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˚✧₊⁎
When October arrived without warning, the summer heat escaped them just as quickly as the early autumn chill seeped into their bones. It gripped the morning air in a tight fist with flushed noses and red-tinted cheeks. Just like that, a little more than a month had passed since the arrival of the girls at Voltaire High but it didn't feel as such—at least not to Juliette.
Time moved as slowly as a blurry picture, quick yet slow enough to capture just a mere glimpse of a posed figure.
The mindless drone of Simone and Michéle's conversation was lost in the chatter of the school courtyard as Juliette, distracted as ever, looked down at her watch. Annick should've been here by now. A sigh leaves her, condensing into a white puff of smoke into the chilly air.
Simone flickers a look over her shoulder for the umpteenth time this morning. She was looking at Jean-Pierre again, Juliette was sure of it. She was curious to what her friend's yearning looks were directed towards, but it was to no one's surprise after the fifth time she twisted her neck just to catch a glimpse of the senior. Cigarette smoke escaped his nostrils, his slick back hair as perfect as ever and clad in a freshly dry cleaned wool coat. Perhaps it was Juliette's natural instinct to follow Simone's gaze once more as when she does, a familiar tuft of blonde appears behind Jean-Pierre, trudging her way onto school grounds.
"You had me worried for a second," mutters Juliette as the smallest smile melts upon Annick's lips as a greeting.
"Ran into someone this morning."
"Who?"
"Some... man." Annick answers.
Juliette's eyebrows furrow slightly, "is it anything I need to worry about?"
To what she expects to be a pitiful laugh of her terrible means of a joke instead fell flat. Annick hesitates. Just for the briefest of seconds. It worries her.
"No."
Juliette doesn't believe it.
"Good," she says anyway.
˚✧₊⁎
Her heart thumped against her ribcage for some odd reason. Her nerves burned and her palms perspired as it has been all day. Today had been nothing but boring lectures and passed back test scores. All of Juliette's grades thus far have been above average, fortunately, and yet she can't help but feel the slightest bit nervous whenever her test papers lands upon her desk. The red grade taunted her in spite of it all.
