Quote:
Originally Posted by Tricky Louis
Louis absentmindedly watched Luna playing along on Justine’s slender neck, though his attention was really on the words coming from the girl with the funny French accent. The more attention he paid to it, the stranger it sounded. Not at all like his mother’s or his aunts’. Hmmm.
BINGO.
Justine had fallen flat as a pancake for his trap, and as it dawned on him that she was actually lying to him, the boy’s blue eyes widened. All this time! All this talk of Bauxbatons… of Paris… a lie! Well, perhaps she was still from Paris, she just went to a different school…. But no, that accent was not Parisian. It wasn’t even French. At least, not from France.
The boy bit at his bottom lip, debating what to do now. It’s not exactly like he felt very triumphant in tricking her; actually, he’d kind of hoped his trick would fail. At the end of the day, Louis was too nice to call her out bluntly. But at the same time, he was a little confused. Why had she found it necessary to lie? Who really was she?
“Justine…” he began suddenly, his voice a little wary. “Paloma didn’t actually tell me about De La Fontaine…” he started slowly. “I made him up.”
This was the second time today that Louis was looking at her strangely and Justine was beginning to feel like there was something wrong with the boy. Maybe there was another epidemic starting that caused people to become... Whatever Louis was just then.
Why was he looking at her like that? So reproachfully? Like a kicked puppy? Had she said something wrong? Justine recalled their immediate conversation, looking for anything she might have said that could have been misconstrued into a rude comment, but there was nothing.
I made him up.
Her heart was in her throat, as panic flared up within her at Louis' words. He'd trapped her, and she'd made it so easy for him. Damn it. Damn it all.
Slowly Justine rose up from the green grass, making sure not to let Luna fall to the ground as she did so, Justine was freaked out, but she was enough of herself to be mindful of the innocent creature clinging to her neck. "Of course I knew zat, I vas joking with you," Justine said, playfully poking Louis in the chest in an effort to lighten the mood.
Justine wasn't going down without a fight.