The living area window in Isla's house ^
My friend asked me how to pronounce Isla and it's eye-lah. Just an FYI 😊
Isla's POV
"Come on I want you to meet some of my friends," Yann whined, dragging me to a random table outside a restaurant. The sun was just beginning to set and the temperature had finally begun to drop.
"Yann I'm going to throw you off my balcony," I groaned, letting him tug me by my arm. We came to a stop in front of 2 girls, one with dark red hair, and another with jet black hair.
"This is Sandrine, my sister," he said pointing to the "redhead". I sent him the dirtiest look I could as he shoved me into a chair.
"And this is Noor, Sandrine's babysit- ehem bestfriend."
Sandrine slapped Yann on the back of the head, muttering curses under her breath. The two girls then turned to look at me. I smiled nervously, fiddling with my fingers.
"Um hi?" I spoke uncertainly. Yup, this an embarrassing encounter that would keep me up at night.
I should've at least combed my hair, I thought, absentmindedly running my hands through my hair.
"Elle ne parle français? (she doesn't speak french?)"Sandrine asked, looking to her brother.
"Oui, je parle (yes, I do)" I replied for him. She nodded in what seemed like approval. Who the hell said I needed your approval.
"Where are you from?"Noor asked, a curious look on her face. I really hated that question.
"California," I replied shortly. Sandrine made a face while Noor remained impassive.
"You're American? Why are you in Paris?" she asked, her accent definitely more notable than Yann's.
Because there's this thing called a plane.
"Because I wanted to visit," I shrugged, already over the conversation.
"Alright that's enough," Noor suddenly giggled. She got up and gave me a hug, a grin on her face. I must've had a "bitch what the fuck" look on my face because she began to explain.
"Sandrine's juste has a what do you call it? Resting bitch face?"
I nodded, holding back a laugh.
"Oui she has that but it is her whole attitude."
"Ok j'ai fini ici. Ciao (I'm done here, bye)," Sandrine said, abruptly getting up from her seat. As she was walking away, an idea came into my head. I was really tryin to die at this point.
"Bye Sandrine! It was nice to meet you!" I called to her. She stopped in her tracks, clenching her fists before storming off.
"Who pissed in her cereal this morning?" I asked, watching her retreating figure.
"Satan," Yann replied wearily. Noor, Yann, and I shared a look before bursting into laughter. Poor Sandrine.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Somebody kill meeee," Linette groaned, leaning her head back into the couch.
"Control Alt delete," I replied, not realizing what I was saying, simply focusing on icing my cupcakes. Saskia's laugh caught my attention and I looked up. Linette had the most offended look on her face as she stared at me.
"Control Z?" I said sheepishly, offering her a smile.
"As a former CS major," Mathieu began, "that's the worst joke I've ever heard."
"I don't know man, it was pretty funny," Yann laughed, slapping his back. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Elliott's lips twitching, as if he wanted to laugh. He must've felt my gaze on him because he looked up from his book, locking eyes with me. Then I did the dumbest thing possible. I grinned and sent him a quick wink before getting back to work. Only I didn't actually do anything except stare at my cupcakes, frozen in shock at what I'd just done. Why the fuck did you wink at him?!!
"Can I eat it now?" Yann asked, appearing beside me. He stared at my cupcakes hungrily.
"No."
"Well too bad, I'm taking one," he huffed, reaching over.
"I dare you to touch that."
He grabbed a cupcake, deliberately showing me that he was going to eat it. Just as it reached in level with his mouth, I smashed the cupcake into his face.
"Welcome to watch mojo, on this weeks episode, we have the top 10 stupidest people starting with Yann," I smiled sweetly, ruffling his hair.
"Yann, you've officially been annihilated," Saskia smirked, laying on top of Linette on the couch laughing. The two were laughing so hard, no sound was coming out. Even Elliot managed to laugh. I guess we were in one of those moods where everything's funny.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The next morning
I woke up to my alarm blaring loudly in my ear. 6 in the morning was way too early. My sister has said she would FaceTime me at 9:30 at night California time which was 6:30 in the morning here. I agreed of course even though it was so early. I wanted to see Katia.
