After the last math test, Maelle couldn't help but worry that she had not done well.
She knew in her head that she went into the test with all the material necessary to succeed, but, in her heart, there was a sinking feeling.
The test, worth enough of her grade to bring her mark up to above a pass, was the only one so far that Maelle didn't find difficult. That was why she couldn't get over the feeling that she had done something wrong. She must have, because she hadn't been able to do anything like that all year.
So, when Maelle got it back, it took her a while to be able to flip it over to reveal her grade. It took her a while to adjust to that fact that she may have to go home and tell Paul that all of his tutoring was in vain, for she was absolutely hopeless. It took her a while to be able to process that the note in the corner was a ninety-four percent.
Her heart leapt. She had to double check the name on the copy, for she wasn't absolutely sure that this was possible. Surely, the teacher had gotten her confused with one of the mathletes in her class. Though, it was her name - Maelle Vaillancourt - that was inscribed.
A huge smile swept over her features and, when she met her teacher's eye, she got a smile in response. Maelle felt pride in herself for the first time in a very long time.
She couldn't wait to go home - home, that was what she called it now - and tell Paul that every single minute that he had spent trying to teach her something that she thought was hopeless had absolutely paid off.
The sheer amount of satisfaction and adrenaline that she got from merely passing math (so far) was incredible. It was as if she had climbed a mountain she never thought she could have and was now staring at it from the other side. It was like the feeling of finally having completed the one thing you needed to do.
It was the beginning, for her. It was her fresh start.
From then on, she wouldn't be held back by the things she had or hadn't accomplished when she had lived with her parents. That era was over, it had long ended for her. It was time for her to move on.
She truly believed that she could move on. Not from the the death itself, but from everything that came along with it. She would never be able to forget her mother's death. She would never overlook the subtle cries of help of someone about to attempt suicide. She had changed. Yet, in some ways, she had changed for the better.
It seemed morbid, but many pieces of her were gone. Instead of leaving gaping holes where the pieces would have fit, they had been replaced. Where the girl full of naivety and innocence once stood, there was a girl full of apprehension and cautiousness. Maelle had become a different person, a person that her mother would not have recognized.
She was fine with that, though. With the the circumstances, Maelle was forced into change, shoved head first into the ringer, only to escape a different person. With everything that had been thrown at her, Maelle was impressed with who she had ended up as. She was beginning to love herself again, just as her mother had taught her to.
Some may have seen a successful test; Maelle saw a future full of new beginnings.
+
"So," Paul began between mouthfuls of mashed potatoes, "what was it that you wanted to tell us? Is something wrong?" He asked, concern lacing his tone.
Maelle shook her head with a smile, "No, the opposite, actually," She said, "can I go get something from the living room? I need to show it to you guys," She asked, to which they nodded skeptically. Both Paul and Coralie were extremely curious to know what it was that their foster-daughter was being so secretive, but neither wanted to push too hard.
Maelle returned to the table with a wide smile, placing her test in front of Paul's plate of food, where Coralie could clearly see it too. She figured it was best to hand it to Paul, since it was him who had helped her get to that point of self-discovery and success.
His eyes widened as he looked down at the numbers scribbled in red on the paper, then he looked up to Maelle with the same expression, "A ninety-four percent? Oh my God, Maelle!" He exclaimed, getting up from his chair to pull her into a hug.
When he pulled away, Maelle could see the pride and adoration in his eyes, along with the bright smile that lit up his whole face.
"I want in on this celebration, too!" Coralie exclaimed, joining them in their group hug.
Maelle had found her place. She had found her people. She had found her home.
+
a/n: yo yo yo its danielle again bitches
-danz
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Adopted by Stromae
Fanfiction-this story is written in english- Maëlle Vaillancourt, left parentless by an accident that claimed the life of her mother and a drug addiction that claimed the liberty of her father, had no other options. In hands and under the protection of social...
