Cheerfulness, good mood, fighting spirit for the day! Carla Furiani was ready to conquer the world again! The night was great, she didn't wake up, she dreamed something pleasant and, thank God, not about Berenice.
"Well, everything seems pretty funny and silly today. And why was I so worried yesterday?" thought Carla, preparing breakfast for herself.
The day promised to be interesting, just like yesterday. After all, at yesterday's meeting Teyssier announced that there would be a competition - the battle of the freshmen! The point was that they had to cook 3 dishes. 3 different directions. No one knew in advance what to cook, everything will be said right before the start. And according to the sum of points for three dishes from 6 chefs, the winner is the one who will cook the most original, non-banal "work of art", as Teyssier said. "Well, so much the better, I will definitely be able to win and write myself into history as a pioneer", thought Carla.
*************
From a distance, Carla spotted her friends and headed straight for them.
- Uh, hi. What are you so actively discussing? – Carla asked.
- Hi, Carla. The contest, of course. And how I'm going to win, – Tom replied with a smile.
- Am I the only one who's worried about being judged by six people? It's crazy! My nerves will definitely burn out, - Berenice said worriedly.
- By the way, Berenice, maybe you've heard what the reward will be? Teyssier didn't say anything yesterday, - Solal asked.
- Well, I heard something this morning, he discussed it on the phone, but I'm not sure I can tell you. I don't even know if it's true.
”Hey, come on, tell us, come on, please! ” - Berenice heard the noise of all the voices at once.
-Okay okay. Well, the prize is a gold-plated ladle, - announced Berenice.
Pause.
“Are you kidding me?”
” No way”
“Are you serious?”
” What kind of award is that?”
” It can't be true”
The noise of all voices was heard again at the same time.
- I'm not sure I want to fight for such a “great championship title", - Tom muttered, making quotation marks with his fingers.
- It's Teyssier. He doesn't miss the opportunity to mock us. In any case, it seems to me that in addition to this, the reward will be that Teyssier will treat the winner a little less disdainfully than usual, - Berenice added.
- Well, - Tom replied after a short thought, - then let them give me even a wooden ladle, I'm in the game! If I hear even 1% less often how incompetent and clumsy I am, I will be happy.
Everyone started laughing.
The rest of the day went pretty quietly. The two friends thought a bit about the options of dishes that could be offered for cooking at the contest and except for one moment, everything was fine. The moment was that at one point Bere took out her cherry gloss from her handbag and put on lipstick. A small thing, an absolutely unimportant thing. But Carla still remembered this taste on her lips too clearly and for a few seconds she watched with fascinated eyes as her friend put on lipstick. Berenice noticed the strange expression on Carla's face, but she didn't say anything.
"Someday this will stop haunting me", thought Carla. But lying in bed, she involuntarily returned to her memories, to that cherry taste, Berenice's eyes, her hands, her face slowly approaching... and she fell asleep.
*******************
The next morning the girls worked in the garden in the company of their friends. Carla was a little happy to see so many people around her, because she couldn’t yet “say goodbye” to her thoughts about Berenice. It was already the third day after her "night adventures", but this situation didn’t let go of Carla, which annoyed her a lot. So now, hearing many other voices, jokes from the guys, talking about plants and cooking and other things, Carla felt as if she were safe, everything around her seemed as carefree as before.
After the garden class, they were to “suffer” (as Berenice said) with Cardone. So Carla decided to distract her friend a little and offered her a cup of coffee. They talked about various topics, discussed Livio's upcoming party, Carla once again laughed with Berenice when she talked about dogs that ride skateboards.
- Coffee and laughter seem to have calmed my nerves a little before the coming hell,- said Berenice. - Thank you, Carla. I didn't realize how much I needed it.
- Although I'm not afraid of her, I really needed coffee too, - Carla replied. – We're gonna have to look at the "great Chef Cardone" for a long time today. Just the sight of her face is ruining my mood.
- I'd rather not say anything about her face, - the blonde grimaced. – By the way, Carla, I was thinking about our recent conversation. Why don't we really have some fun and take a day off from school?
- Why not?- the girl replied.
- Let's go to our lake this weekend! - Berenice said excitedly.
The smile instantly disappeared from Carla's face. She uttered a few unintelligible sounds and nervously asked: “Our… lake?”
- Um, yes, - said Berenice, a little confused by the sudden change in Carla's face. - We always had fun and good times there.
Goosebumps went down Carla's body. Oh, yeah. They had a lot of fun there. Especially the last time. Even though she was looking at Berenice now, standing in front of her with a cup of coffee in her hands, she SAW Berenice kissing her on the lake shore. The idea of going there together seemed ridiculous. It was the last thing Carla wanted to do.
She blushed, she was nervous, and she stared at her friend confusedly, trying to come up with a more or less adequate reason to say no.
- Um, I don't think I'm sure I'll be free this weekend,- Carla began. -My parents were coming to visit me.
-Ah, okay, sure. Then another time. Uh, Carla, is everything okay? - Berenice asked.
- Yes... I just.. Ahem... I suddenly… I remembered that I forgot to do something for Chef Listrac and it's very important, so… So I have to go, - Carla said.
She knew she was talking complete nonsense, but that was all her brain was capable of at that moment. She got up and walked away.
-I'll meet you at Cardone's grumpy place, - Carla tried to smile and turn it into a joke. - I won't be long.
Carla left, leaving the bewildered Berenice alone with her thoughts. She left without understanding what was going on. She left without seeing where. She left, leaving all her common sense on the bench next to Berenice.
Her thoughts were spinning one after the other. She couldn't understand why this was all having such an effect on her (HER!). For more than 10 minutes, she searched inside herself for some kind of explanation, but couldn’t find it. Or she didn't want to find it, didn't want to think of the one thing that could justify it all.
It was less than five minutes before her class with Cardone, so she tried to pull herself together and forget about it. At least for a few hours. Besides, Berenice might really need her moral support from this witch. So Carla decided to herself that she could handle it, that she wouldn't show her strange reaction again in front of her friend, and that she would smile and laugh as if nothing had happened
