A/N: Song in parenthesis by Madonna... again.

Chapter 10- Second Hand News (Ray of Light)

It happened out of nowhere.

Josée wasn't sure if she was capable of falling in love, but then one night everything changed. Going into her final year of high school, she had no clue about how this chaotic year would go. She still had her friends, she still had many competitions to win, and of course she had her boyfriend, but she never was sure about the outcome.

Little did she know, everything was going to change - and, to be frank, Josée didn't handle change very well.

But one thing did change in a positive direction - or so she thought - it was the realization that Josée did love Claude. They were outside on Claude's balcony at night - Josée's mother was out of town so she took the chance - and watched the stars, which was incredibly cliche, but it felt nice to go stargazing with him.

That night, Claude had told her something very, very personal.

He had told her about his mother, about how she had forced him into music at an early age – and even though he loved music, sometimes it was too much, especially with the pressure his mother put on him. It was a secret that he had trusted her with; something deep and meaningful – and something Josèe could relate to deeply. She had a level of understanding him that no one else did, surely, and she liked to think no one else understood her like he did.

"She wouldn't let me out of my room until I got a part right," Claude had explained to her quietly. "You know how music runs in my family. My mother... she used to be a clarinetist, well, she still is, but... it's sort of complicated. She wanted me to learn a more complex instrument because clarinetists are unfortunately common therefore it was difficult for her to find a job in the music industry. She wished that her mother had gotten her to learn a harder instrument, such as the oboe or bassoon. So when my parents found out I was musically inclined with perfect pitch, they felt as though they hit the lottery."

Josée didn't meet his eyes, but had hummed a bit to show that she was listening.

"Since age three," Claude had continued solemnly, "Threw an oboe in my hands. I could hardly lift the damn thing, but it didn't matter. Practice makes permanent, she would say. Not perfect, because she reminded me that I could never be perfect - but you can practice a part over and over long enough to the point where you won't make mistakes."

"Isn't that the definition of perfect though?" Josée had asked, "Not making any mistakes?"

"That's true... but... I'm a very flawed player. It's like you say about your ice dancing. There are those that have natural ability, and those who have to work. Even though I'm musically inclined, I still have to work - because there's always someone out there better than you."

That hit Josée to her core, and when she met his eyes... well, Josée didn't want to be dramatic, but... she wanted to be with him for the rest of the night. Forever, even.

Everything felt right. Everything felt stable. Josée knew she could use some stability in her life, and Claude helped with that.

"My mother locks me in a closet whenever I don't skate well," Josée had admitted under her breath. She felt her breath get sucked out of her, and her stomach doing a few flips. It was the first time she had ever admitted that to anyone other than Jacques, and she said so without hesitation; it scared her. At the same time, she knew she could trust him.

So yes, Josée figured it out, she did love Claude.

The problem was...

...Too little, too late.

Ever since he started having those internalized thoughts, Jacques had figured out a solution for 'getting over' it. Normally when people got over things in his family, drinking them away was usually the way to go - but this was different. So since that day, Jacques had a series of lovers - most of which were not exclusive. A lot of them were men in the ballet company that he worked at during the day while Josée was at school.

But Jacques soon found that he had grown to like one guy more than the other guys there.

His name was Adam. He was a few years older than Jacques, and he was one of the best dancers there. He was definitely something. They had met during a break when they went to the cafeteria to get some lunch, going to the same salad bar. They struck up a conversation, and after only a few days of a conversation, it turned into 'benefits' and what was 'benefits' to Jacques turned to feeling actual attraction, as in, he thought Adam was boyfriend material. The last serious boyfriend Jacques had was Nathaniel, so maybe he could break the question to Adam. They had been... intimate together these past few months after all.

Speaking of Adam, Jacques was at his apartment right now this very morning.

"Morning," Adam said, grinning beside him on his bed. He leaned into kiss him, but Jacques stopped him, giggling.

"Non, don't kiss me... my breath smells like rotten eggs."

Adam's eyes gleamed. "I love the smell of rotten eggs." And kissed him anyway. He glanced over at the clock on the nightstand. "Oh crap. Don't you have somewhere to be?"

Jacques shook his head. "Non. Josée and I usually go practice early but she mentioned going to a friend's house." At the mention of his partner's name, Jacques saw an unidentifiable look in his eyes - it was similar to the one Nathaniel had. Jacques tried smiling. "But we can stay here... if that's okay. We don't have practice until later." He rested his head in the crook of Adam's neck. "Do you want to go back to sleep?"

Adam smirked and brought him closer. "Part of me just wants to stay here forever."

Jacques' heart fluttered. "Oui, me too. I'm just worried about the press-"

"Aren't you already out?"

