The sun hung lazily in the afternoon sky as the bustling courtyard of the Coeur Academy buzzed with the energy of students returning from their midday meals. Amongst the crowd, Gabriel Gaston, made his way through the sea of teenagers, his vibrant personality shining through.
Gabriel had always been known for his infectious enthusiasm and zest for life. His short, tousled brown hair danced in the warm breeze as he weaved through the throng of students. His silver-rimmed glasses perched on his nose added a touch of seriousness to his otherwise mischievous gaze.
The bell had chimed, marking the end of the lunch break, and Gabriel found himself heading towards his next class, Philosophy. He loved the subject, for it allowed him to contemplate and express the fundamental concepts of life. Today's class was on Albert Camus, an existentialist philosopher and writer.
As Gabriel entered the classroom, he greeted his classmates with a warm smile and took his seat at the back, near the window. He loved observing the outside world through the glass, finding inspiration and solace in the changing landscapes. The room was filled with the scent of old books and the soft murmur of students discussing their summer adventures.
A few students were still finishing up the meal that they'd been enjoying earlier in the day. Gabriel could tell by the sound of their stomachs rumbling that they must have eaten well, but not enough to warrant such intense hunger.
Gabriel sighed inwardly. He knew that the best things in this world couldn't be bought with money or even food. That's what his mother would say whenever she mentioned her plans to send Gabriel off to boarding school in the countryside.
Mademoiselle Martin, their philosophy teacher, entered the room, capturing everyone's attention with her elegant presence. With her neatly braided grey hair and round spectacles, she resembled the wise sages of ancient tales. Her passion for literature was infectious, and she had become a favorite among the students, Gabriel included.
She was also quite popular amongst all of the boys-they often whispered stories about her behind her back during class. However, Mademoiselle Martin was rumored to be strict and unforgiving last year. She believed strongly in the importance of education and the proper way to conduct a student's education.
She began the lecture by introducing herself, "Good evening, my students. I am Myla Martin, and I will be teaching your final year of high school Philosophy. I hope you are all ready to learn from me."
The students cheered, and Mademoiselle Martin smiled indulgently at them, "Yes, I know how passionate you all can get when it comes to learning new things. Now then, let us begin our lecture by examining the relationship between love and the intellect. We will explore how we might come into being, in order to form what we call ourselves. What is called the 'mind?' What constitutes a mind? And what distinguishes a person from one's thoughts and ideas?"
Gabriel listened attentively to his teacher's words, his heart beginning to pound. She was a good speaker-perhaps one of the most famous ones in Rouen. His friends would always tease him about his interest in the philosophers; however, none of them truly understood his fascination. They weren't aware that his desire to pursue greater knowledge came more from longing for understanding than anything else. His mother had once described his passion for reading as "the fire within his soul," something that would make him an excellent physician if he ever decided to devote his life to medicine.
Mademoiselle Martin began the class by asking the students to share their thoughts on "The Stranger," a novel by Camus.
Gabriel's hand shot up, eager to share his interpretation. His voice fluttered with excitement as he discussed the protagonist's philosophy of absurdity and pursuit of authenticity in a meaningless world.
She then asked them to explain how Camus's work affected their personal experiences in terms of love, friendship, and intellectual pursuit. When she was done, she instructed each student to write down his or her interpretation of the book and to read through the book together before sharing their findings with the group. This would hopefully provide some insight as to why they should engage themselves in further contemplation of the novel.
The discussions flowed, with students sharing diverse perspectives and engaging in thoughtful debates. Gabriel's spirit soared as he absorbed the different viewpoints, his mind sparking with new ideas. He contributed passionately, his words painting vivid pictures of existential dilemmas and the human condition.
He soon noticed another member of the student body staring at him, though she wasn't paying any particular attention to the conversation around her. Her eyes were fixed on him, boring holes into his back. She appeared intrigued by his speech.
Suddenly her face transformed into an expression of delight. He looked over his shoulder just in time to catch her eye-rolling dramatically with mock exasperation.
He felt a blush creeping across his cheeks and turned away. He was too embarrassed to even turn his head back in her direction.
It wasn't long until Gabriel heard the girl speaking again. It sounded like she was talking directly to him. "You don't know it, but you're one hell of a philosopher, Monsieur." There was no doubt that she addressed him directly now.
