Valentine's Story for EternalV0id (copy for me)

His hair swished and flailed in the slight breeze. His hooves glittered like polished metal in the dull light of the room. A black and white film played in front of them as she took in every detail of the new student in her biology class.
"Mickey...", she heard herself whisper.

"Now remember to read up on mitosis tonight ready for your test tomorrow, pages 16-20." she heard the droning voice of her teacher say.

Poor guy, he just started at this school anmd already has to experience one of Mr. Mowie's Cell Replication tests.

As she gathered her books, she gazed down at her notepad. Oh no. She'd been doodling again. Sketches of hearts surrounded a deeply etched 'Aquanena & Mickey forever'. She tore off the page of scrap paper and scrunched it with all her might. It would have earned her three points in basketball if she had been shooting it through a hoop instead of into a bin. She stepped out into what resembled a crazy stampede of antelope fleeing to their next class before the over-excited hall monitors gave them detention slips for skipping class.

She switched her aged biology textbooks for clean sketch pads as she headed to her art lesson. If she had been ten seconds later she wouldn't have had the opportunity to flee from the monitors as they claimed their next victims. Her padded stool melted to her shape as she took her place at the very back corner of the room. The breeze through the open window and the gardens beyond the dilapidated walls of the school helped to inspire her artwork every time she needed help, and even her least favourite day of the year couldn't hold her back.

"Today class," Miss Ortis said a little too cheerfully "I want you to produce an artwork that represents some part of Valentine's Day."
Great. She was hoping that this would be one lesson she could remove the whole notion out of her head.
"It can be any aspect of the holiday, as long as it shows some form of the affection shared."
Vomitworthy much?

She looked out the window constantly throughout the lesson with nothing on her mind. What the heck was she going to draw regarding her most hated holiday of the year. She glanced around the room at everybody else's art. Her eyes rolled in their sockets as she saw images of teddy bears bearing soppy messages and hearts with images of interlocked hands inside them. None which even began to inspire her. She glanced at her pad. A detailed image of a handsome Fairy Gonk gazed adoringly back at her. Great. She'd been drawing without noticing again. She decided it needed colour so she finished it off and placed it back under her pencilcase after signing it with her initials. The next half hour was spent staring at the blank page before her until Miss Ortis began to dismiss them.

"These artworks need to be handed in by Friday so that they are ready for the display we're doing in the hallway"
You have got to be kidding me... Great. Right where everybody can see. Guess that rules out any ideas of dampening the Valentines spirit. Darn it!
She snatched up her books and pencilcase and got out of there as soon as she could. It wasn't until later she realised what she'd forgotten.

A week passed and she grew more and more distracted during her biology lessons. She had been placed in the same group as Mickey many times now and managed to steal a smile and a glance from his big, deep, azure eyes. She had continued to fall deeper and deeper into her imagination as she gazed at his long, whispy strands of cottoncandy pink hair. She was in deep.

By the time she arrived at school on the 14th of February, she was beginning to see the joy in Valentine's Day. It was a bright, cheery atmosphere with red and pink streamers filling the hallways with curvy hearts attached to the inside of almost every locker. She half expected what she saw when she opened her locker; her art supplies piled neatly next to the mess that was her exercise and textbooks. It was then she remembered her Art assignment.

Aww no, Miss Otis is going to sacrifice me to the detention masters for sure!
She sprinted down the corridors and reached the office door. She was about to turn the knob when a lion-eyed Hall Monitor handed her a detention slip.
"Just what do you think you're doing Miss Rose?"
"Aww come on Willow, I'm trying to speak to my teacher"
"Can't linger around the halls without a Hall Pass"
"Really? And they say Valentine's Day is a day of peace"
"Not even rulebreakers get that much luck Q"
"But..."
Willow had left her holding the pink slip. Great. Now, on top of her being in trouble for not handing in her art assignment, she'd have to explain why she would be late home from school that night.

She knocked on the door and heard the familiar welcoming voice she always heard when she visited Miss Otis's office. As she entered, the regular bold tones of vivid red and deep purple filled her irises.
"Ah, Miss Rose, how can I help you today?"
"I came to talk to you about my art assignment"
"Of course, it was a beautiful piece you entered. Really captured the essence of true admiration."
"Yes, well I'm sorry that I didn't pass one in but...Wait. what did you just say?"
"Your drawing illustrated the nature of true heartfelt emotion."
"I didn't enter a drawing..."
"So you're telling me that the drawing of the most beautiful gonk which is the finest i've ever seen from one of my pupils is not yours?"
"The fairy one?"
"The very same"
"I...You...Where is it?"
"In the hallway with the rest of the works"
She had never ran so fast in her life. Willow tried to stop her in the corridor to hit her with another detention, but nothing could stand between her and that drawing.

It was too late. There he stood gazing at the cartridge paper like it was a mirror. She approached gently and quietly, bracing herself for the big confusion. All she got was a casual,
"Hey Aqua"
"Hey Mick, how's it been today"
"Just another Single's Awareness Day to me"
"No kidding"
"The display is pretty good compared to my last school's attempt"
"Really? It seems pretty plain to me"
"It is, I guess, but one kinda changes it all"
"Which one" She asked, though she already knew the answer
"This one" he said, his hoof lightly brushing the signature of her drawing.
"Looks pretty rough to me"
"That's what I like about it. The artist hasn't fussed over details. She just drew what she felt"
"Really?"


Months Later...

Aquanena walked along the hallway as she had months before. But one thing was different, one thing had changed.
Who would have guessed that her least favourite day of the year could have brought her such luck. After her conversation with Mickey the rest of the day blurred. She listened to the dictations given to her during her English lesson, but it didn't really hit the top of her mind. As she was about to dropp off her unnecessary books at her locker, she noticed something a little odd.

Heart confetti was in a small patch beneath the foot of her locker. She braced herself for what was inside, but was relieved to find a simple, single red rose in a glas of water. Attached was a note. All the information it held was enough to convince her. And as she gripped his hoof even tighter than before, the words replayed in her mind...
"It wouldn't matter to me if you showed up on a date with messy hair and dirty clothes. No matter what state you're in, you'll always be my rough drawing <3"