c41

Finally, the light turned green.

"Ah okay, by the way, can you tell the difference between our French teacher and real-life Cassandra? I mean, they're the same person, but can you tell the difference?"

"I can tell the difference between the teacher and your sister from my side," Chloé said, Cassidy then looked at Corine.

"I think of her more as a teacher now, so it's a little weird when we see each other outside the classroom," Corine replied.

"What about you Cassidy, can you tell the difference since she's your sister?" asked Chloé.

"I'm fine. It's kind of fun knowing she's my sister and I feel a little bit of pride, although I have to admit sometimes I think of her more as my sister than my teacher. What about you, H?"

Harmonie tapped her index finger on the wheel to find an appropriate answer, "I would say it depends on the situation. Because sometimes I'd rather 'forget' that she's my teacher and other times that I know her."

Cassidy, feeling her thirst for gossip fueled, had a sudden twinkle in her eye and asked, "Can you elaborate?"

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chloé, Corine, and Harmonie smiled at her excitement, which she hid very badly. Then Harmonie said with a thoughtful face, "Let's just say I don't like the idea of having feelings for my teacher, so I ignore her in class. I don't look at her. And afterward, I prefer to forget that she's my teacher when we...hm...talk? Anyway, you get the idea."

"Don't be shy, you can say the word 'flirt'," Cassidy said in a mocking tone.

If Harmonie wasn't driving, she'd rub her eyebrow in embarrassment. But she'd rather tread carefully. After all, she was used to lowering her gaze when she do it.

Chloe noticed that Harmonie was suddenly stiff and joked, "She's embarrassed, haha."

The others laughed in turn, adding to Harmonie's embarrassment.

Chloé then turned on and unlocked her phone and heard Cassidy ask, "Chloé, you and Sylvia, how's it going? Because I don't get it, Sylvia's not a teacher, why wait until the end of the school year?"

Chloe smiled while tapping the screen of her phone, "That's true, but she works at the high school where I study, so it's not that different for me."

"You're weird," "You have a weird mentality," Cassidy and Harmonie said at the same time.

Chloe looked at Harmonie and laughed, "It's the pot calling the kettle black, haha."

"And our relationship is progressing slowly but surely."

"Hopefully not too slowly," Corine said quietly and laughed.

"That's right," Harmonie said.

"Stop teasing her," said Cassidy.

"But when it's me, you're such a tease," said Harmonie.

"It's not the same..." said Cassidy.

"Why?" asked Corine curiously.

"Well, let's just say Chloe needs to get rid of her playgirl past," said Cassidy, Corine nodded, then Cassidy looked at Chloe, "By the way, didn't you have problems with Sylvia because of that?"

"Yes, she did..." Harmonie started before being interrupted by Chloe.

"And she'll tell you about it later," Chloé interrupted, then tapped her phone, "right now we have to stick to our ritual that we skipped."

As the tune began to play in the car, the others smiled and began to sing the lyrics, Harmonie tapping her index fingers on the steering wheel and humming along with the music. Corine sang quietly, looking up at the sky. Cassidy was the most excited of all.

If she hadn't had to keep her eyes on the road, Harmonie would have noticed Chloé's distant gaze, even though she was also singing the lyrics softly.

...

They finally arrived after a short stop in a supermarket, so Harmonie could buy an energy drink.

The girls grabbed their bags from the trunk, Harmonie grabbed her backpack, her cookies, and the milkshake with the drink in her bag, then locked the door. They walked to the door of the underground garage that led to the elevator.

Corine wanted to push the button, but Chloé stopped her. She pushed the button for Level 1.

"We'll go straight to our rooms, then go downstairs and meet in the living room," Chloé said.

...

After showering and changing into comfortable clothes, Harmonie left her room, drinking her milkshake and eating a cookie with the package of cookies in her hand.

She went downstairs and headed for the kitchen. Before she knew it, she heard the girls' voices in the kitchen.

She opened the kitchen door, and all three girls turned to face the door when they heard someone enter. Cassidy and Chloe were sitting in the chairs in front of the counter and Corine was on the counter while Grace and Tia were cooking.

"Good evening," Harmonie said, and they all answered. Harmonie gave the rest of her cookies to Corine.

"I thought we were supposed to meet in the living room?"

"You know very well that the kitchen is our favorite place," Chloe replied, rolling her eyes.

And Harmonie nodded as she sat down in the chair next to Chloe.

Harmonie looked at Corine who was on her phone and said, "What are you doing?"

Corine looked up and smiled with a proud smile on her face, "It's good you asked. I found a new nugget."

Chloe and Cassidy grunted, then Cassidy said, "A manga..." and Chloe finished, "BL. Again."

At the same time, she let out an exasperated sigh, but Harmonie knew she was just joking with Corine, who hadn't understood her, because her head was down in disappointment, replacing her pride from earlier.

Harmonie smiled slightly, "What's your new nugget about?"

Corine suddenly lifted her head, looked at Harmonie, and then, as if remembering the girls' reaction earlier, turned her head away and looked at Cassidy and Chloe out of the corner of her eye. The two girls, amused by her reaction, laughed and Corine lowered her head even further in embarrassment.

