Chapter Text
The train station bustled with its usual chaos, something Julien had heard one too many times.
Children rushed onto packed carts, fighting for a good spot, but Julien could care less.
His eyes stayed glued to the ground, not daring to look anywhere else, especially at his mother.
The cold winter breeze made its way through the station, sending chills down Julien’s neck despite his warm attire.
“Julien, please. Be reasonable! You need to get going.”
His mother said, urging him to get on the train.
“I thought we promised, no crying.”
Tears slid down his cheeks just thinking about leaving. “I’m not crying.” He said dully, lying through his teeth.
He wasn’t only just upset, he was angry. His mom, his dad, everybody! They made him go to this dreadful school and Julien hated every minute of it.
“Don’t be like this, you’ll be home in 3 weeks! You’ll see all your friends, time will fly!” His mother’s voice cut through his angry thoughts.
He wiped his eyes swiftly and looked up at his mother.
“Why do you say that? You know it won’t.”
His mother sighed, getting impatient.
“Julien please, Your father and I will write often.”
Anger boiled inside him, why was he being forced to go to this school? They wouldn’t have to be writing to him if he wasn’t going!
“I don’t give a damn about Dad, and I hate you.”
The words fell out before he could stop himself.
He immediately regretted his actions.
She was stunned.
Before his mother could say anything, Julien’s classmates called out.
“Hello Julien.”
She turned around and greeted them warmly.
“See? I told you, all your friends are here!”
He scoffed,
“I can’t stand those idiots.”
Despite all of the boys in his school, he despised every single one of them. It felt like he didn’t have a friend in the world there.
His mother put on a bright smile and pulled him into a tight hug.
“Still smooching?”
An irritating voice cut through the air which he recognized immediately. Julien’s brother, François, was approaching the two.
Julien’s mood became even worse at the sight of his older brother, always picking on him.
“A bright boy like you mustn’t miss the train.”
He said in a clearly sarcastic tone.
Their mother noticed the burning cigarette in the older boy's hand and spoke up.
“François, I forbid you from smoking.” She said, bothered by the fact her son wasn’t listening.
“It’s only corn silk.” He said back in defence.
“So?” His mother looked at him expectingly
François shrugged.
“It doesn’t count.”
He leaned to kiss his mother goodbye before walking onto the train.
“Be good!” She said just as he disappeared into the train cart.
“All aboard!” The conductor's final call came.
His mother turned back to Julien and smiled sadly, putting her hands on her son’s cheeks, and kissing his forehead, leaving her bright red lipstick on his forehead.
“Go on now.” She said, smiling softly at her son.
As she guided him towards the train, he looked back and tightly wrapped his arms around her.
He felt his heart breaking, he didn’t want to leave, especially his mother.
“You think I like this?” Her voice slightly cracking.
“I miss you every moment, you know I can’t keep you in Paris.”
Tears welled up in Julien’s eyes, he hated leaving his mother, it hurt both of them.
They let go and he stepped onto the train cart, looking back once more before he left.
He was silent the entire way there, not daring to speak to anybody, just silently staring out the window, watching the world pass by.
His nose and forehead slightly pressed against the cold glass as he zoned out, the chatter of the children behind him faded into a distant noise.
He overheard somebody talking about new students, which intrigued Julien but he continued blanking staring, lost in his thoughts.
He yearned for his home, the comfort of his bed, the warmth of his mother’s arms, even just being in Paris would be better than anything.
As the train stopped and everybody started lining up to get off, Julien snapped out of his daydreaming and lined up behind two of his classmates.
He stepped off the train and immediately tensed, the air was humid and absolutely freezing, it was nothing like Paris.
As they began their walk to the school, Father Jean made them start singing their school song, it was humiliating!
Not to mention they were lined up like cattle.
People stared at them and gave them funny looks, and Julien put his head down in shame.
He was already upset, and this stupid song was ruining his mood. Just as he was grumbling to himself, Father Michel approached him.
Julien stiffened, he hated talking to adults, especially the people at this school.
“Did you have a good vacation, Julien?”
“Yes Father.”
Father Michel was the last person he wanted to speak to, despite him being much kinder than Father Jean.
“Your parents are well?”
“God, he never stops talking!” Julien thought to himself, but responded rather quickly, trying to get the conversation over with.
“Yes, Father.”
Father Michel gave a slight nod and walked away, up to the front of the line.
Julien relaxed, he was just glad the conversation was over, despite it being incredibly short.
One of his classmates turned around and started up a conversation, which was the exact opposite of what Julien wanted.
“What’d you get for Christmas?” His high pitched voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard.
“Books.”
Julien said plainly.
“Just books?”