That wasn't really the point, but Jacques didn't want an argument. "Oui." Jacques snuggled closer. "I was worried that they followed us to your apartment last night... wouldn't want them to stalk and ask you a lot of annoying stupide questions." He sat up and reached for his phone. "I should message my parents to let them know I'm okay."

"You should try getting your own apartment, bel homme." Jacques grinned at the sweet talk. "It's not like you can't afford one." Jacques hummed to himself in thought. It was very true. The prize money that he and Josée had received over the years from competitions - and some that they are currently earning - would be enough for an apartment to himself, as well as the money he makes on his own at the ballet company when they do productions of dances. "You'd also get privacy," he added suggestively.

"Mmm, oui. I was... I was planning on saving for a bigger apartment for before the olympics." It had been in the back of Jacques' mind for as long as he could remember. He figured that he and Josée could share the apartment when she was old enough so she could be out of the hands of her mother and having a coordinated schedule to train for the olympics. It would be a lot easier without Josée's mother around, but Jacques knew it would take a lot of convincing.

Adam furrowed his brows in confusion. "Why would you need a bigger apartment for that?"

Oh.

Jacques shrugged. "Well, ah, we would need to put a lot of training equipment there, a place for our trophies-"

"'We?' 'Our trophies?'"

Fuck.

Jacques... had a sinking feeling that Adam wasn't too fond of Josée. He tried not to mention her as much as he could, really, because - he really did like Adam. "I am an ice dancer, and so is my partner, so if we have to get gold it would be easier if we lived together."

Adam's expression was unreadable, then with a 'hmph!' he let his head rest on the palms of his hands behind him. "I see," he said neutrally. Jacques settled back into Adam's chest. "Don't understand why you have to live together though," he muttered.

Jacques wished he hadn't said anything.

It was rare that Josée would spend time with friends outside of school and ice dancing that wasn't with Jacques. There were very few times her mother approved of her doing anything outside of "perfecting her footwork on the ice" or schoolwork. Once Claude had entered her life, her mother did decide to be more lenient, even though she claimed that "romance was a waste of time" but little moments did pop up now and then where Josée could have more freedom.

This happened to be one of them. Alice's parents were away for the weekend and left Alice in charge of the house, and specifically told her not to invite anyone over. So naturally, Alice had to do the exact opposite. She invited Josée, Rachel, and Clara, but the latter couldn't make it.

When Josée asked why, Alice chuckled a little nervously. "Oh, I think Clara's doing some errands for her mother."

Rachel looked uncomfortable, so she changed the topic. "Viktor and I are in love," she announced in Alice's room, over the Celine Dion music that played in the background. Josée wasn't sure what song it was, but she was more focused on that statement Rachel made that annoyed her. "Can you believe that it's going to be two years?"

"Not really," Josée said honestly. Rachel and Alice merely stared at her. Josée wasn't phased. "What? I didn't think you'd last that long."

"Well, I can say the same about you and Claude," Alice chimed in, smiling awkwardly. "It has been almost two years for you both as well!"

Josée couldn't help but smile. "It has, and... you know something... I think I might be in love."

The reaction she got was not what was expecting. Instead of Alice jumping for joy - since she was the one that pressed Josée about her romance with Claude - she looked a little more apprehensive than before. Rachel began to wring her hands a bit - a habit Josée knew she had whenever she was nervous - and averted her eyes away.

"Isn't that wonderful?" Alice asked, laughing a bit. She frowned at Rachel who looked like she wanted to say something, and stomped on her foot. "Don't leave your mouth wide open like that sweetie, you'll catch flies that way."

Josée blinked a few times in confusion at the exchange, but decided to go on: "I think I'm ready to..." She felt her face go bright red. "...be with him, you know?"

Alice nearly gasped. "It's amazing how you're seventeen and you're still a..." she couldn't even finish the sentence, opting to smile instead. "I'm happy for you. Did you tell him that you think you're ready to be with him?"

Josée shook her head. "Non, I... I just don't know when the timing would be right. This is important to me, because... for the longest time, I've wanted to be absolutely sure and in love, and I wanted to be stable and I wanted everything to feel right. I wasn't always so sure, but... but now I am. Everything about him is just so wonderful, and I know that this year is the year where something special could happen between us, and this could just so happen be it."

Rachel exchanged a knowing look with Alice, with the blonde biting her lower lip.

Alice, however, rolled her eyes and said with a chuckle, "Thank god. You really do need to sleep with someone... spouting all of that. That'll be a major change."

"Speaking of major changes," Rachel cut in, changing the topic again. "You have yet to dye your hair."

"Believe me, I want to," Alice said bitterly. "But I told you, my maman said that I can't dye my hair until I leave the house. She said it was a 'wonderful' trait and reminds me that's how my stepdad fell in love with her." Josée looked down at her hands uncomfortably. "She's so clueless. I think I may just drop out."