Gabriel's blush worsened, and his fingers started tapping nervously against the desk. It was difficult to keep his cool and appear calm while she continued.
Her voice had shifted back to its normal conversational cadence, but her words still caused him to stiffen, "And that was so interesting because it seemed to contradict what people usually think of philosophers... which is that they're stupid or uneducated intellectuals."
"What?"
He blinked, did she just-?
Gabriel wanted nothing more than to turn around and give her the cold shoulder. But he couldn't ignore a potential opportunity for academic advancement, especially since the class was about to end. Besides, she hadn't given up. She obviously expected something substantial in return for her kind gesture.
Gabriel swallowed hard, trying desperately to hold his composure and keep his temper. "What do you mean?" He managed to grit out.
The girl rolled her eyes, but there was still a small smirk dancing at the corners of her lips. "Well... people who believe that there are other beings above us are typically idiots. Their minds don't work in the same ways ours do. They are so limited by their beliefs that they can only see the things that they already assume exist. For example, someone like you thinks that there are ghosts, demons, and even spirits of animals like horses and wolves, and therefore believes that everything else on Earth has a similar existence as these creatures."
She shook her head in disappointment. "But I assure you, there isn't anything supernatural here. I don't want you to worry."
There was still a hint of amusement in her tone. Gabriel couldn't help but feel somewhat relieved. "Why not?" He didn't know exactly how to respond to her statement.
She shrugged, "Because it doesn't fit in with the rest of reality. We live on Earth for a reason. Ghosts aren't real, neither are dragons, and neither are fairies. If that makes any sense to you, then I can't imagine that what I'm saying makes much sense to anyone else either."
Gabriel nodded silently. She didn't seem to care whether he agreed with her or not. It was as though she thought he should know that all of his thinking was wrong and she wasn't wasting her breath trying to educate him.
"Now that you've got that bit of enlightenment out of the way..." The girl continued. "Do you agree that everything you know is wrong?"
This question threw Gabriel off guard. Was this really happening? He had never received such an inquisitive answer from a young woman who wasn't in his friend group, let alone a stranger whom he was supposed to dislike at that moment.
He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again, not sure what to say. Did he disagree with her point of view? Or did he agree with it? He wasn't quite sure. In all honesty, he wasn't completely convinced. He still had questions he needed answered, but now wasn't the time to ask them. Not yet anyway, he decided.
Gabriel hesitated a moment. Yes, he did understand that he was wrong to think of these beliefs, but he didn't think she could have possibly meant that everything he thought was wrong. He didn't believe it.
Gabriel answered carefully, "Of course, I don't believe every single thing I think is wrong. All of those beliefs are simply different interpretations of the same truth. I think that there are some truths that cannot be fully explained."
The girl laughed aloud. "I'm sorry... it sounds like you're making excuses for yourself! You know, there's a lot of nonsense about science and magic and all kinds of weird things. I wish that everybody would take the trouble to look beyond such superstitious notions and really analyze what they mean!"
She stood up from her desk and made her way toward the door of the classroom. She stopped at the doorway and gave him a curt bow.
"See you around Gabriel." And with that, she closed the door behind her.
As soon as it shut, Gabriel slumped in his chair, utterly defeated. "That was pointless, who the heck is she anyway?" He muttered under his breath.
~F/CO~
His next class is Physics and Chemistry-it's a class filled with kids who probably have very little idea of where science actually begins and ends.
Professor Larkin walked up to the front of the classroom and began talking. "Hello everyone, welcome to today's class. I want you all to introduce yourselves before class starts. I will be taking attendance first, please tell me your name, occupation, and specialty."
The boy next to Gabriel raised his hand, "I'm Emilien LeBeau, I study Biology and Physiology at the Sorbonne, my field of study is biochemistry and the biological sciences, I am especially great at the latter, yearning for a top place in this curriculum in the class, and I-"
Larkin interrupted impatiently, raising a finger, "Hold up." Then he turned toward the boy, "No need for further explanation; you clearly knew your subject material before I asked you to tell it. As far as I am concerned, that was enough. Now, please give others a chance to introduce themselves."
Emilien bowed politely to everyone else in the class and spoke to them briefly before sitting back in his seat. Gabriel noticed him roll his eyes slightly as he took his seat.
After a few moments, a tall boy with brown hair stood up, "Hi, my name is Nicolas de Montrose. My specialty is physics, my favorite hobby and interest is to create models from scratch."
