Hi everybody !

I'm so sorry for the long wait ! I was soooo worried I wasn't doing something cool ! I think I didn't really did anything as cool as I thought it would be but, well… Hope you still like it !

Oh, some warnings : homophobia and food disorders. If you are triggered by that, please, don't read anything about Freddie Lounds.

If you want anything to listen to while reading this chapter, I wrote listening to Sleep Party People and the soundtrack of Only Lovers Left Alive.

Please, do tell me what you thought about it, whether you liked it or not !

Yours,

AO.

CHAPTER ONE : Apéritif

"Guys, this is seriously the best cookies I've eaten in my life" Beverly said, trying not to look like she was having an orgasm. "Where did you find them ?"

"We made them" Bedelia answered, lifting a sassy eyebrow.

Why would she buy them when she could be having much more fun baking them with Hannibal ? Plus, they tasted so much better than those people insisted on giving her when they wanted to be friends.

"We thought it would be a nice touch to lure students to help us." Hannibal replied with a smile.

Beverly nodded, her mouth full of cookie.

"Ah, Bev' ! Here you are" Alana said, walking to her.

The corner of the library has been arranged like the head office of a very important firm : between the History shelves, the two "twins" sat, their back to the wall so they could watch all the students coming and going. In front of them, another chair waited for the next victim and, next to Hannibal, a cookie jar was slowly being emptied by Beverly.

Alana went to Beverly and they hugged quickly. It was five minutes before the interviews officially began and Bedelia hid a sarcastic smile. Alana turned to Hannibal with a sweet smile. He smiled back.

"Alana said she would like to help so I told her to come…" Beverly started.

"There was no need, Alana." Hannibal said. "You only had to ask me, I would gladly have you in the project."

"I'm glad you think I could be useful. Maybe not much in the decoration but I could do some field work, you know… Shake things up with the prom queens and kings submissions, maybe some advertising… Keep Freddie Lounds away…Things like that…"

"That would be very nice of you." Hannibal replied before turning his head to Bedelia "What do you think ?"

"I don't see why not." Bedelia replied with a tight smile. "Please, do take a cookie before Miss Katz eats them all."

Beverly had another cookie in her mouth and stopped dead when she had the confirmation that Bedelia knew how much she ate since the beginning. She handed Alana one of them with a smile to the very young woman : "Don't worry, I won't eat them all so everybody will know how good your cookies were." Beverly said in order to keep looking cool, which was an accomplishment when one's standing directly next to Antarctica.

Bedelia didn't reply and Beverly couldn't help but have a small pout. She really wanted to see the young woman react to her : she looked so cold all the time !

Alana took the cookie and looked happy as a kid on Christmas morning. She smiled and ate it. Hannibal looked her closely when her pupils widened as she discovered how good it was. She smiled, licked the crumbs off her lips and nodded : "It's really good, Hannibal. See you around, I guess ?"

"I look forward to seeing you again, Alana." Hannibal replied coolly.

Beverly stopped Alana as soon as she walked past the geography shelves and she looked at her as if she came from Mars.

"Alana, please tell me you haven't been doing this since you met him" Beverly said.

"Doing what ? Did I look overly attached or…?" Alana wondered, starting looking panicked.

"Oh, Alana : you have been avoiding Bedelia."

"Yes, I have, have you seen her ? Everyone avoids her."

"Yeah, maybe, but not every one wants to get into Lithuania's pants. She's like his sister ! You don't go around like she barely existed if you want him to like you. You are literally forcing him to choose between you and her and they're friends since the first day of high school. They probably went thought phases like "Only paisley ties are cool" or whatever phases they had mere mortals like us can't understand. Alana, I know it's hard but you better try to make friends with her if you want to foreign D."

Alana sighed. She didn't know what they embarked for when she started having a crush on Hannibal but it didn't include trying to warm miss ice-queen up. She looked pleadingly to Beverly and saw she couldn't have any help from there.

"Okay, I'll do something for her. But she probably hates me now…"

"No one can resist your puppy eyes, Alana" Beverly laughed, patting her shoulder. "Now off with you, I know you didn't finish the calculus homework for tomorrow."

"You didn't either" Alana reproached her.

"I actually did. This morning, on the hood of my car."