The other boy said surprised,
“That’s lousy.”
Julien rolled his eyes at the snide remark.
He continued walking until he made it right up to the gates of the school, he paused, taking in the scenery of the school in front of him.
As he passed through the large gates of the school entrance, he looked up at the walls of the building he dreaded most, letting out a heavy sigh.
He looked over to his left at the sign that read
“Couvent des Carmes
PETIT COLLEGE
St. Jean de la CROIX”
Just reading that made him laugh, why did they act like this hellhole is a paradise?
He ignored his thoughts and walked into the school, following the rest of the kids up into their dormitory.
He changed into his pajamas, which felt like it was made of hay, and scratched at his skin like tiny needles.
He began unpacking his clothes into his locker, his day clothes, books, pencil case,
but most importantly, jars of jam his mother had given to him.
His mother had given him and his brother one jar each but Julien had managed to steal his brothers.
As he put the jars into his locker, a nosey classmate by the name of André Moreau happened to be passing by.
He peeked over Julien’s shoulder and saw the jars.
“Aha! Black market, Mr. Quentin. I arrest you!”
Just as Julien turned to see who it was, André snatched the jam out of his hand and ran away.
He began chasing after the boy, fearing Father Jean would come in and confiscate it.
“Your jam ist konfizkated!” André mocked the Germans, running around the beds.
Julien caught up to André and shoved him hard onto a bed, wrestling from the jam
“Let me go!”
The mischievous boy struggled to get free.
Julien pulled the jar away and spat,
“Next time I’ll smash your face in. I swiped it from my brother.”
Although Julien was much smaller than the other boys, he was the most fierce, picking fights with other people just because.
As Julien started walking away, Father Jean walked into the room, it wasn’t just him though, he had a boy beside him.
The boy was quite tall, had dark curls, a long brown trench-coat, tan shorts and a dark brown suitcase. He seemed a bit older than Julien, maybe 12, even 13!
As Father Jean led the dark haired boy through the room, quiet greetings circled the space. (To Father Jean)
He brought the boy to an open bed, which was of course beside Julien’s.
So it was true, there was a new student, three actually. The two older boys were put into a different dormitory.
“Children, this is your new schoolmate, Jean Bonnet.”
The other boys snickered at the name, including Julien.
“Bonnet? What a stupid name.”
He sneered at the name.
“Good night, children.” Father Jean called out to everybody in the room
“Good night, Father.” The boys in the room responded
As soon as Father Jean left, chaos broke out. Pillows were thrown at Jean and jokes were made about his last name.
Instead of saying anything, Jean just put his head down, ignoring the comments.
Mr. Moreau, the assistant, ran over to Jean, yelling at the boys to leave him alone. Mr. Moreau pulled him away and showed him to his locker.
Julien was curious about the new boy, he seemed different.
Bonnet wasn’t loud like the other boys, he was quiet and shy.
While Jean was occupied with Mr. Moreau, Julien took the opportunity to go over and look at his suitcase, besides, there wasn’t much privacy here.
He picked up two books and glanced at them before Jean came back.
“What’s your name?”
Julien was surprised by the question. What surprised him more was Jean's voice, he had a weird accent, nothing like a French one.
Julien looked up at the boy before looking back down at the books in his hand.
“The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.”
He read out the name of the book, Julien hadn’t read this one yet.
Before either of them could say anything, the lights suddenly flickered and went out and everyone started to freak out.
“Shut up and get to bed. It’s just a blackout.” Mr. Moreau said impatiently.
“My name's Julien Quentin. Mess with me and you’ll be sorry.”
He said, pushing the books into the other boy's chest, and dropping them into his suitcase.
Without another word, Julien turned back around and got into bed.
Jean continued unpacking until he looked over at the large statue of Virgin Mary, his eyes traced the large figure on the wall, her white dress flowed across her body like the wind.
Despite it being a statue, it looked like something frozen in time, every fold on her clothing seemed so real, the light blue mantle across-
“Jean!”
A piercing voice snapped him out of his thoughts, he turned around to see Mr. Moreau standing there, staring at Jean expectingly.
Jean mumbled an apology and rushed to put the rest of his things away and get to bed.
While everyone was sleeping, Julien was still wide awake.
Instead of trying to sleep, he decided to read a bit, but that was going to be hard because of how dark it was, luckily, Julien came prepared.
He pulled out a small flashlight and a book from underneath his pillow and began reading.
After a while, Julien became bored. He decided to put the book and flashlight away and try to sleep.
He lay there for a while just thinking, not knowing what to do.
As he turned to his side he noticed his new classmate Jean, sleeping quietly beside him, that got him thinking.
