Trois

    For weeks, life was nothing but a blur of school and homework for Mademoiselle Emilie. Fall grew colder, but the young mademoiselle enjoyed her walks that much more. Whenever she could, she broke from her schooling and journeyed to the other side of town. She went to her favorite places. These were her secret places. They were full of beauty from the trees and the streams. They were quiet. She walked to these places as often as she could. On one such walk, mademoiselle Emilie was distracted. Upon investigating, she found Nico being bullied. The bully was bigger than her, but she was fearless. She had to put a sop to this. Nico was still a child. She interrupted. The bully, still holding Nico, lashed out at her. She was immediately scared, but held her ground. She didn't know what exactly she had planned on doing, but she just jumped right on in' "Let him go" she commanded, "leave him alone!" This time she screamed. Jean-Michel had shown up and, at the sight of him the bully left. Jean-Michel was a bit of a big brother to everyone. He took the responsibility of protecting the kids, and sometimes the adults, in the neighborhood. Scaring off bullies was common practice, by this time.
     "I'll take him home" Jean-Michel said.
     "No, it's alright. I'll take him home." Emilie responded. Since helping out the family, she had felt a little protective of the kids.
     "No, really, I can do it" argued Jean-Michel.
     The two argued about who would take Nico home, all the way to Nico's home. Once they got close, Nico expressed his thanks as he dashed to the front door. Neither Mademoiselle Emilie and Jean-Michel  had realized that, while arguing about who would do it, they had already delivered Nico home- together. Upon realizing that their arguing was in vain, they started looking at the ground in slight embarrassment  They mumbled something about being on their way and said farewell.
     Jean-Michel had already realized his feelings for Emilie, but he hesitated to tell her. They were from different worlds. What he didn't know was that, on that day, seeing him so concerned to protect the defenseless, a great admiration grew in her heart. She already respected him above the other young men, but now she very much admired him.