Falling from the Top

Chapter 13

Paris was amazing! From the top of the Eiffel tower, where you dominated the whole city, to a small Café in a floral street. I loved it.

Mr. Delacour decided on the first day, that we would visit Le Louvre. As a fan of the arts, he made us stop in front of every single one and went on and on about "how magnificent it is". We spent the first half of the day standing, dying of boredom until Mrs. Wallentin finally interrupted Mr. Delacour's screed about one of Botticelli's painting. She took him by the arm, setting us free and asked him to explain her on of the paintings she saw in a other room. Taking the opportunity, we all ran into different rooms, hiding from him and his unstoppable monologue.

Ava and Jelena followed me, heading to a smaller room. The three girls that I liked to refer to as "Three stupid birds" were bickering. Etienne and the few other boys were fascinated by a strange looking painting, analyzing and discussing it. No need to say they looked like they were resolving a physic equation..

Nerds. I laughed to myself when I saw Etienne flick the gothic's head and telling him that that hypothesis was impossible.

The girls were wrapped around me, focussing more on the talking than on the admiring.

"Girls. Stop talking and admire those priceless pieces of art." I said, sounding like our middle-aged teacher.

They both looked at me, incredulous.  They scanned my face, unsure if I was joking or not. I kept a very serious and went on, pointing at a sculpture.

"Look at this, for example. You can see the strong emotions the sculptor wanted to share. Besides, his half naked body clearly indicates that he was a player."

They looked at each other, before bursting into laughter. I even saw morve come out of Jelena's nose as she tried to contain it.

"A little serious please," I continued. Pulling their laughing bodies behind me, I walked towars the statue. "In roman times, they all had curly hair and very dispoportianated members." I pointed out. "And, Oh gosh it's so not realistic. We can see it from meters away. Not normal." I added before joining Ava and Jelena in their fight for breath.

We were in the middle of this museum, laughing like three immature girls in front of a sculpture of a naked man. We held on to each other, fighting the urge to fall to the ground and laugh our hearts out. Each time we tried to stop, a single glance to our new friend and we were off again. Eventually, Jelena finished on the ground, clenching on her stomach tightly, head thrownback and laughter making her throat swell. Ava and I were still standing, like two survivors, embracing each other for support. We couldn't breath anymore.

We made so much noise that a room supervisor came over and asked us to be quiet. We tried to obey, we really did, but just looking at his serious face tipped us over the edge again. He eventually forced us out of the room and straight to the main corridors, where we wouldn't disturb anyone.

We sat, still laughing, on the benches. The two girls sitting on either side of me, wiping their tears away and rested their heads on my shoulders.

We waited.

!..!
°  °

Mr. Delacour acted pretty cool when he saw us sitting down, exhausted. He first scolded us for being immatures but eventually, he relaxed and, with the rest of the group, walked out. Etienne eyed me curiously but I pretended not to be aware of his intensive staring.

We worked our way to the Eiffel tower, that we had visited before going to the art museum and the teacher let us have some free time.

The girls and I decided to settle on a small café in a remote alley. We enjoyed a small lunch and chatted restlessly.