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Juleka Couffaine was a shy girl. She rarely spoke to people outside of her brother, didn’t participate in class, and constantly wore the darkest colors she could. There was plenty of teasing and bullying for the girl growing up, but she never changed because if there was one thing her mother taught her it was to be herself, no matter what anyone else thought.
She did fine in school and got along with her classmates, even if she chose not to speak to them unless necessary. Some, Chloe in particular, took offense to her chosen silence and doubled down on their efforts to make her life miserable. Sure, some of her other classmates stood up for her here and there but she wasn’t worth putting too much of a target on her back and she didn’t blame them. How could she expect them to stand up for her when she couldn’t do it herself? Luka had offered to teach Chloe a lesson multiple times, but Juleka refused to let him since it wasn’t that bad and she didn’t want him to get in trouble for bullying the mayor’s daughter.
It wasn’t until collége at Françoise Dupont that Juleka changed her behavior, even if it was unwillingly.
“Class, this is Rose Lavillant. She is a new student who will be joining our class,” Madame Beaumont announced, gesturing to the short girl beside her. “I hope you will all be welcoming to her. Rose, you will be getting the last open seat in the class, beside Juleka.”
“Ha! The irony in that,” exclaimed Chloe, before the girl, Rose, could even make a move toward her seat.
“Chloe, that was unnecessary. If you can’t find anything nice to say, perhaps, don’t say anything at all.”
Chloe rolled her eyes at the teacher but kept her mouth shut regardless. Juleka waited for the new girl to make her way to the seat, effectively damning her to a school year of interaction. Honestly, Juleka understood Chloe’s reaction. The girl could not be more different from Juleka if she tried. Where Juleka was tall, Rose barely reached five feet. For all of Juleka’s dark colors, Rose had a pink to match her name. Even their eyes were opposite colors and their hair as well with Rose’s blonde hair and blue eyed combo making her look rather innocent. Juleka had dark eyes and hair and the purple streaks didn’t help add any highlights to her color palette either.
Quietly, the girl sat beside her and Madame Beaumont began class, not allowing any time for introductions, luckily. When the bell rang, most of the class shot out of their seats to make it to the cafeteria and Juleka had expected the new girl to do the same. So, when she looked at Juleka instead, she wasn’t sure what to do.
“Oh, uh. Hi.”
“Hi, I’m Rose. We’re going to be seat mates, huh?”
“Uh, yeah. I’m Juleka,” she said as she tried to pack her things as quickly as possible. Another reason she never shot out of the classroom like her peers was that she never remembered to keep an eye on the clock so she could pack ahead of time.
“Well, if we are going to sit together for the rest of the year, maybe we could have lunch and get to know each other?” Rose suggested.
Juleka wanted to find a way out of the idea very badly, nothing against the girl, she just preferred to eat alone, but she couldn’t think of any excuses. “Uh, sure. We can eat together.”
To Juleka’ surprise, she actually enjoyed the lunch. She didn’t mind Rose’s company and they discovered how much they had in common. Music, movies, even fashion sense. Both girls dressed however they wanted and faced backlash from peers over their odd styles, just something else they bonded over. Juleka found herself glad the girl-Rose, she corrected herself- was seated next to her.
After that lunch, wherever one girl was, the other girl was quick to follow. No one was more surprised at their sudden closeness than Juleka’s family. Her mom and brother had not expected her to bring a friend home one day only for that friend to return almost every day afterwards. But neither could bring themselves to say anything to the girls since they were clearly happy in each other’s company.
The class was also surprised at the new development in their longtime classmate. Many had attempted to get close to Juleka, mostly out of politeness, and all were shocked that it was Rose who managed to do it. Nevertheless, the two girls were inseparable and no one argued. Even though Juleka preferred to be by herself, Rose was a social butterfly, leading to much more interaction than Juleka had expected. She soon found herself attending more school functions and class get-togethers than she ever had before. But she would do anything Rose asked.
The same could be said for Rose. Anytime she even thought Juleka was uncomfortable, she found herself bending over backwards to calm her down. Rose realized quickly she wanted Juleka to be happy, no matter what it cost her. She wondered if maybe this was unhealthy but she realized Juleka would never ask her for anything and it was all of her own volition. It was just what she wanted to do.
A few months into this new mindset, both Juleka and Rose found themselves falling. Not all at once, but they slowly realized they had incorporated the other into their daily lives and couldn’t see the future set any differently. Even the very distant future. To no one’s surprise, not even her own, Rose began trying to find a way to talk to Juleka about changing their relationship. To everyone’s surprise, including her own, Juleka heard two sentences of Rose’s very practiced speech and asked her to kiss her. Which, she agreed to.
The hardest part for Rose was over. She had the girl of her dreams and she couldn’t be happier. Juleka’s worst nightmare was just getting started. Now, they had to tell everyone. She wasn’t concerned about anyone accepting them, frankly, she didn’t care. But she didn’t want to deal with that many people, to be honest.
They sat down with Rose’s parents and Juleka’s mom and brother to tell them all at once. Only to be met with looks of confusion.
“I’m sorry, dears. Did you get us together to tell us you guys are dating? We already knew that,” Rose’s mother said, her father nodding in agreement.
“You knew? We just talked yesterday, how could you know?” Rose asked.
“Yesterday? We thought you guys had been dating for like seven months?” Luka spoke up.
“Seven months? Wait, you thought we got together when we first met?”
The rest of the room nodded at Juleka’s question. “In my defense, you had never even talked about anyone at school before and suddenly you’re bringing a girl home almost everyday? What was I supposed to think?”
“I introduced her as my friend.”
Anarka shrugged. “I just thought you would come to me when you were comfortable. I trust you to make decisions like this yourself.”
“That’s nice, Mom, but seriously, all of you thought this and didn’t think to ask?”
They were met with resounding comments of how no one wanted to make a big deal out of it.
The girls were not expecting the same thing to happen with their class. They had walked in holding hands and Mylene had made a loud ‘aw’-ing noise, which attracted everyone’s attention.
“I’m so glad you guys feel comfortable enough around us to hold hands now,” she exclaimed.
“Seriously?” Juleka asked. “How many of you thought we had been dating since we met?”
All of the class, except Marinette, had put their hands up. Juleka looked at Marinette questioningly.
“Who do you think Rose practiced her confession on. I’ve been in the loop for months, I just thought this would be funny. I was right.” Marinette smiled at the two girls as they made their way to their seats.
“I’m not sure if I should be proud that they didn’t pry or offended they all assumed something for so long and didn’t think to check it.”
Rose giggled at her girlfriend. “Well, they were right in the end,” she said, pressing a quick kiss to the taller girl’s cheek.