Tomorrow. Again.

2

'What do you mean you've never read Shakespeare?!?' Lily didn't think she'd ever met anyone before who hadn't at least read one sonnet or play. 'Have you at least heard of him? Surely you must've!'

Maxence chuckled and shrugged. 'Sure, I've heard of him. Too much to be honest. Shakespeare is one of those authors only positively discussed by pretentious or incredibly educated people. I like to think I am not pretentious and I know for a fact that I am not incredibly educated. Literally everyone else seems to think of him as the person who single-handedly ruined high school literary education.'

Lily let out a disapproving groan, which made Maxence laugh even harder.

'Do you like Shakespeare then? Seeing as you attack me for not having read any of his stuff.'

Lily shook her head. 'Hell no. Hate the guy. He's the pretentious one. He must've been a walking metaphor, most of his stuff is so clouded that it's impossible to know what he actually meant. And what I hate most of all is that it is used in high school education, not much of a surprise that kids are reading less these days when that is what they're taught is good literature. Might've been fun in Victorian England. Totally irrelevant these days.'

'Then why are you mad I haven't read any of his work?'

'Because he's also a pretty fucking genius.' 

'Now I'm confused.'

'You wouldn't be if you'd read any of his work.' Lily winked and put the Shakespeare anthology back on the shelf. The bookshop he'd taken her to was a tiny, aesthetically unorganised store that was filled with many classic novels. Lily hated to admit she'd read almost all of the classics in the English section. 'Have you read any English literature then?'

He nodded. 'I love English literature. It's a lot more fast-paced than French literature. I finished Frankenstein the other day.' 

'For the first time?'

'Nah, must've been the 5th time, at least.' They both laughed.

'You like that one then?' Lily asked.

'I would say that everyone who has ever actually read the novel likes it. Some people skim it. Some people are thrown off by how long it is. So many people I know have read Part 1, about the creation of the monster, but gave up on Part 2 which is focussed on the monster, which is such a shame. The second part is the best part. It shows that our sympathies should be with the monster rather than with the scientist. It's actually a pretty bad critique on the scientific revolution, it's so good.'

'Kind of impressive.' Lilly giggled. 'You actually understood the novel. It's all in Part 2.' 

The wandered around the store. They pointed at novels and talked about which ones they'd read and loved. They had gone through the entire English section, but Les Miserablés was nowhere to be found. Maxence walked up to the shop owner to ask if they had it in stock and came back with a cheeky grin and his hands behind his back.

'There's good news and bad news. Bad news first, they don't have it in stock. Then for the good news.' He got a copy of Les Miserablés from behind his back. 'They do have the original French version.'

'But I don't sp-'

'You know the story. You've read the book 10 times, saw the musical, and you watch the film on a daily basis. You don't need the text anymore. You just need the book. For your dream.'

She giggled and nodded.

'Go for it. But you'll have to read some of it to me. I want to know what it sounds like in French.'