A French Girl in New York ( The French Girl Series #1)

Chapter 1

That is how Maude learned to play elabo­rate classical pieces such as Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Debussy, and Chopin. Every Saturday, Maude grew more and more determined to leave the Ruchets' household at eighteen and start her classical music career at the Conservatoire de Paris. She worked hard, and before going to sleep, she thought of and composed new melodies, variations of songs she knew or songs she herself created and brought to life the following Saturday afternoon in that small library room.

How she had been delighted, that same morning, when Ms. Clement, her French literature teacher had announced a day trip to Paris in November! Mrs. Ruchet never gave her permission to roam on her own in the town or to spend time with friends. Nevertheless, Maude was determined to be among the students, participating in that trip. It's not even as if she had any friends to roam around town with, thought Maude wistfully, not wanting to admit to herself that she still longed for friendship. Deep down she felt it would be a nice change to have people to talk to apart from the Ruchet twins whom she had to look after and who considered her as nothing more than an annoying nanny. She had craved for friendship and a family for a long time. She had even foolishly thought kindness, docility, and serviceability would win Mrs. Ruchet over.

Maude laughed dryly at her own foolish­ness. She had now wholly given up on the idea of making any friends with her classmates, who continuously mocked her worn-out clothes. She had also abandoned the hope she had harbored to one day become close to Mrs. Ruchet, who never considered her as anything other than a housekeeper, a baby-sitter for her twins, and of course, her personal maid. After having under­stood that, Maude had become determined to follow her dreams and leave Carvin for good in two years. She would never have to obey Mrs. Ruchet's orders again, Maude thought, happily picturing herself independent and free, roaming wide Parisian streets.

Mrs. Ruchet was a big, imposing woman with short, curly, blonde hair tangled wildly around her oval face. She spent most of her days sitting on her couch, her two huge legs propped on a dark green cushion in front of her, watching soap operas on television, all the while hating the actresses for being so thin. Her dark eyes accompa­nied her constant pout, which occasion­ally turned into a smirk when Maude didn't plush her cushion like she was supposed to. Her foster mother had been especially difficult these last two days as she had started an umpteenth new diet. Maude couldn't help but smile, remembering watching Mrs. Ruchet uncommonly munch on nothing but red vegetables and fruits for the last few days. She swallowed nothing but tomatoes, radishes, capsicum, strawberries, cherries, and was forced to drink tomato juice.

This proved to be quite difficult. Mrs. Ruchet, for many years now, had been addicted to one drink. Ever since she had stopped smoking ten years ago, she had transferred all her affections towards one light brown liquid she drank day in, day out, rain or shine.

Mrs. Ruchet was addicted to Lipton Peach Iced Tea.

There was an orange basin on the table next to her couch that Maude made sure was never empty. The orange basin was full of ice, waiting for Lipton Iced Tea and the big red straw to drink it. Nobody in Carvin understood where this infatuation came from, and they were all disgusted by it. But nobody ever said anything because she was the wife of one of the most influential men in the town. So people just watched as she drank gallons of iced tea that Maude poured her in the gigantic orange basin. She could spend days in a row lying on that sofa, gorging on ice tea, and jamming trays of assorted cold cuts in her mouth to accompany her beverage. Mrs. Ruchet never let her twins eat sweets but she, on the other hand, before the diet, could never get enough of Snickers and M&Ms, which she loudly crushed under her teeth while ordering Maude around.

On the present evening, she had sent Maude into the rain to go buy her bottles of ice tea and tomato juice. Needless to say, she was slowly slipping back into her former diet, and Maude was paying the price for it.