Chapter 1 (I) - The Encounter

Father started to ignore me once again. The last conversation we had was two days ago, and it was clear to me that he was not as invested into our talk as I was.

That was a little disheartening since we were talking about a mutual friend that he and mother shared, a second cousin of my father who grew up with him.

I was excited to hear about him, an uncle/godfather who sounds rich—he has to be rich if he owns a school right? Argus Donava, I don't remember mother nor father mentioning his name ever.

Which was weird, seeing as father grew up with him. There was a chance that the two of them might've grew apart or had a fight when I was a child, leading to my parents leaving Paris. But... they left because grandfather got sick.

However, they also didn't need to stay in Bordeaux since they don't really know anyone there. Father also had a workshop here. So perhaps father and uncle had a fight?

It must be an intense fight, seeing as father and mother never mentioned his name and I never saw his name on the guest list for mother's funeral. But then why did father insist that I go to uncle's school? And why did uncle accept me?

For two days, I took long walks around Paris, I asked about uncle's prestigious school, and I also searched through the internet. The only students who attend Fervan Beauxdan Middle School are those who come from rich and influential families, not to mention, the students also have to pass an exam and has to have high grades to be considered a student in FBMS. They also have high tuition fees... Though I am confident that father can afford them, I heard from him that uncle wanted to pay for everything I needed.

I focused on getting myself ready and I looked over myself at the mirror. My previously messy blonde hair was now straight and my bangs that usually covered my forehead was slicked back—I ignored the face that was looking back at me in the mirror and focused on my clothes, the white button-down shirt with dark grey trousers were comfortable to the touch and I found that it was easy to move in.

I sighed once again, but nodded at myself proudly. I strutted in front of the mirror for a few more minutes, looking at myself and trying to act confident and mysterious at the same time. I stopped when a cool breeze came through the window, I threw a glance at my wardrobe...

I looked at myself in the mirror, nodding in satisfaction. I took my backpack that was sitting on the table and went downstairs. Father raised his eyebrows when he saw me. I ignored his look and sat on my chair, I then grabbed the croissant and ate it in one bite, I then took a sip of orange juice.

"Do you have everything you need?" Father asked, though when I raised my eyes to look at him, I saw him reading the newspaper.

"Naturally." I said and smiled when father stopped his reading to look at me for a second.

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive you to school?" I placed my empty glass on the table, carefully thinking about it.

"Yeah. You don't need to be worried, father. I already know the way to school and back. I don't want to trouble you by having you drive me to school," Father stared at me with a frown on his face "Besides, you said that you needed to visit an old friend."

"However, the old friend that you're talking about is also your principal," My principal... Argus Donava? "Now, if you're finished eating, go brush your teeth."

...

I waited patiently as father knocked on the door. Father insisted that I stay while he and Argus talk about my mother. Personally, I think that I should not be present for this conversation. But, father wouldn't care either way so I'm stuck.

"Father, class is about to start. I don't want to be late on my first day." I tried just as father knocked on the door once again. He eyed me for a moment, seemingly thinking it over.

"This will be quick, don't worry." Just as I thought, I'm stuck. I stopped a sigh from escaping and just closed my eyes and started counting, finding it a very distracting thing to do.

The door opened after father said what he needed to say to me, meeting eyes with a tall man with curly blonde hair. It's easy to say that the man was handsome, having brown eyes and fair skin. He wore a suit consisting of a white button-down shirt, black slacks, and a black jacket, he also had glasses.

Well... Argus Donava is a really handsome individual. I've seen a photo of him in the school flyer and I'm still a little taken back by how handsome he is.

I wonder, I inherited mother's blonde hair and blue eyes... I got my facial features from father and I have to say that father is, at the very least, handsome.

If I grew up, there's a chance I can look like Argus Donava, probably. I mean, I'm related to him through my father, so...

"Argus..." Father said, breaking me out of my thoughts. Argus seemed happy to see father for a moment, though that quickly vanished when he noticed me standing behind father.

"What's this? You brought your son?" He asked, looking at me in confusion. I stared back at him.

"I think that he should hear what's about to be said. It is his mother that we are gonna talk about." Father said with a tilt of the head towards my direction. Argus eyed me for a second, a frown on his face. I felt myself deflate when I saw his expression, it seems like somebody dislikes me.

"That's not what I meant. It's his first day, he should already be in class and making new friends..." The tension was a little awkward, with the three of us standing at the door while some students and teachers wandered about, curious about what was happening.

