🫧 PROLOGUE — My Little Peach 🍑
I don't really remember when it happened.
Maybe it was the day she tied her hair in a low ponytail, without even noticing me.
Or the day she dropped her hair tie, and I kept it. Just... kept it.
She never looked at me.
She never really saw me.
But I watched her. All the time.
There was something slow about her.
The way she chewed gum like the world would wait.
The way she laughed without ever opening her mouth wide, like her secrets were stuck between her molars.
She wasn't beautiful. Not in the usual sense.
She was... fatal. In silence. In her silences.
Kimi.
I didn't love her, no.
It was more twisted than that.
I wanted to touch her, hurt her, keep her, steal her, make her fall.
I wanted her to see me. To choose me.
I wanted to be her favorite fruit.
The kind you squeeze a little too hard between your fingers.
The kind that leaves juice clinging to your lips.
My little peach.
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🍑 CHAPTER 1—
The school was buzzing with the dull roar of teenage voices, between shouts in the courtyard and heels tapping on the tiled floor.
I was watching her.
Again.
Kimi had that pale pink backpack she always carried on one shoulder. Always the left one. She dragged her feet a little, just enough to look careless, but never sloppy. She wore a pleated skirt and a cropped sweater that had slipped off one bare shoulder.
She pretended not to notice anything.
But I saw everything.
— Hey, are you even listening?
I flinched. It was June, my tablemate. She was eating a tuna sandwich while talking with her mouth full. Her eyeliner had smudged in the heat.
— Sorry, I zoned out, I replied.
— You're staring at your Kimi again?
I looked up at her, annoyed.
She gave me a half-mocking, half-tired look.
— I'm just saying. At this point, it's not admiration anymore, it's possession.
I didn't answer. She wasn't wrong.
Kimi was sitting further away, on a low wall, surrounded by three girls: Sarah, Louane, and Nell. That trio followed her everywhere, like they were waiting for her to bite them.
She didn't talk much. She didn't laugh loud. And yet, people followed her.
I'm not part of her world.
And she has no idea how many of my thoughts she lives in.
But everything was about to change.
All it would take was a crack.
A moment.
And I could feel it... the moment was coming.
— Lina?
I lifted my head. June was holding out a fry.
— Here, eat something. You've got the look of someone about to do something stupid.
I took the fry.
She was right, again.
But she had no idea what I was about to do.
– Chapter 2
The day after that strange encounter, I couldn't get Kimi out of my head.
Her eyes, her half-smile, the way she looked at me as if she could see right through me—it all haunted me.
At school, everything seemed normal. My friends laughed, talked about boys, about fashion, about grades. I laughed with them, but my mind was elsewhere. I kept searching for her, as if my eyes were addicted to her presence.
And then, there she was.
Leaning against the wall near the cafeteria, her phone in hand, her hair falling perfectly on her shoulders. She looked almost unreal. My heart skipped a beat.
I told myself to look away, to stop staring. But when her gaze suddenly caught mine, I froze. My cheeks burned, and I quickly turned my head, pretending to listen to Monaïcha talking next to me.
But it was too late.
Kimi had noticed me.
At that moment, she started walking toward me. Slowly. Confidently. Every step she took seemed louder than the noise of the crowd around us. I felt like the world had shrunk to just the two of us.
"Hey," she said simply when she stopped in front of me.
Her voice. Calm, deep, soft but firm at the same time. I swallowed hard, unable to answer right away. My friends looked at us with wide eyes, but I didn't even care.
"Hi…" I finally whispered.
Kimi tilted her head, a faint smile at the corner of her lips, like she was amused by my nervousness.
"I didn't scare you the other day, did I?" she asked.
I shook my head too quickly, my hair brushing against my face. "No! Not at all…"
She chuckled lightly, as if my awkwardness entertained her. And before I could add anything, she leaned closer, just enough for me to feel her breath near my ear.
"Good," she murmured. "Because I don't plan on leaving you alone."
Then she straightened up and walked away, leaving me breathless, my heart racing, my friends staring at me in disbelief.
And me?
I already knew I was falling.