Valentine’s Day inspires a certain level of change within JP—a shift you can feel the minute you walk in. I guess you could say that love might actually be in the air, coming from the Chanel No. 5 or Gucci Pour Homme replacing the usual scents of sweat and cafeteria pizza. If it were a religious holiday, the attendance office would receive an influx of forms with hundreds of love-weary students trying to skip their way out of school. For aspiring high school sweethearts, it’s the one day where the usual crowd of latecomers arrive at 7:20am sharp to decorate their partner’s locker with hearts and stickers. Romantic gestures are planned out carefully, like offerings to the Cupid watching over JP from above. 

The love skeptics on this day know that most of Cupid’s arrows rarely hit their target. A poorly-taped love note on someone’s locker could easily fall off and fail to reach the intended person, while an impassioned confession in the hallway might be drowned out by the hum of students just trying to get to class. Intellectuals on this day prefer to sit in the backseat with buttery popcorn, watching the melodrama unfold.

In the 21st century, where the sharing of AirPods and collaborative Spotify playlists replace most time-worn gestures of love, there is one gesture that has survived since the beginning of time: candy grams. This so-called sweet gesture allows one to confess their feelings without fear of rejection, hiding behind anonymity. No one but the few love crazies take candy grams seriously, and most of the student population is in it for something else—the student council wants to make money for prom, while some send candy grams just for jokes. So why would you waste money on a confession you could make over a Snapchat streak or with a romantic iMessage game? 

Dealing with loneliness at this time can be rough, especially if you aren’t completely appalled by JP couples, but everyone deals with it differently. Take the famous gang leader, Al Capone. He sent his men on Valentine’s Day to eliminate rival gang members, busying himself with things other than his complete lack of ability to woo women on a romantic day. Al Capone’s coping skills tell us one thing: no matter how lonely you feel on Valentine’s Day, the holiday represents more than just romance. The love between friends, gang members, and family is equally as important. So whether you spend Valentine’s Day laughing at the cheesy rituals with a bucket of popcorn or wallowing in despair while listening to Drake, be sure to have some premium-quality chocolate!