Elodie and Heloise

by Cecilee Linke

  “Sure, yeah, tomorrow would work well. I’ll meet you in the library right after school. Let’s meet there,” Heloise replied. At least she’d get to have some one-on-one time with him to get to know him better. She knew it was important to help him but she was looking forward to conversations that had nothing to do with French.

  “Thank you so much, you have no idea how much,” he uttered with a huge grin before his face went back to normal and he looked down at his feet before looking back up at Heloise. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

  “A demain,” Heloise responded, disappointed that he was leaving so soon. Her face immediately fell and her voice trailed off at the end.

  He grinned at her again before shuffling away back into the crowd of eager students leaving the school. Heloise watched him as he left, wishing he would turn around and come back. Meanwhile, Noah, who had stepped off to the side when Kyle approached her, came back to Heloise’s side and the two of them followed the rest of the students outside.

  “You don’t have to tell me. That’s the guy you were dancing with the other night at Elodie’s party,” Noah remarked, pushing open one of the front doors of the school and holding it open for Heloise to pass through.

  Heloise nodded as her face flushed. “Yeah, he’s uh..... really nice. I really liked talking with him and.... well, you were there. You saw us. Sorry for stammering like this, it’s just.... I’m not sure because I only met him the other night but.... I think I like him and....” She couldn’t even look at anything except the sidewalk in front of her.

  “Heloise, don’t worry. He likes you.” Noah stopped short and put his hands on Heloise’s shoulders. “It was all over his face. I don’t think he’s asking you for help in French because he only needs help in French. But that’s just me,” Noah observed in his usual matter-of-fact way. He then continued walking and Heloise followed by his side. “I don’t blame him, quite frankly. You’re really smart and pretty, so why wouldn’t he like you?”

  Her face got even hotter that time. This time it was her turn to stop short. “But Noah, I’m not like this. And you know that. I mean, there was that stupid crush in seventh grade, I can’t even remember his name now because it was so silly and he didn’t even like me.... It’s never been like this. I’ve been thinking about him ever since this weekend and I’m quite frankly surprised he would even want to spend time with me. Why wouldn’t he want to be with Elodie? She’s prettier and more outgoing than I’ll ever be. I’m not the girl that the guys like. She is.”

  “Now you know that’s not true. For as long as I can remember, I have had to talk you down about comparing yourself with Elodie. I know you’re intimidated by her. You’ve told me that many times.”

  He put his hands on her shoulders again, looking straight into Heloise’s face. “You’re too pretty and smart to say that about yourself. And about Kyle, just see how it goes,” Noah shrugged. “Like I said, he likes you. You worry too much.”

  “I guess,” Heloise’s voice trailed off. The two of them continued on their journey home, Heloise’s head full of thoughts as Noah recounted stories of his fellow classmates from the school day.

  Heloise scanned the library for the fifth time in just the last three minutes, waiting to see Kyle’s familiar face coming through the double doors. She made sure to get a seat as close to the door as possible so that he wouldn’t miss her. In the meantime, she’d already made herself at home at the table. Her backpack sat on the chair to her right, while her history notebook sat open in front of her, notes scribbled in her usual loopy handwriting across the pages that now stared up at her. However, she kept reading the same sentences over and over again and found it impossible to concentrate. Not when Kyle was going to arrive very soon.

  2:20. She’d already been waiting for five minutes but it felt like forever. She had walked across the school as fast as her legs could carry her, only to arrive too early for his arrival. She sighed and shut her notebook. She really wasn’t into history at the moment. Instead, she opened her backpack and picked up her copy of Emma that she’d brought from home.

  At least I have my book to keep me company until he comes. It’s not like I’m the one that asked for tutoring anyway.

  She sat back in her chair and opened her book to the last page she’d bookmarked. Heloise was only seventy pages into the story with a long way to go. No matter, there was plenty of time to kill. She immediately embroiled herself in the story in her usual way. Heloise had a tendency to begin reading and then lose track of time, instead choosing to immerse herself in the characters. She almost didn’t even hear a familiar voice coming up on her from her right side.

