Val placed her bag in her locker, taking out her math book and a pencil case. Just as she was about to close it, she felt someone appear next to her. She turned around, catching her friend standing next to the locker. He wore a dark green hoodie, to accompany his eyes as his black hair reached slightly over his forehead. “Hey Lorenzo,” She greeted, fixing the hood of her sweater to move her hair back. 
He smiled, bringing his arms forward from behind his back. In front of her, he held a light purple gift box. Square, slightly bigger than both his hands, a silver bow on top. Val’s lungs tightened looking at it. “I wasn’t going to miss your birthday again, even though for some reason you want me to,” He exclaims. 
She swallowed back, crossing her arms as she looked up at him. He saw the change in her expression, she realized, when his face dropped. “I told you, Enzo, I don’t celebrate my birthday. You really didn’t have to,” She insisted, trying to push down the sickness rising up her throat. 
He tilted his head, furrowing his eyebrows. “I know, but I wanted to. You got me something for my birthday, I’m giving back the favor. We’re not going anywhere or anything, I thought you just meant you never go anywhere,” He explains, and it twisted her stomach even more seeing the light fall from his eyes. She made him feel bad now. 
“Uh, no, I just don’t…like my birthday,” She stuttered. 
“Like…how? In what way?” 
“In a ‘it’s the worst day of the year for me’ way.” He narrowed his eyes on her, like he didn’t believe it. He was right not to, who would hate their birthday. But his birthday didn’t hurt anyone. His birthday didn’t ruin lives, hers once did. She wouldn’t let her selfishness hurt anyone again. 
He stared at her for a couple of seconds, dropping his hands to his sides, the gift box still in one hand. “Oh. Sorry, I just thought it meant you didn’t normally celebrate.” 
“It’s okay, you didn’t know.” 
“So what do you do normally?” 
“Well, mom and I normally do something on Valentine’s instead, she says it makes up for not celebrating today,” She told him. 
He nodded his head, his face lighting up again. “Okay then, this is your Valentine’s gift. Not to spoil, but it’s jewelry anyway, so it fits.” He extended the gift again. She couldn’t help the smile that appeared on her face. “It’s late because there was no school yesterday, that’s all.” He added. 
She hesitated, but reached for the box. “I’ll take it this time, only because I don’t want to make you feel bad,” She specified, looking down at the box. “But nothing else for the rest of the day. Please?” 
He hummed back in agreement. “It’s just a normal day. I might tell my mom to get us drinks after school, but that’s just because I want a smoothie,” She chuckled, nodding her head in acceptance. 
She then took off the lips of the box, revealing a smaller box surrounded by wrapping paper. She picked it up, placing the bigger box on the floor to hold the smaller one. She took off it's lid, revealing a bracelet. It was a silver charm bracelet, hearts and flowers dangling from the chain. 
“I know it looks kind of lovey-dovey, your birthday is really close to valentine’s though so it’s hard to find anything else,” Lorenzo explained himself in front of her. 
“It’s very pretty, Enzo. Really.” She whispered, tears pricking the back of her eyes. She looked up at him. “Thank you.” 
“Are you crying? Please don’t cry, it’s already enough that you hate your birthday, I don’t want to make you cry in it,” He stressed, making her laugh again as her eyes stung. She stepped forward, hugging him tightly. 
A tear fell down her cheek, and he hugged her back. She let his comfort calm her down, and she stayed there for a minute. Maybe it was too long, and she looked weird to other students, but she didn’t care at the moment. She just cared that he was there. 
“You’re welcome,” he whispered. She pulled back now, a smile stretched over her face. “So are we good?” 
“You’re good, just this time,” She told him, looking back down at the jewelry. Admiring how it sparkled in the light, she pinched the chain and held it up. “It really is pretty.” 
“I know, I have amazing taste.” He really did. “Now, come on. I’ll text my mom the drinks so she can get them for us when she comes to take you home.” He takes out his phone as she picked up the box, placing it in her still open locker. She kept the bracelet in her hand though as she locked the door. As Lorenzo typed on his screen, she struggled with the clip around her wrist, until it caught on. She stared at it, now sparkling against her pale skin. Smiling. She loved jewelry, and he knew that. Even though it should’ve felt wrong to accept a birthday gift, this one hadn’t. 
“So, what do you want?” He looked up to ask as both of them now moved through the hall. 
“Iced coffee, obviously.”