Julien was interested in Jean, he didn’t seem like a regular French boy, he talked weird and didn’t look like anybody here.
He dazed off, wondering about this strange boy.
He woke up to the dormitories usual mayhem, people yelling, throwing blankets and clothes, yelling profanity’s, Julien was used to it.
He was quite tired from his lack of sleep, going to bed at around 1:30 last night.
He moved like a zombie, just trying to get to class.
He got dressed into his day clothes (uniform), made up his bed and headed to the bathroom.
The bathrooms were the worst of them all, people shoved to get a sink, splashed water at each other.
Right now, Julien and his two friends were in a water war with an older boy.
He didn’t even know what started it, just felt a splash of cold water hit his face and retaliated back.
On the other side, Jean walked into the bathroom, looking for a sink.
As he approached an open one, someone shoved him aside.
“Hey, that’s my place!”
The young boy said angrily.
Despite Jean being older and larger, he just walked away, not daring to start an argument.
Jean made his way around to the other side, going beside a large boy.
As he turned on the water, the icy water shocked him, sending chills through his hand. He pulled back swiftly and asked the boy beside him,
“No hot water?”
The boy turned towards Jean, rolling his eyes slightly.
“No, we're not sissies here.”
The large boy said before turning back.
Jean was confused. How did wanting hot water make you a sissie? It seemed weird, but he ignored it and tried to bear the freezing water.
After getting ready, Jean and Julien both head to morning prayer.
As Jean sat there, he began to worry. He had never done anything like this and he was nervous.
He pushed those thoughts away and focused on what was happening in front of him.
As Father Jean stepped into the room, everyone began to rise, so Jean followed. He didn’t know what to do, so he just tried to follow along.
Just as Father Jean began speaking, a commotion interrupted him.
Jean turned around to see the boy from earlier, passed out on the ground.
As he got hoisted to his feet by Mr. Moreau and Father Michel, he looked over at his roommate, Julien, to see him staring at Jean.
He looked away quickly, looking back down at the passed out boy. Jean thought nothing of it and turned back to the front of the room, where morning prayers continued.
“We starve and freeze, yet we fast for communion. What a place.”
François made a snide remark, mocking Father Jean's words.
Julien looked up at his brother,
“You’re talking communion?”
François sneered,
“I’m no ass-kisser like you.”
Julien turned back to the front, ignoring him.
As morning prayers finished, everyone began to line up for their next classes.
As they piled out of the chapel, Julien noticed his new classmate, Jean, beside him.
As they walked, Jean spoke up.
“What class do we have now?”
Jean said quietly, after yesterday’s conversation, he was nervous to talk to him.
Julien barely heard him, he was like a mouse, it was weird.
“French literature.”
Jean nodded and followed the rest of the boys towards the classroom.
As he walked into the classroom, he froze, everyone seemed to have an assigned seat.
Jean stood there awkwardly, looking around for somewhere to sit.
He couldn’t find a seat so he decided to ask the teacher.
“Sir, where should I sit?”
The teacher looked down at Jean, his eyes seemed dead, filled with nothing but dullness.
“And who are you?”
Jean was caught off guard by the question, but he answered quickly.
“Jean Bonnet. I’m new here.”
The teacher didn’t even say his name, just turned towards the desks, searching for a seat.
The teacher looked around the classroom for a moment, before finding him a seat on the right side of the room, in the middle row.
As Jean sat down, he studied his surroundings.
He was sitting next to a small boy with round glasses, making his eyes seem very small.
He also noticed that Julien was only a couple seats away, sitting at the front in the middle of the class.
He began pulling out his books, math, science, religion, until he found his literature booklet.
Jean wasn’t sure what to do. He wasn’t given any instructions, so he sat there, not wanting to cause any trouble by asking.
“Julien, start reading.”
The teacher's rough voice carried through the classroom.
As Julien began to read, Jean flipped through his booklet, looking for the poem they had been reading.
He turned onto the correct page and began following along, literature wasn’t his strong suit.
Jean enjoyed math, although he was very quiet, he was incredibly intelligent. Math was his strong suit, he wasn’t just good at it, he loved it.
The numbers flowed through his brain like water, solving equations with ease.
As Jean daydreamed about math, Julien was busy reading poems.
“Our weariness and our full force-“
The teacher cut him off, just as he was about to finish.
“Quentin, you’re ready for the Comédie-Française.”
Students giggled around him, as the teacher began speaking.
“Can you tell us who Charles Peguy was?”
Julien was a smart kid, but he tended to not listen. He didn’t know much about Peguy, but he decided to mess with the teacher.
“He was killed in the First World War.”
“You’re starting at the end of the story.”
The teacher pushed him to add more.