"You have the twelfth grade solo to look forward to," Josée said encouragingly. "You're the best vocalist in the school, how could it not go to you?"

Alice positively beamed under the praise. "Good point. I just know my audition was far better than anyone else's."

"Ally!" A little girl's voice squeaked happily as she ran into Alice's bedroom. Josée knew the girl to be Alice's five-year-old sister Colette. Alice would always go on and on about how lucky Colette was that she didn't get her 'cursed' red hair. "Will you play with me?" Then, she turned to see that Josée was there and broke out into a huge smile. "Josie!"

She was also Josée's "number one fan." If only she could pronounce her name right, but Josée didn't have the heart to correct her. Josée was alarmed when the small child proceeded to climb on her lap and hug her around her neck. Josée looked helplessly to Alice. It wasn't like Josée hated children, she just never knew what to do and was awkward around them. Whenever she and Jacques came into contact with younger fans it was Jacques who was better with children compared to her. "I missed you!"

Rachel scowled. "What am I, chopped liver?"

Alice chuckled nervously. "Sorry about that, Josée. She's not very good with personal space."

"Um... it's alright." Frowning unsurely, Josée hugged the child back. "I uh... missed you too, Colette - ack!"

Colette gasped and stopped squeezing her neck tightly. "Sorry! I love skating! I wanna be an ice dancer like you!"

Josée felt her heart go fuzzy and couldn't help but let herself smile genuinely. She turned to Alice. "Is this true?"

Alice rolled her eyes. "She won't stop talking about you, it's so annoying... we bought her first pair of ice skates... she is determined."

"Well..." Josée started off to Colette, "You'll have to work hard."

Also, as awful as it sounded, a tiny part of Josée hoped that Alice's sister didn't pursue a career in figure skating, which was the last thing most people expect from a star figure skating athlete. It wasn't that the sport wasn't beautiful, Josée thought ice dancing was the best thing to ever happen to her - and one other thing, not that she would admit it - but it was a cruel and demanding sport that preyed on those who were sensitive; the ice wasn't so forgiving. It all stemmed back to why her mother was tough on her, and well, Josée had met Alice's mother - she was a weak woman who chose her a man over her children, which was the opposite of her own mother.

"Do ice dancers ever kiss?" Colette giggled.

That came out of nowhere. Josée bit her lip. "Um... sometimes in performances."

Colette held back a giggle this time. "Did you and Jacques ever kiss?" Rachel gasped while Alice couldn't help but let out a snort of amusement when they saw Josée's face turn red as an apple.

"No, actually. I also don't think Claude would appreciate that." Even if the kiss was only professional and would absolutely mean nothing whatsoever; her mother's story taught her the dangers of falling for an ice dancing partner - they would leave you, as would any man in her maman's situation.

Wait... why was she discussing the thought of kissing Jacques?

"Who's cloud?" Colette asked, then she giggled again. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"Yes he is, and he's very nice."

"Alice has had lots of boyfriends!"

"Okay, Colette, that's enough!" Alice said sternly, picking her up from Josée's lap and setting her on the ground while Rachel snickered. "Get out of my room."

Colette pouted. "But I didn't get her to sign something!"

"You have a box full of twenty other signatures from Josée, get out of my room."

Colette huffed angrily. "Fine." But before she left, she gave one last smile and wave to Josée. "Bye Josie!" Josée waved back, grinning just a bit.

Once she was out of earshot, Alice scowled and rolled her eyes. "Sorry about her. She's very annoying."

"It's... fine," Josée settled, shrugging.

"You're just saying that because you don't have siblings."

"That's true. But annoying sister or not, she's still a fan," Josée pointed out, then went on to explain: "Our fans are probably one of the best parts about ice dancing other than the dancing itself. They give us so much energy to perform! If they believe we can do it, why can't we believe in ourselves? It's better than the press and reporters, who just want to make money off of us and ask us stupide questions, the fans actually care. It's only fair if Jacques and I care right back, and that includes the younger fans, which I'm not so great with... but I try! Anything for the gold, for our fans, for the ice..."

"It's almost like you're having an affair ice dancing over Claude," Alice said jokingly. "...with the way you fawn over it."

"Oh shut up." Although choosing between Claude and ice dancing would be absolutely absurd, Josée knew at least now that she could see Claude in her future.

"For the love of gold," Josée's mother snapped irritably. "You will see that boy later after practice, let's go."

Josée nearly gasped; she hadn't realized she had been messaging him the whole time on her way to the rink. Claude had told her that he would be picking her up after practice and she felt relieved. He had been unusually busy this year so far, even if it had just started. Like, last week for instance, Josée originally was supposed to go to Claude's house, but he said he was caught up with something so Josée went to Alice's house instead. She sheepishly put her phone away. "Sorry, maman."