We were attracting attention and father didn't care, however, it looks like Argus only just noticed this. He called a teacher over with a charming smile on his face, he whispered something to her and the woman smiled at me and nodded to him.

"Elliot, this is your homeroom teacher, Madame Bouvier. She's gonna show you your classroom now." Argus introduced the woman to me, she smiled as if she found something funny. I only nodded my head towards her and turned to father, raising my eyebrow at him. He only sighed and waved me away.

"Now... Let us talk inside my office, it's been a long time since we last saw eachother..." The voice of Argus faded in the background as Madame Bouvier led me to my supposed classroom. A few students stopped and stared at me weirdly, some whispers can be heard in the hallway and I can hear some students laughing quietly in the background. I tried to just focus on my shoes as we walked, making sure to never bump into anyone accidentally.

When we arrived, Madame Bouvier told me to find a seat and to get myself situated. A few boys were already talking in the room, and a few others were just looking at me curiously. I moved to the back of the class and took the corner seat next to the window. Madame Bouvier only sat at her desk and started marking some papers.

I sighed when no one came to greet me, happy to be alone. I glanced at the sky through the window, not sure what I should do since class would start in a few more minutes. Finding the clouds to be interesting enough to stare at, I stayed seated and ignored the whispers and glances that were thrown my way.

Students started to enter the room, some ignoring him and going straight to their seats, others opting to stare at him curiously and ask questions about him. When Madame Bouvier stood up, all the whispers died down and everyone went to their seats.

"As I have mentioned last week, we are to have a transfer student. I'm sure all of you have heard about him as his name seems like the topic of everyone's discussion. Let us welcome Elliot Belmont." She said loudly, I stood up from my seat hesitantly as everyone clapped and welcomed me with a smile. It was little strange.

After they all stopped and I took my seat, Madame Bouvier took attendance and class started. Everyone focused on everything Madame Bouvier was saying. And though this is my first day, Madame Bouvier was great at teaching and made sure that everyone was keeping up with her lesson.

Aside from being our homeroom teacher, Madame Bouvier was also our English teacher. After class had finished, I and everyone in class was expected to read a book and write an essay about the characters and pass them tomorrow.

It was when Madame Bouvier left that the boy sitting in front of me stood up and looked at me for a moment, seemingly thinking about something before he smiled and stuck out a hand.

"So... You're Elliot huh? It's nice to meet you, my name's Eduard Andre, though I'd much prefer it if you call me Ed. Welcome to Beauxdan." I glanced at him carefully, taking his given hand and shaking it firmly, he smiled at this.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ed. Thank you for the warm welcome." I said, trying to see what his motives were.

"No really, the pleasure is all mine. I just wanted to ask if you wanted to be my friend." He chuckled, taking the seat next to me and looking at me expectantly. I shook my head, not fighting the smile the sprung on my face.

"Sure, we can be friends." A few boys watched the exchange between me and Ed, the rest only talked amongst themselves.

"Settle down, settle down." A man voiced as he entered the room, placing his bag on the desk and scanning the room. He was of average height, and was probably in his mid thirties. He had dark brown hair with serious green eyes, his face was stern and he had a frown on his face. When we locked eyes, he seemed satisfied.

"Now, I know that we have a new transfer student today. Elliot Belmont?" He raised his voice.

"That's Professeur Gouen Alexandre. We call him Professeur Alexandre." Ed whispered to me, I nodded to him thankful. I stood up as he called for my name.

"Yes Professeur?"

"If you need help catching up, you can come to me directly or just ask one of your classmates. If you find yourself wanting to ask a question, just raise your hand, got it?" He asked, everybody looked at my direction. I nodded.

"Yes Professeur..." He then waved his hand and I took my seat. He started by asking the class what they discussed last time.

While Professeur Alexandre was writing something on the board, Ed leaned towards me.

"How's your first day, so far?" He whispered. I gave him a gentle smile.

"So far, so good." He smiled back at me and then focused on the class.

After Professeur Alexandre, we had History taught by Professeur Louis Fabre and, soon after that, French taught by Professeur Blissany Baron. Both have been wonderful and seemed open to any questions that I or anyone of the class had. However, Professeur Fabre was very strict with the class, asking us a question every ten seconds and expecting everyone to know the answer, and Professeur Baron wanted everyone's attention on her, immediately calling out anyone who wasn't paying attention.

When the bell rang and Professeur Baron left the room, students started leaving their seats. When I stayed in mine, Ed looked at me a little confused.

