Scribbles of a Broken Heart

“Garrett and I spent the next five or six weeks studying. The only time we really talked was at school. Even though my parents let me ride the school bus again, both of us were usually too busy cramming for a test or quiz we had that day. We had to re-take midterms and failed tests and do missing homework assignments and extra credit work. Garrett had more on his hands though since he’s been doing badly in his classes longer.”

Ms. Templeton took a moment to clean her glasses, “What was the behavior of your parents like?”

“It took a while for them to even look at me for a few days; to talk to me like they weren’t angry.”

She nodded as she recorded what I had said.

“But they were a lot better then than they are now,” I added.

She ignored it, “So what is the next part of your story.”

I shifted through his and my memories until I found one that made me smile, “Valentine’s Day.”

“And what was so special about it?”

I scoffed, “Besides the fact that that day is basically a celebration to couples and love? My grades were back up so I was no longer grounded, but Garrett still had to get his Biology grade up. So we weren’t allowed to see each other yet.” I grinned, “But somehow, he still managed to make the day memorable.”

”What do I even get him for Valentine’s Day?”

I was walking with Jade to religion class.

“Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, and you haven’t thought about this yet?”

“I was thinking about it all weekend,” I replied. “But doesn’t it seem like it’s usually the guy getting something for the girl?”

“I mean, yeah. But did Garrett even get the chance to get you something?”

“No! He’s still grounded,” I said as we went down the staircase. “And neither did I. I just got off punishment on Saturday when my report card came.”

We just passed the band room when she asked, “Then why didn’t you go Sunday?”

“I really didn’t think my parents would have taken me if I asked.”

Even though I wasn’t grounded anymore, I didn’t want to ask my parents for too much too soon. I had to admit, I did put them through a lot. I didn’t want to come off as a complete brat.

“Maybe I could make him something,” I suggested. “A card or something. Wait…ew.
What was I thinking? That’s beyond lame.”

“You could decorate his locker.”

“We get to and leave school at the same time,” I groaned as we ascended a different flight of stairs. “I am the worst.”

“No you’re not,” Jade assured me. “You’ll think of something.”
As we entered religion class I said, “Dear God, I hope so.”

“By the time school was over, nothing ground-breaking had popped into my head. But the junior class was selling Valentine grams, so I at least got him one of those at lunch.”

“What was it composed of?”

“A carnation with a heart-shaped note attached to the stem,” I replied as its image was clear in my mind.

“What did your note say?”

I exchanged the two dollars I had bummed off of Allison for a heart-shaped paper and a black, ballpoint pen. I went to the table, where three other girls and boys were thinking about what they were going to say to that special somebody in their lives. I stared at the paper for a couple seconds, before choosing the words I wanted Garrett to read.

Garrett,

I once told you that you were my first everything, and to this day that fact remains to be true. My first: kiss, date, boyfriend, time, love. And on this Valentine’s Day I want you to know that you’re in my heart, because you’re the only one who has ever held it.

I’m in love with you,
Constance

I breathed a deep breath before giving my note back to one of the students working the Valentine grams table. I couldn’t give something expensive to Garrett tomorrow, but I was going to make him something out of our memories.

“What did you end up making him?”

I smiled faintly, “I took an hour trying to make him something romantic and meaningful. Maybe I was hoping that creativity would outweigh tackiness. My mom took me to the grocery store. She said that it was because she needed spinach, but I think for once she was trying to accept my whole relationship with Garrett. Anyways, I met him at the bus stop the next day with his gift in my hands.”

”Did you get me shoes?”

“Why would I have gotten you shoes?”

“You’re holding a shoe box…”

“Correction, a boot box.”

“You got me boots?”

“…No. You can open it on the bus.”

We waited for the bus’s doors to open, and Garrett let me board first. We sat in our usual seat, and he put his arm around my shoulders.

“Can I have the boot box now?”

I looked up at him. “Promise not to make fun of anything it contains?”

“Is anything in the box funny?”

I thought about it, “Not really.”

“Then I promise,” His face was serious before he tried to get me to cave in with too adorable eyes.

I pushed the box from my lap on to his, scooting away so that he could open it.

He popped open the lid and set it on my lap, and I grew very anxious when he picked up one of the items inside. I had attached a Post-It to each item, explaining each of their meanings.

A bag of cookies.

He read the note out loud, “The same ones I was holding when I first saw you shirtless.”

Garrett chuckled before putting them back down in the box and picking up another item.

Five packs of Reese’s Buttercups tied in a red ribbon.

“Just because I know that they’re your favorite.”

He smiled and opened a pack, giving half to me.

A CD.

“Songs that I can relate to now that you’re in my life. [Because saying ‘every song that made me think of you’ is so clichéd.]”

The last item, a boutonniere.

“I didn’t get you one at Homecoming so…”

He smiled, first at the boutonniere, and then at me. He ducked his head so the bus driver couldn’t see the kiss he gave me.

“I love it,” he told me. “All of it. I love you.”

“I love you too,” the smile on my face lingered.

“Help me put this on?” He held up the boutonniere.

I raised my eyebrows, “You’re going to wear it at school?”

“Of course,” he replied as he opened the box and handed it to me.

With much difficulty and a lot of giggles, I finally got the thing on his shirt.

“I didn’t get the chance to get you something special,” he told me apologetically.

“I know, it doesn’t matter.” I took his hand, “As long as you’ll be my Valentine.”

“How ‘bout I just say that I’m yours, no matter what the day is?”

“I thought you said that he made the day special.”

“Geeze,” I complained. “I’m getting there, I’m getting there.”

We dared to hold hands in the hallway, he waited as I went to my locker, and I waited at his. We talked until we had to go to separate homerooms. I made it to my seat right as the bell rang.

“Hey Constance,” said Ashley. I turned and greeted her. “Did you send Garrett a Valentine
gram?”

“Yeah,” I replied. “Did you send anybody one?”

As she shook her head, “Haven’t found anyone special since Johnny.”

I gave her a sympathetic look as an upperclassman entered the classroom with a big box in his hands.

Ashley said, “Garrett probably got you one.”

I shrugged, watching people retrieve their gram as my homeroom teacher called their name.

“Constance Harrington.”

I smiled as I got up from my seat and went over to her. The upperclassman handed me over a dozen carnations.

I looked up at him, eyes shocked. “Uhh…am I handing these out?”

He shook his head and chuckled, “Nope, they’re all for you.”

“What?”

“They’re all for you,” he repeated. “And these twenty bags of chocolate. Biggest purchase
we had, and all for one person. Here, I’ll bring the chocolate over to your desk.”

As I went back to my seat Ashley eye’s went wide, “Are those all from Garrett?”

“I don’t know, probably,” I replied, slightly stunned. I shifted through the carnations until I found the one with the note attached to it.

Dear Constance,

I’m imagining your face right now. And no, the quantity isn’t a mistake. 20 carnations and 20 chocolate bags. You should probably count them; just to be sure they didn’t cheat you. (Just kidding) This was the only thing I could get you. I hope it made you feel special. Just know that I love you.

Happy Valentine’s Day :)
Garrett

“This cost forty dollars,” Ashley said immediately after I finished reading the note. “He must really love you.”

I looked around to see guys scoffing and girls envying.

“Yeah,” I grinned, smelling the carnation, “he really knows how to make sure I know it too.”