Every once in a while, a rare species of human is born, one with some sort of strange magical anomaly that is both feared and revered by all others.
Such an individual is commonly referred to as a "morning person", and Bridgette Dupain-Cheng is one of them.
Her ability to wake up at a reasonable time in the early hours of the day and actually feel somewhat well-rested is a trait much envied by her teenage-aged peers. Bridgette, if you asked her about it, would argue that it was only the result of countless years waking up at five in the morning and doing the preliminary preparations for the bakery, but the matter of the fact remains that when she does have a day off, she will not sleep in until 14 h or 11 h or even 6 h. No matter how late she stayed up the night before.
As such, in the midst of a classroom filled with yawning and half-asleep seventeen-year-olds, all completely unexcited to have to be up at such an ungodly hour for their first day of school, Bridgette stuck out like a sore thumb. Except, rather than being sore, she was bright-eyed, perked up, and enthusiastically chatting away with her friends in the few minutes they had before the teacher reached the classroom.
Melodie, Mercury, and Wilson. The four of them had been friends since their first year of collège, having been fortunately all grouped up for the same business project. Melodie and Mercury were fraternal twins, and Wilson was a transfer student from England. They'd bonded over their shared love of video games, which was precisely what they were discussing at the moment.
(True friends don't really have to ask what you did over the summer.)
"All I'm saying," Mercury said animatedly, "is that Blue would kick Dust's butt. He's actually been Pokénom league champion. What has Dust done? Carried around a Pichaku for four generations."
"Pichaku! Exactly!" Wilson replied excitedly. "Dust's Pichaku is so much higher-levelled than Blue's!"
"That doesn't mean anything if all he's taught it is completely useless!"
"GUYS." Melodie interjected, slamming her head against the desk. "Please. It's too early for this."
Wilson looked away sheepishly as Mercury rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at his sister. Bridgette fiddled with her pencil as the conversation lulled, absentmindedly tapping it against the surface of her desk in no particular rhythm.
"I heard Gabriel Agreste is back in Paris!" Wilson piped up after a few seconds.
Snap.
Bridgette watched as the broken graphite rolled off the table and onto the floor.
"Oh yeah," Mercury confirmed. "Hey, Bridge, didn't you say you wanted to intern for A'n'S next summer?"
"Yeah." She looked up. "I need to sharpen my pencil, be right back."
As Bridgette got out of her chair she pulled on the hem of Melodie's lavender top, signalling for her to come with.
"What's up?" Melodie asked as soon as they reached the trash bin by the entrance to the classroom.
"Someone moved into that giant house across from me this weekend," Bridgette began, inspecting the pointiness of her sharpened pencil.
"That humongous one we all thought was haunted?" Melodie raised an eyebrow, immediately seeing where her friend was going. "You think it was the Agrestes?"
"I think so." Satisfied, Bridgette put the pencil in her pocket. "I even saw one of them, I think."
"Not Gabriel?"
"No." Bridgette shook her head. "His son, probably. He was around our age."
Melodie cocked her head to the side. "Félix?"
"Yes!" Bridgette snapped her fingers. "That's it, I'd forgotten his name."
"And you think he'll go here?" Melodie asked, rolling her eyes.
"I don't know." Bridgette shrugged. "I don't see why not."
"Bridge, the guy's dad probably has enough money to buy this school a hundred times over."
A coughing noise from the doorway behind them caused the two girls to turn around.
"Actually, it's somewhere closer to six thousand, eight hundred and thirty-two times over," a tall, pale blond boy said in a deep, matter-of-fact tone. "Excuse me." He motioned to a gaping Bridgette, who promptly realized she was blocking his way.
"Oh, uh, sorry," she mumbled, stepping over closer to Melodie.
He brushed past her without another word, leaving her stunned.
"Is that him?" Melodie mouthed to her.
Bridgette nodded, watching as he confidently stepped across the room and took a seat in the dead center of the front row where no one else was sitting.
"Wow, what a butt," Melodie groaned as soon as Félix was out of earshot.
"Mmmhm," Bridgette half-heartedly agreed, not really paying attention as she kept her eyes glued to him.