He spoke with an air of confidence that didn't suit him, giving off a sense that he was uncomfortable. However, after he was finished he sat down again, as if he was waiting for his classmates to respond.
Professor Larkin introduced everyone one by one to him and then went on to assign the various topics of the day.
The professor glanced at the clock and then took out a large textbook with a worn leather cover. He flipped open to page 3 and pointed to the paragraph he wanted. "Okay," He said, flipping past a couple of pages, "that answers the basic introductions."
He scanned the room, pausing momentarily at Emilien and Nicolas' desks to make sure all of their attention was on the task at hand. His gaze lingered on Gabriel for a brief moment as he continued reading, "Let's get right into the important topic. Today we'll be discussing how quantum mechanics works."
Once again, Professor Larkin glanced at the clock, checking the time once more. After he did so, he began his lecture, detailing how the fundamental theory of quantum physics worked and explaining how it worked at macroscopic scales.
Gabriel listened intently to every word he was saying. He tried his best to pay proper attention, but he couldn't help being distracted by thoughts of what he learned in the class before Physics.
For the last hour or two of the class, the discussion focused primarily on the fundamentals of quantum mechanics that Gabriel didn't really understand. However, he did notice that Professor Larkin didn't focus all that much on the topic of relativity as opposed to other theoretical fields such as gravity or quantum mechanics. Maybe they would spend the entire hour doing the discussion of gravitational physics instead, although he doubted that he'd ever be able to comprehend such complicated concepts in that short amount of time.
He was certain that he'd be spending the next two hours explaining why it was impossible to pull apart light rays into their component parts.
He was proven wrong once again. Just minutes later, the bell rang and everyone began packing up their belongings. Gabriel grabbed his book bag and placed the notebook inside.
He glanced across the room, noticing that the girl from earlier still wasn't anywhere to be seen.
Gabriel sighed. So many things kept popping up and distracting him lately.
He was beginning to wonder whether that would always be the case.
Just as he went with the rest of his classmates to the third subject of the day, he saw two familiar people that he barely remembered in front of the school. They're talking about something significant with the hush tones.
Curiosity piqued, and Gabriel's eyes lingered on them as they exchanged hushed words. His gut told him that there was more to this conversation than met the eye.
He also noticed the tension in the air between the two individuals. Their expressions were serious, with furrowed brows and whispered urgency. Unable to resist, he drew closer, Gabriel's footsteps grew quieter, careful not to disrupt their privacy. He strained his ears to catch any discernible words. The soft murmurings of their conversation gradually became clearer:
"...mentioned there is another-..." The charismatic boy said, concealed concern lacing his voice.
The girl responded with a determined tone, "...can't risk letting them find out,"
The white-black-haired boy responded, "...stick together with Jean-.....find a way out-.....can't let them trail us."
Gabriel's mind spun with questions. What were they referring to? And what sort of stalk-relative issue is this? It was clear that something crucial was at stake, and Gabriel had stumbled upon a secret he wasn't meant to uncover.
The urgency in their voices suggested a situation, one that demanded immediate action.
That didn't exactly inspire confidence, given that Gabriel had no idea what was going on, nor did he intend to wait around until he was informed. He was going to try and eavesdrop on this interesting conversation.
Before he could move away from where he was standing, the two turned. They both looked tense.
With these questions floating around in his head, Gabriel quickly followed the students out into the outside, following as unobtrusively as possible so as not to attract unwanted attention.
A few yards away, he could hear another voice more clearly now; they appeared to be coming from behind the school building.
When he passed through the entrance of the building and came out into the sunlight he realized that he wasn't following any of them.
"What the?" He glanced around confusingly.
He'd lost sight of them.
Gabriel looked around in puzzlement. Had they disappeared from within the building? He could see that the school gates were wide open, allowing access to the surrounding area. Even so, he couldn't see anyone around him.
Just then, he heard a muffled shout in the distance and immediately tensed up, ready for a fight. He held his breath as he waited for some attack that would appear.
...
Nothing happened. He looked around, but he didn't see any obvious threats.
Gabriel slowly relaxed himself, holding his head as an almost deranged chuckle came out.
"W-what is wrong with me today? I'm being jumpy." He could feel a headache coming up.
He straightened himself and went back inside to his third class. No way he's going back to follow people somewhere like a stalker.