𝐔𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍, 𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜

three.

       EDITH quickly finished the dishes and placed the glasses on the draining board before throwing the cloth on the counter.

       "I'm going to class!" she shouted, grabbing her jacket from the coat rack.

       "Edith, wait! I need you to help me with the desserts, please." her mother called out to her.

       The redhead frowned. "But I have class in 20 minutes."

       "Please. You know it's a hard time for us."

       Edith pursed her lips. Ever since her mother got sick, she took longer to prepare meals for the restaurant and was constantly tired, which meant she always needed help. Edith obviously couldn't let her down.

      "Okay. But Thierry already left half an hour ago. Can't you ask him for help sometimes?" she said as she took off her coat.

       "Thierry's a boy. He needs to go to school." her mother replied as they were walking into the kitchen.

       Edith shook her head. "I need to go to school too."

      Victoire Lefebvre let out a laugh. "You don't need it. You'll be fine, even if you don't graduate."

      "But I will graduate. Right?" her daughter frowned.

      The older woman looked down at her desserts. She seemed to think about what to reply. "You know..." she said. "It's not for now. We still have time to think about it."

       "Think about what?"

       "You know, if someone asks to marry you, you won't really need your diploma." Victoire shrugged.

       "But even if I get married— which I don't want for now, I'd still want to graduate. I don't see why my husband could work and not me. I mean, I want a job and a career."

       "And that is awesome, honey. I just meant we don't know what tomorrow will be."

       Edith stared at her mother for a moment. She didn't want to be like that. She didn't want to be someone who worked at the same place as her husband because he wanted her to. She wanted to be able to do whatever she wanted. And she wanted to graduate, not to get married or to work at the bar with her mother.

★

      Edith rang the school bell. Obviously, helping her mother had made her late. She had missed the first hour of class. A supervisor came to open the gate for her and let her in. She ran to her math class and knocked on the door. The rest of the class was packing up to go to the next class.

      Mr. Marcelin let her in. "Miss Lefebvre, we weren't expecting you anymore."

      "I'm really sorry, sir." she replied, approaching his desk.

      "Here's for you." he handed her the sheet of her last exam. "Try to be in class on time, maybe it will help you not to get an 8 at the next test."

       She took the sheet with shame. She really thought she had passed this test. She brushed away some hair out of her face. People were slowly leaving the room.

       "As I told your classmates, we're going to try a new approach. I asked them to work in pairs to preparate a presentation. As you weren't here, you don't have a partner. Lucky for you, you weren't the only one missing, which means you'll be working with Mr. Faure." the teacher said as he looked at the list of students.

       Marc. She didn't know him very much but he was pretty discreet and for the little she had spoken to him, he was nice, so it wasn't bad new. Mr. Marcelin explained to her what the presentation was about before letting her go to her next class.