Scrapbook

The most memorable Valentine's Day for me was the day Raj bought me a red rose.

Being single at 16 and going to school on Valentines Day was either fabulous or traumatic. I personally loved it.

We had a post box in a corridor in the main building at school. People dropped cards in during the week leading to Valentine's Day, leaving names and registration class number on the envelope. A few volunteers would sort through them the day before and on the morning of Valentine's Day we'd have cards waiting for us at registration.

It was the busiest registration of the year. The buzz of gossip lasted throughout the day. Who sent whom a card? Who received the most? And cruelly, who didn't receive any at all.

Year 11 Valentine's Day was the best I'd ever had in school. It was the final year of compulsory education. We knew that we'd loose touch with many people so we all made an extra effort with friendship cards.

As we excited sorted through our card that morning Raj burst through the door with a bucket of single red roses. He handed them out to all the single girls in the class. Each rose had a personal card with a message attached to it.

Raj was a good-looking guy. He was nicely toned. Green eyes. Cute dimpled smile. It was difficult not to feel special, even though he'd given a rose to every other girl.

My personal message said: "To Sexy Elise, everyday is an adventure with you Kitten... Please don't claw my heart out. Be my Valentine."

(When I was in year 8 I broke up with a guy called Philip the day before his birthday. In my defence I didn't know it was his birthday and we'd only dated for two weeks! He told everyone that I clawed his heart out. My nickname was Kitten for a while.)

For that one day Raj made all the girls feel special. He made the geeky girl feel popular, the fat girl feel attractive and the quiet girl feel confident. I noticed and spoke to girls that I hadn't ever spoken to before. We compared cards and exchanged hugs.

Later that day I stole a kiss with Raj behind the sports shed. No tongues. A nice warm kiss on the lips. I wonder how many kisses he received that day...

It’s nice to think back to days like that. To flick through scrapbooks, read old cards, look at old photos. This gave me an idea for Solicitor's card.

I've made Solicitor homemade scrapbook. I bought a plain notebook and filled it with photographs of the two of us. I wrote down little messages to go with them. I even included an old picture of the two of us at a bar when we were at University.

I bought a new bedroom outfit for tonight. A silky black pair of suspenders and stockings with a deep red bra and thong set. I'm going to hide the football tickets in my stocking.... Maybe a little game before he can get his hands on them!