fin de siècle ; mixte 1963

chapter 11 ; i don't wanna live in a man's world anymore

Applebaum's dramatics were slowly getting annoying, to be frank. Gisele and Annick sat close to him, Pichon and Felbec during the break just because Dupin wanted to hear what exactly he was about to do, with the situation he was in. She expected some plotting, maybe some plans of retrieving the magazine to get rid of evidence or paying off the dean so that he would not say anything. But all she heard were cries of sorrow; quite irritating ones, to be honest.

"Shut up, you idiot," she said finally, looking at Applebaum with annoyance. "You did what you did. Now deal with it, instead of complaining."

The boy gasped at her words.

"I should deal with it? If it weren't for you two, nothing would happen!" he exclaimed, an accusatory glimpse in his eyes.

"Nothing would happen if you weren't a horny idiot," fired back Gisele. "And not just you, but all of the other morons as well. You are all just so fucking stupid that I don't even know what else should I call you."

Both Applebaum and Pichon went all red, while Felbec just rolled his eyes. Gisele honestly started to respect him a bit - he was one of the very few from their class who did not visit the bathroom, after all.

"You-"

"Applebaum, stop being such a wuss. You shouldn't have been so careless," Gisele didn't even notice when her friends came up to them, when she heard Charles' voice. "And leave Annick and Gigi out of it. It's you who fucked it all up."

"We can speak for ourselves," said Gisele through gritted teeth, still annoyed with all of them.

"And you owe us 40 cents," said Joseph to Applebaum, completely ignoring her words.

"Why is it my fault? It wasn't even my magazine," protested the boy, looking at the three.

"He has a point," said Lamazier, who apparently has been standing there the whole time, but went unnoticed by Gisele. She had to give it to her brother and Joseph; that guy really was giving off creepy vibes. He might make himself seem innocent, but he was sly; probably looking for a way to go without a punishment himself.

His little remark must have made her brother angry, because he caught the collar of Lamazier's shirt and looked at him threateningly.

"You better keep your mouth shut or I'll kick your ass," he hissed, his angry tone sounding so similar to Gisele's that it was almost crazy. Both her and Annick took a step back, opting to watch the whole situation from the sidelines, just in case everything went south.

"Calm down, you guys!" intervened Pichon immediately, looking at Jean and Lamazier with cautiousness.

"If he tells on us, we'll tell on everybody," said Charles, always the one to get himself and the two other idiots out of the mess. Despite the fact that it had helped her multiple times before, now Gisele found that irritating.

"No, you can't do that!" protested Pichon, turning to face Vergoux.

"Of course we can," replied Jean with his usual, confident smirk. At that exact moment, Gisele realised what it was like not to be a person either of them cared about; a collateral damage of any trouble they've found themselves in. "But you're the class leader. You'll find a solution, right, Pichon?"

With those words, he turned the other way, presumably about to walk away along with Charles and Joseph. But then he stopped suddenly and looked at Gisele.

"Are you going home by yourself, Gigi?" asked Jean, a hint of anxiousness masked by a load of indifference present in his tone; one that only Gisele was capable of catching on.

It was a code. Every time they fought, every time either of them were mad, they've always found a way to see how much anger the other one held. If Gisele said yes to such a question, it would mean that she was going to be furious for days. If she said no, Jean would know that she isn't as angry anymore and that all the emotions have already started coming down.