“His mother mended chairs.”
Everyone in the class burst out laughing, even Julien was smirking.
“Stop laughing like idiots. Peguy's mother was a good woman.”
The teacher shouted, silencing the children.
He turned around to look at Jean.
“What about you, Bonnot?
Do you know anything about Peguy?”
Jean looked up at the teacher, panicking, he didn’t know anything about Peguy.
“No, sir. And my name's Bonnet.”
One of his classmates spoke up, mocking his name, as others joined in.
“As in Easter Bonnet!”
“Very funny, Babinot.”
The teacher turned back to walk up to the front, and told the children to start writing an essay on the poem.
Jean was surprised by the instructions, his old school would’ve made them do much more work than just a simple essay.
As they began writing, Julien became distracted, he picked up a pen, and began spinning it around the back of his hand.
On the right-hand side, while Jean was writing, he something outside the window, as he looked up to see what was happening,
He saw a soldier talking to a priest outside, which made him nervous.
Julien heard the sound and turned around to see what was happening, while he did he looked over at Jean to see what he was doing.
Jean looked up at him and the two stared at each other for a moment too long before Julien turned back around, continuing to spin the pen.
While the boys looked at one another, it made Jean forget about what he saw outside, and the soldier and priest walked away unnoticed.
While Julien was spinning the pen around, the sharp edge gave him a small cut. Julien didn’t seem to mind the pain, and began picking at it.
The large boy beside him (same one from the bathroom), looked over at Julien’s hand and gasped,
“Are you nuts?”
Julien rolled his eyes.
“It doesn’t even hurt.”
Jean overheard the two and looked over to see what he was doing.
As the clock ticked by, Jean sat there, not knowing what to do, he had finished his essay around 5 minutes ago and there was still 15 minutes of class left.
He looked through his bag, searching for something to do when he pulled out a small book, strange thing was, it wasn’t his.
He read the cover, and the description on the back, finding nothing unusual about it.
As he opened the book, a note fell out of it.
He picked up the strange note and read the back of it to himself
“To my dear son, Jean.”
Jean smiled warmly, recognizing his mother’s handwriting.
It made him feel sad, how much he missed his family, his mom, his dad, everyone.
He decided to read the note later, privately. He tucked the note back into his bag and began reading.
Without Jean's knowledge, all of this was witnessed by Julien, who was watching him the whole time.
This made Julien suspicious.
Jean had been acting weird, when he saw the soldier outside, he tensed up. He barely spoke to anybody, only talking when asked.
“Julien!”
He snapped his neck towards the teacher, who was glaring at him.
“Stop staring at Bonnet.”
The boys around him snickered as Julien’s face turned red, becoming extremely embarrassed.
As the bell rang, the class began handing in their essays and packing up.
Just as Jean and Julien were about to leave, the teacher called them up.
“Bonnet, Quentin, come up here.”
The two walked up and the teacher held up their essays,
“I took notice of these two essays, Quentin, this isn’t a surprise to you. Jean, I have to say, this is extraordinary.”
Jean scrunched his face in confusion, extraordinary?
“It seems like you might have some competition.”
The two boys looked at each other, both equally shocked.
Jean quickly mumbled a thank you, and quickly ran off, trying to get away from the awkward moment as he could.
Julien stood there, dumbfounded. He had never been outdone, especially by a new student.
As he walked outside for recess, Julien soon realized how cold it was. Despite his wool sweater, it was freezing.
He grabbed a pair of wooden stilts, and began knocking people off, including Father Michel.
“Quentin, take it easy!”
Julien ignored him, and walked off, fighting with another, and getting knocked off his stilts.
Meanwhile, Jean was sitting on a stone slab, quietly reading.
While he was distracted, four of his classmates snuck up on him, and grabbed him by the legs and arms.
“This’ll warm him up.” One of the boys mocked.
On the other hand, François, and two of his friends were not so subtlety smoking.
Julien was going around, knocking people off their stilts, teasing them.
“Long live France!” He said, in a taunting voice.
One of the older boys, Laviron, came up behind Julien.
“Playing rough, Quentin?”
He ran up, and bodychecked Julien to the ground. He fell down, hard, and scratched his knee.
“Bastard!” He said, holding his knee, lying on the ground.
“En garde, Laviron!”
One of the new students, Negus, was challenging him to a battle.
He was a tall, skinny boy, with dark curly hair, looking somewhat like Jean.
He shouted insults at him, provoking him.
“I’m Negus, the Black Knight, protector of widows and orphans.”
“Get back, Moor!
I’m Richard the Lionhearted.”
The two boys circled each other, body checking one another, trying to make them fall down.
“I’ll drive you from Jerusalem, infidel Saracen.”
