frenchsimp

It was supposed to be the third time that was the charm. Something like that. Sevika didn't understand why the adults around her liked to say that so much. She had already said no three times. And then four more times. There was no charm that could help her.

She frowned at the folded piece of paper in the hand of the boy standing by her desk. It was hot pink and had a sparkly, heart-shaped sticker on it with her name written over it. He had spelled it wrong. There was no 'h' at the end of her name. She didn't reach for it. He put it on her desk with a smile she refused to return.

"No," she said again. She had stopped sticking 'thank you' onto the end. It was a lie. She was not thankful.

"I didn't get to ask you if you'd be my Valentine yet!" the boy said. He was pouting. It made his freckled face look even more annoying.

Sevika sighed and picked up the card he had made in their art class the day before. She tore it in two, right down the middle of her misspelled name, and held it back out to him. Her frown remained as his pale blue eyes grew wide, as his small nose and round cheeks began to get red. She waved it at him as he began to sniffle. When he didn't accept it back, she stood and headed to the small trash can used for paper.

She heard the scampering of footsteps on the rough carpet of the classroom behind her back. She didn't check to see where he was going. It didn't matter to her as she balled up the scraps of paper and dropped them in the bin. She returned to her desk and eyed the folder with a picture of an envelope resting on its surface.

Inside were plenty of cards and pretty pieces of paper. The largest one was her favorite.

Ran had peeked down at her through the curtain of his dark, slightly wavy hair. He'd had his hands behind his back, his lips forming a small smile.

"What do you have?" she'd asked.

"It's for you," he'd said. "If you want it." He hadn't been able to look her in the eyes.

She had crossed her arms. "If it's from you, then I want it."

Ran's smile had gotten so wide she had almost smiled too. He'd brought his hand around to hold out a large card.

It was made of a thick piece of pink construction paper. That was to be expected. It was the color of the day. On the front of it was a large black musical note with two circles. One circle had the letters "SJH" in purple inside of it while the other had the letters "RR" in red. Her initials and his. Inside, both pages were filled. One side with a large drawing, a circle of people surrounding two figures. She recognized them all by their details. Her father in his work jumpsuit, Ran's mothers - one with a tattooed head and the other with a distinctive, sweeping hairstyle he'd captured with a few swipes of a marker - along with his sisters and her own, each baby twin belonging to her distinguished by the color of the blankets that swaddled them. In the center, the two of them stood with the sticks representing their arms joined. Ran was smiling. She was frowning. That had been the part of his drawing that made her lips curl upward.

She had read the note on the other side after taking in his drawing. It had filled the page. A collection of sentences that said, "To: Sevika Jaghai-Hines. From: Ran Rotimi. Happy Valentine's day! I'm so glad we're best friends. I won't ask you to be my Valentine. That's only for one day. I want us to be best friends everyday. You're my favorite part of school. Don't tell Miss Davie that!"

She had placed it in the left side of her folder. That was the hand she used to write with. And she hadn't put any other cards or notes with it.

She was still examining the front of it in its spot alone when she was approached by her teacher, Miss Davis, along with the boy who had gone off somewhere to cry. She leaned forward and rested her forearms on top of the folder, covering its contents as she gave Miss Davis a baleful look.

"Sevika, can we talk?" she asked. She sounded the way adults always did when they asked a question that wasn't really a question. She had already decided they needed to speak. And it was about something Sevika had done wrong.

"Sure," Sevika said. She didn't look at the boy who had told on her. He was still sniffling. The sound of his wet breaths made her grimace.

"Do you feel comfortable coming to my desk?" she asked. Another trick question. She was making a demand.

Sevika stood up and watched her teacher glance at her folder before she shut it and walked ahead of her and the boy. She crossed her arms and stood in front of Miss Davis's desk while the woman in question took her seat. The boy sat next to her in a smaller plastic chair. He was staring up at Sevika with glistening eyes. She glanced at him before focusing on her teacher.

Miss Davis folded her hands on top of her desk and gave Sevika a small smile that reminded her of rubber bands pulled before they were snapped against someone's arm. "Anthony here told me that you tore up the card he made for you. Is that true?"

Sevika tightened her hold on her own arms. "Yes," she said.

Anthony swiped at his eye with the meat of his palm and sucked in another loud, sloppy breath.

Miss Davis's smile shrank but didn't snap yet. "Is there a reason why you did that?"

"I said no when he gave it to me. I don't want cards from boys," she said.

Miss Davis drew in a breath to speak, but Anthony wailed out in protest.

"That's not true!" He pointed at her, wiping more tears from his face.

