‘Even though most people are blind to their flaws, I can always point out one of my own, one flaw that I’ve always hated. But before I get into that, let me introduce myself. My name is Lucille Thompson. I’m a good student of thirteen years. I tend to be on the shy side, so I’m always thrown into shock when day after passing day I get comments like “Lucille, you’re really pretty, you know that?” Or questions like, “Lucille will you go to the so and so dance with me?”
The thing is my flaw is not that I’m shy; it’s that I’ve never been trusting to let other people in. It’s really for dudes in particular.
When any guys show interest, I’m terrified. I’ve had my share of crushes, and have one as of today. His name? Oh, it’s this kid named Joshua Kirby. He prefers to go by the name Kirby. He has these intense green eyes that just…
But, that’s off the subject. I don’t know if I’ll ever come out of my shell but I doubt it…….’
That was an entry from my journal. I am now fifteen, and I still have a crush on the same guy. A crush that is now my boyfriend. There’s a story behind why Kirby’s my boyfriend. It happened two years ago on February 13th…

“Lucille, you have got to come to the Valentine’s Day Dance tomorrow!”
There she went again. “She” being my best friend Keioko. For the past couple of weeks she’s been nagging me to go to the Heart 2 Heart Valentine’s Day Dance. I really didn’t want to, though. Mostly because it is one of the most ROMANTIC dances of the school year (besides the Winter Wonderland Christmas dance). Key word: ‘romantic.’ My loveless heart wouldn’t be able to handle it.
“For the one hundredth time, no! I don’t want to go to the dance Keioko.”
“But Kirby will be there. And I heard a rumor that he really likes you Lucille!”
“I don’t care if Orlando Bloom will be there and he says that he wants to marry me! I’m NOT going! Good-bye!”
I slammed down the phone, feeling bad about being such a Scrooge, but I really didn’t want to go to that stupid dance. But I could feel tears filling my eyes and my heart breaking. Kirby…
“I’m going to bed, Mom,” I called, even though it was only about seven ‘o clock. I figured I could just listen to music while I waited to succumb to sleep.
But I wasn’t expecting what happened next.
When I got to my room, there was a person there. Well, not exactly a person, more of an angel. There, in the middle of my room, was a beautiful woman. She could even put Raquel Johnson to shame. She had long, flowing, hair the color of a raven’s feathers that reached almost down to her knees with a small crown of red tulips around her head. Her eyes were a gray, the same color the morning of fog; her lips were the kind of red you usually can only find as nail polish.
She wore a maroon tank top that had a white heart in the middle, with white pants that had a flower design on the right pant leg, and on her back was a pair of pure white angel’s wings. Her feet were bare, and in her hands was an argillaceous bowl decorated with roses and hearts, held together by a single vine. Her skin was as smooth as marble, and as white as snow. But behind her beautiful, youthful looks, there was a deep, sorrowful wisdom in her eyes.
“Who in the world are you? Why are you in my room? Wait, how did you get in my room?” The questions just flowed out of my mouth as fast as a cat chasing a little mouse.
“I am the Ghost of Valentine Present and Future,” she said softly. Her voice sounded like singing, and it had a soothing tone to it. But I was not going to be soothed by some woman whom I don’t even know.
“Did I just enter A Christmas Carol?! Why are you here?”
“I am here to show you what will happen tomorrow, Valentine’s Day, and on Valentine’s in the future if you stay on the path you are on, Lucille,” the woman said in her high soprano voice.
I just stood there, staring, my mouth hanging open as I tried to find the words to say.
Before I could say anything, the angel, I mean spirit, took off a petal of one of the roses and two hearts off of the vine and put it in her bowl. She mashed and stirred until her bowl was filled with a shimmering, golden liquid. She threw the liquid into the air, and suddenly, I was at the dance.
I saw Keioko dancing with Hudson, Kirby’s fraternal twin brother, and Keioko’s crush. I was happy for her until I saw Kirby. Kirby was dancing with Raquel Johnson, a.k.a. the prettiest, and also meanest, girl in the whole school.
“You realize that, if you go to the dance, you could be the one in Kirby’s arms, Lucille?”
The angel’s voice was barely audible above the music, but I could hear her, and the words stung. I marched over to Kirby and Raquelle, and gave Raquelle a good, hard shove.
But my arm went right through her!
I tried again and again, but I got the same result. I heard a silvery laugh, and the scene disappeared.
We were back in my room, and I was fuming. It took a LOT of will power, but I didn’t smash the angel’s bowl. Instead, I watched while the angel took two petals off of a rose, three hearts off of the vine, and a strand of my hair (ouch!!!). Again, she put everything in her argillaceous bowl, mashed and stirred, got a bronze shimmering liquid, and tossed it in the air. Next thing I knew, I was about ten years or so into the future.
“This is Valentine’s Day, also the day of your high school reunion. That’s you, there in that corner. You wound up sad and lonely because…” She trailed off, letting the sentence hang there. I waited for her to finish, but the patience I had tried to have was long gone.
“What? Because what?!” I was practically screaming at the angel. Spirit. Whatever she was!
“Because, Lucille,” said the angel patiently, “Kirby had married your friend, Keioko. He had divorced Raquel, but when he proposed to you, you had turned him down.” The angel’s voice was soft and sad, like she hadn’t wanted to tell me.
I, on the other hand, said nothing. I was shell shocked. When I snapped out of it, I grabbed the angel’s bowl and threw into the ground, smashing it to a million pieces. The angel disappeared, and I was alone in my room again.
I threw myself onto my bed and broke down; thinking about what the angel had told me. I was so sad. I saw how I looked in the corner at my reunion.
My hair was dark brown, limp, shine non-existent. My blue eyes looked sad- almost dead. I had dark rings under my eyes, and tears silently flowing down my cheeks. But no one there cared. They couldn’t see me.
They didn’t want to see me.
Didn’t want to see the tears that silently slid down my cheeks.
They didn’t want to see the silent screams that swam in my eyes.
I was invisible to the world.
I continued having thoughts like these, being thoroughly depressed.
I was going to continue having those thoughts for the rest of the night, but then, the phone rang.
I let my mom get it, figuring it was for her.
“Lucille? Phone!”
Huh? I picked up the phone, thinking it was Keioko again.
“Look KeKe, I-“
“Lucille? This is Kirby.”
Talk about small, feminine heart attacks. That’s exactly what I had.
“Oh, uh… hi, Kirby.”
“So, uh, Lucille, I was wondering if you wanted to, you know, um, go to the Heart 2 Heart Dance with me?”
And I said yes. It’s amazing, how one little phone call can change your whole evening.
I went to the dance with Kirby, Keioko was with Ben, and Raquelle …Well, I don’t know who or where Raquelle was.
After that, the strangest thing happened. And this time, it wasn’t about on angel coming to me.
It has to do with Raquelle.
I don’t know if she hit her head or something, but somehow she got really nice over winter break. She asked me and Keioko to be her friends. It was weird, but Keioko and I agreed, and now we’re really close. I guess Christmas isn’t the only time for miracles. Valentine’s Day can be pretty special too.