𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐘 | 𝙅𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙥𝙝 𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙨

19: I push you out and you come right back

I'm on my way to the school library when I feel someone harshly tug me backwards, twirling me around so I could face the person. 

"What the fuck, Madeline?" Descamps spits with a frustrated tone, eye searching my face. "I invite you to a party, we have fun, and suddenly you start ignoring me when we return to school? What's up with that?" 

His words make me want to throw up, the memory fresh in my head. I yank my wrist back, glaring daggers back at him. He looks at me incredulously, as if I'm turning on him for no reason at all. 

"What? Stop looking at me like that," He retorts. I can feel the waterfall of words worm itself up the back of my throat, and I just know that I'm going to unleash hell on this boy. 

"You honestly don't remember?" I ask, and he shakes his head. Goddamn it. "I thought we had something," I gawk, and I'm glad that the hallways were empty right now. 

Joseph scoffs, signaling for me to get to the point. "We did! What, I don't understand why you're mad at me-" 

"I saw you kissing Héloïse Pichon, don't lie to me." 

He goes silent, and I wait for some type of explanation. 

"I walked home with Felbec, because you were busy shoving your throat down her throat," I sneer. Descamps' mouth gapes, but no words come out of his mouth. "If we did have something, as you just claimed, then why, Joseph?" 

A hand goes over his face as he lets out an exasperated sigh. "That was—" He cuts himself off, looking off to the side before meeting my gaze again. "It was... a heat of the moment thing," 

"Nothing serious, we were all drunk Maddy," He explains, but his voice is shaky, and I see him shifting his stance non-stop. "C'mon, she basically threw herself on me,"

I purse my lips, my jaw clenching tightly. What a bunch of bullshit. 

"Right, as if I'll believe that," I murmur, turning my back on him. Did he think I was born yesterday? That I didn't notice the hands around her waist? The same hands that held my waist and led me to the dancefloor that same night. 

"Wait, Madeline, I swear!" He yells after me, but I act like I'm too far along to hear him. 

I'm never doubting my 6-year-old self ever again. 

---

"He said if we didn't give him a name," Pichon says, as almost the whole class follows him around. "Then the whole class will get detention every Thursday."

My face scrunches up in confusion, and I jog myself up to the front. "Everyone? Even the girls?" I ask, and Pichon just nods. With that information, I let out a groan, rolling my eyes. I already don't have much time a day, and now I have to go to detention? "It's not fair!"

"Hey, you're the one who kept it from us! If you had just let us taken it, nothing would've happened." Dupin argues back, fuming. I'm not scared of him though - give me a comb and I can brush all of that ego and gel out of his hair in one minute.

I raise my bag as a threat, and Dupin flinches slightly and backs off. Felbec sighs heavily, gesturing over to Dupin. "I'm not getting punished for something Dupin did."

Michèle seems surprised, and I interrupt. "Vergoux and Descamps are also in on this," I say, and I feel their surprised and angry glances on me. "I was out shopping and saw them stealing the magazines from the kiosk," 

"Shut the hell up Moreau, as if you didn't have any fault in this too!" Vergoux shouts, squaring me up as he steps closer. I feel the rage inside of me start bubbling up, and I stand my ground as I feel my eye twitch. "What? Scared that I'll tell everyone here that you didn't have enough money for a magazine?"