"I might want to copy that."

"We'll compare answers."

/

When Beverly went back to the table of lethal interrogation, somebody else was sitting in the chair of certain death.

It was Freddie Lounds. Hannibal had a deeply disapproving look on his face and Bedelia looked intensely at him, as if mapping his disapproving face. Anyone would have died under such a glare. Not Freddie. Freddie Lounds was the most fearless person Beverly knew. Nobody could scare her away. Maybe Jack did once when she started finding troubling elements about the school's budget. She was the head of the school's gazette and had a wicked pleasure to reveal people's secrets and lash them about mismatched outfits or choices of dates. She tried dying her uniform red once.

Red suited her. She had a magnificent mane of curly red hair nobody at school could ever hope to match and she always carried her camera around. Beverly had trouble saying whether she liked her or not. She often had to work with her as the head of the Student Board but she always asked the questions she didn't want to answer to.

The young woman was currently grinning in front of the evil European twins. Talk about recklessness. She was doing the talking and, as Beverly approached, she heard what was going on :

"I'm just saying the students would be happy to know how things are going around. Last prom was a catastrophe and nobody wants that for their very special night."

"We know of last prom" Hannibal replied "But I don't think having you around would actually help."

"Well, last prom didn't have me and look at what happened. You do need all the chances on your side." Freddie didn't back off.

"Maybe if you offered to do something useful instead of taking pictures to satisfy your selfish urge to see a scandal started thanks to your front page, we would consider your position." Bedelia intervened.

"Oh, you are pretty defensive for the miss ice-queen everybody talks about." Freddie attacked back. "Do you feel insecure because you think you won't be able to look as cool as always while you are working for an extra-curriculum activity for once ?"

"Please" Bedelia answered with a smile so cold Beverly shivered "Don't make me remind you of the Rodin incident."

Freddie immediately lost her smile. Beverly walked in to stop the upcoming hurricane forming :

"Hey, Freddie, volunteering for Prom Night ?"

"Trying to" Freddie replied.

"What do you want to do to help ?"

"What I do best : take pictures."

"Enlighten me because I fail to see how that would help."

Freddie looked embarrassed for a minute. She licked her lips and looked at the camera on her lap. "Oh, you know, inspiring people…"

"Yeah, well, we don' take any volunteer this year : you actually have to have the authorization and all… You still listen to Lana del Rey and all that ?"

"Yes, but…"

"Then you can always try to come up with a play list."

A small smile actually graced her lips and Beverly looked at the twins. They looked at each other very intensely again, as if they were agreeing on a murder and then, they both nodded.

"We will send you some of the palette so you can see what we are trying to achieve and you can submit a play list, if you are inspired."

"It'll do." Freddie replied. She stood but no one offered her a cookie so she had a tight smile and she left. At the last minute, she turned back, took a picture and left for good, her step much lighter.

Beverly would have offered her a cookie against the Evil European Twins but she liked them way too much. She went to Bedelia' side of the desk and had a big puppy smile : "I think I should get a 'thank you' cookie."

Bedelia did roll her eyes but she smiled this time and it was worth it. (And the cookies were still really good)

The hour went very very slowly. Beverly started sighing after ten minutes doing nothing and she went for a walk in the corridors in order to meet other people who did communicate by speech instead of glancing at each other very intensely.

Frederick Chilton came by. He sat down, tried to do a stare contest with Hannibal, lost as always, said something about being able to fix stuff and create things in the sculpture class he was still in. Bedelia tried a smile and gave him one of the cookies, accepting him in the group. Hannibal shrugged at her and took a cookie for himself.

By the end of the hour, Beverly went back and asked if they saw Will Graham. She tried to describe him : messed up fluffy brown hair, not shaved, glasses but only got a horrified look from the twins. She sighed and took her phone out of her pocket. He didn't even text her ! She knew how overwhelming this whole affair could be but she wished he'd given her a chance to coax him into it. Well, she will had to find another club for him…

She still sent him a text that read : "Too bad you didn't come, the cookies were to die for"

She heard a familiar ring tone. Will's phone. She turned around in time to see him pull his phone out of his pocket and smile at the text. Beverly walked to him and hit him gently in the shoulder : "So, better late than never, right ?"