Miss Davis dropped her act to look at him with concern. "What do you mean, Anthony?"

"Ran gave her a big card! Everyone saw!" He was practically shrieking.

Sevika flinched at how shrill his voice had gotten and took a small step back from Miss Davis's desk. Her teeth ground together, and she finally looked at him head on. Her glare froze him in place. He had said Ran's name wrong. And he was lying.

Now Miss Davis was looking at her again. Her smile was smaller, but she was still trying to use it to get Sevika to talk. "Did you let Ran give you a card, Sevika? I think that's confusing Anthony and the other boys."

Sevika scowled. "Ran isn't a boy. Ran is Ran. He's my friend. Anthony is not my friend. None of the boys are."

There went the snap. Miss Davis's smile disappeared, and she looked for a moment much closer to how Sevika felt. "That still isn't polite, Sevika. Anthony worked hard on that. It was a gift."

Sevika shook her head. "I didn't want it. I told him no. I told them all no. It's rude not to listen, too." She shuffled closer to the two of them again, able to tolerate Anthony now that he was wasn't being a crybaby. "You're going to punish me for saying no."

Miss Davis sat up straighter, and her laced fingers tightened. "That is not what this is about, Sevika. You destroyed another student's work."

"He already put it on my desk. It was mine and I ripped it. He should have kept it to himself," she said. Sevika winced at the sound of Anthony sucking in another wet breath of air. She had to get away from him. "Give me my punishment."

Miss Davis sighed and shook her head. "I would like to discuss this with you another time. I think we're misunderstanding each other."

Sevika bit her tongue. What she wanted to say next was not appropriate to say to an adult. She wasn't listening. Just like the boys didn't listen. No one listened to her. "Okay," she said.

Miss Davis looked up at the clock above the blackboard. "You'll be sitting out recess today."

"She should be inside!" Anthony whined.

"I can't watch her if she isn't outside with everyone, Anthony," Miss Davis said. "You can sit on a bench, Sevika."

"Can I go back to my desk now?" she asked.

Miss Davis hesitated before she nodded. "Yes, you can. We'll talk more about this another time."

Sevika didn't respond to that. She returned to her desk and checked her folder to make sure all of her cards were there. They were, so she opened her desk and placed the folder inside. Ran's card would be safe there. She didn't trust Anthony to not try and do something to it. She would do much worse to him than ripping his dumb card if he touched her favorite.

When Miss Davis called the class for recess, everyone swarmed the door except for her and Ran as soon as they got their coats on. He always lingered close when they were out of their assigned seats. He got behind her in line and followed at the end of it, whispering to her that he had something to show her when they got outside. She didn't want to draw more attention, but she reached back for him. He took off his red gloves to grasp her hand, and she squeezed his.

As soon as the overcast light from outside hit their classmates, they scattered. Some bolted down the short flight of stairs to the blacktop while the rest gathered in their usual groups on the concrete. The wind was sharp, but Sevika was relieved it wasn't too bright outside. She followed Miss Davis to one of the two benches the teachers usually sat in.

"I'm going to give you some space, but you have to stay here unless you need the bathroom," Miss Davis said.

"Can I sit with her?" Ran asked.

Miss Davis pressed her lips into a thin line as she looked between the two of them. Sevika glared up at her while Ran was smiling and rocking back and forth from the tips of his sneakers to the heels. Her shoulders sagged as she nodded. "Yes, but don't bring anyone else. Sevika is in time out."

Ran pouted up at her as he got onto the bench beside his friend and swung his feet. "Okay. Thank you, Miss Davie."

She walked to the other bench and pulled a book out of the bag on her shoulder. Once her eyes were no longer on them, Sevika turned to Ran.

"What happened?" he asked. He reached for the hand he had held in line and picked it up. His feet continued kicking, at first mirroring each other before he began to swing at different rhythms.

Sevika let him curl and uncurl her fingers, sitting still beside him as she felt a sinking sensation in her chest. "I ripped up Anthony's card. He and the other boys asked to be my Valentine."

Ran's round face scrunched up like the paper she had crushed before tossing it in the bin. He shook his head, making his long, wavy black hair sway. "Why would they do that? You don't like any of them." He looked down and began to clap his hand around hers.

Sevika let her wrist go limp so her hand could flop back and forth between his hands. "I told all of them no. They never listen, so I ripped his card." She shook her head. "He cried."

"I bet it was an ugly card anyway. He's bad at drawing," Ran said.

Sevika smiled a bit as Ran squeezed her hand with both of his. Their hands together kept them both warm without gloves. "I didn't open it. Or the other ones."