  “Jane Austen then. I’m more of a Hemingway fan myself.”

  Heloise heard that familiar voice and it jerked her out of the world of the book. She glanced up and saw Kyle standing at her table about two feet away from her, his backpack on his shoulders and hands in his pockets. He had that same upturned smile on his face and a dark blue sweatshirt covering his skinny frame. Seeing his smile, Heloise felt her face blush.

  “Oh I didn’t know you were a big literature fan then,” she stammered, shutting her book and setting it aside. “I don’t think many seventeen year olds are fans of Hemingway, you know.”

  “And not many are Jane Austen fans either. Most people I know have trouble just reading e-mails.” He sat down in the chair to Heloise’s right. Kyle placed his backpack on the seat next to him on his right and put his French book on the table, the whole reason why they were even there.

  Oh God, he’s close to me. Instead of letting her feelings get the best of her, Heloise sat straight up and folded her arms in front of her on the table. After all, she was there to be a tutor, not a friend. “Well let’s get started then,” she announced. “So what are you having trouble with in French? Verbs? Nouns?”

  The smile that was on Kyle’s face went away for a moment as he fumbled through the thin textbook in front of him. Bienvenue à bord! the bright white letters on the cover proclaimed, with pictures of happy, high-school-aged boys and girls sitting on a park bench with pictures of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe superimposed over the shiny blue and yellow background. Heloise couldn’t help but chuckle. There was more to French culture than just those two monuments, even if they were important in French history.

  “Oh right, French. Yeah, um..... I’m having trouble with the pronunciation. I just can’t seem to get the ‘r.’ My teacher keeps telling me I’m rolling my ‘r’s too much. I guess that’s what happens after taking three years of Spanish, you know?” He handed Heloise the book for her to thumb through.

  “I’ve never taken Spanish but I’ll believe you,” Heloise replied. She had never been through the experience of taking a foreign language class since she was already bilingual and therefore exempt from having to take Spanish or German classes. She flipped through the book, looking at all the different pictures and lists of vocabulary words and verb conjugations, things that Heloise had learned just from being exposed to the language every day as a child.

  “You probably already know all of this then,” Kyle stated. “Since you grew up with French, I mean.”

  Heloise nodded, her eyes still trained on the pages in front of her. Looking through each section at tables of words and verbs felt so unnatural to her. Even the conversations included in each section of each chapter looked artificial. She hardly ever spoke in such a formal way with her father and sister or Aunt Marie. With some of her other French-speaking relatives, when she got to see them, she was still formal and polite with them, especially because she did not get to see them very often. In fact, she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d seen her Papa’s parents, her Mémé and Pépé who still lived in France. But because she saw her Aunt Marie the most often, Marie didn’t mind if Heloise spoke more informally about her friends and family when they came to visit.

  She finally shut the book and took a moment to gather her thoughts. “The important thing to remember, K
yle, is to not mix up your Spanish and French. Le français, c’est tellement différent que l’espagnol.”

  “Wait whoa whoa, what did you just say?”

  Heloise repeated her French sentence, slowing her speech.

  “Wait slow down. Why are you speaking so fast?”

  “I’m not. This is how I speak in French. That’s how most French people I’ve met speak French. It’s no different than how you speak English, you know. You just get used to it. Il faudra s’y habituer.”

  “See, right there! You just did that with the ‘r’. How did you do that?”

  Heloise thought for a moment before replying. She’d grown up with French, so she imagined that taking French classes for someone who’d never taken French before was a completely different experience. As a child, she wasn’t given long lists of vocabulary words to memorize. At least, that’s how it looked to her from having rifled through Kyle’s French textbook. She just heard it all the time and it sunk in. Everything with French was like second nature to her and she couldn’t think of how to explain it. “Well, the ‘r’ in French is.... français, la France, regarder, it’s more down in the throat, so.”

