THIERRY AND HIS FRIENDS went to pick up their motorcycle while Edith talked with Lucas for him to take her shift. In return, she had to promise to take his shift the next day and do his washing up for him for a whole week.

      She got on the back of her brother's motorcycle and they rode to where the race was taking place. When they arrived, Yves noticed the redhead and called out to her.

      "You know him?" Thierry asked her.

      "Yes. I'll be back." she replied before heading towards Yves.

      "Hey, Edith. Didn't know you knew them." the guy told her, taking a puff of his cigarette.

      Edith pointed at Thierry. "This one's my brother."

      Yves nodded and motioned for her to approach his group of friends. "Guys, this is Edith. She's Laubrac's friend. Edith, these are my friends from Ravale."

      He then told her the names of all of them but to be honest she didn't remember them.

      "Since when do you guys know Laubrac?" she asked.

      "Almost forever." Yves said. "He doesn't speak to us anymore since he joined Voltaire. Mister is too good for us now."

      They changed the subject and after a while, Edith came back to her brother and his friends and the race started. It was simple, there were two barrels over a distance of about twenty meters, and the three bikers had to do three laps of the track. They did a couple of runs until at one point, one of the Ravale guys got in the way to block the other two gangs.

      "What the hell?" Thierry exclaimed.

      "What are you doing?" one of the Val d'Or guys asked.

      "Making the race more interesting." Yves replied with a smile. "We race with a chick on the back."

      "Okay." the Val d'Or agreed.

      Thierry's gang turned to the only girl they had.

      "No way." Thierry declared.

      "We can't be the only one to refuse." one of his friends whispered.

      "I'm not letting her do this, okay?" the Lefebvre boy told him.

      "Why not?" Edith spoke up. "I've been on a motorbike with you before. And I'm not going to drive it, I just have to sit in the back."

      "Hey." Yves called out to them. "I wasn't talking about your chick. That would be too easy. We each pick a girl from the other gang."

      Thierry looked at his sister. "One more reason not to do it. We don't know them, it could be dangerous."

      "So what? You wanna drop out of the race?" his friend asked in annoyance.

      "I'll do it." Edith talked out loud, making sure the other gangs will hear her, cutting off the argument.

      "Great, let's switch!"

      She walked up to Yves, ignoring her brother. She still leaned over the boy and whispered. "It's not dangerous, is it?"

      "Don't tell me you're scared." he stared at her. "Laubrac used to choose his girlfriends braver than that."

      That one hurt Edith as if he had hit her. Was he saying that she wasn't worth Laubrac's old girlfriends? This convinced her to do the race. She was going to show him that she wasn't afraid.

      "We won't do it." Thierry said.

      "It's a gang of whiners!" the Val d'Or guys mocked.

      "Say that again!" Thierry yelled, pushing one of the guys.

      "Whiners!"

      That was it. Thierry's friends threw themselves at the guys from Val d'Or. Obviously, the guys from Ravale joined the fight. Edith stepped back to avoid being in the middle. Why did Thierry refuse to let her do anything? He was way too protective of her and it only got them into trouble.

      The sound of an engine was heard and the redhead turned her head in surprise when she saw Laubrac suddenly brake his motorcycle in front of her.

      "Climb!" he ordered.

      "But—" she looked towards her brother.

      "Go!" Thierry shouted at the same time before getting punch again.

      Edith obeyed and climbed up behind Laubrac. She wrapped her arms around his waist and he stormed off, carrying her away from the fight.

★

      "You can stop here." Edith told Alain.

      "We're far from where you live." he replied, but he stopped anyway.

      "Thierry will pick me up here. He knows, we've been coming here since we were eight." she said, getting off the motorcycle. "Thanks for coming. How did you know I'd be there?"

      "I heard people say another gang was involved. I understood it was your brother's. Why did you go? Are you out of your mind?" his voice was rude now, he had never spoken to her like that before.

      "It's not the first time I come with them. You don't have to argue with me, I know what I'm doing." she replied.

      "You obviously don't. Those guys are trouble, I told you. You shouldn't do anything they tell you, you're completely unconscious."

      She glared at him. "From what I've heard, you're not the best person to say that. Not when all your girlfriends were racing with you or whatever."

      She turned to walk away but he grabbed her arm before she could. "They were just girls I met through the gang. They were different from you."

      "Better different?" Edith asked.

      "No."

      They stared at each other for a few seconds and Edith looked down to his lips. Would it be crazy if she kissed him now? Maybe what was crazy was that she really wanted to.

      He let go of her arm to take her hand. "I was scared. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

      She gave him a soft smile. Why was her heart beating so fast all of a sudden? Was that what he had just said, or was it because of his eyes that seemed unwilling to tear themselves away from her? They looked deeply into each other's eyes and she decided that if he wasn't going to make the first move she will. She started to lean in, anticipating the moment their lips would finally met.

      But they never did.

      The sound of Thierry's motorcycle interrupted them and Edith let go of Alain's hand as she took a step away. Her brother gave them a suspicious look, showing that he clearly suspected something, but he made no comment.

      "I'll— see you at school tomorrow." the redhead told Alain before climbing in the back of her brother's motorcycle.

      "Thank you for picking her up." Thierry looked at the curly haired boy.

      Alain nodded. "Of course."

      "See ya."

      Thierry drove off and the twins went home. Edith's head was full of questions. She was feeling things she never felt before and she couldn't stop thinking about it, and about him. What she didn't know was that he was thinking at the exact same things.

— just kiss already