First-String Future by Kat Corbett

Author:Kat Corbett
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781469749600
Publisher: iUniverse
Published: 2000-10-18T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

MY FROGGY VALENTINE

I get my wish for an early spring—it arrives on Valentine’s Day! When I come out into the sunny morning, I see new little bright-green leaves popping out on all the branches. The air is soft and warm, and I feel a rush of joy at the thought of summer days ahead. Cody is out on the sidewalk two blocks down, and we jog toward each other, both waving envelopes. At our halfway corner, where a mockingbird is perched on the stop sign singing its head off, we sit on the curb to exchange valentines. It’s so neat to get something someone’s made just for you! We’ve both made up little verses from old rhymes. On his valentine to me, Cody’s written:

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

I’ll never love anyone

Like I love you. On mine to him, I’ve written:

Lavender’s blue, dilly, dilly,

Froggies are green,

You make me the happiest

I’ve ever been. In my house, we say been like bean, not bin. After all, in “Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat, Where Have You Been?” it rhymes with queen—at least, it does when Mom says it.

I’m thrilled by Cody’s verse. I’ve never said I love you to him, and this makes twice he’s said it to me. I decide this is just the right day to forget being shy. “You know why I’m so happy, Cody?” I ask him, smiling.

“Tell me,” he says, taking my hands and looking at me very intently.

“Because I know you love me, and because I love you, too.”

I love how his face lights up. “Tori! I was hoping, but…Now I’m the happiest I’ve ever been!” We hug, and he lifts me off my feet and swings me around in a circle, backpack and all. “Now, where were we?” he says, setting me down. “Oh, yeah—school!”

He swings my hand as we head off down the street. “Look at us—sure winners for ‘best-dressed couple’!” he jokes.

We’re both in old clothes and beat-up shoes for our “date” after school to do frog research. He says there’s a pond behind his house.

We’re going to see what kinds of frogs live there and how many of each kind we can count so I can make a graph for my project.

At school, Valentine decorations are up in the halls, but naturally not in Mrs. Stengle’s room. Classes at Oakwood are allowed two parties a year and can choose which holidays they’ll celebrate. At the beginning of the school year, Mrs. Stengle announced that our class would have just one, on the last day of school. We joke that the only thing she wants to celebrate is getting rid of us.

The lack of a Valentine party, however, does not keep Big Al from passing me one of those stupid insult-type cards in class. When the bell goes, I manage to “accidentally” drop it as I get up, step on it for good measure, and leave it lying in the aisle. But when I check to see if he got the message, I feel kind of mean.

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