Laviron spat, shoving Negus, making the boy stumble backward.
“Allah is God and Mohammed is his prophet. Tremble, my friend.”
Everyone was now invested in this, surrounding the two, forming a circle.
Negus followed Laviron around, making him back away as he continued taunting him.
As Julien watched, Jean walked up beside him and shouted,
“Go, Negus.”
Julien looked over at him, in slight disbelief and asked,
“Is that his real name?”
Jean looked down at Julien, nodding his head left to right,
“What do you think?”
Julien scoffed,
“He looks nasty.
You know him?”
Jean was shocked, and replied
“That’s Lafarge, my best friend.”
He rolled his eyes at the small boy, and continued watching.
As the two boys circled each other, Negus tried sticking his stilt underneath to trip him.
Laviron pushed him off and Negus fell to his feet.
He picked up one of his stilts and began poking it and Laviron, just as recess ended.
As they filed in, Julien went to the infirmary, to get his cut bandaged.
As the old woman, Mrs. Perrin wiped rubbing alcohol onto his knee, he cried out in pain.
“It doesn’t even hurt. Hold still while I put on a bandage.” She scolded him, and walked off to get a bandage.
“You boys will kill yourselves on those stilts.”
Julien looked behind to see Joseph, the kitchen assistant, selling an older boy a pack of cigarettes.
Joseph walked into the kitchen and exclaimed,
“The richer they are, the more they steal.”
Mrs. Perrin huffed,
“Joseph, what are you up to?
Get back to the potatoes.”
She smiled at Julien,
“There, all better.”
The old woman walked back to where Joseph was, and took a drink of wine.
“You drink too much, Mrs. Perrin.”
“Quiet brat! Nothing wrong with a drop of the good stuff.”
She retorted loudly.
Julien hopped off the table and slowly walked towards where Joseph was peeling potatoes, waiting until Mrs. Perrin left the room.
“Got any stamps?”
“I’m not trading with you guys anymore.” He replied,
“I’ve got some jam.”
That caught Joseph’s attention, he looked up to see if anyone was listening, then whispered,
“After lunch.”
He added,
“The doctor's wife loves your jam. It puts her in the mood. You know what I mean?”
Julien stared at him blankly, not understanding.
Joseph exhaled through his nose, rubbing his forehead with his fingers
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter.”
As lunch started, everyone began to take their seats. Jean and Julien sat about two seats from each other.
As the basket of bread got passed around, students began to complain.
“Now there’s straw in the bread! I’m gonna write to my dad.”
A fellow classmate complained,
“What can he do?”
The large boy beside him asked
“Complain.”
Just as they were about to eat, Father Jean rang the bell, as their chatter died down.
“I remind those who’ve received food from home, to share with their fellow students.”
Students began passing their homemade food around, offering it to their friends.
As the main dish for everyone got passed around, Jean realized that the meat for it was pork, while he sat there, contemplating what he should do, his desk-mate spoke up.
“There’s one piece left.”
Jean hesitated, but gave the smaller boy his portion. He thanked him graciously and gladly took it.
Jean was left with only sad looking peas, an apple, and a slice of bread.
Once again, the bell was rung and an older boy stepped up onto a small, wooden box to read a bible verse.
After, vitamin crackers were handed out to everyone before they left. As Jean got his, someone snatched the cracker out of his hand and licked it.
“Here, it’ll taste better now.”
He stuck his hand out, handing the cracker back. Jean shoved his arm away, staring at him as he ran out of the lunch room.
As he stood up and began to walk out, Julien stuck his hand up with another cracker.
“I’ve got two.”
“Thanks. I’m not hungry anymore.”
Jean replied quickly, walking away.
“That guy gets on my nerves.”
Julien said, glaring at Jean.
Joseph walked up to his table, emptying the contents of the plates into a large bowl,
“You got the jam?”
Just as Julien was about to answer, Joseph got pulled back by François’s two friends and thrown to the ground.
“Stop it! These are my clean pants!”
As he lay on the ground, his wallet fell out of his pants, and one of them happened to pick it up, opening it and pulling out a small photo.
“Joseph’s in love, boys.”
The three boys looked at the photo, laughing at it.
“Your girlfriend looks like a slut.”
One of them said, insulting the girl in the photo.
Joseph grabbed the photo, insulting the boy's sister before running away.
The three boys chased after him, grabbing at his shirt before disappearing out of sight.
Julien sat there, watching the dispute, but saying nothing. He walked outside, taking in a cold breath.
As he walked around the courtyard, he spots Jean walking with two boys, one of them being Negus, the boy from earlier.
As he walks past them, he looks back at the three, it seems like they didn’t notice him.
