Chapter 2: Talking with Gaston
Odette gave an exasperated sigh and shook her head. Even though Belle was used to hearing the gossip of the villagers badmouthing her and Odette, the brunette kept a strong skin to not let her emotions get the best of her. The strawberry blonde on the other hand, wished she too wasn't badmouthed for her partial blindness. But Belle would always have her back when she gets threatened; especially by a certain someone.
Then Gaston jumped down from the rooftop of the house he was standing on landed in front of Belle and Odette.
"Hello Belle and Odette," Gaston said.
"Bonjour Gaston," Belle responded.
"Hello Gaston," Odette said politely.
The strawberry blonde only did it in order to not show her disdain towards him. Despite him being a 'town hero', Belle and Odette were not interested in him, as were the other maidens in town. The girls looked back at the book Belle was holding, and Gaston snatched it out from her hands. The brunette gave him an annoyed look.
"Gaston, may I have my book please?" Belle asked, trying to hide her irritation.
"How can you read this?" Gaston asked looking through the book. "There's no pictures!"
"Well, some people use their imagination," Belle replied, crossing her arms.
"Belle," Gaston said, tossing the book over his shoulder as it landed into a mud puddle, "It's about time you got your head out of those books and paid more attention to more important things, like me."
Nearby, the Bimbettes gave a romantic sigh at the town hero. The brunette picked up her book with her fingertips and wiped the mud off with her apron.
"Oh brother," Odette mumbled. If her glasses were off, her irises would be rolling around.
"The whole town's talking about it," the raven-haired man continued. "It's not right for a woman to read, soon she starts getting ideas and thinking…"
"Well, no offense Gaston, but I think every person in this country deserves to have a well descent education. Besides, I never learned how to read or write until I was seven," Odette remarked, placing her hands on her hips. "Thanks to Belle and Papa."
"Odette makes a good point. After all Gaston, you are positively primeval!" said Belle.
"Why thank you, Belle," the man said, chuckling. He took the brunette's book again in one hand, and put his other on her shoulder. "What do you say you and me, along with Odette take a walk over to the tavern and take a look at my trophies?"
"Maybe some other time," Belle said, clearly not interested. The triplets began to grow jealous of Belle being Gaston's center of attention instead of them.
"What's wrong with her?" Claudette asked, with envy in her tone.
"She's crazy!" Laurette exclaimed.
"He's gorgeous!" Paulette said, still fawning over Gaston. This made her sisters forget their jealousy of Belle and turned their attention back to Gaston.
"Please Gaston, I can't," the brunette said, breaking out from the man's arms, and backed up holding her book. "Odette and I have to go home and help our father. Good-bye."
"Yeah, au revoir," Odette said, hesitantly.
Lefou caught up to the hunter and stood up on the pelts, and commented, "Ha ha, that crazy old loon. He needs all the help he can get! Even that sister of yours must be dumb to not have good eye sight and how she avoids men all the time!"
Gaston and Lefou burst out laughing at the short man's joke, Odette gasped and grew angry at them.
"Don't talk about my father that way!" Belle shouted at them with a glare.
"Yeah, don't talk about their father that way!" Gaston scolded his stooge as he hit him on the head.
Odette, despite having partial eyesight can tell which person is standing by from their voice, walked up to Lefou and lifted up her foot and stomped on his foot very hard. This made him yell out in pain as he grabbed his foot and began to hop around.
"Lefou! How dare you speak to me like that?" the strawberry-blonde snapped leaning towards him face-to-face, making him flinch in fear. "I do not tolerate any insults or offenses for poor people like myself. I may be half-blind, but I'm not stupid like you and Gaston! I bet you can't spell Gaston's name correctly! Just because I'm ace, doesn't mean that I don't feel love. I can still feel love for my friends and family emotionally."
Belle hurried over to Odette, and guided her gently back. The brunette kept her gaze firm and had to make sure the strawberry blonde did not get hurt.
"My sister makes a good point!" she stated. "And besides, our father is not crazy! He's a genius!"
Suddenly there was an explosion back at the cottage! Belle and Odette hurried back home to see what just happened. Gaston and Lefou continued to laugh, as the raven-haired man slapped his stooge's back making him fall over!