fin de siècle ; mixte 1963

chapter 12 ; i'll keep it secret if you let me get a taste

"Losers," commented Gisele, looking at the uneasy expressions on the boys' faces. They were not enthusiastic about the punishment they were about to get, that one she was sure of.

"This gotta be the first time I'm gonna get detention for something that I actually regret doing," said her brother, huffing out the smoke. Gisele couldn't contain a small smile; she was glad that he at least knew what he did was wrong.

"You'll get over it," she said, throwing out her cigarette. "Have fun at the dean's office!"

With those words Gisele left them at the school yard, deciding to look for Annick. She was probably in the classroom, thought Gisele, after checking her watch and realising that the lesson was just about to start.

"Holy shit," she mumbled to herself when she went through the door and noticed how empty the classroom was. The girl immediately headed to Annick, who was already sitting at their desk.

"Holy shit indeed," was her friend's response. The bell rang in the exact same moment that Gisele took her seat and a minute later, Miss Couret entered the classroom, greeting everybody.

"Well, we won't wait for your classmates, since they are getting tortured in the dean's dungeons," joked Miss Couret, to which the whole class erupted with chuckles. Even Gisele could admit that the English teacher was one whose witty commentary was always funny.

"Today, we'll start with an article on President Kennedy's murder," continued Miss Couret, picking up the newspaper she'd placed on her desk before.

Gisele opened up her notebook, mentally preparing herself for taking lots of notes, when she realised the teacher had her focus on somebody in the back.

"What about the song?" said Laubrac, which brought the eyes of every present classmate towards him. The boy didn't get nervous, though, as some would do under such an amount of attention. Laubrac might be a quiet type, but definitely not an insecure one.

Miss Couret visibly tensed for a moment, then went back to her usual, professional stance.

"No, there won't be a song," she replied curtly. "I couldn't find the record."

Such a shame, thought Gisele, taking the copy of an article. Despite the fact that she had just a vague idea of who The Beatles were, listening to music seemed much more interesting than translating a text.

Seeing that Annick had already started working, Gisele let out a sigh, then got to reading the article herself.

It was going to be a long lesson.

***

"What's up, Jo?" asked Gisele, looking at the frazzled expression of the boy who was sitting next to her. "You seem more stressed than usual."

It was lunchtime already; all the boys came back from the dean's office, each one with a punishment of one month of detentions. Jean, Charles and Joseph definitely weren't pleased about it, but they weren't ones who would needlessly worry about such things, which meant that there must be something else bugging Descamps' mind.

"I don't," he replied, not meeting her eyes, taking a drag of his cigarette.

They were sitting in a secluded part of the school, one that was not visited frequently even by the teachers. The weather did not allow them to go outside - it had already been cold and foggy in the morning, but then it started raining and Gisele was not keen on getting drenched.

Jean and Charles wandered off somewhere, saying something about having business with Felbec. Gisele did not trust her brother's 'businesses' at all, but she didn't care enough; she figured that if it would be something shady, Joseph would have tagged along.