Jean had his arm around the dark haired boy, invested in conversation.
Julien turned back around, and walked up the stone stairs towards the pigsty, where he found Joseph feeding them.
“They’ll be ready to eat in three months.”
Joseph said, throwing sliced apples at the pigs.
“Sure, for Parents’ Day. So the parents will say, ‘You eat so well here!’
Joseph smirked, laughing to himself about the sarcastic joke.
“Let’s see the stamps.”
Julien nodded towards his pocket.
Joseph pulls out a small envelope out of his pocket with a stamp inside.
“A 15 centimes Madagascar.
The guys say it’s real rare.”
Julien nods,
“Somewhat rare.”
After thinking for a moment, Julien decides,
“I think I’ll keep my jam.
The grub here is lousy.”
Joseph sighs,
“You’re a real Jew.”
He pulls out another envelope and hands it to Julien, and Julien gives him the jam.
He starts up a conversation,
“So, you’re in love?”
Julien thought it was an innocent question but Joseph thought otherwise.
“Don’t joke around. It’s serious.
Could you spare 50 francs? Women cost a fortune, you’ll find out.”
“No, I won’t. Besides, you’re rich.”
Julien began walking away before adding,
“I’m broke, ask François.”
As the bell rang, Julien walked into class and sat down, he dreaded math.
Despite being well at literature, he wasn’t very good at math, he usually avoided answering questions.
“Ciron, put some wood on the stove, it’s freezing in here.”
The wood burning stove was right in front of Jean, so he was kept warm all class.
As the teacher asked a question, Jean shot his hand up, already knowing the answer to the simple equation. Well, simple to him.
“The new boy.”
The teacher called out.
“His name's Easter Bonnet, sir.”
Ciron called out,
“Knock it off.” Jean growled, as he walked past him to the front.
The large boy beside Julien stuck his foot out to trip him, Jean glared at him before going up to answer the question.
“Right. Very good.”
The teacher said after Jean finished the question.
Once he finished answering, he sat back down, but before the teacher could continue, a blaring alarm came on.
“It’s an air raid.” Someone shouted and everyone got up to get their stuff.
“We’ll go down to the shelter. But class isn’t over, bring your books.
Once everyone heard that, they let out a groan, usually, they would sit in the shelter until it was over, but now they had to do work.
“God, does he ever think ‘maybe math isn’t so important?’”
Julien whispered to the large boy beside him, who chuckled and agreed.
As they were led down to shelter, Jean was surprised. It was dark and eerie and there were pipes everywhere.
Instead of an actual shelter, it was just a huge rock tunnel.
As they got seated, the class began to start algebra, Julien pulled out his flashlight to begin reading.
Despite the lights in the tunnels, it was difficult to see.
Instead of following along in his math booklet, he pulled out a regular book and started to read it instead.
Jean noticed his flashlight and tried asking for some light.
“Give me some light?”
Julien scoffed, and whispered
“Get lost.”
“Just lift it up.”
Jean tried reasoning
“I’ll get caught!
God you’re such a pain.”
Julien had enough, Jean was always getting on his nerves. He turned away from Jean and continued reading.
As the teacher was reading aloud, they could hear the bombs going off, suddenly the lights went out and everyone began panicking.
“They’re bombing the station!” Someone yelled,
“No, it’s the barracks.” Another shouted,
“Calm down and stay seated.”
The teacher said,
They started to pray, all of them joining together in prayer.
As they did, Julien began shining his flashlight at everyone, especially at Jean.
He shined it right at his face, and when Jean looked over, he shined it into his eyes.
He looked behind Jean, and shone it at his classmates faces, he went from one to another, until landing on two boys leaning against each other.
“Ooo, lovebirds.”
The two boys immediately separated, putting their heads down in embarrassment.
“Quentin, turn that off!” The teacher yelled at him.
Julien rolled his eyes, but turned it off and continued praying.
Jean didn’t know what to do, he didn’t know the prayer. He sat there, trying to mimic them, so nobody would notice. Unfortunately for him, Julien did exactly that.
After about 10 more minutes, we got the all clear, and headed back up to the school.
Math class had already finished so everyone just went straight up to the dormitory.
As they finished their evening prayer, and the lights went out, Jean was getting into bed, when suddenly the room burst out into laughter.
“Just curl up like a little doggie.”
Jean looked around the room, confused at why they were laughing. He looked over at Julien, who had a cheeky smirk plastered on his face.
“Did you do this?” Jean asked, anger fuming inside him.
Julien didn’t respond, just pulled his blanket down, and got into bed.
Jean didn’t say anything, just got into bed and fell asleep, he was too tired to do anything, and he didn’t want to.
