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The bookstore was empty when Juliette arrived home. No matter how hard she tried, a bug called anxiety crawled beneath her skin and never ceased to fade with its minuscule extremities, creeping and crawling, had made her itch the entire way home. Her heart skipped in beating palpitations. If there was one good thing that came from this disaster of a first day of school, it would be the fact that Juliette did not have to wake up at the crack of dawn, where not even the sun had not woken up to travel to an all-girls school in La Rochelle the next day.
It came to her in a dazzled frenzy the way Annick came dashing towards her through the courtyard, the words bubbling out of her mouth. This was the most emotion Juliette had ever seen on her dear friend, yet that notion was ultimately taken over by relief.
The girls were staying. Voltaire High will remain co-ed.
With all things considered, Juliette should be happy. There should not be any trace feelings besides relief and camaraderie, but recalling all the events that happened today, she would be coming home to what she assumes to be very worried grandparents.
"Julie!" Was the first thing her grandfather says when she enters through the front door. It echoed through the shop, between the bookcases and piles of novels and seeped into the sun-bleached pages of their display books.
Juliette greets her grandfather with a meek smile, pink dusting her cheeks as she makes her way around the counter covered with the newspaper from this morning, a cup of his afternoon tea, and a half-finished crossword puzzle. She was taken into his warm embrace, though brief, it was enough to calm the anxious fervor pumping through her veins.
"They called you didn't they?" Her voice muffled into his shoulder.
"Just this morning."
A sigh escaped Juliette's lips as she pulls away, "It's nothing too serious, just an hour detention after school tomorrow..."
"You were supposed to behave, Juliette." Her grandfather clicks his tongue with a firm 'tsk' followed by a disappointed shake of his head, "I promised your father you wouldn't get into any trouble or rebel in any way—"
He pauses, expression morphing into one of a subtle confusion.
