WRITER IN THE DARK , neil perry

03

"amélie, you made it." knox grinned, amé giving a small wave to him, taking in all the unfamiliar faces awkwardly as she scanned the room quickly.

"so you're telling me this girl is actually real?" one of his friends snickered, a few of the other boys laughing as well.

amélie sheepishly grinned at the comment, and pointed towards mari. "uh, this is marianne dubois. she's my roommate."

"oh, and i'm amélie." she added. "laurent." she added again quickly, her accent dominating while she said her last name.

marianne sat down on a rock, near the entrance. amélie sat down beside her, feeling her face getting hot again as she scanned the room.

none of the boys spoke, they only gazed at the girls.

"charlie dalton. you two are beautiful." one piped up, a confident smirk on his face. amélie couldn't be less interested.

"aw well, thank you." marianne responded, a slight blush rising onto her cheeks. she twirled her blonde hair around her finger as she smiled goofily.

more silence after that, before another boy spoke up. he had dark hair matched with equally as dark eyes, and an adorable smile that was super contagious.

"knox told us you were a poet." he hummed, eagerness in his eyes. you could tell that he was really into poetry by the way he smiled talking about it.

"i'm not really." amélie shrugged, her face a bright red. she really didn't want to be talking about this.

marianne frowned at her, and poked at amé's notebook. "most of the stuff in my notebook isn't even my work." she quickly added.

"can we hear some of the stuff in your notebook?" the boy asked. amé really didn't want to, but the smile on this boy's face and the eagerness in his eyes made her heart pound. she couldn't bear to have him look at her in her eyes for any longer, but at the same time it was all she needed.

amélie quietly nodded, pulling out her notebook and standing up. she hit her head on the roof as she stood, making the boys chuckle.

"amélie, are you okay?" marianne asked, covering her mouth to stop herself from giggling.

"i'm fine." amélie nodded. she opened her notebook to a random page, and waited until everything was quiet before she started reading.

"he wanted all to lie in an ecstasy of peace; i wanted all to sparkle and dance in a glorious jubilee. i said his heaven would be only half alive; and he said mine would be drunk. i said i should fall asleep in his; and he said he could not breathe in mine." she recited. her embarrassment faded for a few seconds, before she realized she was actually reciting this in front of a bunch of boys.

"emily brontë, wuthering heights." she quickly said, sitting down.

silence filled the cave. it hurt amé's ears to listen to. she was so embarrassed she almost ran out of the cave and went home right then and there. "can you read us another one?" another boy piped up, his voice quiet. he didn't say it in a disappointed way, but in a stunned way. he didn't realize how good amélie's recitation would be and now that he knows, it's all he wants to hear.

she blushed, flipping to a random page in her notebook. "i suppose so, if you like it that much."

"if i read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me, i know that is poetry. if i feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, i know that is poetry. these are the only ways i know it. is there any other way?" she read aloud, a proud smile on her face.

"emily dickinson." amé bit her lip to keep from smiling wide and shut her notebook.

"wow." one of the boys exhaled.