Her mother rolled her eyes as they entered the main hall. "It's crazy how that boy is still with you anyhow."

Josée, who had been happy the whole day, felt her mood dampen significantly. "What do you mean?"

"Well..." began her mother, with an icy smile, "It won't be long until men get tired of you, Josée. It's a miracle, honestly. You're very naive when it comes to these things."

"...We've been together for a long time, maman," Josée told her defensively. She even smiled a little thinking about it. "I think he really, really likes me. He told me himself that he loved me." Her heart swelled just a bit letting his words consume her brain. He said he loved her.

Her mother shook her head. "Oh come on now, really?" She even laughed at the thought. "They always say these things. You're far too busy with your career." Before Josée could go to the locker room to put her skates on, her mother cut her off, standing in front of her with cold steely eyes. "I've warned you, Josée. I told you not to get stupide with boys, I know you're not going to disobey me, are you?"

Josée's eyes grew wide. "O-of course not! I would never-"

"Because again, it's awfully nice of me to let you keep seeing him," she remarked coldly. "Even though he's probably going to end up leaving you."

"Maman, he wouldn't!" Josée tried to insist, but of course, the doubt lingered inside her. Maman was usually right about these things; Josée couldn't recall a moment in her life where her maman was wrong.

"Oh, I'm not trying to scare you, Josée. I'm just saying... there are... possibilities." Josée stared at her mother like a deer in the headlights, but in response, her mother merely smiled as if she hadn't said anything. "I wish I could stay to make sure your ice dancing isn't a complete failure, but... I have to go work. I'll be back on Monday. Try not to burn the house down, I'm sure you could even follow that simple task."

Josée nodded, obliged. "Yes, maman." She watched her mother exit the building.

Once she was out of sight, Josée left to go to the locker room, alone with her thoughts. Jacques hadn't arrived yet - ugh, he was late again - so she took the time to herself - unable to get her mother's words out of her head. Josée decided after five minutes of careful consideration that she would have to tell Claude tonight how she felt about him. Her mother did have some points; Claude had been busy, and he had been slipping away from her recently - all because these things in a relationship took a lot of time for Josée and it was about time she told him how she felt. Surely that would fix everything, because in that moment where she and Claude watched the stars, she truly connected with him emotionally - everything had suddenly clicked.

"Chouchou, is everything alright?" Jacques, who had just arrived, asked with a worried expression.

Josée shook out of her thoughts, blinking and taking in her surroundings, before rolling her eyes at Jacques. "You're late," she snapped, putting her skates on aggressively. She got up and jabbed her finger into his chest a few times as she said, "I hate when you're late."

Jacques' face fell. "I'm sorry. I was..." he stopped himself, he really didn't have a valid excuse. "...with someone," he told the truth.

Josée lifted an eyebrow. "And that's an excuse to be over five minutes late?"

"Is that really much of a problem?" countered a new voice that Josée didn't recognize, along with a new face. She didn't see the person around the rink at all.

Jacques bit back a groan. "Adam, I told you that you could wait in the main hall."

Josée looked on in realization; she vaguely remembered Jacques talking to her about a new guy he was seeing. He didn't go into detail - thankfully, because they both had other things to worry about, such as their performances - but he mentioned that one guy stuck out to him more than the others at the ballet company he was working in. Josée assumed that this happened to be the guy in question, since he was down here in the locker room.

For some odd reason, this annoyed Josée more than usual. "People that aren't skaters are not supposed to be down here," she said sternly.

"And why not?" Adam challenged.

Jacques could feel the tension and laughed nervously. "Ah, okay! How about we all just get out of the locker room?" His fake smile vanished when he saw Adam keeping a strong glare on Josée. "Um, 'allo?"

"Yes we should get going," Josée agreed, breaking eye contact from Adam. "We'll have to make-up for the lost time." Jacques' eyes drifted from Josée to Adam, seeing his icy expression turn into one of neutrality.

"Right. I'll be waiting in the main hall." And Adam left.

"So that's the guy you've been seeing?" Josée asked rhetorically, with a roll of her eyes as she made her way out of the locker room. "You need to tell him the rules, Jacques. He can't just come down here."

Jacques followed her, frowning. "Does this mean I can complain about Claude again?" Josée flashed him a dirty look. "Ah... okay." However, at the mention of her boyfriend's name, Jacques noticed Josée's eyes soften significantly and she... blushed? Did she actually just blush? "You okay?"

Josée let out a sigh and stopped walking, leaning against the wall. "Can I tell you something completely mad?"

He stopped walking. "That depends. Is it murder?"

"Jacques-"

"You're my best friend, but I don't know if I would report you to the police or not."

"It's not murd - wait a second..." Josée stopped mid-sentence to gawk at him in utter disbelief. "You would narc on me if it was?"

