with misery. Lisa muttered a silent prayer that the day would pass quickly for her beloved daughter and anxiously headed off to work.

Sure enough, as soon as Hannah entered her classroom she could hear the ‘cool girls’ comparing their stack of garish Valentine’s cards, with highpitched hilarity that sent a shiver down her spine.

Bridget, their esteemed selfappointed leader, was, as always, the loudest and with a swing of her long (dyed) blonde hair, fixed her bright blue wolf-like eyes on Hannah. Her four minions waited with gleeful anticipation to hear the malicious comment that they were sure would be directed solely at Hannah.

Bridget waited for silence, as if on stage, then launched her attack.

‘So… Hannah, are you going to keep us in suspense?’

Hannah wanted to disappear, as she realised that this would be a re-run of last year.

‘What do you mean?’ she asked quietly.

‘Your Valentine’s cards, you idiot! We want to know how many you got, don’t we, girlies?’ was Bridget’s response, as her faithful followers shrieked with laughter.

Hannah was saved as their teacher entered the classroom and immediately brought them and the rest of the class to order.

The morning passed excruciatingly slowly with Hannah having to endure smirking and sniggering directed at her as she moved from lesson to lesson; Bridget and the others made it blindingly obvious that their malice was not abating. How on earth had she been unlucky enough to have all five of the nastiest girls in sixth form in nearly all of her subjects!

Lunchtime arrived and Hannah made her way miserably to the dining hall with her best friend, Sally, who had met her in the corridor from her class in a different part of the school. Sally fixed her concerned kind brown eyes on Hannah, registered her misery and pulled her close into a hug.

‘Don’t let the witches get you down,’ she said, ‘They are so not worth it.’

Hannah and Sally found a quiet table in a secluded corner of the dining hall, but suddenly the curtain separating the rest of the room was flung open and there they were.

‘So, Horrible Hannah, we demand to see your Valentine’s cards, right now!’

BRIDGET FIXED HER BLUE WOLFLIKE EYES ON HANNAH