  “Yes I know, because it sounds like my cats coughing up hairballs every time Madame Weston speaks to us in French,” Kyle joked. “I mean..... not to sound naive or anything, but how do you just learn the language? I feel like after three years of Spanish, I can barely hold a conversation with someone in Spanish. If I were in Mexico, I’d probably get into more trouble than not because of how horrible my Spanish is.”

  “I haven’t heard you speak Spanish, but again, I’ll believe you.”

  “Anyway, so Heloise, did you hear it all the time as a kid and that’s how you picked it up? I mean, maybe that’s what I really need. Maybe I just need to hear it all the time instead of for only forty-five minutes once a day, and then I’ll pick it up.”

  “Pretty much yeah. That’s how I learned it. Mom and Papa both spoke to us in French, though Papa did most of it. Mom speaks some French but not as much as Papa. Well, I mean, Papa is French. But see, we played games, sang songs, read stories, watched television....” She stopped before she got too carried away. She didn’t want to give away too much about herself just yet. “It’s no different than how you learned English. I just got two languages instead of just one.”

  “Have you actually been over to France to speak it?” Kyle inquired. His attention was purely focused on Heloise in front of him, his tone of voice indicating that he seemed genuinely interested in what she’d have to say.

  Heloise shook her head. “We were going to go a few summers ago, but then Papa got called in to work at the last possible moment and we couldn’t go. So we haven’t been yet to France. Mémé and Pépé, Papa’s parents, have come here to visit us, but I don’t even really remember their visit. And there’s Aunt Marie but she lives in Richmond so we visit her every so often. Someday I’ll go to France though. I’ve seen all the pictures of Mom and Papa’s trip to France when they met and those pictures always struck me.... Anyway.” She stopped herself short again and chuckled nervously.

  “No no it’s fine, Heloise. Really. I really enjoy hearing about these things. Where I come from, no one has done much traveling or anything foreign for that matter. Like I told you the other night, I’m from Wytheville, which is a really small town. Larger than this town, but it’s not huge like Paris or anything. So I’ve been fascinated with foreign cultures because they’re so different from what I know. This of course coming from someone who has never traveled outside of the US,” Kyle responded. “I’ve never even been out of the state, now that I think of it. But oh man, I’d love to see some of Europe. Someday.”

  Heloise smiled and nodded, as did Kyle. Both of them giggled before Heloise resorted to her usual serious tone. They hadn’t done much in the way of tutoring yet, but neither of them seemed to mind.

  She cleared her throat and opened his French textbook again. “So you’re in French One, I’m assuming?” She continued looking through his textbook, occasionally stopping at the beginning of chapters and looking at the awkward poses of some of the people in the textbook, not to mention the listening activities included in each lesson.

  “Sure am. Starting at the very beginning. It’s weird for me to start all over with a foreign language. And a lot of these things in French are similar to Spanish. You know, the whole noun thing with masculine and feminine nouns.”

  “That you just learn with every noun you learn in French. That’s how I learned it. Une pomme, une table, le livre.... Honestly, Kyle.... you could learn more from me just speaking to you seulement en français than you probably could from this book, like you said earlier.” She shut the book, moved it to the middle of the table, and turned her chair to face Kyle.

  “Yes I really think that would be better for me. Madame Weston sometimes speaks to us in French, but not a whole lot since we’re only at a level one class. I don’t want to be too much trouble but.... see, I’ve always wanted to learn French. And, well, if you wouldn’t mind.” His eyes finally rested on Heloise, looking all over her face waiting for her reply.

  “Why would I mind?” Heloise smiled. “Where shall we start?”

  “Alors, nous voici,” Heloise huffed as she and Kyle walked up the front steps to her house. The day had turned cold and drizzly as they walked and she was eager to get inside the warm house. It had been a week since that first tutoring lesson, and now she had invited Kyle back to her house to speak French with her family.

  “Yeah I got that part. Noo vwah-see, you said?”

  “Oui. Nous voici. That means, here we are.”

  “And what was that first word you said? Allo?”

