Chapter 1 - French Class
“Crap! I’m gonna be late!” Linh-Nhi mumbled to herself as she sprinted down the corridor, her backpack bouncing against her back and shoulders as the bell echoed down the hall. The thick Calculus textbook felt heavy in her right arm as she ran.
Her feet almost slipped on the polished floor while rounding the corner, her heart hammering hard in her chest. Luckily, there were a few others rushing to their classes as well and she wasn’t the only one flustered. When she got close to the open French classroom door, she let out a shaky breath of relief and slowed down. She had made it with only two minutes to spare.
With a shy smile, she quietly but quickly slipped inside, trying not to draw attention.
The room smelled faintly of dry-erase markers and a lingering trace of morning coffee left on the teacher’s desk. A few heads turned toward her and some paused mid-conversation as they took her in.
Linh-Nhi’s eyes found Samara at their usual spot by the wall.
“Hey,” Linh-Nhi whispered nervously under her breath as she slid into the window seat beside her best friend.
Samara gave her a reassuring smile. She had moved to the States last year from Canada due to her parents’ jobs. The moment the two girls started talking, they immediately hit it off.
“Hey Linnie, close call huh?” John greeted her jokingly with his usual warm grin and a nod from the next row over. His curly blond locks looked more tame than usual today.
Linh-Nhi could only smile in response as the bell rang again, signaling for the class to start. Her gaze inevitably drifted past John, to the person beside him, Nate—his best friend.
Nate sat lazily in his chair, leaning back with his long legs apart. His posture was relaxed and indifferent, as though he couldn’t care less about what was going on around him. His dark bangs, dropped just below his piercing blue eyes, shielded them from her. She could only see his profile, the curve of his lovely mouth and sharp jawline.
As if sensing her gaze, the twirling pencil between his fingers stopped moving, and for just a heartbeat, his shoulder tensed, a subtle acknowledgment without meeting her eyes.
Linh-Nhi froze for a brief second, heart skipping, but he made no move to look at her. Instead, the pencil started twirling again.
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and brought her gaze back to the front, torn between the ache to know more and the sharp sting of his deliberate silence.
“Alright class, today, we will be watching another movie.” Mr. Garcia, their French teacher for the past four years, stood up and started passing out paperwork to the students in the front. “Finish the quiz and turn it in at the end of class.”
Linh-Nhi and Samara accepted the handouts and Linh-Nhi started passing them to the people behind her. Samara twisted around and handed the rest to John, then leaned over and whispered to Linh-Nhi, “Best class ever!”
Linh-Nhi couldn’t agree more. Senior year seemed to wear down their teacher as well. They had been watching a lot of movies and no one was complaining.
The TV screen turned on and the movie soundtrack filled the room. Some students leaned forward with genuine interest, but most sank into their chairs, whispering or doodling idly. The once strict atmosphere of French class had softened into something more like free time and Linh-Nhi loved it. She was not the best French student nor was she striving to be one.
She had lived in the States for half of her life, slowly forgetting her mother tongue while having not completely mastered English as her second language. Yet, here she was, trying to learn a third just because it was a requirement.
She looked over at Samara who had just popped a piece of gum into her mouth, watching the movie with interest. She didn’t have to read the subtitles like the rest of the class since she was fluent in French. Like always, Samara had a flawlessly made-up face. Linh-Nhi used to envy her makeup skills until she learned the real reason behind it.
The truth was, Samara was extremely self-conscious about her skin since she had been battling acne problems for years. So it made sense that she got really good at hiding it.
We all got something to hide, Linh-Nhi thought depressingly, me included.
She propped her chin on her palm, feigning attention toward the screen, but her thoughts wandered back to Nate, wondering all over again what lay behind the guarded mask he wore so effortlessly.
They went to the same high school for almost four years. And during those years, their interactions could be counted on one hand. They had shared French class every year since freshman orientation—sat across rows, worked in the same rotating groups, even endured the same substitute teachers and assignments. And yet, after all that time, Nate remained an enigma.
She knew John played football and enjoyed Asian foods. He even bragged last month that he had finally tried her culture’s staple dish called Pho at a local restaurant. And Samara liked pizza but not pepperoni since she couldn’t eat pork.
But Nate? Nothing. He was a blank page she had never been able to read, no matter how close she sat.
Suddenly, the class erupted into laughter and broke Linh-Nhi out of her thoughts. Her eyes refocused on the screen and she saw a kid screaming, “J’ai faim! J’ai faim!”
Her lips curved into a smile at the funny scene and her hand reached down, searching blindly in her school bag. She pulled out a piece of candy and John immediately snatched it from her.
“What’s this?” He asked, curious, his voice low enough not to draw the teacher’s attention as he studied the tiny red-brown crinkling packet.
“Tamarind,” Linh-Nhi whispered, “It’s sweet and slightly sour.”
“Interesting,” He opened the wrapper and eagerly popped the hard candy into his mouth. “Whoa, not bad!” A big grin appeared on his face.
Linh-Nhi’s smile brightened further at his enthusiasm, her nerves easing just a little. She was always hesitant about sharing her culture. At school, she kept that part of herself small, hidden. She worried her food might seem odd, her traditions unfamiliar, her stories too different. One wrong reaction could shrink her confidence instantly.
Seeing his positive reaction, she discreetly brought out the whole bag and allowed him to grab a handful.
“Thanks!” his grin stretched wider before he turned to Nate and placed a piece on his desk. “Dude, try this!”
Linh-Nhi watched as Nate quietly ripped it open and placed it in his mouth.
She waited for... something. Anything. A glance, a nod, even the tiniest smirk. But nothing came. No reaction. He just sat there, motionless, swallowing the silence as though it were part of him.
Her stomach twisted uncomfortably.
He must’ve hated it, she thought.
The negative words crept in, uninvited, tainting her earlier joy. For a moment she sat there frozen, the sweetness of her own candy dulling against her tongue, unsure why she cared so much.
A/N September 4, 2025
New Story - an innocent wholesome high school romance :) I hope you guys like it!
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This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
