All Saints

le désastre

Michèle and Dahlia walked to class with the rest of the girls not far behind. "You should put a ribbon in your hair." Michèle suggested to her but Dahlia could just imagine her mother's words, who are you wearing a ribbon for? It didn't make sense she could take something so harmless and drench it with promiscuity, it was her talent.  "Do you have any siblings." Michèle asked inquisitively. "A sister but she's younger than me." There was a vast age gap between dahlia and the youngest daughter of the Beaufort. They had never been close and to be honest they hadn't really been in the same room other than meal times. "Lucky, I have brother." She sighs looking down the hallway as if she had been given the custodial sentence. Jean-Pierre stood at the end of the corridor who suspiciously looked back at her before disappearing.

They push through the door and something wet falls upon them from above them. Soaking wet and gasping in shock Dahlia could make out two cackling boys Dupin and his fellow master Descamps. She turns to Michèle and her eyes widen as you could see her undergarments. Simone stood frozen behind them not knowing what to do. A teacher pushed through and her eyes instantly go to Michèle, without a second thought she quickly takes her coat off and puts it over Michèle  and Simone is quick to give her shawl to Dahlia. Dahlia wanted to die from the humiliation. She wanted to set fire to this whole damned day. They are herded into the nurses office where they try to dry off. Her beautiful precious socks had been ruined, she wanted to cry. She quickly pulls out her short ankle socks that she had lazily stuffed in her bag instead of putting it away in the morning. She puts them on reluctantly. Thankfully you couldn't see the outline of her undergarments due to the dark navy colour she was wearing but the fabric stuck to her skin tightly. The girl had to make do with what they had as options were slim. Dahlia was finished and so the nurse had instructed her to go back to class.

At the end of the hall commotion could be heard. The scrapping of tables, loud thuds and shouts from the boys. She was certain a brawl had erupted between them over something stupid. She picks up her pace to see the show but when she had reached the room Descamps was on the ground holding on to his face yelling in pain. An angry Jean-Pierre stood close over him his fits clenched and with gritted teeth but even he couldn't control the worry of his face. His glasses had flew across the room and skidded towards Dahlia's feet. A teacher pushed past her towards the boy on his knees in peril. "Let me see." He demanded his hand on his back but he was crouched down hands firmly on his eye. "My eyes... I can't see anything." He managed to wail out. Dahlia's heart dropped as she bent down to pick up his glasses which stood in pool of broken glass. Joseph is guided out the room with the teacher. Dupin looks at me fear in his eyes for his friend and then at Jean-Pierre. "What have you done?" She exclaimed whilst he glared at the boy in scruffy clothes. He frowned, "I did it for Michèle, for you. He deserved it." Simone had appeared behind her and you could smell the jealousy of her as she looked between the two. Jean-Pierre mentioning Dahlia's name was just a miserable attempt to justify his actions.

"What if he dies." Dupin says idiotically which only earned a scowl from Dahlia who didn't want to even refer to his stupidity. Jean-Pierre began again, "she's my sister what do expect me to do, let this animal make a fool out of her?" He shrugged up another excuse. Dahlia didn't say anything half shocked that Michèle and Jean-Pierre were related but also the fact that he was right. All actions have their bitter consequences.

Dupin was unusually silent the rest of the day, no one cracked a joke. They seemed to had enough of jokes for the rest of the day learning their lesson. The dean had ushered Jean-Pierre into the office probably to punish him for his violence. Simone couldn't stop talking about him, filled with endless worry for the boy. "He's so intelligent, he's not a bad guy his heart was in the right place." She babbled on defending him to the others. There were whispers about Joseph Descamps none that had been proven true. Annick who was there had saw the whole fight between the boys and filled us in with the details.

By the next day Dahlia had forgotten about Joseph Descamps theatrical and walked into school a little less nervous then yesterday. However, her tight grip remains on her satchel. Her embroidered socks to her dismay were still wet so she was stuck with white stocking on this humid day. Thinking about stockings and socks made her go crazy at the time, like any girl would be. She walked past the bench where Descamps and his friends would be posted. When she saw the boy himself in the flesh she visibly flinched. To her shock he was there with a cotton patch on his injured eye staring back at her like a thug. She couldn't retract her eyes from the boy and was staring back shamelessly. In the moment his shattered glasses weighed down her satchel making its presence evident to Dahlia. She would hand it back to him but it would seem that it would be of no use to him. She could not help to feel a tinge of guilt for his unfortunate fate.