Clueless

Phase Ten

Phase Ten

            “What’s up?” François grinned at me, bounding up to me in the training room.

            I rolled my eyes. “How are you so happy all the time?” I wanted to know, ignoring his rhetorical question. I settled my hands on my hips.

            François frowned in reply. “I am not happy all the time!” He answered indignantly.

            I snorted. “Yeah right. And your saying that doesn’t really help your case, François. You sound happy saying that, and just up for some verbal stimulus.”

            The boy sighed in defeat. “It’s just, how can’t I be happy when you’re around?” He fluttered his eyelashes dramatically and put a hand on his chest. “You’re just so…spirit-lifting.” He faked a sniff. “It’s really no wonder that you put Philippe in a trance whenever you’re around him.”

            I choked on a laugh. “Oh, François, how you manage to turn my snappish comment into the highlight of my day is unbelievable.” I shook my head, smiling slightly. “And how you managed to twist the real reason of the last part into something related to me is just too amusing for its own good.”

            “Whatever do you mean by that?” he asked as his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, his voice now back to normal.

            “It means,” I rolled my eyes, “that you manage to point blame on me for everything. It’s absolutely ridiculous and so very amusing at the same time, it’s mind-boggling.” I shook my head.

            “Oh really now?” François parried. “Who told you I was –” He stopped short, his eyes fixed on something behind me. I narrowed my eyes at him, not bothering to turn around just yet to face whoever had crept up on us. François’s playful brown eyes flashed at me again. “Looks like your SIT – spy-in-training – is coming, so I’d better scoot!” He scampered off before I could say anything.

            I glared at his retreating figure, but turned around to face Elodie, anyway. A smile crept onto my face as I saw Elodie glide towards me; her presence just seemed to radiant contagious energetic-ness. “Hey Elodie!” I stopped for a moment. How should I put this? “Okay…see, I have to go help Philippe put together a training test for you, so Pierre told me to tell you to go back to Wayne and work a bit more behind the desks. He says he could use someone like you. Not many people are good at those things…me being one of them. See you later!” I chuckled cheerfully and waved towards her as I skipped off, hearing her distant and hesitant “Um…hi-bye?” I couldn’t help but let the laugh escape. It was really no wonder that Philippe had fallen for her. Fallen fast and hard. My light hair swung around me as I shook my head, and soon enough I was in front of the personal training room. I carefully pushed it open, stepping into the enormous, well-lit room. Other than Philippe, some other people were there training. My eyes scanned the equipment he was using, thinning just a trifle. “Philippe,” I greeted as I approached his machine. The boy in question stopped what he was doing to glance at me.

            “Salut, Angeletta,” was his reply. He nonchalantly turned off the machine and stepped off the platform. “What’s up?”

            I snorted. “As I’m sure you know, Phil,” I started sarcastically, “Pierre has asked us to make a training test pour ta petite amie.” I snickered. “Your lovely, beautiful girlfriend. She’s amazing, really. It’s really no wonder you’ve fallen for her so fast.”