Chapter 1

That morning, the air was cool and a little mild. Getting out of my room gave me so much trouble that I was lazy. Yet I would have to go to school in the next few minutes.

The clock on the wall was already ticking at nine o'clock. But, as usual, I needed at least fifteen minutes of walking to face the threshold of my school. To go to school, I had to make a trip.

This morning, while I was still in bed thinking about the routine walk that still awaited me, I heard, "Octavia, I thought you had school.

The voice did not sound strange to me. It was a voice I recognized well. How could I not recognize the voice of the one who kept me in her womb for nine months? It was my mother.

- Yes mom," I sighed from my room with my sheet wrapped around my waist.

- And why are you still in the room? Or don't you know that time passes?

- Yes mom, I'm already getting ready, I lied to her to avoid her anger.

I did indeed leave my room and went to the backyard of my room.

In the house, I had my own room. In this room, there was everything. Almost everything. I had luxurious couches. I had a plasma screen television set that was built into the wall with a set top box. A brew fan was pointed at the ceiling. Since my father was very rich, he decorated my room with everything. On the closet was a big amplifier. My room was painted with varnish. The floor was well tiled. The windows were all made of glass. From inside, I could see everything that was happening outside even when the windows were closed. Of course, those outside could not see me or what I was doing inside my room.

I was the youngest of my siblings and only sixteen years old. With my slender height, I was comparable to a tall girl in her twenties. Also, in terms of body size, I was the most dominant in my family. My parents were rich and I ate as much as I wanted. I ate and drank as it suited me.

I wasn't obese. I was just a little fat. Not too fat anyway. But I was somewhere in between. But I didn't miss anything. I was overweight. My classmates visited me three or four times a week. They came because I gave them everything they needed. They ate excessively. At the end of the meal, everyone did whatever they wanted with my room. Mom and Dad weren't bad blood. They were not parents who hated to see their children's friends visit them. In my family, there was tolerance.

Indeed, that morning I went to class as usual. Very often, my mother gave me the advice to be very careful with bad company. Following my mom's advice, I was wary and did everything I could to avoid bad company. At school, I tried to stay away from certain girlfriends, especially those who liked to hang out with boys too much. I was wary of this because I had taken note of what had happened to my older sister when she fell fat on the benches. My older sister in question was a senior in high school when one day she told Mom that she had missed her period.

Dad, as nice as he was, in a fit of anger, had excluded her from the benches. My big sister Stella had therefore said goodbye to the school gates. So, in order not to have the same problem in my life, I made a promise to myself to avoid falling into the same mess as my sister.

That morning, after I got to school, I saw my friend Aline eating a long banana. Yep! I liked bananas too much. Especially their smell, I was very attracted to them. So I love to eat them too much. Even when I see my enemy eating them, I ask him for some and I don't care if he gives me some. I am very often excited by his smell.

Then, from the door of the classroom, I shouted to her:

- My dear, beware if you finish those bananas before I get to your seat.

From her seat, she smiled at me and I hurried, afraid that she would finish them. She still had two left and I wanted to snatch them from her but she stood in the way.

- No, you can't take both of them, you only get one.

- My friend, you have already eaten enough and you know very well that I love bananas. So leave me the two and come and get some money to buy some more, I said to calm her down because I had already taken away all the two she had left.

Reluctantly, she said, "No, keep the money and at the end of the school day, we'll go buy these together.

I pocketed my two two hundred franc coins. I peeled one of the bananas and started to munch on it at all costs. After two minutes, I finished both bananas.

- Is it finished in your bag? I asked him.

In reality, the two bananas had not been enough for me. The taste was too appetizing and much different from the others I usually ate.

- Frankly, the taste is too good! I said to him.

- Don't worry! We will buy some at the exit of the courses. If not, here is the teacher who arrives already.

- Yes, it is true, I murmured to him, disappointed.

After our math teacher entered the classroom, I tapped the table and all my classmates and I stood up. After the greeting to the teacher, we sat down. We had class for two hours and then it was finally noon, the end of the morning's classes.

- Well, Aline, can we go buy the bananas now?

- I bought them in my neighborhood, I don't know if the ones in this neighborhood will be similar to the ones we ate," she answered, serene.

- In this case, hold the money and when you come in the evening, buy and bring.

- I agree!

My girlfriend took the money from me and we separated. Each one of us took the direction of her house.

- Beware if you forget," I said.

- Don't worry, you'll get them tonight, she promised me, smiling.

***

When I got home, I could only think of my bananas that my girlfriend was going to bring me at three o'clock.

It was finally two o'clock. I was so excited to see the bananas I ordered. I had gotten ready without even tasting the meal my mother had served me. I didn't have an appetite really.

I had gone to school and there I was waiting impatiently for my girlfriend to arrive. Every second I glanced at my wristwatch. Time was running out, but Aline was not coming. The siren had finally sounded three o'clock. And until then, my girlfriend didn't come because she never liked to miss class.

But why had she missed tonight's class? Had she come late? Would she indeed be behind the school fence?

I was at my wits' end. I didn't care about the French class I would have to take.

Monday wasn't too busy, actually. We came at ten o'clock and went home at noon. In the evening, we came at three o'clock and returned to our houses at five o'clock. Now I didn't know the neighborhood where my girlfriend lived or the way to her house. And besides, even if I had the references of her residential coordinates, was I going to visit her because of a simple story of banana? I was so eager to eat those bananas again, but since she was away, I had to be patient.

When I came back home, I still remembered the taste of those famous bananas I had eaten in the morning. I still wanted to eat them again.

And to curb this craving, I took a five hundred franc bill and went to the next house to buy some lollipops. I had bought an orange juice just to quench my thirst. When I got home, I poured it into a bowl and held it to my throat.

Still thinking about that banana, my appetite had left me and I fell asleep on my orange juice. After a few minutes, sleep had taken me over. I had fallen asleep on an empty stomach.