SAY MY NAME - [J. DESCAMPS]

SIX

"But how could he have know ?! He doesn't even live in our neighbourhood !"

I rolled my eyes. "Simone, for the hundredth time, I have absolutely no idea. Here," I handed the change to the baker with a smile, before I grabbed our croissants. "Have a good day !"

Simone had come to pick me up this morning —it wasn't the first time, her aunt lived just at the end of my street. She had something extremely important to tell me and it could apparently not wait.

So I had left my house a little bit earlier than usual, not without stealing a few francs from my dad's pockets to take viennoiseries on our way.

"Is he going to talk ?" she asked me timidly as we left the bakery.

I've made the terrible mistake to tell her about Descamps and how he knew about her secret. Now she just couldn't stop yapping about it.

"You don't have to worry," I waved her off. "He wants me to be the bad guy."

Simone frowned. "What do you mean ?"

I shrugged, taking a bit of my croissant. "He's trying to turn Jean against me. Making me look like a bad friend seems to work."

"No way," she laughed. "Descamps is afraid that you might steal his best friend ?"

"Apparently..."

As we made our way to school, Simone switched topics to talk about Jean-Pierre and how their relationship was going. It seemed that Michelle's parents weren't quite fond of the Pieds-noirs, which did not ease a possible meeting between them and Simone.

"You don't think it's just an excuse to avoid you meeting his parents ?"

"There's a lot of people who don't like the Pieds-noirs... and I don't really think he would've lie to me. Not after what we've done."

"What have you two done ?" I asked with genuine curiosity, wiping the crumbs left on my mouth.

Simone stopped her tracks to look at me and I did the same.

She gave me a sly smile. "What do you think we both did in his room ?"

My eyes widened. "You...did that ? In his room ?"

"Yes !" Simone jumped with excitement.

"Oh my god ! When ?"

"Last weekend," she said as we started to walk again. "Michelle and his parents were away so we took the opportunity... You know Rose, I've never felt this happy before. It's like... a dream."

I cracked a smile. "If you're happy, then I'm happy for you," I told her as I squeezed her arm. "I just hope that the two of you took precautions !"

Simone waved her hand in the air. "Oh, don't worry about that. He pulled out."

"Pulled... out ?" I winced, slightly ashamed by my inexperience on the subject. "What does that mean ?"

Sure, my mom had taught me some things about sexuality. Like how protection was extremely important to not have a baby or a serious disease... But she never talked about pulling out.

Simone laughed. "Yeah, you know what I mean, right ? He pulled out before he finished. Like out of me," she added when she noticed the confusion on my face.

"Oh... Oh. I think I got it," I mumbled as I felt my cheeks warm. "Is it safe to.. do such thing ?"

"Of course ! I wouldn't have let him if it wasn't. None of us want a baby right now, I can assure you that," she chuckled.