Her eyes were filled with tears just like Thomas'. He knew her. It was Amanda Mystère, a girl in his class who was widely known for her lugubrious character. She looked at him confusedly. "I, I thought I saw... a spider!", he asserted. Amanda stared at him, then, the moment he opened his mouth again, she raised her eyebrows, checked her cell phone, picked up her backpack and left.
Then there was the second meeting. The next day, Thomas decided not to leave school during the lunch break. Once in the cafeteria, he noticed that Amanda was sitting at the back of the room. He decided to join her.
"Hi, your name is Amanda, right?"
"Um yes ?"
"I do not want to bother you."
To this Amanda didn't respond.
"I just wanted you to know that, even if we don't know each other, that you don't have to hold yourself back so much."
Amanda remained silent.
"And you know what? All those complexes towards those around us, we must get rid of them now. Such behavior could turn out to be completely disadvantageous after high school."
"Wow!"
"What?"
"Is that your way of telling a girl you're interested in her?"
"What?"
"I knew I was intimidating but... at this point!?"
"OK, now I'm done"
"Wait, is this a new trend, this way of approaching people? It's been a while since I've been on social media personally."
"Okay. Forget everything I just told you. Bye."
"Calm down. I'm joking. Your name is Thomas, isn't it?"
From that day on, Thomas and Amanda struck up a friendship. Then, as time went on, Amanda revealed to Thomas that she too had moved earlier this year to come live in St-Laurent with her adoptive mother.
Finally, there was this night. The evening that had prompted Virtuous to recall all of his history with Amanda. That evening, before he had time to return home, had just happened, a rather unexpected event. Amanda had invited Thomas to come to her house.
After arriving at Amanda's, Thomas saw her come out of a mansion-like dwelling.
"Hey Amanda, you didn't tell me you lived in a castle. You live there with ..."
"I live there with my adoptive mother, just the two of us. Okay, I have something to tell you!"
"OK, are we staying here in front of the Mystery Castle or moving? Did you get it?"
"Ah! good one. Mystery Castle. Say, at least I'm having a positive influence on you."
"In what sense?"
"Well, thanks to me, you can joke without fear."
"What a boaster! Shall we take a walk?"
"Yes ! Let's talk about serious things!"
"I'm listening."
"Do you want to run away with me?"
Thomas glanced at the look on Amanda's face, she didn't seem to be joking.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear what you just said."
Amanda paused for a moment. Thomas did the same.
"I've already planned everything, we take a plane that goes to a distant country and then we disappear into nature."
Thomas was speechless.
"Amanda ..."
"What?"
"I do not recognize you anymore. You are worrying me."
He then pulled his cell phone out of his pants pocket.
"What are you doing?", said Amanda.
"I'm checking if there is a clinic, a center or whatever in the area. You need to see a specialist right now."
Amanda, deeply offended, slapped him.
"How dare you?"
"I could tell you the same. I was just trying to help you."
"My adoptive mother is a monstress!"
Thomas, dumbfounded, didn't know what to say.
"Anyway, I'm going home. I am leaving the country tomorrow morning."
"Well, I'm out. Bye."