"Bridge." Melodie looked between her friend and the newcomer, exasperated. "Do you think he's cute?"
"What?" Bridgette's attention snapped back right away. "No, no, it's just…" She broke off, turning back to look at Félix, who was pointedly staring at the chalkboard and (she could tell) attempting to ignore their conversation. "I'm interested in him. That's all."
"Mmhm," Melodie hummed knowingly. "Because he's an Agreste, right?"
"No, that's not it!" Bridgette refuted, blushing.
"Either he's cute or he's rich, pick one."
"Mel!" Bridgette shot her friend a poisonous look. "He's not even my type."
"I'm jo-king!" Melodie giggled. "Besides," she said, looking over to where Wilson and Mercury were happily discussing the latest game in the Older Scrolls series. "I know that already."
"Thank you." Bridgette stuck up her chin.
"But seriously," Melodie continued, "why do you care?"
"I don't know," Bridgette answered honestly. "He seems… lonely, I guess."
Melodie sighed, giving her friend a defeated smile. "Yeah, it's not really like you to abandon a transfer student."
"Ahem." Another, deeper voice came from behind them once more. "It's about time for you to get back to your seats, young ladies."
Melodie and Bridgette looked up to see the stern face of their homeroom chemistry teacher, and with startled expressions scrambled back to their desks without another word.
Félix sighed inwardly as he watched the two girls guiltily move back to their seats. He supposed it wouldn't be too long before everyone in the class knew who he was, given the way the light-haired girl had spoken about him.
Much to his surprise, the heated whispers he anticipated did not come, even when his first name was called on the attendance.
That was unusual thing number one.
Unusual thing number two was when, after first period was dismissed and the bell had rung, the black-haired girl from earlier shot over to his desk like a bullet.
"Hi," she said, sticking her hand out over the pile of books on his desk he was just beginning to put away into his bag. "I'm Bridgette."
Caught off guard, Félix studied her face for a moment. Her eyes appeared to be brimming with resolution, her mouth set in a stubbornly friendly smile. She seemed used to it.
Electing to ignore her, he reached his hand under hers and grabbed the last of his books. He tried to sidestep her, but she stepped in front of him.
"Hey!" She cried indignantly, grabbing his wrist. "That was rude. I was just trying to be friendly!"
"I tend to have bad experiences with friendly people," Félix replied curtly, shaking off her grip.
"Still," she continued to pout. "That doesn't mean you shouldn't at least be polite."
He stared at her, but she glared back. He sighed. "What do you want from me?"
She stood silent for a couple seconds, considering.
"A smile."
"What?"
"A smile, she repeated, crossing her arms. "You didn't smile even once during class. I want to get you to smile by the end of the week."
She grinned at what he supposed was the dumbfounded expression on his face, but he quickly regained composure. "Not happening."
"Again. Rude. At least let me try."
"And what do you get if I do?" He asked.
"I get to see you smile," Bridgette laughed, like it was supposed to be obvious.
Her face refilled with the same resolution she had before, a mischievous glint blossoming in the bright blue of her eyes.
"Deal?" She stuck out her hand.
When he searched her expression again, he found the third and final unusual thing of the day.
He couldn't see a single trace of dishonesty or insincerity.
"Fine," Félix said, carefully lifting up his hand to shake hers. It was tiny and warm, and a little clammy, as though she'd been… nervous, the whole time. Their eyes met completely, and he was sure that her surprise at his sudden acceptance perfectly reflected his own.
"Great!" She squealed as soon as he let go. "Just you wait, Félix."
He watched as she left to rejoin her group of friends, who undoubtedly had watched the whole encounter. As she attempted to "quietly" recount their conversation, he stared down at his right hand, opening and closing it a few times.
As Bridgette left the classroom, he saw her doing the same thing.
Author's Notes:
I've had this chapter in my drafts for well over a year at this point. I wasn't happy with it the first time I wrote it but I never got around to fixing it.
Figured I might as well release it though, and hopefully continue the rest of the story ^^
Fun Fact:
Thank u to Guest on for the quote "Felix is a butt".
He is indeed a butt, I wholeheartedly agree J