Outside your comfort zone

Not just another day

"How was school today?" asks Zoe's dad. This is a question that has perplexed Zoe every day. School is the same every day. It's a place you have to go to - you have no choice. Some days are better than others, depending on the teacher's mood. Zoe makes the best of it with her closest friends, Amandine and Eloise. The three of them are inseparable and look like sisters, only distinguishable by the fact they're each of different height. Zoe and Eloise are 12, while Amandine is already 13. They do everything together. They met each other in the first grade picking up red and yellow leaves in a French park, in the city they call home: Paris. Weekday afternoons were spent at the bakery next to school picking pastries. Chocolate, almond or pistachio dough? Sometimes, they'd just get a baguette to share, which they'd eat slowly, stopping to share stories and giggle. On Saturdays, they would meet at each other's homes, play with Barbies, braid each other's hair. Life was so innocent. The only disturbances to their perfect existences were the births of Eloise's little brother and Amandine's little sister. Suddenly, the afternoons spent together were no longer quiet and peaceful. Their lives had been invaded by screaming babies and there was no going back. "You'll see, you'll like him more when he grows older," would sigh Eloise's mother, completely exhausted. It is unclear whether she was talking to herself, or Eloise.

"School was fine. Eloise and Amandine are coming over in a little bit," Zoe tells her father. "We have something important to discuss." All three friends seem like shy, soft spoken girls until you know them. They are all blessed with good looks, long limbs and short brown hair. They are reserved and secretive, only relying on each other and only ever confiding in each other. "No new friends", said Eloise. They all agreed. In a school where boys weren't allowed, there were a lot of bad, mean girls. Zoe had made many a friend who turned out to be spiteful or jealous, or only a temporary addition to her social circle. One girl stole stuff from her. The other badmouthed her to another girl, and then denied it. Another told lies about her, only so that the other girls would like her less. There were no boys to balance out the strange hormonal changes these girls were going through. During that awkward phase between childhood and adolescence, the classroom smelled awful as the girls hadn't yet discovered deodorants, until their teacher collectively told the class about the existence of these and recommended their mothers purchase some for them as soon as possible. The following day, everyone was spraying their underarms with "Fresh laundry" teenage girl deodorant. Such things ultimately brought the girls closer, but it wasn't always easy. Zoe, Eloise and Amandine remained close and undisturbed by the other girls' venomous gossip. 

Zoe's father notices that Zoe isn't being herself today. Normally a rather calm and aloof girl, Zoe is anxious and pacing. She is texting furiously and nervously playing with her hair. He doesn't want to ask her any more questions, as he knows how teenagers feel about being interrogated. But a father knows his daughter: something's up, and Zoe needs her friends badly.

When Eloise and Amandine finally ring her doorbell, Zoe is relieved. "Finally you guys are here!", she says, still breathing fast and now also biting her nails. 

"We are not going, are we? I mean, we, like, can't go." says Eloise.

"No way, we can't go," agrees Zoe immediately. "I'll have my parents write me a note to stop me from going, or something. I just can't do it."

Zoe's father can hear the conversation and is intrigued. What on earth are they talking about?

"I think it could be rather fun. I've never been away with my friends for so long. It'll be like a long sleepover! I think you guys are overreacting," says Amandine.

A long sleepover? Now Zoe's father is eavesdropping. 

"I'll just have my parents say I'm on my period and cannot leave the house", declares Zoe.