Third Time's a Harm

prologue

'Agreste, Gabriel?'

At the sound of the name, she breathed in a tad bit heavier than usual.

'Here, ma'am.'

'Anciel, Denis?'
'Present.'
'Bellerose, Audrey?'
'Yes, of course I'm here.'
'Bourgeois, André?'

The noise of the classroom faded slowly and unnoticeably as the roll call continued, and she seemed  not only lost in her own thoughts, but the world itself. Her eyes were focusing on the piece of paper she furiously scribbled on, but occasionally they slipped onto the blonde boy before her.

'Sancoeur, Nathalie?'
Nothing.
'Miss Sancoeur!'

The protruding silence was nothing compared to all the eyes fixated on her, that seemed to not bother the girl at all.

'Nathalie, you idiot, answer the teacher!'

She looked up and then at the woman standing behind the desk.

'Audrey, you can't speak like that in class! Detention.'
'Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.', the blonde murmured.

'Now, miss Sancoeur, care to explain why you weren't paying attention?'
'Here, ma'am. I'm sorry, ma'am.'

Then whispers emerged on the other side of the class, but she already knew they were about her. It was always her.

The bell rang after another painful hour of sitting still and pretending to memorize things she already knew. She quickly grabbed her books and stuffed them into a cheap bag, but she still wasn't the first to exit the class. Rushing through the halls she checked off the daily dose of hearing the absurd things people said about her. Including a particular group of boys in the 11th grade.

''Ey, damn me if that's not Sancoeur!'
'Sancoeur? Like "sans cœur"*? Now it makes sense why her parents left her like that. Freak...'

'Nath!'
The rusty locker-door closed off with a click and revealed behind it the blonde, ravishing looking guy that had his seat in class right in front of her.

'Look. Audrey told me I... I have potential.'
His eyes sparkled and his breath was heavy. He had a piece of paper in hand, and he handed it to the girl.

She looked at it, and then at him.

'You do, Gabriel. You really do.'
A faint smile started to bloom on her lips and it seemed as if all the words heard earlier were nothing.
'Maybe one day you'll take me as your assistant, huh? Just kidding.'

Laughing their hearts out, and it felt like no one else mattered at the moment.

'You'll make it. Audrey might not be the brightest, but when she praises someone, then it's no joke.'

His smile. His blue eyes and his messy hair were perfectly complementing her black, perfectly slicked down hair and her rarely happy face. They were made for eachother, yet neither had noticed.  Nor it would last much that they began taking notice.

___
*"sans cœur" - heartless (French)