Billie by Anna Gavalda, Jennifer Rappaport Read Free Book Online

“darn” and who worries about throwing off his mommy’s schedule, that’s really weird . . . Everything seemed weird to me, everything . . . In reality, I was learning more than just a role in a play, I was learning . . . an entire civilization . . . ) (But upside down.) (There you had the barbarian with a bone through his nose dressed in loincloth made from a banana peel observing the Whites in secret.)
    Â 
    Franck had just looked at his watch, and the important moment, the one I told you about earlier, uh well, it only starts now. It’s the conversation we had on the way from Claudine’s (aka Grandma) (but I was allowed to call her Claudine) to his house.
    Since it’s very important and I’ve had enough of telling you everything indirectly with all those “thises” and “thats” that slow down the story, I’ll tell it to you in dialogue.
    I’ll do it the way Alfred would . . .
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    Tap! Tap! Tap! (That’s the stage manager banging a stick to indicate the play is about to begin.)
    Whiiiiiiiiiirrrr (The curtain rises.)
    Rrrrrrrrrrrrreucht . . . Grrouinch . . . Frrrrrhhh (That’s the sound of old people coughing and blowing their nose.)
    La, la, li, li . . . la la (Background music.)
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    A path
    Franck and Billie are chatting
    B ILLIE: Actually, it’s really you who should play Camille.
    F RANCK (
acting as though he’d just been bitten in the calf
): Why do you say that?
    B ILLIE (
who couldn’t give a damn about his calf
): Well, because . . . Because you respect her! So much so that you defend her to the end! I’d like to bond with her, but I just don’t get her, that girl . . . I think she gets too riled up . . . Hey, it’s not a problem learning all the stuff she babbles, okay? It’s just that I like Perdican better.
    Silence
    F RANCK (
in Madame Guillet’s tone of voice
): No one is asking you
to be
Camille, just to play her.
    B ILLIE (
in Billie’s tone of voice
): Yes, well, if we’re playing already, let’s play! I prefer to play Perdican. I find it more entertaining to tell you that if one day we no longer love each other, we’ll each take lovers until your hair is gray and mine is white.
    Silence
    F RANCK: No.
    B ILLIE: Why not?
    F RANCK: It’s not a good idea . . .
    B ILLIE: Why?
    F RANCK: The teacher assigned us these roles and we’ll do it the way she said.
    B ILLIE: But . . . But she doesn’t give a damn, right? It’s the scene that matters, not who plays who . . .
    Silence
    F RANCK: No . . .
    B ILLIE: Why?
    F RANCK: Because I’m a boy so I play the boy’s part and you’re a girl so you play the girl’s part. It’s as simple as that.
    B ILLIE (
who is a zero at school but who defends herself in the real world and who senses pronto that she’s hit a sore spot so takes a playful tone to lighten the mood
): No one is asking you
to be
Camille, my dear sir, just to play her!
    F RANCK (
who says nothing . . . who smiles . . . who is having a good time with this funny girl from the Morels . . . who notices that her hair is clean for once and that she isn’t wearing track pants like every other day of the year
)
    Silence
    B ILLIE: Okay . . . you don’t want to?
    F RANCK: No. I don’t want to.
    B ILLIE: You don’t want to say with all your heart something like “And what do you know about love, you whose knees are all worn out from having begged too much on your mistress’s carpets?”
    F RANCK (
smiling
): No . . .
    B ILLIE: You don’t want to cry out to the whole world: “I want to love but I don’t want to suffer! I want to love with an eternal love!”
    F RANCK (
laughing
): No.
    B ILLIE (
really troubled
): But for two hours you’ve said just the opposite. For two hours you’ve been trying to