  “Alors. It’s like.....” She racked her brains, trying to think of a way to explain the expression. “It’s like, all right, okay, like that.” She glanced at Kyle standing next to her while she fumbled for the keys to the front door.

  Kyle nodded. “Got it.”

  Heloise swung open the front door and was immediately met with the sounds of the television playing in the living room and someone shuffling through the kitchen. She saw her mother watching television, probably taking a break from her writing for a while, and her father opening the refrigerator, most likely preparing dinner.

  “Salut,” she called out, her usual afternoon greeting to her family, opening the door for Kyle to come in after her. She glanced at Kyle, who looked a little nervous but nonetheless happy to be there.

  “Salut ma fille,” Francis replied. He looked over his shoulder at his daughter standing in the front entryway with Kyle next to her. “Alors, tu as passé une bonne journée au lycée?” He shut the refrigerator and walked over to his daughter and Kyle. Next to Kyle, Heloise’s father stood tall and looked intimidating. He leaned in and greeted Heloise with the usual bise.

  “Oui, une bonne journée, merci Papa. Je vous présente mon ami Kyle.” Heloise held out her arms in Kyle’s direction.

  “Ah Kahee-el,” Francis replied, saying his name correctly but with the emphasis on the last syllable. He held out his hands to shake and smiled at Kyle. Meanwhile, Kyle appeared to be scared at first from hearing so much French around him, but looked relieved when her father initiated a handshake. That was a gesture that Kyle was at least familiar with.

  Heloise made a motion at Kyle to say something. Kyle nodded and took her father’s hand. “Enchanté, monsieur. Je m’appelle Kyle Cayce.” His accent wasn’t completely perfect and he still stumbled a little, but it was a start.

  Francis looked very impressed by Kyle speaking French to him. He glanced at Heloise and then back at Kyle as he shook Kyle’s hand. “Enchanté, Kyle. Alors, tu apprends le français?”

  Kyle glanced at Heloise and mouthed, “What did he say? He said that “alors” word.”

  Instead of waiting for Heloise’s reply, Francis asked in English, “So you are learning French?”

  Kyle chuckled. “Yes, I mean, oui, monsieur. I took Spanish for three
years and I’m having trouble so Heloise is helping me. Sorry, I don’t know how to say all of that in French. I just started French One this semester.”

  “That is okay. You will get there.” Francis laughed as he gave Kyle a brief pat on the shoulder. “You have a very good teacher. Heloise will teach you all you need to know. Bienvenue, Kyle.”

  Heloise felt her cheeks grow hot. She only hoped that Kyle didn’t notice her blushing at her father calling her a good teacher. Looking over at him, his eyes were fixed on her father, so most likely, he didn’t see her.

  “Ummmm, welcome?”

  “Oui, bienvenue. Welcome. See, you will learn very quickly. Now how do you say welcome in French?”

  Kyle thought for a moment before replying, “Byuh-ven-oo.”

  “Bienvenue.”

  “Bienvenue,” Kyle repeated to himself.

  “See, a new French word for you!” He chuckled again before heading off to the kitchen. It was the time of day when he was usually in the kitchen making dinner, and whatever it was he was making, it smelled wonderful.

  With her father’s back turned, Heloise looked over at Kyle, who appeared very relieved. “Well, I’m glad I didn’t screw up the French that much then.”

  Heloise laughed. “Don’t worry, you were fine. Papa always appreciates anyone who likes to learn and speak French. Alors, étudiions le français, oui?” She motioned for them to sit at the dining room table.

  “Ummmmm..... oui, étudiions le français. Let’s study French?”

  “Oui.”

  Chapter Seven

  “Et alors, tu as gagné! La deuxième fois en plus!”

  “Oui j’ai gagné. I won, right?”

  “Mais oui!”

  “J’ai gagné.” Kyle grinned and said in English, “Good game! Really, this is a lot of fun to play for practicing numbers in French. I’ve always been really good at these strategy type of games.”

  Heloise began packing up the cards. “We played this game a LOT when I was growing up and I almost always beat Elodie. She was no match for me.”