"I don't know!" Jacques exclaimed, his eyes wide. Then he looked away from her, chuckling nervously. "So we should get going to the rink-"

"That can wait," Josée said amusedly. "You just opened up a can of worms. Go on, then. You would seriously narc on me? Jacques, stop laughing... it's not that funny."

"I'm starting to think you're going to kill someone."

Josée huffed. "It's about Claude, stupide."

Beat.

"You're going to kill Claude? Because I can definitely get behind that-"

"JACQUES!"

Jacques wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes. "Okay, okay, okay. I'm serious now. What is it?"

"I've experienced something that I've never experienced before," Josée muttered, looking down at her skates. Jacques' high spirits have diminished once he saw just how serious she looked; which wasn't unlike Josée, but he knew that this was a different type of serious. She looked back up at him with insistence. "It's not as good as getting a gold medal, of course... but it's still really important and almost scary, even."

Jacques' eyes grew wide. "Scary?" he echoed, not quite believing it - it was rare that Josée was scared over something that didn't have to do with competitions, her maman, or the closet she was forced in. "Josée just talking like this is starting to scare me."

"Well it's not about you stupide!"

"You said it had to do with Claude..."

"Okay, alright then!" Josée cried out, throwing her hands up in defeat. She broke eye contact from Jacques, looking down at her skates again and biting her lower lip. She covered her mouth with her hand, mumbling something incoherent that Jacques couldn't make out.

"I didn't get that, Josée?" Jacques said, staring at her with concern. "Can you repeat that?"

"I love him," Josée confessed quietly, barely above a whisper. "As in, I'm in love with him." Josée didn't know why this was so difficult to say to Jacques, of all people. Hesitantly, she looked up to meet Jacques' eyes.

A wave of emotions went across Jacques' face too quickly to read. "Are you... are you sure?"

Josée nodded adamantly. "Yes, I'm sure. I don't know much about romance, but... I'm starting to understand what people say about it. Like, that idiom about having butterflies in your stomach, or the way your heart is supposed to flutter, how you have that moment of connection and everything feels right." She paused thoughtfully. "The only thing I'm wondering is why it took me so long to feel it with him, but..." she smiled a little, thinking about it. "I know what I feel now. I'm going to tell him tonight."

Jacques, who had been noticeably getting more serious as she went on, cut in with a small smile: "I'm happy that you're happy, chouchou."

Josée's eyes lit up. "Really?" Then, she turned more serious. "I won't let this get in the way of our partnership, you know, with what we... have." She smirked victoriously. "We have to win the olympics, after all... and all our competitions, and..." Suddenly, she took her hands in his, with stars in her eyes, "...I couldn't do that with anyone else."

Jacques squeezed her hands back and smiled, a softer look in his eyes. "Merci, Josée." It was silent for a while, then he cleared his throat: "We should... we should get to the rink."

Josée let go of his hands, laughing a little. "Oh right we should-"

"-it's getting later and later, and-"

"Oui," Josée cut in desperately, and walked ahead of him. Jacques followed without making another sound.

Claude picked up Josée from practice like he said he would. Right now at his house, she and Claude weren't even watching the movie as they kissed on his bed; it was noticeably a lot less awkward - well, on her end at least. Every time she kissed him she felt him pulling away slightly, or at least looking a little shocked that she was initiating all the kisses. Maybe that was just her being paranoid, but... god, she just knew something was wrong.

After a while, she couldn't help herself. "Is everything okay?" Josée asked concernedly.

Like Josée had seen many times from her boyfriend, he smiled - but his eyes did not. "Oui, I'm fine."

"I think we should..." Josée couldn't believe she was really doing this. Her heart began to accelerate. "I think we need to have a talk." She sat upright, and Claude did the same - she noticed that his eyes went a little wide in anxiousness, she could tell and his smile disappeared entirely. "Relax, Claude," she tried to reassure gently. "It's a good thing."

Claude's eyebrows shot up. "Oh? What is it?"

Josée took note that his voice was a little more high-pitched than usual, but decided not to address it. "I've been thinking a lot about us lately, and... I know I haven't been the best girlfriend..." Claude did not interrupt to dispute the point. "Like... the way it takes me a while for me to sort of these feelings and all, and..." Josée stopped talking to get a good look at him, his eyes were shining. She wrapped her arms around his neck like she usually did. "I think... no, wait... I have to be sure, and... I adore you," she breathed at last.

Josée stared down at her lap, not quite ready to look at him yet to see his reaction. "I'm sure I love you, that I'm in love, and I know it's taken me forever to come to that conclusion, way longer than most girlfriends do, I'm sure... I mean..." Josée laughed nervously and began to ramble. "Girls like Rachel say 'I love you' after a few months, and Alice would say 'I love you' after a few days, and..." she hesitated for a moment, "I don't remember Clara ever saying she loved someone, but I'm sure she has." For some reason, Claude visibly flinched. Josée hesitantly met his eyes, biting her lower lip. "Please say something."

