5 Valentine's Day

Justin didn't have any classes with Emily this year either so he mainly relied on Blogr and InstaFace to see how she was doing. When her Blogr posts were sad, he would leave more little surprises in her locker and comment support as RoboCat.

The posts got sadder over time and that worried him. Things seemed to be getting worse over time. It got to the point where he was leaving things in her locker about once a week.

'I really want to go to the Valentine's Dance but no one's going to ask me. Again. #foreveralone'

Justin looked at the post in alarm. Dance? Was that the one all the flyers in school were talking about? Valentine's Day…it was a Friday. The dance was actually the day of.

There was no way he could ask her. She didn't seem to remember him. Why would she? He certainly didn't remember all the people from his classes two years ago.

She followed his InstaFace and liked the pictures of his cat but she had no idea that she actually had met the person behind the account.

What if he tried talking to her? If he talked to her a little and worked his way up to it…then it wouldn't be so weird. He could say they had a class together before as an ice breaker. That might work.

Except Justin had no idea how to dance. He briefly flashed back to the dance unit they had done in P.E. the previous year and how he had made his partner cry by accidentally kicking her in the kneecap after stepping on her feet too many times to count.

He couldn't make a fool of himself so he watched instructional dance videos online for the next few hours. His mom came in to offer him a snack at one point and was completely confused.

Red faced, Justin told her that he wasn't hungry and hurried her out of his room. His mom narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she left. What on earth was her antisocial, anti-physical-activity son up to?

After watching the videos several times, he tried dancing along to it. He ended up stepping on Cookie's tail, which was sticking out from under his bed, and hearing a horrible yowl before the cat ran out of the room with its tail fluffed aggressively.

He sat down on his bed in defeat. "Sorry, Cookie!"

By the time his dance practice was decent enough that he felt okay to talk to Emily, someone else had asked her out. He saw it with his own eyes. A choir boy had gotten to her first.

After double checking last year's yearbook, he confirmed his suspicion. They were both in choir. No wonder she accepted so quickly. She must know him well. Justin's heart sunk. He had lost his chance.

He sulked in his room for days after that until he had a thought. Just because he wasn't taking her to the dance didn't mean he couldn't do something for Valentine's Day.

She already knew she had a secret admirer. He could get her something and put it in her locker. But what?

He posted on Blogr as RoboCat. 'Kind of random, but what would a girl like to get as a Valentine's Day present?'

He didn't have a lot of followers but his post circulated surprisingly quickly, getting a couple dozen comments.

'Flowers! Can't go wrong with flowers'

'What about chocolate? All girls like chocolate'

'Maybe get her a bracelet? Does she like jewelry?'

'What sorts of things does she like OP? You should be asking her this'

'He probably can't ask her, dimwit. Why else would he take his problem to the internet?'

What did Emily like? Cats. Certain candies. Pizza. Did she wear jewelry? He thought hard. She seemed to only ever wear small earrings. What if he got her cat earrings and some chocolate?

He searched through listings for cat earrings on the internet and wrinkled his nose. His mom gave him $20 a week for school lunches but that was all the money he had.

There had to be a way to use his computer skills to make money. Even the little snacks he had been leaving in her locker had prevented him from getting lunch more than a few times.

After a little digging, Justin found a few freelance jobs he could do that would help him make a few hundred dollars. That should last him for a long time since he didn't buy much.

The jobs helped take his mind off the fact that Emily was going to the dance with someone else too. They were actually kind of fun. He should keep doing these when he was bored.

Valentine's Day finally rolled around. Justin snuck his gift into her locker with a dorky Valentine's Day card he figured would make her laugh. He smiled to himself at the thought of her reaction but his good mood didn't last long.

After dinner, Emily posted a picture of herself in her dress for the dance. She looked beautiful. Red was a good color on her. And she was all dressed up for someone else.

Justin tried to focus on more of those freelance coding projects instead of thinking about the fun she was probably having at the dance. It was past midnight when his phone dinged with a notification from Blogr.

'Dances are overrated. But look at what my secret admirer gave me! So today wasn't a total bust <3'< p>

She posted a picture of the cat earrings in her outstretched hand. Comments flooded in about how cute they were and asking about the dance.

His heart swelled with happiness. She liked his gift. Another ding went off from InstaFace.

Emily posted several pictures from the dance with her date and with some friends with the caption 'Can't think of a better way to spend Valentine's Day!'

Didn't she just say that dances were overrated? But he had noticed this discrepancy before.

Emily's Blogr tended to be more honest than her InstaFace, which was all a pretty show for other people. Blogr was where she posted what she really thought. And Blogr said that his gift was what made her day, not the dance.

He fell asleep with the ghost of a smile on his face.