Kids That I Once Knew

Dating Harry, I see.

          “Oh, gosh, how inappropriate,” she apologized, “I should have asked permission to sit down.” She panicked, holding a hand over her mouth. I noticed she had braces on her teeth.

          “Oh, don’t worry,” Geoff, another judge, waved her off, flashing a warm smile. “You have our permission.”

          She shrugged, sitting down again. “Okay then.”

          “So,” I began, “tell us about yourself.” The judges and I took our pens to start taking notes.

          She clapped her hands together. “Well, my name’s Juliette—not Juliet, like Romeo and Juliet—you see, there’s difference in pronunciation. Like, JU-liet and Ju-li-ETTE. It's a French name, you see.” She stressed the syllables, marking the difference between the words.

          The judges and I blinked. She was radiating confidence.

          “So, yeah, I live in Canada. I speak Spanish and a little bit of German. Oh, and I’m currently learning French, because, you know, how can you survive in Canada without speaking French?” She didn’t wait for our reply. “Psh, I know, right?”

          By this point, the judges and I had put down our pens and were listening intently to the girl, Juliette.

          She kept telling us about her life, which seemed, in my opinion, very entertaining. She talked about her mixed-race family; about her friends that once managed to get her into the hospital by accidentally breaking her clavicle in the middle of a dog pile; and about her boyfriend whom she loved dearly, even though she couldn't bring herself to show it one bit. She even told us how, before her boyfriend, her high school crushes had never taken interest in her, and how she had wanted ‘to shove their pathetic, hollow heads up their butts ‘till they came out their throats’.

          By the time she was finished, the judges and I were in fits of laughter. Nonetheless, Juliette was not laughing but flashing a small , confused smile. It was like she was used to things like those she talked about to happen.

          Once we sobered up with a sigh, Geoff told her, “Juliette, I’m afraid we didn’t catch your surname.” The smile never left his face… or ours, for that matter.

          Juliette bit her lip in concentration, before responding. “Excuse my ignorance…” She leaned forward and narrowed her eyes in a manner that expressed confidentiality, “but what’s a surname?” She asked in a whisper, pronouncing the word as if it were in another language.

          Her question shot us into giggle fits once again, but this time I managed to sober up before the other two men. “You see, my name is Cameron Appleton.” I explained, earning a confused look from Juliette. “Appleton is my surname.”

          A look of realization crossed Juliette’s features as her lips curved into a small O. “You mean, my last name?”

          We nodded and waited for her response.

          “You guys,” she reached across the desk to smack my arm jokingly. “Speak proper English!”

          I snorted. “If anything, you should be the one speaking proper English.” I stuck my tongue out at her, before smirking.

          She fake gasped and giggled after. “Anyhoes, my last name is Franceschini.” She stated, leaning back on her chair and crossing one leg over the other.