Claude, who had taken all the time, merely smiled at her. "I love you too, Josée."

She really, really, really wanted to believe him. "And continuing on, well... I want to show you how much I love you, but... not now. I mean, not tonight," she added, with a hinting tone in her voice.

Claude seemed to catch on, looking wide-eyed and shocked. "Do you mean that, mon chaton?"

Josée smiled at the pet nickname. "Oui. Just... it can't be today, I'm too... nervous. Is... Is tomorrow okay?" She looked a little hopeful. Then she was surprised when Claude cupped her face gently and pulled her into a kiss, sending a wave of fuzziness that she enjoyed having.

"Oui," Claude agreed, still smiling once he pulled away. "I can't wait, Josée, I love you too."

Josée smiled a bit to herself. Their relationship was saved in her mind, at least for now. Although Claude had been distant lately, she could feel him slowly starting to come back to her - maybe she could believe him just a little. She would've stayed the night today, but she figured there had to be some preparation that needed to be involved. This was important. Hopefully her friends will be able to give her advice on the matter, because even though they gave her a migraine from time to time, they knew how to give advice on a topic as complicated as this.

Tomorrow couldn't come fast enough.

"Au revoir, Adam," Jacques told him.

Adam grinned and kissed him as a way of saying goodbye, and departed from Jacques' house. Jacques watched his... semi-boyfriend as he went away. Adam wasn't his boyfriend, at least, not yet. Jacques really wanted him to be, but he didn't know how to bring up the question. The last serious relationship that he had that actually lasted fairly long was with Nathaniel, and he had been the one to initiate a new step in their relationship. It was like Jacques forgot all about the dating scene all together and skipped multiple steps of romance to get to the intimate part, and well, maybe he could get back into having a relationship again.

Once Adam was out of sight, Jacques entered his house and collapsed on the sofa. He didn't realize that Gabrielle was right next to him until she cleared her throat very loudly, startling the ice dancer. "What was that for?!"

"So his name's Adam..." Gabrielle mused teasingly. Jacques bit back a groan and rolled his eyes as his sister went on, "Oh don't give me that attitude, he's cute looking. I didn't realize you were into much older men-"

"Shut up," Jacques snapped. "I like being around him. He's nice, he's fun-"

"Ooh, so he's fun now?"

Jacques couldn't help but groan this time. "Where's maman?"

"You're not seriously going to cry to her, are you?" Gabrielle asked amusedly. "Typical."

"You know, I never bother you about your love life... oh wait!" Jacques smirked menacingly. "You have none!"

Gabrielle's grin vanished in an instant. "As a matter of fact, I do, stupide." She paused for a second. "Can I ask you something?"

"Is the question going to annoy me?" Jacques asked, exasperated.

"Probably."

Jacques sighed. "Go ask."

"You and Josée..." Gabrielle started off, without a hint of judgment in her tone. She was skeptical and serious: "Are you two...?"

"Non, nothing like that." Gabrielle was right, the question did annoy him. Uncertain as to why, he went on: "She has her own boyfriend, and... she said that she loves him. I... I should be a little happier for her, but I'm not. I can't help but get this feeling that he's bad for her-" he stopped when he saw his sister's neutral expression, interpreting it as something else: "And before you say it, I'm not jealous or anything-"

"No, I think you're right," Gabrielle cut in, entirely serious. Jacques blinked in surprise as his sister went on to explain, "When I met the kid at one of your competitions, he just seemed so off. I'm glad that Josée found someone, because really, she needs to get away from that devil-woman known as her mother, until you mentioned how easy it was for Josée to forgive him over things so quickly. It's like she never wants to fight with him."

"Exactly," Jacques agreed. "When she told me that she loved him, I didn't know what to feel. Am I supposed to stand there and take it, or tell her that he's bad and that she shouldn't be with him? That got us into a fight last time. Am I supposed to let her relationship with him continue?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Jacques stared at Gabrielle in disbelief, but she continued, "Because by you interfering, you're proving that you can be just as controlling as her boyfriend is, you have to let her make her own decisions, even if they are shitty ones-"

"But I'm her best friend-"

"Exactly," Gabrielle cut in. "That's the exact reason why you let her go through with it. You advised her, you let her know that you don't think he's great, and that's something Josée has to see for herself. And if that involves her getting hurt in the end - yes, I know the last thing you want is for her to get hurt - then so be it."

Jacques smiled a little. "You sound like Bernadette."

Gabrielle chuckled at that. "I can't believe I'm the one giving sisterly advice. I was planning on just being that sister that you can get drunk with, but you know what? Why can't I be both?" It was silent for a few seconds, both of their smiles gone. "I meant what I said, Jacques."