Ran huffed and began squeezing her fingers one at a time while his other hand held her wrist. "You would never have a boy Valentine."

"If you asked me, I would say yes," she said.

Ran's feet and hands both stopped for a moment. He looked up at her through the hair that cast shadows over his eyes, then looked back down at their hands and started pressing his thumbs into her palms. "I would rather be your best friend. You read my card."

Sevika nodded. "I did. You could be both." She closed her fingers around his hand. "You wouldn't be a boy Valentine. Just mine."

Ran looked down at their joined hands, then up at her face. He didn't look away again and scooted closer, his feet kicking again. "Do I have to make another card? I don't think I'll have time."

Sevika shook her head. "I liked your card. You drew everyone right." She squeezed his hand. "Sorry I didn't make you one. I'm not good at those."

Ran smiled at her, wiggling in place as he kicked his feet. "It's okay! I'm happy to sit with you today."

Sevika felt her lips moving. She let them. She smiled at him and loosened her grip on his hand so he could play with hers again. "Will you be my best friend and Valentine?"

Ran snatched his hands away from hers and threw his arms around her neck. "Yes!" He laughed and pulled her toward him, his whole body rocking from side to side.

She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed hard until his laughter was quieted. It was loud. He was always loud. She didn't want Miss Davis taking him from her because of this. She didn't want Anthony or the other boys seeing it and hurting him. She would have to hurt them back. Maybe her next punishment would make them both sad. She didn't mind being punished. She just hated when anything upset him.

When she let him go, he hopped off the bench. "Can I show you something I learned?"

She crossed her arms over her chest and nodded. Her face had relaxed into its normal somber expression. She liked that she didn't have to make herself smile when she didn't want to. He could tell when she was happy without one. That's what made them best friends.

Ran bounced on his feet for a moment, stretching his long arms every which way like a windmill. Then he pulled his red gloves out of his coat pockets and put them on. Once his hands were covered, he dropped to his knees and shoved himself forward onto his hands. He scrambled across the concrete in front of Sevika on all fours. His red and black sneakers scraped the pavement as he turned around and scampered back in the opposite direction.

Sevika found her eyes widening as he picked up speed, running almost as fast as he could on two feet. She sat up straighter on the bench, arms still firmly tucked together across her chest as he circled the bench next. She turned to follow him, the smile on his face a blur to her from his rapid movements.

Ran finally paused as he got short of breath, stopping in front of Sevika on the bench with his gloved hands between his knees and his legs folded. His feet pointed out and away from him, his calves flush with the concrete. He panted, a bright smile on his face. His pale skin was red, and he used a gloved hand to wipe at his forehead, moving his hair out of the way before it fell again.

He inhaled deeply and let out a sharp, high-pitched sound. A bark.

Sevika jumped and flattened her hands against the bench in surprise.

Ran barked again and shuffled closer to her, his hands moving against the ground like paws. He giggled and bumped his head against her knee before he loosed another bark.

Sevika couldn't believe how close to a real dog's the sound was. How sprinting around on all fours didn't look awkward when he did it. She laughed when he bumped against her and reached down to pat his head. "Do you practice this?"

Ran nodded. "It sounds real, right? Oya said I'm so good at impressions!"

Sevika smoothed her hand along his hair. Her own skin felt cold, but she didn't mind. He was leaning into it like an excited dog would, and it was silly enough that another laugh bubbled up and out of her. "She's right."

Ran's grin got even bigger as he turned his face upward to press into her palm. "Thank you! I wanna learn other sounds, too."

"Do you think you can learn bird ones?" Sevika asked. She moved her hand down to scratch him under his sharp chin. His eyes closed, and his head tilted all the way back to let her. She chuckled at him before she pulled her hand back and rubbed them together.

He opened his eyes and gasped when he saw her trying to warm herself. "Oh no! Let me help." He sprang back up onto his feet and sat beside her again. He pulled his gloves off and held them out to her. "I made them warm."

Sevika looked down at the gloves clutched in his hands and shook her head. "Put them away. We can hold hands."

Ran shoved both gloves into one pocket and grabbed both of her hands. He brought them up to his face and breathed on them the way he saw other people doing when they forgot their gloves.

"Do you like pretending to be a dog?" Sevika asked. She watched their joined hands, feeling the warmth from his skin slowly getting onto her own.

"Yeah, it's fun. I like it better being a dog than a boy," he said.

Sevika shook her head. "You're not a boy," she murmured. "You're just you."

Credit to @dollywons for rainbow and butterflies divider

Credit to @thecutestgrotto for the paper star divider

Credit to @kodaswrld for the bears divider