"I guess…" Will mumbled and Bev' dropped it. It was already great that Will showed up. She guided him to the office of certain death where the Twins were already packing their stuff. Hearing them walking before Beverly even announced their presence, they both looked up in perfect synchro.

Bedelia never saw Hannibal like this. His hands became limp, letting her sketches fall on the desk She was close enough to see his jaw drop a little and his eyebrows went from frowning to rising in surprise before settling for a small frown. She could have laughed were they now in front of other people. She turned to see the person who lit little stars in the deep brown eyes of his usually collected friend.

My, she had to say that the object of his attentions was most unusual. His uniform was messy, the shirttails out of the trousers, there was dirt on his shoes and his collar was flat. He hadn't cut his hair in a while now and they curled under his ears in a mop of brown curls. He hadn't shaved either. He seemed reluctant to do anything that had to do with a mirror but he apparently didn't neglect physical work : he was tanned and seemed fit from what Bedelia could see through his shirt and his forearms and hands had little scars from physical work. His eyes took advantage of their glasses not to meet anyone's eye. He was tense, his arms crossed in front of his torso, as if he was ready to fight or run away at any instant.

She knew Hannibal could see this. He could probably see much more With the way he was starring at the poor boy, he could probably tell the colour of his underwear. She smiled at herself.

She had been ready to tell the newcomer he wasn't welcome : being late does not make a good impression but Hannibal's interest was so very interesting. She smiled coldly and showed him the chair of certain death : "Please, sit."

Hannibal's latest interest looked a bit defiant, careful like a beaten dog being showed a bit of meat and wondering if it was poisoned. Bedelia found herself hoping it wasn't. Beverly stayed behind the young man, putting her hands on the chair behind him.

"I am Will Graham and I think some of my practical skills would be welcome to the Prom Night Project." He said simply.

"He's very skilled. He can do nearly anything. Right now, he does mostly lures…"

Bedelia practically heard Hannibal sighing like a love struck girlfriend next to her.

"…But he can always help with the paint and fixing the stuff and all… As long as he doesn't have to speak to a lot of people, he's fine, right Will ?"

Will rolled his eyes at Beverly. Then, he proceeded not meeting Hannibal's gaze when the Lithuanian pursued him with it. Their little game lasted at least a minute before Bedelia intervened :

"We will be glad to have you in our group, Will" She said. "Could you please leave us your email address…and your phone number… so we can send you the details of your project and contact you later ?"

Will looked like he suddenly realised the headlights were actually a car and he turned his head to watch Bedelia. She would have looked at him straight in the eye of Hannibal hadn't manifested his interest already : she couldn't torture him for fun now, could she ? She gave him a piece of paper they gave to the others and he took the pen with his right hand, struggling a bit.

"You can write with your left hand, if you want to." Hannibal said almost casually.

Will froze again. He looked straight up at Hannibal and for a fraction of second, their eyes finally met. Will… pouted… then shrugged and kept writing awkwardly with his right hand :

"I'm right-handed" Will said before giving the pen back and sliding the piece of paper towards Hannibal. Bedelia would have been vexed at being ignored in such a way but the two of them made up a show worthing it.

"If that's all, I'll be on my way now…" He said before standing up without being invited to do so. Bev' walked him to the library's door.

"Are you serious ?" Bedelia asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

Hannibal laughed a bit but his heart wasn't in it. His smile, however, seemed impossible to repress.

"He's very interesting." Hannibal said in defence.

"Why do you think I asked his phone number ?" She retorted.

"I'll bring you lunch tomorrow." He said, putting the paper in his pocket.

They smiled and began packing their things, talking about how many emails they'll have to send and when they'll be free to go swimming again. Beverly came back and suddenly, she didn't look as happy as they used to be. Bedelia tried to act as if she haven't noticed.

They put the tables and the chairs back in order and Bev' turned back to leave when she heard a polite cough. That was the most human thing she saw Bedelia do since that time she accidentally saw her eating lunch with Hannibal under a tree. She smiled at her, noticing (not for the first time) that she was at least one head taller than the most fearful European Twin.

"There's one cookie left" Bedelia said. "I figured you might want it."

