I'm Just Me

Chapter One

"Can I have duex café au sucre s'il vous plaît?" The barista nods and goes to make my order. I relax my shoulders and sigh to myself. That's about the only thing I remember ordering in French. 

"Emilie?" I hear my name be called, and I make my way over to the counter, picking up our coffees and paying. As I make my way back to our small little apartment, I think about how Jana has grown accustomed to our new lives. My best friend is amazing, sticking with me throughout this entire process, and besides, this has always been her dream. Moving to Paris. 

Once I travel upstairs, I knock on the door with my foot, hoping she gets the door quickly. "Thank god you have it." Jana cannot function in the morning without her coffee, and when she grabs hers and rushes back inside her room, I push the door closed with my back and lean against it for a moment. 

She has always been that way, always moving, always bubbly. the only time I could remember her upset was when she heard what had happened to me, and then she rushed over to my old house in tears, gathering me in her arms, crying with me. 

I still remember that day, that day when my parents were murdered in a hit and run car accident. I got the phone call in the morning, and it was on the news two hours later. Jana held me as we cried together, after the call, I dropped the phone and fell to my knees, staying there until she came. She collapsed next to me, sobbing. 

Jana loved my parents like they were her own, always spending the night, always over after school, even before school. 

When I hear her call my name, I snap out of my thoughts, shaking. She's holding my shoulders, looking at me to make sure I'm not going to have a break down. "I'm alright J, I promise." She nods, a smile teasing her lips when I call her the nickname I called her when we were younger.

"Good, now come on, we're gonna be late." I nod, looking at her with a pointed look. We head out the door and walk the short distance to the National School of Fine Arts, where we both go to school.

It's a short walk, and we're there in 10 minutes, parting ways until lunch. I'm taking mostly digital media arts and photography class while she's more of a painting and drawing kind of artist. 

"Bonjour Emilie, comment allez-vous aujourd'hui?" I nod back at her, "Je suis bonne Madame Abeille," but because Jana and I are American, we are both taking French classes that the school offers. 

"Comment se déroule votre projet?" Which is her way of asking if my project for digi arts is coming along. I explain how it's coming along greatly, "Ça va bien." 

She nods, letting me work on an online worksheet she assigned to me, and because I was the only one in this class, she played her favorite record album, singing along in French. Jana got into a higher level because she took French one through four all throughout high school. 

I turn in my assignment via email, looking at the clock and seeing the lecture was over for other classes. "Au Revoir Madame Abeille, bonne journée." She nods at me, turning off her music. she once told me that it was good to listen to foreign music, especially at this age. "It was good to see you Emily, I hope your classes go well." 

It's the only time she says anything in English, the end of class. When I asked her about it, she said that class is when you learn. After class, it doesn't matter if you speak English or French. Just that you know both. I smile at the thought, putting in my earbuds, listening to my music.

I love when Madame Abeille plays her music, but I could never get rid of mine. 

As I'm walking down the pathway to my digi arts building, I see Julien Andrews. He's the only other one who can speak English and French in my class. "Hey Julien!" He turns around, spotting me, and waits for me to catch up.

"Hey Emily, what? No Jana?" I shrug, "you know she isn't into digital arts." He rolls his eyes playfully before checking his phone. "Come on, we're going to have to hurry." I nod, matching his pace. 

"C'est tout ce que tu as?" He taunts me, asking if that's all I got, I shake my head. "Go ahead and go faster then." I wait to see if he speeds up, and when he does, I grab my computer bag and jog next to him. 

"Really? Is that all you got?" We do this every time before class, I speed up my jogging pace so I'm running at full steam. I hear him laugh, running behind me. We don't pay attention to the weird stares we're getting, but we're having fun. 

I make it to the building first, like I do every time. "How, are, you, that, fast?" I laugh at Julien, who is bent over, gasping for breath. "I used to do track in my high school, and I jog through the streets by my apartment every night." 

"I don't care, it isn't fair." I roll my eyes, "quit complaining Julien. Now come on." I open the door and hold it open for him. I get a text from Jana, I stop at the side of the hall to look at it. "Saw you running with lover boy. Behave you two. XOXO -Jana" I respond quickly, but I can't help the blush creeping up my neck. "Hey Em, you good? we're gonna be late if you don't hurry up." 

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Lets go." I try to hide my blush, thinking to myself.

I don't have a crush on Julien, that'd just be insane. But he would make a good subject for my portrait due in two weeks. He is cute though, and his black hair would be nicely contrasted by the sky at any given time. Then again so would Jana's blonde hair, maybe I could ask her.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts for the second time that day but this time by Julien stopping, and I run into his back. He steadies me without looking at me, and I follow his eyes to see what he's looking at.

When I see it, I understand, and I look down. "Really Aimee?" I hear him say before I look up, and he's standing in front of her. My eyes widen, and I groan, walking up behind him. "Quelle? I'm not doing anything wrong." 

"Not doing anything wrong? Aimee you're kissing him. My best friend. We're dating. Do you see a problem now?!" I grab his arm, "Come on Julien, we gotta go."

"Oui, Je vois un problème, et c'est elle." His eyes burn with a fire, leaving me to glare at her. I at least know a little French, enough to know that she just called me a problem. 

"Avez-vous un problème avec moi?" I ask her, thanking Madame Abeille silently for teaching me so much in so little time. 

"Oui. You are annoying swine, taking my boyfriend away from moi." I start to move towards her, raising a fist slowly, when arms wrap around my waist, holding me to them so I don't make her face black and blue. "You'll get banned from campus if you do that." Julien whispers in my ear, and I nod, showing him I understand. 

"Laisse Emily en sortir. Elle ne t'a rien fait." I hear Julien whisper quietly, and understanding my name, "I want nothing to do with you. Either of you." I can feel the tension in his muscles, and I pull him away from them. 

"Don't stand up for me. It makes me seem weak and incapable ." I mumble at him, walking past him and into our class. I see a freshman sitting in my regular place and I glare at him. In my two years here, at this school, I've learned to talk with my eyes. Easily blocking any emotion out unless I'm working on a project that requires it. 

In my all black attire, that I normally sport, Jana says I look intimidating. I don't see it and not all of my clothes are black. The kid gets up mumbling under his breath in what sounded like Japanese, moving to a seat in the front. 

Julien sits next to me, "really? Was that necessary?" I nod, looking away from him and pulling out my laptop. 

"Em, what's wrong?" I pull up the assignment Professor Luca wanted to go over today. It was a digital flower assignment. He said that Paris is filled with flowers, and hat we just had to look closely enough. I chose to do mine on a rose. 

When Julien saw it, his eyes widened. "Oh my god, Emily, that's amazing." He stares at my screen a little while later, until Professor Luca walked in. 

"Bonne classe, nous vous présentons aujourd'hui!" The french speaking people groan, and I look over at Julien so he can translate, "he said that we're presenting today, our pictures, and it's a rough translation."

I thank him, and start thinking of how I'm going to present this and speak so everyone understands. 

Good luck, me.