Jacques nodded solemnly. "I know."

"You can't protect Josée from everything."

"I know, it's that..." Jacques buried his face in his hands. "I'm not sure I can handle it." Gabrielle gave him a sad smirk and nodded in understanding.

Josée was fuzzy all over even after she left Claude's house; she couldn't help it. A part of her hated herself for it, something out of her control, because she knew that her maman wouldn't approve of such a thing and say once again that men were a waste of time and that she had raised such a "soft" daughter. Of course she would be able to mask that up, it was best that she didn't mention these things to her dear maman for now, at least.

...God, this other part of her wanted to go back to Claude's and tell him that she was ready, right then and there! Right now, she was bored up in her room without anything to do. She could go to the rink to get some extra practice, but it was likely they were starting to close up.

Maybe she could call him; it would be last minute, sure, but... she couldn't wait any longer. He would probably help her through it, she didn't need her friends' advice, it would be an experience for her that she would be guided through because Claude was her boyfriend who loved her, like she loved him. Picking up her phone, Josée scrolled through her contacts ready to call her boyfriend, up until Rachel's caller ID showed up and started to ring. Frowning thoughtfully, Josée picked up. "Rachel?"

"You need to get to Clara's house now."

An odd feeling enveloped Josée's stomach. "What do you mean?"

"The twelfth grade vocal soloist results came out," Rachel said irritably. If Josée listened closely, she could hear bickering in the background. "Alice didn't get it."

Josée's eyes went wide. "Oh merde," she said bluntly. Then, she was skeptical: "What does this have to do with Clara?" Rachel didn't say anything. Josée briefly thought that the blonde had hung up on her, before Josée started to connect the dots and her eyes went wider in realization. "Oh merde." Rachel didn't have to say anything.

"So I see you figured it out," Rachel remarked, sighing. "It's ugly. I was just hanging out with Clara, and then the email came through... then Alice stormed in here, it's so, so, ugly. I can't get either of them to calm down, can you... can you fix it please?"

"Not going to happen," Josée cut in right away, "I told them a long time ago that I was finished with solving their fights. They claim to be best friends but argue over the pettiest nonsense that's so vapid-"

"Josée, please," Rachel practically begged over the phone, "I know you hate pointless drama, but... you at least care about them, don't you? And it's our final year, after all. We're all going to move on to new things. Alice is probably going to move, who knows where Clara is going to end up."

Josée let out an exasperated sigh. Rachel did sound desperate enough, and well, she did make a few good points. As much as Alice and Clara annoyed her to no end, she really did enjoy being with them for five years of school. It made her life seem a little more normal, even though the two singers were far from normal. "Fine," she allowed. "Just... give me ten minutes and I'll be there." She hung up and rolled her eyes. She had promised she wasn't going to get involved in these petty arguments, but here she was, heading to the train and on her way to Clara's house. She had no idea what was in store for her.

A night that would change everything.

Arriving at Clara's house, before Josée could even knock on the door, she heard the bickering coupled with hollering. Josée closed her eyes briefly and rubbed her forehead, because this gave her a hint of what she would be dealing with; not that it wasn't unfamiliar, but she had gone without fixing their stupid fighting for so long that it brought a wave of memories back that she had thought she had erased from her mind.

After she heard something break, however, Josée didn't bother knocking. She entered the house - which was left opened by Rachel, Josée assumed - and froze, surveying the scene in front of her. Alice and Clara were still bickering, not even noticing Josée's arrival, and Rachel looked helplessly back and forth between them. Her eyes landed on Josée, being the only one that saw her there. "Oh, thank god," Rachel breathed out, relieved. That's when Alice and Clara ceased their fighting to look at Josée.

Josée let out a distressed sigh. "What's happened?"

Alice huffed and glared at her alleged best friend. "This bitch is trying to steal my spotlight that I've worked hard four years for!"

"And now it's time you give another person a turn!" Clara shouted back. "Maybe if you didn't act like such a diva and entitled to these things-"

"Oh what the hell have you done to deserve this solo?!" Alice retorted angrily. "To be honest, Clara, you're not that good of a singer!"

"I must've been, since I got the solo over you."

"They probably took pity on you, that's what it was, I'm sure of it since you couldn't sing if your life depended on it!"

"Face it, Alice, you're just jealous. Some supportive friend you are!"

Alice couldn't help but let out a bitter chuckle. "Oh, you want to talk about being a supportive friend? You're anything but! You hardly even care about singing, with the way you harm your vocals with the drugs you smoke!"

"At least I don't whore around like you do to 'blow off steam' after performances!"

"YOU ARE THE LAST PERSON TO TALK ABOUT WHORING AROUND, YOU-" Alice suddenly stopped shouting. She turned to Josée, who was looking on with annoyance, and a bit of concern at the level of intensity of the scene. But then, Alice started to smile. "Josée, I'm actually so glad you're here!" She sent Clara a look. "There's something you should know that everyone's been keeping from you."