Beverly decided that laughing would be rude but she had to bit her lips in order not to. Bedelia trying to look cool while handing her the nearly empty cookie jar was a sight she would never forget.

"Don't you want one ? You made them."

"They're for the people who will help us and you helped plenty today."

"Well, then, I shall accept this gracious offer." Bev' said, smiling.

The cookie tasted great. Beverly wondered for a moment what kind of thing they put in there : there could be some sort of poison that made them so good and made people do whatever they want them to do. When she finished eating the cookie, Hannibal walked them out of the library and toward the blessed parking lot that was the very definition of freedom for all students at the end of the day. He walked silently, observing Bedelia just as she observed him as they met Will Graham.

"So, Will is your kind of man, isn't he ?" Bev' asked.

Both Bedelia and Hannibal looked at her. She stopped, pined by their stare. Oh… Maybe she got that wrong… "You didn't ask any phone number before. Just his. I thought you… liked him." She said, looking at Bedelia.

The young woman lowered her head to hide a small smile. "So, is it a yes ? Have I caught Miss Ice-Queen having a crush ?" Beverly pushed.

Hannibal only shook his head with a smirk. Beverly was more and more confused.

"Is it what they call me : Miss Ice-Queen ?" Bedelia asked.

"Yeah… You're pretty cold and regal so…"

"Why, thank you" Bedelia replied.

"But you have a crush on Will, don't you ?"

"I do not. I merely thought it would be useful… Shame I didn't think of that when the others came by."

"Yeah, maybe that would have made Brittany less scared of you" Beverly joked.

"Are you jealous, Beverly ?" Hannibal asked with a smile that would make the Devil blush.

"Of Will ? Are you joking ?" Bev' laughed a little, not really at ease.

"I meant of Bedelia. Everybody knows you spend a lot of time with Will but you are not dating… Are you ?" Hannibal continued, enjoying himself far too much.

"How do you know that ? That we're not dating ? Maybe we are just discreet…" Beverly replied.

"You don't make eye contact" Bedelia cut in.

"Look… I really got to go. Lot of things to take care of, right ? See you around, okay ? Thanks for the cookies. Bye guys !"

Beverly nearly ran away, suddenly understanding why nobody tried to befriend the European Evil Twins. They made her really uncomfortable, as she never had been, even during family diners.

Bedelia shot Hannibal a dark glare.

"What ?" Hannibal defended himself "I thought you didn't like people having crushes on you…"

"Just put some extra cranberry sauce in my lunch tomorrow."

/

Alana looked up from her psychology paper when her phone buzzed. Beverly. She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. She was still waiting for Hannibal's email… What could the young woman want from her ? She picked up her phone at the other side of her desk and read the text : "Can I join you in the 'This is the worst person I could have a crush on and yet, here I am' ?"

She laughed and stretched in her pyjama pants and giant sweater : "No, you have to win him over. This is an order."

She fiddled with her phone not to miss the answer. Beverly had a few crushes during the two years she had known her but nothing that important that she had to send her depressed texts at 11pm. "Very amusing. It's a girl and she's not unto girls. She's probably not unto anything."

Alana's eyebrows probably reached her hairline. Beverly in love with a girl ? That was new… "Nobody in high school is aromantic enough not to be willing to try something."

Alana smirked at her phone and put it down. She only had to write the conclusion and she was done, ready to go to bed. She couldn't wait. The time, when her phone buzzed again, she sighed and took it, rolling her eyes. "She's not like the other high school students… Oh, shit, I sound so cliché… I'm going to sleep. Pretend you never saw that, please ?"

Alana laughed and made sure to save that text. She will remember it until the end of times.

/

Freddie parked her car on the driveway next to her father's Mercedes. She sighed and put her forehead on the wheel. She counted to ten before opening her eyes again, arranged her hair in the mirror and exited the car.

She was welcomed in by the smell of lasagna, the smell of the meat gagging from where she stood. She closed her eyes again and closed the door behind her. If she reached the stairs at the end of the hall, she could make it. She pulled her shoes off, holding them in her hands, walking as quietly as she could… She could make it. She could make it…

"Oh, Frederique, here you are ! Put your bag in your room and come down before diner gets cold."

