Celine
I have dinner in my room. I'm setting the plate on my bedside table once I've finished when the door opens.
My dad walks in, smiling softly. "Hi, baby."
I look at the book in his hand and frown. "I'm going to sleep."
"It's six."
"And I have to get a good nights sleep since you're making me go to that shit hole tomorrow!"
He tilts his head and walks over to me, sitting next to me on my bed. He wraps his arm around my shoulders. "Just for a couple minutes." He assures me.
My frown deepens. He tucks me into his side and opens the book with one hand, flipping the lamp on the bedside table on for extra light. He holds it up, looking at me, and I look back up at him.
"You can start." He says.
I sigh heavily and peer my eyes, beginning to read from the page.
Adrien
Celine reads six pages before she demands I leave. I get off the bed and lean down, kissing her cheek. "I'm proud of you, baby."
She rolls her eyes and turns onto her stomach, closing her eyes. I check the time on my phone. It's half past six. Is she going to sleep now?
"Why don't you go sit with some of your brothers?" I suggest.
"I'm tired."
I frown. "I still need to talk to you about what you did yesterday."
"No you don't."
"Celine." I say.
She groans. "Whatever. I'll never do it again. You can leave now."
"Anything could've happened to you."
"Well it didn't, did it?" She replies.
"But it could have." I counter. "Celine, promise me you're never going to do anything like that again."
"I probably am." She responds.
I let out an exasperated breath.
"I'm joking! Don't get your knickers in a twist." She mumbles. "I'll never do it again. There."
"Okay. Good, thank you." I lean down and wrap my arm around her shoulders. I kiss her cheek, and she moves away from me.
I frown but get off the bed. I leave the book on the nightstand, even though I doubt she'll pick it up. I turn the lamp off, and she turns on her side, away from me.
"Goodnight, baby."
She doesn't reply.
I walk out of her room.
Celine
"Celine." Léo's the one who wakes me up. I peel my eyes open, looking up at him. He's smiling. He has his uniform on, but his tie is just around his neck and not tied. His blonde hair is disheveled too, like he just woke up and threw everything on. "It's time to wake up. Dad made breakfast."
"No." I whine.
"Come on." He says.
I groan and sit up, then climb out of bed. I follow him down the stairs, then to the kitchen. Camilo is already sitting on one of the stools when we get there, talking to our dad, who looks over and smiles at us.
"Hey, guys. Come sit down." He says. I walk over and sit on one of the stools. My dad slides a plate of food over, as well as a cup of tea. "There you go, sweetheart."
"I'm not that hungry." I mutter.
"Just eat what you can." He tells me.
I do. I stay quiet as all of them talk. I get full quickly, then push my plate away before following the food down with the rest of my tea.
"Finished?" My dad questions.
I nod.
"Alright, go get dressed."
I sigh (heavily) before sliding off the stool and walking back up to my room. My uniform is folded over my desk chair. I begin getting changed, and when I'm finished I brush my teeth, wash my face and put a bit of moisturiser on.
"Celine!" Camilo shouts. He says my name again, his voice nearer this time, before opening my door. "Dad can't drive us. We have to walk. Come on."
I frown. "Why not?"
"He just has to do something. Let's go."
I sigh and shrug my coat on, then slide my shoes onto my feet. I throw my bag over my shoulder and we both leave my bedroom. Léo is waiting by the door when we get there. He passes me a cold water bottle that I stuff into my blazer pocket, as well as a lunch box. I go to take it from him but he tells me to turn around and he puts it in my bag for me.
"Thanks." I whisper. "Where's dad?"
I thought he'd be here to say goodbye.
"He's in his study." Camilo tells me.
"Let's leave. We'll be late." Lèo urges.
I sigh. "I can't believe he's making a cancer patient walk."
Léo frowns. He doesn't say anything. I trail behind them as we walk, my headphones blaring music in my ears. I keep my eyes on the wet ground, occasionally walking through shallow puddles to avoid going on the road.
When we get to the school gates, Léo sets his hand on my shoulder and guides me inside. He looks down at me. "I'll walk you to your form."
"I can go on my own." I mumble.
"It's okay." He responds. He takes me to the top floor, where my form class is. It's mostly empty when I get there. "What's your last lesson?"
I shrug, then get my timetable out. "Maths."
"Okay. I'll meet you there when school is over."
"Why?"
"Camilo and I have a basketball game."
"What's that got to do with me?" I ask.
"Dad will only be able to pick us up after it. He was gonna come but he'll be busy all day." He looks sad as he says it. "He doesn't want you walking home alone so you have to wait with us."
I sigh. "Okay. Bye."
"Bye." He replies. I walk over to my seat in form and lay my head on the desk. I close my eyes, opening them when I hear the teacher say my name.
"Celine." He says. "Where have you been?" He sounds angry. Why does he sound angry?