"Alice, please..." But Rachel was ignored. Suddenly Clara looked like she realized she made a grave mistake.

The redhead's smile turned into a smirk. "No, no, no. Let's get it out in the open, then. Josée is here, after all. Rachel, you wanted this, didn't you?"

And that sinking feeling in Josée's stomach returned. "Wh-what?"

"Alice," Clara seethed, fire in her eyes. However, she sounded threatened. "Shut up. I'll give up the solo, I-"

"It's a bit too late for that, Clara," Alice said, venomously sweet. "I think it's very telling how you'll lecture me about sleeping with people, when you and Claude have been sleeping together this past week - and you swore Rachel and I to secrecy."

The silence was deafening. Clara averted her eyes away, while Rachel couldn't help but looked between the three girls, anticipating what could happen next.

"Say what you want about me," Alice started off nonchalantly, "But I would never sleep with someone's boyfriend."

Then it went silent again for several seconds.

"That's not true," Josée muttered at last, and she really, really, really wanted to believe that Alice was lying. Josée looked at Clara for confirmation, and with the way Clara was avoiding her eyes told her all she needed to know. "That isn't true!" she repeated louder, almost desperately. She thought about it some more; Claude had been extremely distant lately, it seemed like he was falling out of love with her, and he only appeared hesitant when Josée finally told him how she felt today.

She was... she was going to spend the night with him. She thought she was ready. If Alice hadn't called...

Once it had sunk in, Josée couldn't breathe - it was like all the air had been sucked out of the room. A wave of complicated negative emotions she couldn't understand rushed through her small frame, but she felt it was much too big for her to handle. She didn't understand, because it was all so confusing, and in return, it pushed her into the emotion she was all too familiar with - which was fury, that was now starting to bubble. She could feel it in her veins, desperately itching to get out, but Josée clenched her fists in effort to keep herself under control; she wouldn't have a tantrum, not here, at least.

Josée turned back on her heel, and tried to storm out.

"Josée, wait!"

And then Josée couldn't contain herself any longer. She whipped her body around and glared at Clara. "SHUT UP!" she shrieked, her voice cracking as she desperately tried to stop herself from crying. "JUST SHUT UP!" she repeated, reaching a volume that Josée didn't think she would ever reach herself. She was breathing heavily, startling everyone else around her who watched with frightened eyes. Josée didn't care at the wide-eyed expressions from Alice and Rachel, all she could focus on was rage - directed at Clara.

Not only Clara, but for herself - and that's what hurt the most.

"You could have picked anyone else to sleep with, and you choose him?!"

"Josée..."

"And all of you knew?!" Josée continued furiously, ignoring Rachel trying to cut in. Alice and Clara didn't say anything. "So I'm just the last to know, aren't I? That's why everyone had been acting so strange around me, and I was... no, I still am in love! Oh god, I looked so stupid!" Josée cried out, covering her face with her hands. Once she removed them, she glared at all three of them. "I cannot believe this. Some friends you all are! You suck!" This time, she stormed out successfully out of the house.

Or so she thought.

"Josée, please wait!" Rachel had caught up to her, breathing heavily. "I wanted to tell you, I tried to convince Alice-"

"Save it, Rachel!" Josée snapped. "Just. Fucking. Save. It," she articulated harshly, narrowing her eyes at the blonde. "I don't want to talk to you. Out of all of them, I expected you to tell me first if something like this were to occur - because that's what friends are supposed to do for each other, is it not? I don't have many friends, but even I know that if Viktor was cheating on you with Clara I would tell you right away!"

"I know, I'm sorry! Please forgive me," Rachel pleaded.

Josée opened her mouth to argue, but then was caught off-guard by the tears forming in Rachel's eyes. Josée felt a pang from her chest; she didn't want to be mad at Rachel. She wanted it to be Rachel's fault, it's because she really didn't want to blame Claude.

It had to be her fault.

"Just shut up," Josée spat menacingly. She didn't give Rachel a chance to reply, and ran off.

Josée thought about confronting Claude today. That she knew what he did, how he betrayed her. But she could do that tomorrow. The day that would've been her first. Once she got to her room, in a blind rage, she screamed and threw her pillows all around in her room, breaking several objects as the adrenaline rushed through her, and punched the walls repeatedly as the tears streamed down her face. She wasn't sure how long this tantrum was, but she was positive it was one of her longest - it felt like eternity.

All her friendships at school - gone.

Her relationship with Claude - gone.

After it simmered down, Josée felt herself grow extremely tired and let her head drop on the bed, her entire body going limp. Her final thoughts before going to sleep was this:

Maman was right.

How could anyone love her?