"You're seriously not gonna eat in your desk, are you?" He asked, motioning to the door and eyeing my desk.

"Is it not allowed?" He chuckled at my question.

"I mean, if you want to, do what you want. But, I'd rather we have lunch somewhere else, we have an hour before class resumes." He said, walking towards the door, I followed after him.

"So... where are we going?" I eyed him curiously, he grinned.

"Glad you asked that, it's a place that is very dear to me." He answered, grinning mysteriously. He then swung his left arm over my shoulder and pulled me along.

...

I stared at the bakery in front of me. It turns out that Ed's special place was a bakery that was not very far from school, it took us a few minutes to arrive.

"What do you think? This bakery sells great food and it's actually cheap!" He said. I imagine that if he didn't control himself, he might've actually been jumping up and down by the look on his face. I carefully nodded.

"I don't suppose that we're gonna eat lunch here?" He entered the establishment, leaving me. That didn't answer my question.

When I entered after him, I noticed three things. The long line, the delicious smell, and the beautiful display of baked goods.

"The Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie seems quite busy today..." Ed muttered, catching the attention of the two people behind the counter.

The woman only smiled at him and continued to talk to the customer in front of the line while the large man grinned and took a box from the counter, giving it to Ed and making the other customers who were waiting in line eye him dangerously.

"Ed! I suppose you're here for this." The man said as Ed took the box from him and opened it excitedly. The man chuckled, finding Ed's expression funny.

"You know me." Ed joked, paying for his order but he hesitated and looked back at me. "Actually, I have someone with me." The man looked back at me and smiled.

"Oh? And what will you have, young man?" He asked.

"Just a chocolate croissant please." He chuckled, taking a chocolate croissant from the display and also taking cinnamon rolls and adding it to the bag. When I was about to ask why, he winked at me.

"A friend of Ed's is a friend of mine. And don't worry about the price. I'm sure that Ed here is willing to pay for you as well." He chuckled when Ed had indeed taken some Euro and gave it to the guy. I looked at Ed, not sure why he did that. He only smiled at me and swung his left arm over my shoulder while his right hand held up his boxed baked goods.

Just as we opened the door, a raven-haired girl with blue eyes almost bumped into us. However, she stopped herself by slamming her right hand into the door frame. She seemed out of breath.

"Uhm... Are you alright?" I asked the raven-haired girl, she gave me a smile and a thumbs up. Ed chuckled next to me, the girl glared at him.

"Ed..." She glowered.

"Marinette..." Ed tried to copy her but failed to manage a scowl. He snickered, and then laughed at Marinette's expression.

Marinette looked like she wanted to throttle Ed but stopped herself, looking at me curiously. I stared blankly at her.

"Uhh..." Ed calmed down. Me and Marinette continued to look at each other. I offered her my hand, just as Ed had done to me when he introduced himself.

"Hello, I'm Elliot Belmont." She accepted my hand and shook it, giving me a small smile.

"Nice to meet you, Elliot! My name's Marinette Dupain-Cheng." I smiled at her, "I don't suppose that you're a friend of Ed's?" She asked, giving Ed a smirk and narrowing her eyes at him.

I looked at him, not sure what I'm supposed to say, then slowly nodded to Marinette's question. "Yes. Me and Ed are friends..."

She didn't say anything after that, I stayed silent as well. Seeing the awkward tension in the air, Ed coughed.

"We're gonna go to the park. Do you want to join us?" Ed asked her.

"Well, normally I would, but Alya and I are going..." She trailed off, Ed seemed to understand this, nodding and smiling.

"Well, good luck with whatever you guys want to do. Come on, Elliot." He said, giving Marinette a kiss on the cheek and waving bye to her, I followed after him but not before muttering a quick goodbye.

"Where are we going?" I asked after a few seconds. He smiled cheerily.

"To the park near here. It's where I usually eat my lunch."

I nodded.

...

The house was empty and dark when I arrived home. I didn't bother to switch the lights on, alright with the house being covered in darkness. Even then, I whispered my arrival home to no one in particular.

After school, Ed invited me to eat out with Marinette and another friend of his. I messaged father for permission and he said that it was okay. However, when we arrived at the restaurant, the other friend that Ed invited didn't come, immediately making Marinette's mood go down. We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to make Marinette happy, though I was unaware of that at the time.

I was also unaware of the smile that crept it's way to my face. It was the first time in months that I found myself excited for tomorrow.

But first. Homework.

I grumbled. Making my way upstairs to my room where father has graciously provided me with a desk, and a computer for my homework and personal office.