KISS: Casablanca High School

Ch 16: Datation Rapide (Speed Dating) (Eric C)

"Dude don't do that to him that's mean." "Aw come on he deserves it!" "No you're just gonna embarrass him!" "How do you know? Besides, it's just like a few votes what's the worst that can happen?" "There's literally so much that could go wrong." 

Eyes narrowed, I rounded the corner to find Gene, Paul, Ace, and Peter hunched over their phones while huddling together suspiciously. I couldn't help but get the distinct feeling they were talking about me. "What're you guys doing?" 

They sprang apart, various levels of guilt spreading across their faces. "Nothing!" Peter said quickly, flashing me a smile. I crossed my arms. "Reallllly." 

Ace gave me a huge grin, squinting at me as he sized me up. "Oh yeah, you'd make a perfect homecoming king!" 

I couldn't help but laugh. "Oh yeah, like that'll happen. Who else besides you guys is gonna vote for me?"

"Yeah, Paul's probably going to win. Again," Gene said with a sigh. Shrugging, Paul ran a hand through his hair. "What can I say? The people just love me." 

The bell interrupted and we scattered to our various classes. It was time for my least favorite class of the day. French. The only person I knew in there was Bruce, and I had spoken to him like once. 

He gave me a smile once I walked in the door, and I tried to smile back without messing it up somehow. "Hey, Eric. You get your homecoming votes in?" "Uh no, not yet. How about you?" I mumbled, sitting next to him and dropping all the pens out of my backpack as I did. 

Shaking his head, he helped me to gather them up, his hand brushing against mine. "Yeah I did it this morning. I heard a lot of people are trying to get you nominated." 

"What?" 

"Eric! La classe a commencé, tais-toi!" Ms. Christine cried, giving me a stern glare. I looked at Bruce, totally lost. "She said class started so shut up," he whispered with a smile. 

I would've been totally fine if the ground decided to swallow me up, but no such luck. I just kept my eyes trained on my desk as Ms. Christine walked to the front of the room, giving us a smile. "Today we're going to do a fun activity to help us practice our vocabulary! Speed dating! You'll be paired up with whoever's to your left and you'll have a minute to learn as much about them as possible. Here's the question list, make sure you right down, in French, what they say. After the minute's up, you'll switch." 

I took the paper with shaking hands and turned to Bruce, who smiled. "I'll help you with any vocab." 

"Aller!"

Sixty seconds to learn as much about him as I could. I can do this. I looked at the first question and realized I had no idea what it said. 

"F-film pre...préféré," I said, stumbling over the words. Why why why did French have so many accent marks?

Bruce paused, a thoughtful frown creasing his forehead. "Hm...c'est probablement The Matrix. J'aime la science-fiction. Et toi?" 

"Uh..." My mind went totally blank. What even was my favorite movie? "Um...Die Hard?" He nodded and scrawled it onto the page, before locking eyes with me. "Frères et sœurs?"

"What?" I asked, trying to rack my brain and remember what the hell that meant. "Brothers and sisters. Do you have any?" 

"Bruce! Parlez en français seulement s'il vous plait!" 

I winced, face turning red even though I hadn't gotten in trouble. "Sorry," I whispered, but he just smiled and shrugged. "It happens. So, frères et sœurs?"

"Oui, deux soeurs. Et toi?" "Oui! Un grand frère." 

The timer went off. "Rotate!" Ms. Christine cried, and I bit back a sigh. Two questions. All I learned was that Bruce liked the Matrix and had a brother. Perfect. 

A girl who I'm pretty sure is called Lilah jumped into the seat in front of me, looking at my paper with a grin. "Two questions? That's not too bad. We got through five but I don't even know if we answered them right," she said, talking very fast and very low. "So, what's your favorite movie?" 

"Die Hard. You?" 

"Easy, The Book Thief. Siblings?" 

"Two sisters." "Nice, I've got three of those and four brothers." 

One of eight? Geez that's gotta be rough. "Pets?" I shook my head, and she nodded. "Me neither. Can't fit them in the house." 

We moved down the list, stumbling over the questions and switching to broken French whenever Ms. Christine walked by. Once again, the minute passed too quickly and we had to rotate. 

This kid who was even taller than Gene folded into the desk in front of me, staring at his paper with a blank face. "Here, you take my worksheet and answer it and I'll do the same to yours," he rumbled, sliding me the page. I wasn't about to say no and get smacked, so I did as he said. Didn't even learn his name before we had to switch again, and I can't say I cared this time. 

A guy named Dizzy for some reason was next. "Hey I can't really speak French and I don't even know why I'm in this class so you're gonna have to help me," he said after a long pause. I shrugged. "Film préféré?" "Star Wars I think. And toi?" "Die Hard." 

The bell rang and there was the typical mad scramble of students packing up and clearing out of the classroom. I handed in my half-finished worksheet and booked it with the rest. 

"Hey, Eric!" Heart in my throat, I turned to see Bruce walking down the hall toward me. "I meant to ask, why were you at water polo practice a few days ago? You thinking of joining the team?" "Oh! Uh, nah, probably not. Peter was my ride home that day so I had to wait for him. Water polo doesn't exactly look fun to me, no offense man." Eyes shining, he fell into step beside me. "None taken. I'm pretty sure half the team hates it anyway, myself included. You live near Peter or something?" 

"Kinda? I just met him my first day and we became friends. He offered to give me a ride and said he didn't mind, and I didn't really mind having to watch him practice some days." "Well, better to ride with him than Ace. Peter's at least a good driver," he said with a laugh. "You should come to our game next Thursday."

"Oh! Oh yeah sure! Is it a home game?" I asked, stumbling as my shoes skidded on the tiles. "Yeah, 4:00. I gotta go to practice, see you later!" he said, giving me a wave and turning off down a hallway. 

"Bye," I mumbled, knowing there was no way he could hear me. 

"Hey Eric, did Paul tell you he's gotten at least half our class to vote for you for homecoming?" Peter asked as he walked by. 

"What?"