While everybody else is smothering each other in love and affection, she’s avoiding it. While people are receiving their much-anticipated chocolates and teddy bears, she goes without. Romance and passion are thick in the air, and she has a gas mask.

Don’t let it be said that sophomore Cheyenne Haynes will not celebrate on Feb. 14 like the rest of the country. She’ll just observe her own holiday: Anti-Valentine’s Day. 

“I celebrate Anti-Valentine’s Day because it allows me to stay away from the cliché of regular Valentine’s Day, and because it’s fun and unique,” Haynes said. “I basically celebrate with the people I love, but no one is required to buy each other anything. I just hang out with my friends and family without any obligations.”

Haynes said she likes what Valentine’s Day “originally stood for.”

“[Valentine’s Day] used to be a day to remind your loved ones that you care,” Haynes said. “Now it is just another holiday exploited by Hallmark and other companies. Those people who don’t have a ‘Valentine’ walk around all day seeing people getting gifts and feeling unloved. Society has made them believe if they don’t receive gifts of admiration then they aren’t cared for.”

Haynes has big plans for this Valentine’s Day…or in her case, Anti-Valentine’s Day.

“There’s a musical that’ll be playing on Valentine’s Day,” Haynes said. “It’s about cheating and it’s called ‘The Last Five Years’. It’s right up my alley and I’ve wanted to see it for months. One of my really good friends knows I don’t like Valentine’s Day so he asked me [to go with him.] I know it is kind of silly, but to me it just seems like a lot more fun. It’s my unique way of celebrating an overdone holiday.”

While Anti-Valentine’s Day isn’t exactly official, Haynes has advice for people who want to celebrate it.

“You can celebrate [Anti-Valentine’s Day] anyway you want,” Haynes said.  “Spend it with people you care about. Whether it’s seeing a horror movie, eating a broken heart-shaped pizza or just getting ice cream, the options are endless. You can celebrate by not celebrating Valentine’s Day. You can go really extreme and buy a heart shaped piñata to break in your yard as long as you have fun. It’s about not buying people’s affection. It’s about showing [your love] by being with them.”