- Afterglow -
01:43 ━━━━●───── 03:50
It's been some time since Carl has been hanging out with us. He's nice and absorbing. With him as my neighbor in class, it's less boring. Most of the time he's with Liam but sometimes he disappears. Usually, it's on Monday morning, he arrives later than on the other days. But he always smiles just like my sunshine friend. Also, he helps me a lot in my quest to learn French.
On the other hand, Marie has been acting strange... sometimes it looks like she's back to her old self. She stays quiet most of the time even when it's just us two. I questioned the other -separately so they don't worry- and, fortunately, or not, they noticed the same.
So today, after training, I will have to talk with her. I spent the whole night thinking of every scenario that could justify this change of attitude. Maybe she's angry with one of us? Or did she find out something about us that displeased her? But it doesn't make sense that none of us are criminals or psychopaths. Or, even worse, maybe marie is back? ... no she would have told James or me.
When I arrived at the swimming pool, I went to Antoine. At the end of the training, he usually takes two swimmers to tidy the material, verify that the water lines are fixed, and start the robot to clean the bottom of the pool. Usually, we're most likely to escape this task that makes us stay longer but today I went to ask him to put me and Marie on duty. As expected, he was a little surprised but when I was about to explain to him why, he stopped me and recited everything I was about to say. I mean why do I even bother? He's the coach: he knows everything.
Now, at the end of our training session, we're waiting for the last one to get out of the water so the coach can start his 'next competition' speech. He always does that when a competition is approaching, it's his way of telling us the plan for the week for those who are going to participate and for those who aren't. He sets some goals, says encouraging words, warns the usual troublemaker swimmer, and then he gives us the unlucky duo who gets the chance to tidy the pool when the others get to leave.
"... That's all for the competition, now let's see who gets to stay later today."
It became a game for him, he have a boll with our name written on a piece of paper which is classified. And when he announces this, he puts the name in a letter and acts as if we won an Oscar. So he takes his letter, proud, and looks at us.
"So today cleaners are .... Marie and Silver! Congrats."
The others cheer and clap their hands, glad they didn't get chosen. The others wish us good luck and leave but James stays to talk with Marie.
"I'll wait for you, 'kay? Don't press yourself, I'll wait so we can walk home together."
From the side of my eye, I can see Marie slightly flinch at the word 'home' but she quickly comes back to herself and just nods at James. I guess she's still not used to call the Miller's house 'Home' even if she getting better at it. He smiles, a little smile like he's not convinced too, and leaves to join the other. Marie turns to me and tries to smile but I'm not convinced...I've seen her do better than that even before we became official friends.
"It's been a while since we've been together on this duty. Last time, I was with James. Looks like I'm being paired with all the Miller, Lindsey next time?"
Her smile changes a little, this one is a little bit better.
"Yeah, last time I was with Liam. I bet you can't be a better partner than the sunshine boy."
I fake being offended and she laughs. That's better. I prefer this laugh to her false and disobliging one. She takes a swimming plank and throws a pull boy at me.
"I take the plank, you take the pull boy, the first one to finish gets to put the music in the locker room."
I nod, now that's a real challenge. I must win for the sake of Taylor! I look at the material on the stud.
"Hey! Wait a minute, you only have one plank!"
She smiles as she walks fast to the storage. Am I stupid? We didn't use planks today, only Josh did because he got hurt on his shoulder. I take the pull boy as fast as I can but she's already out, smiling from her victory.
"I won! Tonight we're listening to rock! "
I had a small chance of still getting Taylor -because Marie likes her music too- but tonight she's in a rock music mood. This is Lindsey's fault. She's the one who made her listen to this type of music. Marie walks to me to help me carry all the pull boys. I look at her.
"You tricked me..."
"Tricked you? No, I saved you.... from a burnout of the queen Taylor Swift."
'The queen'.
"I can never get a burnout of Taylor. It's impossible. It's like getting a burnout of you."
...Did I say that out loud? I look at her and she smiles. Even with her wet hair and red eyes, she's beautiful. Is it a swimmer thing to find those things beautiful? Wait-no that doesn't make sense...we just tolerate it better than the 'normal' person.
"I'll take this compliment, thank you, Silver."
We throw the pull boy in their case and leave the storage. Now we have to verify the line, Marie takes the tool and starts the verification on the line between the corridor 1 and 2. I take the occasion to ask her about the group. I'm trying to know if she's mad at someone. I mean I doubt it but it might lead to the real problem. James is the first one I ask about but it's not him, she got news from Lindsey on the phone and met her boyfriend by Visio call.
"He said that next time he'll come with Lindsey and cook for everyone," she laughed.