I washed my face and quickly brushed my teeth, pulling my hair into a ponytail. Despite washing my face with ice cold water, I was till in a daze as I stepped out of my room. I pulled my door closed, reaching up to itch my eye. Another yawn was surfacing when I smacked into something.
"Oh shit, sorry," I mumbled, still dazed.
"Watch where you're going," a deep voice said, sending shivers down my spine. My eyes widened as Elliott brushed past me into the kitchen.
What's with everyone's shitty attitude? I thought to myself, making a face. I made myself a small cup of coffee to get myself energized. Elliot was silent as he leaned over me from behind to grab a glass. I avoided eye contact with him as I stepped aside.
I didn't like to deal with people who had bad attitudes. They ruined my moods too. Elliot was what one would call... bipolar. One minute he was charming as his looks and the next second he was as cold as a stone. But I guess I couldn't judge him if that was his personality. He, Yann, and Mathieu got along well so I'm assuming he wasn't that bad. I sat down on the couch by the window, watching as the sun came up. It was a pretty sight really, but I wasn't feeling it. I looked to the door as I heard the lock turn. I watched Elliott's figure disappear behind the door as he left for the gym.
I scrolled through my phone as I waited patiently for Katia to call.
Seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned into... many minutes. Soon it was 7. I decided to call her. And guess what, go ahead guess.
Calling Kit Kat 💞...
She didn't pick up.
I groaned in frustration, she rlly just made me wake up at 6 to ft with her and didn't call. Great.
I'll give her another 20 minutes. She's probably just busy with homework, I thought to myself. I watched people scurrying around in the streets below, rushing to get to work. The sun had risen and was shining brightly over the city. I was so glad to be in Paris. I truly loved it there.
I jumped when the sound of the door opening pulled me from my thoughts. Elliott entered the house, breathing heavily. This time he didn't have his gym bag, indicating he had probably gone for a run. I watched silently as he grabbed his water bottle from the fridge. He avoided looking in my direction but finally did after finishing his water.
"Pourquoi es-tu debout (why are you awake)?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. I shrugged before looking out the window. I could feel his lingering gaze before I heard him walk up the stairs into his room.
I looked down at my phone that lay in my lap, inactive. I had called Katia about 3 times. I decided to check her Instagram because she was always posting on her close friends.
And lo and behold. Her story had just been updated 13 minutes ago.
Omg Finally watching 4th season of 13 reasons why!!
I stared at the image of her computer screen placed on her mint coloured duvet. Wow, so apparently watching 13 Reasons Why was more important to Katia than talking to her sister.
I sighed, leaning my head back into the couch. I closed my eyes, just sitting there with my thoughts.
The past few years had been a struggle for me. I had made so many friends the last 2 years of high school. My best friend Marleen and I were going to go to USC to major in humanities. It had been set in stone for almost a year. Then tragedy struck. One night, marleen decided to go to a friends party. I declined the offer because it didn't sit right with me. She wasn't even friends with this person. Marleen was the girl who wanted to climb up the popularity chain. She wasn't an attention seeker, but she longed for friendship with the jocks and the popular girls. And her thirst for acceptance cost her her life. The night of that party, Marleen was rushed to the hospital around 5 in the morning. She died that morning due to alcohol poisoning.
And my last words to her were 'It disgusts me that you would do anything to be accepted by people who have a higher social status.'
And that incident was what motivated me to travel.I had to get away from the place that held so many terrible memories. Since then, I've never said a bad thing to anyone - or tried not to. I used to be the person who spoke out when someone did something I thought was wrong. I stood up for myself and my parents nicknamed me spit fire because of it. But ever since that night, those last words to my best friend had left me with a feeling of regret. Everlasting regret.