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Ivan was not a stranger to Valentines Day. However, he was a stranger to this country, having arrived in the United States in late January and joining this particular classroom in early February. Gaudy red and pink Valentine's Day decorations seemed to cover every surface of the classroom. Excited children were squirming in their seats, glancing eagerly at the clock instead of paying attention to the lesson being taught on the board. The teacher was not blind to the restlessness of her class.
"Alright, everyone," she announced after also glancing at the clock. "I know you're all excited, but the lesson is almost done! Just pay attention for five more minutes before we can do the exchange!" She could hardly be upset at her students. The Valentine's Day exchange was always a time for excitement among students and teachers alike. The class seemed to collectively sigh at this ultimatum and the students turned their attentions back to the front. At least for a minute or two.
Ivan was decidedly one of the only students in class that was not excited for the exchange. He had just moved to the United States, into this class of strangers that spoke English too fast for him to properly process. They used words and slang that no one had the patience to properly tell him the meaning of, which only made him more reluctant to speak at all. He doubted he would recieve any sort of Valentine's Day card or treat from anyone except perhaps the teacher. He sighed softly to himself, burying his nose into the soft fabric of the oversized scarf his elder sister had made for him for his birthday just before they moved to the United States. He wanted to go home already and eat mama's cookies. He knew she was making them, she always did for Valentine's day.
Before he knew it, the lesson had ended and the rest of the children let out various sounds of excitement and whoops before quickly heading to their backpacks to retrieve their Valentines. Ivan simply watched from his desk. He had gotten some for the class; his mother had insisted, hoping that it would help him make friends at his new school. However, the large crowd of children, each eagerly grabbing and pushing each other to be first, was intimidating. He would wait until the crowd thinned.
By the time he had retrieved the Valentines from his backpack, the class seemed to have already split into their own friend groups. Ivan nervously stared from group to group, reluctant to hand out Valentines in front of other students. He steeled himself, remembering his mother's words of encouragement, and approached the group closest to him. A group of girls, he noted.
He attached a smile to his face as they all turned to look at him warily.
"H-happy Valentines day!" he said, trying to sound cheerful. He handed each of them a Valentine, each hesitantly taking the Valentines with soft thanks. They all looked at each other after he finished, sharing a thought quietly amongst themselves before giggling. Ivan looked on with a confused frown but, when it looked like they were not going to share the joke with him, he moved on to the next group.
He couldn't help but feel embarrassed after that encounter, blushing lightly in frustration. Did he do something wrong? Embarrass himself somehow? He couldn't have, all he had done was hand them a few Valentine's day cards! Ivan wanted this whole ordeal to be over with already but he still had quite a few cards to give away.
Almost all of the remaining encounters were similar to the first; his classmates would all stare at him for just a little too long and then exchange looks with their own friends, either smirking or making some sort of face. Ivan hated the looks, the snickering or giggling.
By the end of it, he had adopted a more detached, cold approach. He was eager for it all to be over so he would simply hand over the card and move on to the next person.
"Oh, dude!" one of the last people he had yet to give a card to exclaimed as he approached. "You're the new guy!" The boy had blonde hair with a little cowlick that stuck straight up where his hair parted and blue eyes behind a set of wire-rimmed glasses. He was seemingly surrounded by his own small group of friends all turned to look at the new-comer, not unlike the others. The only difference was that he seemed to address Ivan at all.
Ivan gave him a small smile in return, not saying anything since the others had seemed to giggle whenever he spoke. Ivan offered a Valentine to the boy and he looked down at the Valentine briefly before taking it, flashing Ivan a big grin, another difference from the others.
"Thanks man! You didn't have to!" The boy examined the outside as Ivan offered the remainder of his Valentines to the others of this group. Just as Ivan was about to leave, his job finished, the other boy spoke up again. "Hey, wait!" Ivan turned back with a curious expression just in time for the boy to offer a Valentine to Ivan. "This is for you!"
Ivan's eyes widened in surprise. Gingerly, he took the small Valentine. Hist first Valentine. There was a cartoon bear on the front with googly eyes. You're BEAR-y special to me, Valentine! was written in red bubble-font. In the corner, there was a sticker of a sunflower with the middle in the shape of a heart tucked snugly between two slits, ready for Ivan to take out and stick wherever his heart desired. Ivan turned it around and was surprised to see his own name hand-written on the back messily and another name underneath. From Alfred, it read with stars surrounding it.
Shyly, Ivan looked up at the boy, Alfred, he had to remind himself. "Spa- ah. Th-thank you," he said softly, almost whispered.
Alfred beamed at him. "No problem, dude! I thought it would be lonely to just get a Valentine from the teacher, so since I'm so great, I thought I'd get you one too!" he boasted, puffing out his chest.
"He had to ask the teacher for your name though because he was too shy to ask you," another boy teased Alfred, his prominent eyebrows raised in smugness.
Ivan watched as Alfred turned a bright pink. "I wasn't being shy! I just thought it would be uncool!" Ivan couldn't help but giggle at this, covering his mouth in a meager attempt to conceal his amusement. "I don't see the rest of you guys getting him anything!"
"I told you," the green eyed boy said, exasperated. "I had all my Valentines ready by the time you came up with your bright idea!"
Alfred rolled his eyes. "Okay, Artie," Alfred muttered before returning his attention to Ivan. "Anyway, I'm Alfred!" He stuck his hand out to Ivan.
Smiling a little more widely now, Ivan took the outstretched hand and grasped it. "I am Ivan," he said more confidently.
"Oh, Ee-vahn? Not Eye-van?" Alfred asked with a curious expression and a little tilt to his head.
Ivan gave him a stiff smile and shook his head. "Is Ee-vahn."
Alfred just shrugged. "Okay then. Weird, but cool." Promptly, he turned to his other friends and began to introduce them. "This is Artie, he came from the UK, like, a year ago? That's why he sounds weird too. And this quiet dude's name is Kiku! He doesn't talk much but he's pretty cool."
The dark haired Asian boy was the only one sitting at a desk in the small group of friends. He was on his phone, playing some sort of game on an emulator. At Alfred's introduction, the Asian boy glanced up at Ivan, giving him a stiff nod before returning his attention back to his game. Ivan wilted slightly at this.
"Haha, that's just how Kiku is!" Alfred reassured Ivan with a very strong shoulder pat. "Anyway, we all exchanged names so now we're friends!"
"Huh?" Ivan blinked at the sudden proclamation, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise.
Alfred didn't slow down at the least, already listing all the things the four of them were going to do together as friends. "You have to sit at the same table as us at lunch and you have to play with us at recess! When we play dodgeball, we're all going to be on the same team and we're going to go to each other's houses and play video games after school together!"
"Um," Ivan said, flustered at this sudden turn of events and trying to process all of Alfred's words. "Okay?"
"Alright, it's settled!" Alfred exclaimed, excited at gaining a new friend.
Ivan smiled at Alfred's enthusiasm, the other boys eyes almost sparkling in excitment. Perhaps I will be fine here after all, Ivan thought to himself. At least with Alfred as his friend, he would not be bored.