‘Little bird. It’s what Antoine called you.’
‘He did?’ And her grin took up her whole face. ‘I like him.’
‘I like him too,’ I said, staring towards Antoine’s hut for the second time that day. Well, I likedpartsof him. Not the arrogant part that told me what to do, but the softer part. The part that made me hot chocolate and the part that made his face light up when my technique was right.
I didn’t have to stare too hard; he was where he always stood, beside the rack of boards, looking out to sea. And then he was being tortured by kids, grabbing at him, throwing balls to him. I laughed.
‘Ah,la princesse, la guerrière et le petit oiseau.’ Antoine smiled at us and Rue rushed towards him, stumbling on the sand.
‘Wow,’ he said, lunging forward to catch her. ‘You are OK?’ he asked.
‘Yep! What did you say? What’s a guer … and a …’ Rue scrunched up her face and cocked her head, making Antoine laugh.
‘La princesse.Princess.’ He pointed to me. ‘La guerrière.The warrior.’ He pointed to her, and she could not have looked more proud. ‘Et le petit oiseau.The little bird,’ he said, gesturing to Wren, who smiled into my side.
‘What are we waiting for?’ Rue asked.
‘Delphine.’ Antoine replied to her but was looking at me and I didn’t know what to say. ‘I think I should stay with Rue by herself today and I wanted some help for Wren.’
Wren’s disappointment was palpable and I hoped that Delphine would be nice to her.
And then there she was, walking up the beach like something out of a movie, her legs looking even longer in the tiny shorts she was wearing and her hair hanging dark and wet round her shoulders.
‘Ahles filles!’ Delphine smiled and Wren immediately grinned back at her, dissolving my worries. ‘I have heard you are brilliant. Do you mind if I teach you?’ she asked Wren. And I felt her move away from me easily, like she gravitated towards Delphine. And I probably would as well if she was that nice to me.
Delphine held out her hand to Wren and she took it without hesitation.
‘And you.La guerrière.You are with me.’ Antoine pointed to Rue, and she nodded.
‘Good.’
‘Margot!’ I looked to my right, where Sébastian was surrounded by the rest of the children.
‘Yeah?’
‘I need your help. Antoine said you did an amazing bottom turn this morning? This is true?’ he asked. ‘Arrête!’ Sébastian shouted at a kid who was throwing a football at him.
‘C’est vrai,’ Antoine called over to him and I shrugged back in his direction.
‘Please, Margot. Show these monsters what they might be able to do. One day. In the future,’ he pleaded.
‘I could try?’ I said. I walked to the rack of surfboards and reached for the board Antoine had lent me, turning to him to catch his eye before I took it out. He nodded, then turned all his attention to Rue.
I walked to the water with Sébastian, and the kids stood beside us.
And it surprised me that I wasn’t nervous. That I remembered everything from earlier that morning, and I felt like I knew exactly what I was doing.
I caught the perfect wave and felt the same adrenaline rush through my veins. And when I emerged from the water and walked on to the sand, Sébastian was standing there clapping, while the kids were messing around beside him.
‘Margot! That wasgénial!’
I smiled. ‘Merci, Sébastian. I loved it. I can’t wait to learn more.’
‘Can you teachme?’ he asked, and I pushed his shoulder.
I looked over at Wren and Rue, who were in the water with Antoine and Delphine. They were both laughing. I walkedover as Antoine pulled Rue on her board out towards a wave. I watched him encourage her to paddle and then she stayed on her stomach as she rode the wave all the way to shore. She pulled herself up awkwardly, then turned to me and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her look happier. It was like she felt it too, the adrenaline rush.
I watched the rest of their lesson, my eyes mostly on Wren and Delphine. I couldn’t believe how different she was. She was warm, constantly smiling, and Wren was laughing when she fell in the water instead of the tears I’d half expected.