The young woman closed her eyes again, feeling fatigue take over the false smile she should have had. "Coming…"

She wasn't going to escape diner with the sickening ton of meat she insisted of telling her parents she didn't like. She had a small pout to herself and she rushed up the stairs to hide in her room. Everything was different shades of red and orange. On the walls hung her black and white portraits and some movie stars posters. Mostly gangsters and femme fatales, some Hitchcock's blondes… She put her bag under her desk and landed on her bed, lying across it.

Coming home was always difficult. She knew she was being a spoiled child, everybody knew she was a spoiled child, but she couldn't help but feeling… suffocated in her home. She had everything a lot of students dreamed of : both her parents, a little sister, some money, a family dog, a two-week vacation somewhere in America once a year, a car… But they didn't know how it worked. They didn't know how much her parents fought or how they constantly told her to get over the colour red and her silly dreams of a career in journalism to be more like her sister who loved whatever their parents loved. She felt something digging in her back and tried to ignore it but couldn't. Finally, she lifted her hips and reached for it.

It was her copy of The Bell Jar. She wished she were more like Sylvia Plath. Her own poems were the failure of a spoiled high school student. The only thing people actually enjoyed were her tattle articles. She wanted to throw the book at the other side of the room, angry at it for giving her unattainable expectations for herself.

She wanted to cry.

She hugged her pillow and put her face in it, expecting the world to go away. She hated them. She hated them all : the Evil Twins, the Student Board, the Headmaster… Everybody !

A knock at the door. She looked up.

"Freddie ? Diner is going to be cold."

"I already told you I was coming !" Freddie shouted back.

"Is she coming or not ? I'm starving !" Her father shouted from downstairs.

"I fucking hate you" Freddie mumbled before getting up and opening her door. Her mother was waiting at the other side, her blonde curly hair and her great smile clashing with the bruises on her cheek.

The young woman followed her mother down to the dinning room and sat to her attributed chair, next to her sister. Lasagna was steaming in the plate in front of her. She gave herself another prep talk while her father recited the prayers. She couldn't stop but think about dead animals. The animals she saw her uncle kill once in the countryside. The blood… Blood everywhere. And the smell ! The smell. Dead eyes looking at her. She licked her lips to stop but gag at the memories alone.

She couldn't tell how many times she told her parents she didn't like meat. She told them : "I can cook my own meals. I don't like the meat, I can eat anything but meat. I'll cook my own meals, you don't even have to buy me special expensive stuff but I can't eat the meat." She couldn't tell how many times her parents rolled her eyes at her and told her "It's only meat darling. Everybody eats meat. It's good for you. Now, you stop doing your drama queen and you eat the meat. It'll make you strong."

Freddie plunged her fork in the meal. She took a deep breath and started eating.

"So, Freddie, you came home rather late. Busy day at school ?"Her father asked her.

"Yeah… Got a lot to do."

"Like what, honey ?" Her mother asked.

"Stuff for the school's paper. And Prom Night."

"Prom Night ? I thought it was in three months."

"Yes, but they are looking for people to help. I just passed by, see if I could do something. It's good for the extra credit."

"That's good, sweetheart, but don't forget your grades. They're good… But you could do better in Algebra, right ?" Her mother said with her false preoccupied look.

Freddie felt anger rise. She closed her eyes and drank some water. She did her best not to cause too much quarrels with her parents, knowing it wouldn't change anything. She had a tight small smile and said :

"Sure. I'm working on that."

"Work harder" Her father interrupted, his mouth full of meat "I'm not paying college for you so you can party, Prom Night and all that… You got to have the best grades !"

"Sure Dad" She mumbled, swallowing a mouthful of disgusting meat in order not to have to talk.

She did her best but some things just didn't work. She couldn't get the grip on Algebra and all that ! She couldn't ! She got the second best grades in her Literature class and the third best in her French class but her parents never really looked at that, did they ?

"So, about Prom Night" Her mother tried to calm the atmosphere "Do you know who you are going with ?"

"And what dress you are going to wear ? So we can start borrowing from the bank ?" Her father joked.

Freddie just realized how hunched over her plate she was. She didn't try to straighten up. If the other students could see her ! The Great Freddie Lounds afraid of her father asking about Prom ! She only shrugged : "I don't know. I thought I'd ask Zeller but he's going with… someone else… I have a red dress from Cousin Jill wedding… We don't actually need to go with someone…" She didn't want to talk about Zeller being in a relationship with Price. She dated him once to make her parents shut up but things went kind of badly. They looked too much alike to go along.

