He asked her to be his Valentine.
Seemingly sweet and innocent. Typical of the age.
A boy a girl.
But this girl wanted nothing to do with it.
Perhaps she didn’t understand, he thought.
So he steeled himself and asked, “Will you be my girlfriend?”
Her response was swift, and she thought clear.
“No,” she said turning on her heel. The force of her pivot lifted her ponytail.
A slap in the face. A gauntlet thrown.
First came the looks.
Across the room.
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Then the Post-its filled with pleas and queries. “Do you still like… Mark Yes or No.”
Notes silently slipped from one side of the room to the other and back again.
Passed from the complicit, ignored by the uninvolved, to the intended. And back again.
Read and responded to between the pages of a book.
All writing tools are enlisted to support the need to communicate,
and digital devices enter the dialog.
Words fly in cyberspace.
A screen lights up.
A shared Google doc with multiple names bounces back and forth.
Red, green, blue lines signal a real-time chat in Writer’s Workshop.
Ah, the joys of technology.
Engaged, enraged, annoyed, unsuspecting authors.
The note is spotted. The screen is seen.
Out of nowhere. An interloper descends and captures the words.
Foiled.
Springtime writing in a Fifth Grade classroom is ever present. It happens in between the lines of reading and writing. The emotions of growing up.
Thank you, Two Writing Teachers Blog for the March Slice of Life Challenge. Thank you for this playground where teacher-writers can play with story. Read more slices here.
To Read To Write To Be 