𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 ;; 𝒶𝓊𝒷𝓇𝑒𝓎 𝓍 𝓀𝑒𝓁 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓉𝓈

↳ 𝕛𝕖 𝕥 ' 𝕒𝕚𝕞𝕖 ( 𝕚 𝕙𝕒𝕥𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 ) ・❥・: ̗̀➛

"𝒿𝑒 𝓉'𝒶𝒾𝓂𝑒" 𝒶𝒸𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝓂𝑒𝒶𝓃𝓈, "𝒾 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝒾𝑒"

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"ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ꜰʀᴇɴᴄʜ?" ᴡᴀꜱ the first thing 10-year-old Kel said when Aubrey started speaking French. Basil had asked if he was the only one in their friend group that only spoke English, and he was. Sunny and Mari spoke Japanese, Hero and Kel spoke Spanish, and now Aubrey let others know she could speak French.

"Oui! Je suis canadienne-française, mais je ne sais pas beaucoup de français." She smiled and translated, "That means, 'Yes! I'm French-Canadian, but I don't know a lot of French'."

"I didn't know you were French-Canadian," said Basil. "That's so cool!"

She beamed at him, but she still said, "I'm technically only half French-Canadian since it's only my mom..."

"That doesn't change anything. French is a really pretty language, so it's so cool that you know it!"

Kel tilted his head. "Does that mean at home you go" —he put his finger above his top lip as a moustache and put on a terrible French accent— "hough, hough, hough, oui, oui, baguette?"

Aubrey didn't find him funny. "No, Kel, I do not laugh horribly to try to sound French and say, 'yes, yes, baguette'. It's la baguette, by the way. Baguette is feminine, and as someone who speaks Spanish, shouldn't you know that there's an article before the word?"

Kel's shoulders sank. "Words have genders in French too? I could've learned it and insulted you in your own language, but now I don't wanna. I don't wanna get yelled at for misgendering a banana..."

"Bien. Je ne veux pas ta stupidité."

Basil and Kel waited for a translation. Aubrey wouldn't give them one.

. . .

ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ knowing a foreign language only a few other people knew meant that you could say something in that language, and only those people would know. Sunny could say something in Japanese, Mari would know, and vise versa. Kel could say something in Spanish, Hero would know, and vise versa.

Other than her mother and a few sentences her father knew, Aubrey was the only person in Faraway Town that could speak French. That meant that as long as no one told her mother what she said, she could say anything she wanted to in French, and everyone else would just have to trust what she said.

When she realized that, she didn't think too much about it. She did think a lot about it when she realized she could talk bad about Kel in a language no one else understood. After getting over the initial shock of excitement, she used it to her full advantage. She made sure to sound sweet, always making sure to have a "translation" when someone asked.

"Kel, tu est très stupid. Nôtre école ne veut pas ta." Translation: Kel, you're very dumb. Our school doesn't want you. What she told her friends: "Kel, you might not be the smartest one here, but at least you're doing good in school."

"Je veux l'été. Je ne vais pas être le même bâtiment avec Kel!" Translation: I want summer. I won't be in the same building with Kel! What she told her friends: "I can't wait for summer. I can tease Kel about his 'drinking' choices all I want!"

"Je ne peux pas rester la même pièce avec Kel. Je ne peux pas son stupidité." Translation: I can't stay in the same room as Kel. I can't deal with his stupidity. What she told her friends: "I can't stay in the same room as Kel. He always gets to antsy, so he should run around more!"