Julien suddenly woke up, feeling a warm sensation around his crotch, as he lifted up the blanket, his worst fears came true.
“Shit!”
He whispered to himself.
He looked around the room to see if anybody was awake before standing up, and grabbing a small hand towel from the edge of his bed.
He began wiping down the bed, trying to get rid of any evidence. He layed the towel down over the area, and climbed into his urine soaked bed.
There wasn’t much he could do with about 50 boys in the room, if even one of them woke up and saw, it’d probably be the end of his life.
Just before he fell asleep, a boy in the dormitory began having a nightmare. He shot up and began shouting out and swinging his arms around.
Julien looked over at the boy, who was causing a disturbance, which also woke up Jean.
As Jean turned to his other side (facing Julien) the two made eye contact, they stared at each other, both of them silently glaring at one another.
Finally, Jean laid down and fell back asleep, while Julien turned away from him. Julien didn’t want to admit it, but he was jealous of Jean.
Unfortunately, the whole situation didn’t make him forget about what he just did.
After cringing at himself for a bit, Julien finally fell asleep.
As Julien’s eyes fluttered open, the piercing lights blinded him. Usually, those lights would make the room dark and gloomy, but now, they felt like knifes gouging his eyes.
He dragged himself up, barely conscious.
Julien had only gotten about 4 hours of sleep, he was exhausted.
As he got ready for the day, his body slowly woke up, returning his normal self.
As they walked outside for gym, the cold weather seemed to be easing off. It wasn’t as cold as it was yesterday, though it was supposed to get colder as the day went along.
“Great. Of course we’re doing pushups.”
Julien thought to himself as the gym teacher counted each one, yelling instructions at them.
It’s not like anyone was doing them properly, Jean was in a downwards dog position and wasn’t even doing a push up!
He might be smart but he sure isn’t athletic.
Just as they were doing them, the piano teacher biked by, that immediately drew most people’s attention.
Julien looked back at her, smiling to himself.
She was the only girl that everyone saw while they were here, which made her a prime target of catcalling, especially from the older boys.
“She’s showing off her ass.”
The large boy behind Julien commented.
“It’s a lot better than yours.”
Julien replied,
Which made everyone burst into laughter.
After gym, it was time for piano lessons, Julien loved the piano, especially when he got to spend time with the piano teacher.
His mother forced him to do piano though, which made him start to resent it. He liked doing things without being told too, it made him feel good.
As he played, it seemed the piano teacher wasn’t paying attention at all, she was just picking at her nails. It made him frustrated, how was he supposed to get better if she wasn’t going to teach him?
“It’s an A-sharp. Can’t you hear when you hit a wrong note?”
She teased,
She looked over to the sheet music and told him to continue.
As he kept messing up, he looked over at her to see what she was going to say.
She exhaled softly,
“You should try the violin.”
They both laughed before she added,
“Do you hate music?”
Julien shrugged slightly, he didn’t hate music, but it certainly wasn’t his favourite.
“Not at all, but my mother forces me to take piano.”
She cut in quickly,
“She’s right. If you stop now, you’ll always regret it.”
Something behind him clicked open, as the teacher looked up and said,
“Times up. See you Tuesday.”
Julien thanked her and got up to leave, as he stood up and looked behind him, he saw Jean.
As the two crossed paths, they stared at eachother, Jean with casualness, Julien with anger.
Jean was confused, he didn’t understand why Julien hated him, he hadn’t done anything wrong.
The teacher looked up and smiled warmly,
“What’s your name?”
“Jean Bonnet.”
She nodded and turned over to the sheet music, flipping through pages before stopping on a rather simple piece.
“Try this.”
As Jean sat down, placing his fingers along the keys, he began to play.
His fingers glided across the keyboard, each note perfectly aligned. Jean had been playing piano since he was 6, this was just a refresher.
The teacher looked up in surprise, looking back and forth between the sheet music and Jean.
Julien took his time leaving, he wanted to hear how Jean played. As the music started, Julien stood at the door for a moment, standing there, watching Jean.
He walked over to the small window beside the door, continuing to listen to it through the glass. He saw her smiling at him, actually enjoying the sound instead of playing with her nails.
He saw how Jean sat there, playing each note without any struggle. Jealousy filled his mind, how Jean was so perfect at everything, how all the teachers loved him.
“Ass-kisser.”
He whispered against the window, his mouth twitching as he stood at the window, shooting daggers at an unsuspecting Jean.
Jean continued playing flawlessly, finishing the entire piece easily.
The two sat there for a moment, before the teacher clapped her hands together.
“Amazing! I’ve got to say, you’re very good at this!”