So it's not them, I then ask about Rebecca but it's not her. I just learned that since they both don't participate in the next competition they planned to go watch a movie. Liam is the next one but as expected there's no problem with him. He talks a lot and loves to put his nose in everyone's business but somehow he seems to never upset them. And that's incredible. I continued my questionnaire as she verified and fixed the line between corridors 5 and 6. Time is almost up! And I still haven't found what's wrong ... alright, who am I missing? I have done Max, Lucie, and the coach...is it, Doctor Myers or Miss Denis? It doesn't make sense she would have told us if it was any of them. Maybe it's me ... wait it could be me. Is she upset about...that? ...No, stop being paranoid Silver, she said she wouldn't talk to me if it was ever the case.
Now that I think about it, I was surprised to find Carl here at that time. And the atmosphere was weird ...is it Carl that made her act weird? I look at her moving to the last line between 7 and 8. I never asked what she thought of Carl. I like him but ... I don't speak French so even if he said something weird to her I wouldn't know.
"Hey, Marie, what do you think of Carl?" I asked.
I see her flinch a little and stop her action. She blinks twice and continues.
"It's been two weeks since he arrived in our class and I wonder if we're going to keep contact with him after he goes back to France."
She looks at me and I can clearly tell there's something wrong.
"Well, I don't know for everyone," she insists on the word everyone, " but for Liam...yeah, he'll never let him go back to France without at least one way to contact him."
She smiles but I'm not buying it. Something is wrong ... and it's Carl.
"What do you think of Carl?" I ask again.
She shrugs.
"I don't know ... he's nice, I guess. I mean if Liam is friends with him so ... yeah, he's fine."
That's a lie. That's a lie. Why is she lying? That's the question.
"That's not what you think, isn't it? Tell me the truth, Marie, what do you think of Carl?"
She sighs, annoyed. If you don't answer, I will ask you again and again until you tell me the truth. I don't want you to lose yourself again. She gets up and poses the tool and starts to leave in the direction of the room where we keep the robot. Yep, she wants this conversation to end. But that's not what I want. I ran to catch up, passed my arms around her waist, and stopped her from taking another step. She punches me in the stomach with her elbow as a response.
"Let me go, stupid child!"
I fake thinking before laughing. I smile.
" Nah, I'm good."
"James is waiting for me!"
She still tries to leave but I start to tickle her and she quickly breaks into laughter. I follow her in joy and as we take a step near the water, then another one, and somehow we fall into the pool. I keep her in my arms until we reach the bottom. A lot of bubbles are moving above, trying to reach the surface unlike us. Ugh, how I love being here ... Marie stopped wiggling but I saw her hand move around to make some waves.
My back touches the ground and I finally let her go but she reaches for my hand and keeps it in hers. She lays next to me and we look at the bubble swimming away. I hope the coach doesn't look for us because he will turn off the light if he doesn't see us there.
After some time, Marie signaled to me that she was going up because she had no air left in her lungs. She pushes the bottom of the pool and swims to the surface. I see her sitting on the edge - probably waiting for me -. I see her play with the water making more and more bubbles. I should join her. I love being down there but I prefer to be with her.
When I reach the surface, we exchange looks and she smiles. I sit next to her, my legs are still in the water.
"Why did you do that?"
She smiles and that's the most beautiful thing I've seen today. I shrug... I wanted to stop her from running away so I can figure out what's wrong but ... I didn't have to push her in the water for that. I did because I wanted to.
"I just wanted to ... you seemed down after ... sorry, I shouldn't force you."
She looks at me and for the first time in a while, I can't guess what she's feeling, or thinking. Her eyes are empty and she doesn't move. Is she really looking at me or is there something behind? This situation feels oddly familiar...just like when marie was here. Finally, after a few seconds that felt like an eternity, she sighs.
"I should be sorry, I had you worried... but I just- I just...you're right I don't think Carl is nice."She says before continuing. "At least not with me."
I don't say a word. I want her to continue.
"Ever since he found me behind the gymnasium, he has been coming every time I'm alone there, asking questions about my life in France where I can't answer because I don't know. And his smile when he says 'it's okay, you don't have to answer' is so creepy! Like it creeps me out every time."
So that's where he disappears every time. That's not good. Marie needs to have some alone time -we all do but for Marie we all know when it is- on Monday morning. It's her time, even I, I am not welcome here. But why does Carl act like that?
"When we're all together, he is normal... I guess. He seems to be a different person. And he is actually nice. Damn it, did I do something wrong?"
One of the few times where Marie swears.
"Have you talked about it with him?"
"He's freaking me out! I can't!"
"Of course you can, Marie."
Of course, you're one of the strongest person I know.
" Do you want ... me to come with you? For emotional support, y'know? "
She giggles softly and puts her head on my shoulder. Is this a yes or a no? I still don't know.
"I'm sorry to bother you with that...."
"I prefer to be 'bothered' by that than by you saying nothing and acting distant," I look at her. "For a moment I thought I did something wrong or that marie was back...you'd tell me if she was?"
She nods. I sigh, relieved. I know we build a trust relationship, at least from my perspective, but I can't help but worry.
After, some time playing with water, Marie gets up and start to walk in the direction of the robot room. She stops and look at me.
"Thank you, for worrying about me...."