Harmonie sighed and shook her head gently, "Stop bothering her," then turned back to Corine and said, "Go on."

Corine looked up again, but this time focused on Harmonie, opened her mouth slightly, and said, "Well, unlike the other times, this was the shocker. Because basically, the story starts with a guy with black hair and eyes who get into trouble because of a so-called friend. Then, as luck would have it, a big, muscular bad boy shows up with his gang. He's about to move on, but his eyes fall on the friend who got the other guy in trouble in the first place. Oh yeah, I forgot, the bad boy is blond with light blue eyes."

Harmonie smiled when she saw that she was completely relaxed now, one had the impression that Corine wasn't the type who liked to talk or was too shy, but in reality as soon as she started talking about a subject she liked. She was a different person.

And in addition to Harmonie, Cassidy and Chloé also listened with smiles on their faces, the kind of manga Corine would read, didn't interest them, but as soon as it was Corine talking about it, they found it very interesting, which might seem contradictory.

Grace and Tia, who were cooking, were also discreetly listening to Corine as they went on with their work.

"So coming back to my story, the fact that I say 'so-called friend' to designate the other is that afterward, this person is going to do a bitch move to the main characters." She started to gesture with her hand to explain better because she had the feeling that it would confuse her a bit in her speech as well.

"The false friend, who in my opinion needs no description, is called Dion, the gangster Lucius, and the dark-haired one Noah. Are you following me?" asked Corine, looking at Harmonie. Harmonie nodded, and the others unconsciously nodded as well. Harmonie noticed this and found it very funny, despite her poker face.

"At their first meeting, Knight Lucius rescues the two damsels thanks to Noah, who was in trouble because of Dion. Lucius makes no secret of his attraction to Dion. But Dion doesn't like it and isn't interested. Noah, for his part, is living his life as usual, wary of Dion and his shenanigans, but they're still friends." She took a quick breath before continuing, and Tia brought her a glass of water. She drank, then continued, "Lucius will continue his attempts at flirting, which are becoming increasingly lame due to bad advice from his gang. Dion gets fed up and agrees to a date with Lucius to clear the air. They go to a restaurant, Lucius talks about his feelings, and Dion is very understanding. Everything goes well, but then Dion suddenly offers to take Lucius to a hotel. Lucius accepts, which I find strange, of course. But the next day, Lucius wakes up and finds no one in the bed next to him. Why?"

"Because it was a dream," Cassidy replied abruptly, slapping the table with her palm, which startled Corine a little, then Corine felt joy because she had just realized that Harmonie wasn't the only one listening to her.

She shook her head, "The answer is no. It wasn't a dream... It wasn't a dream because he ended up in a hotel room with marks all over him from a very hot night. And now he's overjoyed to have spent the night with the person he loves, but sad that he woke up alone. Afterward, he will try to find Dion, but when he does, the latter completely ignores him..." She was interrupted by Hazel entering the kitchen.

"Hello my dears," she said, kissing each of them on the forehead before going over to Grace and kissing her on the cheek, not forgetting Tia next to her.

"How was your day?" asked Hazel as she sat down next to Cassidy.

"We had a good day, it's just that Harmonie forgot to go see Adelaide, which made the little one angry. Come to think of it, you still haven't gone to see her," Cassidy said, turning her head towards Harmonie, "Did you even call her?"

Harmonie's eyes widened, she'd completely forgotten, and she felt guilty. And it didn't help that she had several things on her mind. She knew Adelaide would resent her immensely and be sad, which didn't help her guilt.

"Call her now," Chloe suggested, Harmonie nodded, then got up and left the kitchen to get her phone, which she had forgotten to take out of her jacket pocket.

After she was gone, Cassidy suddenly said, "It's not like her to forget things like that, especially since Adelaide is her child."

Corine nodded, her eyes still on the door, "She didn't see the teacher-well, your sister, either. It looks like something is bothering her, but it's not too obvious. And you, Chloé, what do you think?"

Hearing her name, Chloe snapped out of her trance and asked Corine to repeat her question. Corine and Cassidy were a little surprised that she wasn't following the conversation, but Corine repeated her question anyway.

Chloé thought for a moment, then said, "It's true, it's not easy to know how she feels. That's why when she talks, you have to read between the lines if you sense something's going on.

But I don't think that's the case this time, because she left Adelaide with her newfound mommy, who is no stranger to us. And that will bring them even closer together".

Then she added, "But the little one will resent it...and it's up to her to deal with it."

Hazel finally decided to change the subject after remaining silent, "So, Cassidy, are your parents okay with you staying here?"

Cassidy nodded and smiled, "Yes, and they didn't exactly hesitate when I told them."

...

After entering her room and retrieving her phone, Harmonie saw several missed calls from Cassandra, several minutes after the end of her class, probably as she was getting into the car. But she had forgotten to turn off the silent mode on her phone, which she tends to put on when she's in class.

"Shit..." she said quietly, then removed the silent mode, and just as she was about to call Cassandra, she felt her phone vibrate in her hands, then heard it ring the next second.

It would be a lie if she told herself she wasn't scared, she was completely freaked out.