Jean smiled softly, and thanked her quietly.
“I think our times up, but I’ll see you Tuesday.”
Jean nodded and began to pack up, grabbing his coat and bag and heading to class. Honestly, he thought he could’ve done something else.
Jean loved the piano, he used to have one in his house until his parents sold it, along with almost everything else.
He walked into study hall and sat down next to his desk-mate. He pulled out his science book and a small notebook and began writing notes.
At the front of the class, Julien was studying for their upcoming math test, he really needed time to study, Julien had been flunking his tests before break and his teachers were all over him.
As Jean continued writing, he reached over for a pen, and while doing so, he knocked over his journal.
A note fell out of it, and Jean didn’t seem to notice until it was too late.
The boy beside him picked it up, just as Jean noticed. It was the note his mother had given him, that he had found in literature.
He stood up hurriedly, rushing to grab the note, the boy passed it to his desk mate, as Jean chased the note.
“Bonnet, get back in your seat.”
The teacher behind him called out.
Jean slowly walked back to his seat, watching the note get passed around until it finally arrived at Julien.
He stared at it for a moment, the back read
“To my Dear Son, Jean.”
He looked back at Jean, who was looked like he was going to pass out, desperately shaking his head.
He slowly opened the note and began to read the contents.
“My darling, as you know, it’s very hard for me to write to you. I placed this here so you could find it, I hope you’re enjoying your time there. I miss you so much, almost the entire-
“Julien Quentin.”
Julien whipped his head backwards, towards the teacher,
“Confession.”
Julien pursed his lips, but stood up and walked towards the door. He stopped infront of Jeans desk and dropped the note onto it.
“Your mother’s up to something.”
Jean glared at him, eyes full of anger as he walked off.
He walked into Father Jeans office, kneeled down, and began confessing.
He listed all of them, most of them.
Julien didn’t want to lie to God, but there were just some things he couldn’t say.
He say anything about making fun of Jean or stealing his note and reading it.
Only the minor stuff.
“Is that all?”
Father Jean asked,
Julien thought for a moment, there was so much more, he just would rather not say it.
“I don’t think so.”
“No evil thoughts?”
Julien looked at him, confused.
“You know what I mean. Everyone has them.”
Julien suddenly realized what he meant, and his eyes widened in shock.
Julien hesitated, but asked
“Even you?”
Father Jean chuckled,
“Even me.”
Julien was shaking, the school was freezing and his knee was red, swelling and itchy, and kneeling on that hard ground wasn’t making it any better.
He was scratching at his knee, wincing at the pain when Father Jean noticed.
“What’s wrong?”
“Frostbite.”
Atleast that’s what he thought it was.
Father Jean scrunched his eyebrows, and said
“Show me.”
He lifted his pant leg up to show his bruised knee.
Father Jean inspected it before saying,
“It’s a vitamin deficiency. Tell Mrs. Perrin to give you cod-liver oil.”
Julien didn’t believe him, this looks nothing like a vitamin deficiency!
“It’s the cold. The schools freezing!”
Julien protested,
“I know.
But think of those less fortunate than you.”
Father Jean studied him, squinting at his face.
“You told your mother you wanted to take holy orders?”
Julien blinked,
“She told you?”
Father Jean chuckled,
“You don’t have any calling for priesthood.”
Father Jean scoffed,
“It’s a sorry job anyway.”
As he gave Julien absolution, the phone began to ring, startling Julien.
Father Jean stood up quickly and walked towards his desk.
“Say three Hail Mary’s.” He said, as he picked up the phone.
Julien could only hear snippets of the conversation, he only made a couple words, precautions, attention, and marked. None of those really made any sense.
As Father Jean stood there listening, he became more and more flustered, his face growing pale.
He argued with the person on the phone, as Julien stood in front of his desk, watching his eyes grow wider and wider as he defended himself.
He hung up the phone, and took a deep breath.
He sat back down in his chair and took off his stole and placed it down on the table.
“Do you get along well with your new classmate?”
“Bonnet?” Julien questioned,
They didn’t get along, at all, but he didn’t want to say that to Father Jean, especially not him. Luckily, he didn’t question anymore.
“Be very nice to him. The others look up to you. I’m counting on you.” Like hell Julien was doing that, but he nodded enthusiastically. Julien was confused, where did come from all of a sudden?
“Why? Is he sick?”
Father Jean smiled sadly,
“Not at all. Run along now.”
As Julien pushed the door open and walked out, he wondered about Bonnet,
“Why was Father Jean saying this about him? He doesn’t need anything, Bonnet is just stuck up.”
Julien’s thoughts echoed in his head, before finally forgetting about the whole ordeal, and running off to catch up with his friends.