"You know what we need to do this summer?"

Thierry arched an eyebrow. "Don't say 'Jump in the Seine," he warned Laurent, glancing around at the rest of the group that had met at the small park across from the collège. "Because last time you said that, Michel actually took you up on it!" He grinned, elbowing Michel in the ribs for emphasis.

"Seriously?" Adil made a face. "The Seine is nasty – I'm surprised you didn't grow an extra head or something!"

Michel rolled his eyes and draped his arm over Victoria's shoulders. "Ha, ha," he drawled. "It really wasn't that bad."

"Which? The water, or the visit to the police station?" asked Jacques, grabbing a pastry out of the box and grinning. "Because the look on that officer's face when he dragged you out…"

"He was nice about it…"

Leïla shook her head ruefully. "Why do we even hang out with you boys?" she wondered, exchanging dubious looks with Sophie and Amalia.

Sophie hummed. "Must be the pastries," she replied, snatching the pastry box out of Jacques' hand and sticking out her tongue at him.

Jacques gave Sophie a look of feigned annoyance, grabbing for the pastry box which she held behind her back, out of his reach. "Hey!" He lunged forward, almost landing on top of her before she pushed him to the side. Jacques lay on the grass next to her and wagged his eyebrows. "Well, fine then." He smirked, wagging his eyebrows at her. "If I can't have those sweets…"

Sophie pursed her lips and pushed the pastry box at him, after taking the last pain au chocolat. "Take them," she told him, sliding sideways away from him.

Watching Jacques, Adil shook his head, rubbing his forehead, and gave Leïla an apologetic look. "I don't know what's wrong with him."

Jacques' eyes narrowed, and he sat up. "Traitor."

Leïla arched an eyebrow at them. "You're not helping your case, you know."

Victoria giggled, leaning away from Michel, and stage-whispered to Leïla, "Michel was so much worse last summer."

Amalia gave Victoria a deadpan look. "You really think he's better now than he was then?"

As Victoria folded her arms in a huff, Michel draped his arm around her shoulders. "Hey, I'll have you know, I didn't try to bike down the side of the Eiffel Tower this year…"

Sophie stifled a giggle. "That that was even an option speaks volumes."

"Never mind that," Marie interjected, cutting off Michel's retort. "We had a really great idea of something to do this summer!" She nudged Laurent, raising an eyebrow at him, and smiled eagerly.

"Er… right…" Laurent cleared his throat. "We were talking last night–"

"You have time for that?" Jacques interrupted. Marie flushed, and Thierry elbowed Jacques in the side. He groaned. "Oh, fine. So what was your idea?"

Laurent grinned. "Why don't we take a trip to the beach?"

Amalia cocked her head to one side, her brows furrowed in confusion. "But if you wanted to go to the beach, why didn't you say something this morning?" she pointed out. "We could've just gotten ready and met down there in the first place?"

"What, the Paris Plages?" Jacques scoffed. "That's not a real beach."

"There's sand," Amalia argued. "And there's sun. And it's within walking distance."

"Sure, but you can't actually go in the water," Michel complained. "I could get a bag of sand from the store, dump it on the balcony, and get the same 'beach' experience!" He made a face, glanced at Victoria, and hummed. "Of course, there are worse ways to spend an afternoon…"

"You could do that," Laurent agreed, shrugging. "But that's not what we had in mind."

"Oh?" Thierry eyed Laurent curiously. "Where did you have in mind, then?"

Laurent grinned. "Deauville."

"Where?"

"There's a beach up near Le Havre," Marie explained, leaning into Laurent's side. "We were talking, and it would be so much fun to go to the ocean, even just for a day."

"We can leave at 6, take the train up there, and be there by 9 or 9:30," Laurent continued, nodding. "Then we just take the last train back and we're home by 10:30, 11 at the latest."

Hùng snorted. "All that, just to see your girlfriend in a bikini?"

Marie flushed, and Laurent choked on his drink. "That's not – I wasn't–"

"Chill out," Hùng told them, trying and failing to hold back his laughter. "I'm just messing with you. Going to an actual beach sounds like a lot of fun. I'm in."

"Yeah." Michel smacked Laurent on the back, cutting off his sputtering. He shared a look with Victoria and nodded firmly. "It absolutely sounds like fun. We can actually swim there, for one thing."

"I don't remember the last time I saw the beach…" Leïla mused, looking off toward the carousel on the far side of the park."

"Really?" Jacques started, before Amalia cut him off.

"It will be so much fun!" Amalia enthused, beaming at Leïla.

Leïla shrugged. "Why not?"

"I'll come, too," Adil agreed quickly, glancing at Leïla.

As the others all voiced their agreement, Laurent arched an eyebrow at Thierry. "What about you, bro?"

Thierry's jaw clenched nervously, even as he tried to school his expression into a look of contemplation. Even train tickets would be expensive. Laurent furrowed his brows, eyeing Thierry carefully. Finally, Thierry forced himself to grin. "Sure, I'm in," he agreed.

Glancing in either direction at the rest of the fairly-busy bathhouse the next morning, Thierry picked a stall to change into his bathing suit, between those occupied by Jacques and Laurent. Michel, Adil, and Hùng had already finished changing and left to wait for the girls, whose changing facilities were in an adjoining building on the other side of the complex. It was at least 30 degrees out, and with the faint white noise of conversation filling the bathhouse, Thierry found himself stifling a yawn and shaking his head. It had been a long train ride that morning – almost two and a half hours between the two trains – and then they'd still had the walk from the station to the beach. And to get there on time, he'd been up by four, far earlier than almost any other day since at least last fall… even King Monkey's early-morning training never got him up that early! The first train had been pretty crowded, forcing all of them to double up in their rows. The last ones on the train, Thierry and Adil had ended up sharing a row, and Adil hadn't said more than two words to him. Fortunately, however, that had at least given Thierry a chance to catch up on his sleep before changing trains. After collecting his things, Thierry was just stepping out of the changing stall when Jacques did the same.

