D'accord- La Fête

Chapter One

David sat in the little cafe with Sandrine, Rachid, Amina, and Stephane. They were all laughing and joking around, but David only had eyes for Sandrine. It was hard, being the American exchange student in Aix-en-Provence, because his French was incredibly bad. It was difficult for David to articulate his feelings for Sandrine because of his weak grasp of the language. He only partly understood the conversation, catching snippets of trivial detail like his roommate Rachid's obsession with history and Stephane's interest in soccer. Or football, as they called it in Europe. As David sullenly sipped his water, he realised that everyone was expectantly staring at him.

"Comment?" David asked, his face flushing red. His gaze quickly darted towards Sandrine, who was frowning at a text on her phone.

"Desole mes amis, but I have to go. Personal emergency." Sandrine grabbed her purse and swiftly left the cafe.

David's eyes followed her out of the room. He stared longingly at her, wishing he could entwine his hand in hers.

Stephane snapped his fingers in David's face.

"David, we were asking if you would help us plan Pascal's birthday party," Stephane said, "What did you think we said?"

"Nothing, I just don't think Pascal likes me very much. He's always glaring at me whenever I'm around." David sighed.

Rachid and Amina exchanged knowing looks.

"Maybe he hates Americans," Stephane suggested, taking a massive bite of his croissant.

That's probably it. It's not the fact that I'm in love with his girlfriend or anything.

David got up and put some euros on the table.

"Ciao guys, I have to study for my test tomorrow," David said in a clipped tone, and he hurried out of the cafe, knocking over a stack of menus as he left.

"Stephane! You are the dumbest teen in all of France. Pascal doesn't hate Americans," Rachid angrily whispered.

"He hates David because David is in love with Sandrine," Amina interjected, rolling her eyes.

Stephane thought about that for a minute, the process of his thinking showing clearly on his face. No-one said he was the smartest guy in France either.

"So David can't help us plan the party?" Stephane asked. "If he can't, that means we'll need someone to blow up balloons. But it won't be as good because Americans must do it better, or maybe-"

"Stephane! Haven't you been listening?" Amina said, slamming her hand on the table. Her coffee shook and threatened to spill.

"Yeah, I have. Mon Dieu, Amina. David can't help because he loves Sandrine and he'll do something dumb as hell if he was to interact with Pascal for longer than a few minutes," Stephane answered, and he went back to scribbling in his notebook.

"Wait, what do you think David will do to Pascal?" Rachid asked, a looming sense of dread filling his body.

Stephane didn't even look up.

"Punch him, maybe. Or he would shoot him, I guess. Don't like, all Americans have guns and shoot things?"

Amina and Rachid stared at Stephane in shock.

"David would never do something that drastic!"