fin de siècle ; mixte 1963

chapter 3 ; sell your soul, not your whole self

"I have a feeling that today is going to be funny," announced Gisele, walking up to Annick. The girl looked at her, amused.

"Why? Because we're going to get most of our test results?" she asked.

"No, silly! I completely forgot about that," replied Gisele, litting up a cigarette. "It's just a feeling. I get them sometimes and they're always right. I just gotta deal with it."

"If you say so," shrugged Annick. "I, on the other hand, couldn't forget about the tests. They kept me up all night, I swear, I feel like I'm going crazy."

Gisele could tell Annick was nervous. The blonde girl was twitching, unable to focus on anything and anyone; she kept checking her watch to see how much time was left until the lessons started.

"Why do you care about grades so much?" Gisele asked, not bothering to hide her curiosity.

Annick sighed.

"I want to become someone, you know?" she replied. "I mean, I'm not saying that if you don't care about your grades, you're gonna end up as some nobody. It's just... you have more chances than me, alright? Your parents are well-off, you've had proper education before, you could do anything you'd like!"

Gisele nodded, perfectly aware that everything Annick said was the truth. Her life truly was a comfortable one; all the issues she had came from her, not some external factors.

"Me and my mother... It's harder for us. She's settled for what we have and she's happy, but I am not. Voltaire is my only chance for a better life and I really don't want to screw it up."

Gisele offered Annick her cigarette, and after some hesitation, the girl accepted it. She took a drag, then let out a content sigh, visibly relieved to finally take all of that off her chest.

"If you need help with anything, just tell me, alright?" said Gisele after a few moments of silence. "We're friends. Even if you, as you said, screwed it up, I would never let you lose this chance. You will be someone, you already are, but I swear I will do anything to help you achieve your dreams. Just tell me what to do."

Few seconds passed and Annick had no reaction. Gisele started to worry that everything she said was too fast, too much and not enough at the same time; she was afraid to look the other girl in the face, instead choosing to watch people on the school yard.

Finally, when Gisele was going to take her words back and apologise, Annick hugged her from the side, resting her head on Dupin's shoulder. They were standing side by side, leaning on one of the walls, so it wasn't a full-on embrace, but Gisele was content to return it, sneaking an arm around her friend's waist.

"Thank you," murmured Annick, turning to look the brunette in the eyes. "Same goes for you, you know? I obviously cannot help you with everything, but I will always support you, no matter what."

Gisele smiled in response, knowing that no words were needed anymore. And when the bell rang, the girls went to the classroom, side by side, happy to have found a friend in a person they would've never expected to.

***

"See? I told you you have nothing to worry about. You aced that shit," whispered Gisele to Annick when the French teacher was giving away their last results of the day. Annick's scores were perfect and the girl finally calmed down after a whole day of stress.

"Attention, everybody!" exclaimed the teacher suddenly, forcing Annick and Gisele to look in his direction. "I am aware of the fact that I've just returned your last assignment, but for next week, we're going to experiment a bit. Our school likes to experiment, doesn't it?" he asked jokingly, but when no one laughed, he cleared his throat to continue.