Jacques rolled his shoulders and raised an eyebrow at Thierry. "Ready to lose at beach volleyball, Truffaut?"

Thierry scoffed. "Not likely," he retorted. "I've picked up a few things since last time!"

Jacques smirked. "Yeah? You can talk big, but can you play big?"

"I guess we'll have to see."

"Hey, you've seen my guy with a frisbee," Laurent called from his stall.

"Sure. Because frisbee and volleyball are the same thing." Jacques glanced into the mirror and ran his fingers through his hair before smirking. "'Course, that's not the only reason to come to the beach, amiright?"

Thierry raised an eyebrow. "I suppose not…"

"What, you can't tell me there isn't at least one of the girls that catches your eye…" Jacques gave him a meaningful look.

Thierry rolled his eyes. "Oh, I'm interested," he admitted. "Though not anyone in particular."

Jacques nodded. "Playing the field. I respect that."

"Just don't be looking too closely at my girlfriend," Laurent warned, stepping out of his changing stall.

Jacques held his hands up in protest. "Off limits, I know…"

Laurent grinned, wagging his eyebrows. "That one's all mine!"

Jacques shared a look with Thierry. "Still, plenty more for the rest of us…" He scoffed. "Though I'm still not sure why Leïla came… after all, what's she going to do? Wear a tent at the beach?"

Thierry frowned, pursing his lips. He had wondered the same thing when Leïla said she wanted to come too. Not until she had arrived for the trip that morning a beach bag over her shoulder, had he really believed that she was really going to join them. While they were traveling, she'd stayed to the side, sitting with Amalia on the train and talking mostly with her and Victoria while they walked to the beach. Then she had gone with the girls to their bathhouse. Still…

Laurent rolled his eyes. "Lay off of her, will you?" he told Jacques, frowning. "She can wear what she wants."

Thierry let out a breath and nodded. "Leïla can have fun however she wants at the beach," he agreed. "It doesn't matter what she wears."

"Fine." Jacques shrugged, muttering under his breath, "It still looks weird."

Leaving the bathhouse, the three boys made their way down the beach until they saw the rest of their classmates under one of the beach umbrellas they had brought, placed a dozen meters above the ocean along with a couple of blankets spread out on the sand. Hùng and Michel had already gotten out a volleyball and started hitting it back and forth with Amalia; Victoria lay on her back, her towel spread out in the sun, propped up on her hands to watch them. Marie had carried some water up from the ocean in a bucket and was in the process of building a sandcastle with Sophie. On seeing them, however, Marie stood up and walked over to meet them, grinning eagerly and striking a pose in front of Laurent to show off her bikini.

"So, what do you think?" Marie asked, raising an eyebrow at Laurent. "I wasn't sure at the store, but it looked really nice on the model, so I thought I'd give it a try. So…"

He hummed pensively and put a hand on her side. "It looks great, babe!"

"Want to help us with the sandcastle?" she asked, nodding toward the buckets and shovels.

He frowned. "I think Thierry and I were supposed to play Michel and Jacques in volleyball," he replied. "But maybe afterward?"

Her face fell in a pout, and he pulled her into a hug, resting his chin on top of her head. "Oh, fine," she relented. Her eyes lit up eagerly, looking over Laurent's shoulder. "I don't need you anyways. I'm sure Leïla will help me!"

Thierry turned with the other two to see Leïla, only a few meters behind them, wearing a long bathing suit that covered her entire body except her hands and feet. Beside him, he could almost sense Jacques' silent scoff.

"Sorry I took so long," Leïla apologized, dropping her bag next to the umbrella and stretching her arms. "Somehow I managed to forget my sandals, so I had to run and get a pair of new ones. It was a good thing there was a vendor right there!"

Marie smiled brightly. "No worries," she assured her. Cocking her head to one side she examined Leïla's suit more closely. "Ooh, that's so cute!" she cooed. "I love the print!"

Leïla smiled, swaying to swirl the attached skirt. "Thanks! It's a new one; a friend gave it to me at the beginning of the summer, but I haven't had a chance to wear it before now."

"I like it," Marie decided, fingering the hijab covering Leïla's hair. "Although it looks like it would be hot."

Leïla shrugged. "Not so far. And if I get hot, the ocean's right there!"

"Do you do a lot of swimming?"

"Actually, I've never done it before in my life."

Thierry's eyes widened in surprise. "Never?"

She shrugged. "Never really had the chance."

"Well, you came to the right place!" Laurent assured her, throwing out one arm to encompass the beach and grinning.

"Just don't go out too far if you can't swim," Thierry warned her.

"Oh, I don't plan to," she replied, smiling easily. "I'd rather just stay on the beach, really."

"Sunbathing?" Jacques raised an eyebrow dubiously. "I can't imagine that would be too effective..."

Thierry elbowed him in the gut and shook his head. "Seriously?"

"It works for me," Leïla told him.

"Still," Jacques pressed, wagging his eyebrows, "what's the point of coming if you're going to cover everything up?"

Thierry facepalmed. "Can you just not help yourself?" he muttered.

Leïla pursed her lips before pulling up the bottom part of her hijab and tucking it into the side to cover her mouth and nose. "I'm here to have fun with my friends," she pointed out. "That doesn't mean I'm here for your 'viewing pleasure'."