𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

Chapter 2

[CHAPTER 2]

• COLD GAZE •

I LOOKED IN THE MIRROR.
My mother had done my hair just now and it looked neat, like always.
It was always like that in our family. Everything neat like nothing ever touched it. I looked back at myself in the mirror, a blank expression was stuck on my face.

My face was resting knowing I had to fake smile to the entire town. I was wearing a white blouse with a dark blue skirt underneath and on top op my blouse I had a light blue woolen cardigan that was made by my mother.

A soft sigh left my mouth, "CAMILLE! are you ready, you have to leave soon!"

It was my father the only person I liked in my family. No idea how he married my mother.

My father was a free spirited man, our whole town laughs at his jokes and he always puts a smile on peoples faces when he passes by. Even though he was unserious for most of the time he was a well respected man and people would not dare to get on his bad side.

My mother on the other hand was very different I didn't like her. Not because my mother was unloving or spiteful, but because my mother represented everything I hated about our roles in this society. She always wanted everything to be perfect. The house was never a mess and me and my siblings would never leave the house with wrinkles in our clothes or unbrushed hair. My mother was the perfect house wife, she had always been beautiful, she cooked and cleaned and never complained. And even though I hated it about myself I was starting to turn into my mother, the person I despised so much.

I think that's why my father suggested that id go to the old boys school that this year would be mixed with girls aswel. I wonder if he noticed, when I started speaking less and how I stopped complaining about how unfair it was that my brother could sit on the couch doing nothing while me and my sister had to help with the dishes. Or when I started to focus more on how I looked rather than how smart I was.

I was awoken from my thoughts as I heard another yell from my father. I quickly closed my window, grabbed my book bag and ran downstairs.

I saw my mother sitting at the kitchen table, she gave me a warm smile. My father in his fancy suit gave my mother a kiss on her cheek and muttered a quick goodbye. He gave my brother and sister the same kiss on their cheeks even though my brother pushed him away a bit. He walked around the table, he stretched his arms out and grabbed my arms "My beautiful daughter all grown and going to a mixed school. You're writing history you know, you'll tell your grandchildren about this one day." he pinched my cheek and hurried out the door.

I didn't have time to sit and eat so I only took a small bite of a jam sandwich. "Are you not going to eat more?" my mother questioned. I shook my head "I have to hurry, I'll eat an apple on the way mom." She nodded softly. I grabbed my coat and paced to the door. "Au revoir!" I gave a quick wave before I went out the door.

The walk to school was not long, but it felt much longer. I had already seen a few boys whom I assumed would probably be my classmates. I'd seen the bakers son and also a few boys who i recognized from church. And i could even swear I saw the butchers daughter.

I was nervous that was for sure, I walked with a fast pace. It was September but there was a little bit of a cold breeze outside. I picked at my skin from the nerves. How many girls where going to be there and who?

As I was getting closer to the school I realized that there was no turning back now, no more girl school, no more lessons on how to knit a sweater and certainly no more lessons from old nuns.

In a distance I saw the gates, they looked tall and rusty. Different from the rest of the school. A group of no more than three boys were walking in front of me, I could overhear their conversation. "Do you think they'll be hot?" "I heard that girls are really good at history." "I heard that we'll have at least new 20 girls this year." I shook my head. I started walking slower when I noticed there wasn't a single other girl on the school grounds.

No way was I going in first, I turned around ready to walk back, when I bumped into someone. I stumbled backward a bit and it felt like I was going to fall. I let out a small groan.

"O, sorry Du Bellay!" It was Pichon, our mothers were acquaintances and I've seen him a few times before.

I let out a small laugh "It's okay Pichon." he nodded nervously "So you're also going to this school this year?" now it was my turn to nod, the conversation was a little awkward as I could also tell he was a bit nervous.

I fixed my hair and brushed my skirt straight with my hands. "I'll see you in there okay." I gave him a small smile as we both walked away, he went to greet his friends who were staring at me like I was a whole different species, and I started walking through the gates.

I could already feel allot of eyes on me. A large breath of relieve left my lips as I saw that there were already two girls standing close to the entrance looking at their schedule. I took a deep breath and walked through the huge crowd of boys.

They went quiet, they all stopped their conversations to stare.

It was painful to walk with that many stares. I could feel their eyes prickling in my back. I could hear their whispers and small laughs.

The only good thing about it was that some of them were handsome, mostly the boys from the fifth year caught my eye. There was also another boy that caught my eye, I had seen him somewhere before but I can't remember where. When I saw his stare my first instinct was to look away, but for some reason he intrigued me and I looked back again but not as obvious as the first time.

He had round glasses and longer hair than the rest of the boys. He was sitting on a bench with a couple of what I would assume were his friends. He sat wide legged like he didn't have a care in the world, but when he noticed I looked at him a second time, his careless expression changed into a smile, I couldn't tell if it was a nice friendly smile or a devious smirk. I couldn't hold eye contact it made me nervous, especially with about fifty other boys staring at me as if i was some sort of prey.

I reached the two girls, I recognized the blond girl as Michele the butchers daughter but the other girl I've never seen. She had short dark brown hair and a nervous but excited smile plastered on her face.

"wow your'e allowed to wear heals?" I asked in admiration. My mother always tells me I'm too young. The two girls turned around, they looked taken aback like they were shocked that I talked to them. Michele smiled "My mother didn't say anything so.." She held up her shoulders "I hope the teachers don't either." I gave a small smile back to the girls, "My name is Camille, you're the butchers daughter right?" I looked over to Michele.

She nodded. "I haven't seen you before have I? Are you new?" I looked over to the brown haired girl. "No I'm from Algiers, I just moved here a month ago. And I don't really know anyone here."

I could see a saddened look on here face, she was probably thinking about her family back home. "My name is Simone."

"Well now you know us right, that's at least two people." I gave her a cheerful grin as I hoped this could help lift up her mood. Her face lit a bit up I could see that my charms were working.