Thankfully, the conversation went to her little sister who had plenty interesting things to say about that boy who wanted to go out with her and that movie night she wanted to do with her friends after spending the afternoon at the library. Freddie tried not to roll her eyes and went on eating.

/

Frederick didn't look up from his computer went the door opened. He was sitting on his bed, head propped up against the pillows, the computer on his lap, playing Public Enemy, the black and white version with James Cagney. He watched the movie a hundred times but couldn't get tired of it.

"Don't come in without knocking, Eli, he is probably wanking!" His brother Gordon shouted from the other end of the house.

Frederick rolled his eyes and turned his eyes to the door. His brother Elijah stood there with a grin : "We're going eating with the guys at the new fast food place. Wanna come ?"

Frederick rolled his eyes again and had a sarcastic laugh : "Very funny. Get out of the house already."

Elijah only laughed and left, leaving the door open. "Close the door !" Frederick shouted but Elijah only flipped him off.

Frederick sighed and closed his computer. His nth watching of Public Enemy was now ruined. He needed to do some homework anyway. He wasn't late but he should take some advance. That Algebra paper was really really hard ! He closed his eyes a moment before conjuring enough strength to put his computer away and take his Algebra paper. He had a desk but not the motivation to work on it.

He heard the front door close and lowered his eyes to his papers.

Few minutes later, Skype started ringing. He nearly jumped. The house was so quiet that the ring clashed. Frederick took his computer and slid it again on his lap, answering the call.

On the other end, he faced a family picture with five false smiles in London.

"Frederick ? Frederick ? Can you hear us ?" His father's voice said.

"Yes, yes, I can. How are you ? How is New York ?"

"Your brothers both told Skype didn't work really well so we called you. Can you call them ?" His mother nearly screamed at the other end.

"I'm afraid they are out. They have this really important project…" Frederick automatically lied.

"About what ?" His father asked.

"I don't…" Fredrick started.

"Don't bother him" His mother said "You know he wouldn't understand what his brothers do !"

Frederick was happy they didn't call with the video : "How are the conferences going ?" He asked.

"Good… Good… They went well. I have one tomorrow morning, your mom has to attend one tomorrow afternoon and then we have to have dinner with all the professors but we should be here the day after day at noon." His father explained.

Ah, the burden of having biology professors as parents.

"And you ? How are you ?" His mother asked.

"I'm fine. I have this Algebra test I'm working on…"

"Try not to screw it up, okay, darling ? We know it's hard for you, but just try to have grades good enough for one college…" His mother replied before he had the time to finish.

Frederick sighed and had to blink back some tears. He was glad his brothers weren't with him this time. Sure, he hadn't the best grades in his classes (damn the Evil European Twins !) but he did make it to the top five in every single class he was in (except PE) It was really unfair ! He wished his parents saw that… He knew his parents always had the best grades ever but they never went to school with Hannibal and Bedelia !

He was so done. He put his head on the wall behind him and took a deep breath to recollect his voice. Then, he went on asking some news.

/

Freddie knelt in front of the toilets. She coughed and pushed her fingers deeper in her mouth. Nausea overtook her again and she bent on the toilets again, vomiting the last of her dinner.

She knelt there for a moment longer. She breathed deeply, trying to get her strength back. She closed her eyes before standing up, gripping the toilet seat. She turned the sink faucet on and filled her mouth with water, once, twice and then, she brushed her teeth, tried not to look at herself in the mirror. She knew she looked terrible.

She looked at the water flowing in the sink and thought… She really should find a hobby. And a date for Prom Night.

/

The microwave biped and Frederick left his Algebra paper on the kitchen table. He opened the door and took his dinner. It was hot and he nearly dropped it as he put it on the small table. He never used the dinning room when he was alone, which was most of the time. He sat there, his phone on a side, his paper on the other side. He sighed. He was already so done with it.

He took his phone and saw he had no new messages. He tried not to be too disappointed. He look through his contacts.

Frederique.

He smiled.

He remembered her.

He smiled.

Frederique.