WRITER IN THE DARK , neil perry

06

it was their last class of the day, on a friday. marianne and amélie were barely staying awake. math class was never their favorite.

"neil invited us to their meeting at 5." amé tapped marianne on the shoulder. her voice was a low whisper.

"so, how was your date?" she whispered back, her voice being overshadowed by their teacher's booming voice.

"it wasn't a date!" amélie hissed, continuing to doodle on her worksheet. she was paying 0 attention to this stupid class. "it was fine. we walked around the lake."

"sounds romantic." mari teased, making her voice all sing-songy.

"it wasn't." amélie narrowed her eyes at her friend.

"sure." marianne grinned, dragging out the e.

amé playfully kicked marianne in the shins, getting the attention of their teacher.

"ms. laurent and ms. dubois. is everything okay?"

"yes mr. baumel." they said in unison, before their teacher began talking again.

—————-

after class, the two rushed to their dorm and began getting ready to go out. marianne put on a short-ish floral print dress with a cardigan over top.

"you're awful fancy looking." amélie smiled, pulling on a thick-strapped tank top.

"it's charlie! he probably has plenty of girls he could be seeing. i've got to look good, even if it's some silly book club meeting." marianne chuckled, pulling her hair into a ponytail tied together with a ribbon.

"it's nothing like that. you've been."

"it's just reading, and smoking."

before amélie could retaliate, a knock at their door was heard. marianne rushed to get it.

it was cindy. "marianne! you look pretty. where are you guys heading?"

silence. marianne and amélie exchanged glances, not knowing what to say.

"let me guess, you two are going to hangout with the welton boys! can i come?" cindy laughed, twirling a strand of her hair.

before amélie could say no, marianne spoke for her. "sure!"

"alright, i'd better go get ready." mari closed the door on her.

"are you kidding? i don't want her to come."

"she'd probably get her friends to beat us up behind the school if we ever thought about saying no. she's the most popular girl in our school, this has got to count for something."

"fine."

at about 4:30, marianne and amé went to cindy's dorm and knocked. cindy opened it, and she looked a lot more fancy than mari, who was wearing a full set of pearls.

"you guys know it's a poetry club, not a fashion show. we're going to be sitting in that damp cave on those rocks for a few hours."

cindy gave amé the dirtiest look she had ever seen.

—————

the three walked, cindy disgusted at how wet the bottom of her dress was getting as it dragged alone the ground. amélie zipped up her sweater even further. it was still fairly light out, but a cool chill was in the air.

"look what i scored." cindy squealed, pulling out a bottle of vodka from her coat pocket.

"nice!" marianne grinned. amé wanted to throw up.