"None of your business." I respond, scowling. I lean back in my seat and wrap my arms around myself, crossing my thighs and leaning down to pull a notebook out of my bag. Form lasts for thirty minutes, and since I have no friends in here I decide to scribble on the pages with a pen I find on my desk.
As the bell rings, Amy walks inside. I roll my eyes and shuffle my chair as far away from hers as possible. She sits down and glances at me. She looks away, but then looks at me again.
"What?" I ask.
"What?"
"Am I painted blue, or something? Stop looking at me." I snap.
"The fuck is your problem?"
"You." I say.
"Girls, stop." Our form teacher says. I scowl at him, and he straightens in his seat. "Celine, go stand outside. Now."
"What did I even do?" I ask.
"Outside. Now!" He shouts, drawing attention from other students.
I grab my bag, and my coat, then shove my notebook into the former.
"You can leave your stuff here." He says.
"I'm not coming back." I respond, then walk out of the classroom. It's only been like five minutes and I'm already fed up with this stupid school and everyone in it.
"Get to form." A male teacher says as he walks past me.
"Get a toupée." I snap. If he leaned down a little I'd be able to see my reflection in the growing bald spot on the back of his head.
He shouts something, but I open the door to the staircase and walk down to the second floor. I go to the fashion department and decide to sit down there. It's peaceful here, and I can take inspiration for my figure skating dress from everything around me.
I frown. What if I never even get to wear the dress? I'm not allowed to skate now, but that doesn't mean I'll never be able to. I'll be more prepared then with a dress ready to go and won't have to worry about as much.
I pull my notebook out again and sketch a new design for a dress. Form time is almost over when a teacher walks over to me. She has blonde wavy hair and a kind smile on her face. "Hello." She says.
"Hi."
"Is your form down here?" She asks.
"No."
She frowns. But she doesn't say anything about the fact I should be in my form class, not down here designing a dress.
"Can I see your paper?"
I glance at her warily but nod. I slide the notebook over to her, and she picks it up, examining the dress on there. She smiles. "This is very good. Do you take fashion?"
I shake my head. "My dad picked all my classes."
"Oh." She frowns again. "I think you should talk to him about changing. I think you'd do very well in my class."
"Really?" I whisper.
She nods. "What's your name?"
"Celine Monet."
"Well, Celine, I hope your dad lets you move classes." She smiles again. The bell rings, and she walks away to go set up a class, probably.
I put my notebook into my bag and bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling.
•
I first see Riley at break time. I'm walking alone when she comes up behind me. She taps my shoulder, and I spin around. She's grinning at me. "Hey!"
"Hi."
"Will you come to the break line with me? I wanna get crisp. I had no breakfast. My mum hasn't gone shopping in, like, ages. She's super worried about Frankie."
"Why? And you can have something from my lunch instead, if you want. My dad probably put loads. I think he thinks I don't eat enough."
"Oh, thanks. And he went missing." She shrugs. I furrow my eyebrows. Does she not care? Does she not miss him? It makes me think if I'd miss my brothers if they went missing. I would. I think I'd miss Léo or Julien the most, though.
"I'm sorry." I whisper. "Hopefully you guys will find him soon."
"Can I tell you something?" She asks, her voice hushed as we head toward one of the breakout areas. We sit down, and I nod. "I like it better now that he's not here. Sometimes.. sometimes he'd get really angry and shout everywhere. He'd be horrible to me and my mum and then leave. My mum would be up all night calling him and one time she even got the police. I think she was scared of him. He made our lives miserable. I hope he doesn't come back."
Sympathy swirls inside of me. "You know if he ever does come back?" I question. She nods. "You can come stay at my house. I don't think my dad would mind." As I talk, I get my lunchbox out and set it on the desk. I open it, finding that I was right. My dad has packed enough food for the whole school to eat. "Take whatever and however much of it you want."
She smiles. "Thank you."
"It's okay." I say. "Do you take fashion?"
"No. My friend Lina does, though. Why?"
"I got sent out of form earlier and I went down to the fashion department. The teacher wants me to go into her class. Do you think I should?"
"Lina really likes it. I think it'd be good. It's like a free lesson, really. Why didn't you pick it?"
"My dad picked my classes. He picked the worst ones." I complain.
"Do you think he'll let you change?"
I nod. "He only picked them because I refused to talk about school in the days leading up to it."
"What are you gonna swap it with?"
"I wanna swap French, but he definitely won't let me. He's like, you're French, Celine, and everyone else can speak French. Like, okay? When did I ask?"
She laughs. "You can't swap French. You're the only friend I have in that class."
I smile. "I won't. I'll change Geography. He picked both humanities. It's like he wants me to be miserable."
She laughs again. Then she smiles faintly. "I'm glad you came to this school, Celine."
"I'm glad you copied my work on the first day and spoke to me, otherwise I'd be sitting in the toilets on my phone right about now."
She giggles. My lips tilt up at the corners into a smile.