The Four Stars

Outfits for the day before school

Geneve's Outfit:shirt, shorts, sandals

Juvien's Outfit: shirt. shorts, sandals

Jullien's Outfit: dress, sandals, purse

Joanine's Outfit: dress, sandals,purse

It is the last day of summer and Geneve Gustav, Jullien Candlethrope, Joanine Bastille and Juvien Germer are enjoying themselves in Florence, Italy.

Florence is located in central Italy in Tuscany Region. This city is rich in art and manufacturing and is also located on the railroad and main highway linking northern Italy and Rome.

The four friends walk on the board walk talking about the summer that they had.
“This summer was awesome!” Geneve says with excitement.

“Yea, for you it was.” Juvien says giving him a side glance. “Yes I did enjoy my summer, apart from the fact that almost everyday Geneve forced us to do something extreme.”

“Yes that is true.” Joanine agrees. She flips her long brunette hair and holds hands with Juvien.

“Well, I did enjoy my summer, but I most definitely hated that Geneve forced us to do thinigs against our will.” Jullien says staring at Geneve.

“Come on you guys. At least we all did something new and fun.” Geneve says walking backwards and smiling at his three friends.

Juvien stops and leads Joanine to the side of the boardwalk. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
Joanine smiles at him and turns her attention the sparkling sea water.
Geneve and Jullien lean on the board railing and start staring at the water too.
“Guys it would be awesome to do some swimming now, wouldn’t it?” Juvien says smiling at the crystal blue water.

“Sure,” Jullien says happily.

Geneve starts to giggle. Jullien looks at him, “What are you up to?”

Geneve starts to laugh and quickly says, “Nothing.”

“Like we would believe that.” Joanine retorts.

Geneve nods his head looking at Joanine, “Yes that is true.” He turns to Jullien. “There is something I want to try.” Geneve takes off his sandals, Bermuda shorts and his shirt. Jullien looks at him in awe. She has seen him like this before, it’s nothing new. Geneve’s muscles start to move in unison as he laughs again. “Jullien you know you want to touch them.”

“Shut up,” Jullien says smacking him on the arm.

“We all know you want to Jullien,” Juviein says giggling. She gives her cousin, Juvien a death glare and he stops immediately.

“My girl is feisty.” Geneve says winking at her.

“I am not your girl.”

“You will be, soon.” Geneve puts his hands on the railing and looks at his three friends. “See you at the bottom.” With that, he quickly jumps over the railing and in a few seconds he is submerged in the blue crystal waves.
“That boy is crazy.” Joanine says shaking her head.

“Tell me about it. I want to see what other crazy stuff he has up his sleeve.” Jullien says gathering his belongings.

“Let’s meet him at the bottom.” Juvien says walking with Joanine.

Geneve swims to the shore where his friends wait for him. Jullien carefully places his sandals on the sand and puts his shirt and shorts on her right shoulder. Geneve runs towards them and starts to speak excitedly. “Guys, that was so awesome! You should try that.”

“Uh, no.” Joanine says thinking mockingly.

“I figured you would say that,” he says putting his hands on his hips. He walks over to Jullien and has a smile playing across his plump pink lips. Jullien looks at him suspiciously and takes his clothes off her shoulder to give to him.

“Here are your clothes. Get dried off, because we are not walking around with you wet.” Geneve quickly grabs her around the waist and giggles. “Now we’re both wet.”

“Geneve!” Jullien begins irritated. She hits is shoulders repeatedly and continues to complain. “Now look what you did. I’m wet!”

“Yes, I see what I did.”

“Let me go, now.” She says angrily.

“No.” He says playfully, but adamantly.

“Let her go Geneve. I think you’re embarrassing her with this type of affection, seeing that we are in public.” Joanine says with sympathy in her voice.

Geneve looks at Joanine questioningly, “Embarrassing her? Why would I do that to my darling Jullien?” He returns his attention to the prize clutched by his hands. “I’ll let you go on one condition.”

“And what is that?” Jullien asks angrily.

“Give me a kiss.” He says with a bright smile.

“No,” she says looking at him with disgust. “I did you a favour by bringing your clothes and sandals. The least you can do right now is say ‘thank you’ and let me go.”

“I do thank you for bringing my clothes and sandals, but I want what I kindly asked for.”

“No, now let me go!” She shouts with rage and trying to get out of his grip.

“Darling, careful now, you might hurt yourself with all that anger you’re discharging.”

“Can you guys hurry it up already?” Juvien says bored.

“Geneve,” she says calmly, “please let me go.”

Geneve looks at her, sighs and releases her slowly. “You’re going to come to me Jullien. I don’t know what you’re afraid of. ” He tells her thoughtfully. “I know you love me so just come out with it and say it.”

“Get dried off. We’ll meet you at Hamburger e Chip.” Jullien says calmly and placing Geneve’s clothes in his hand.

“Thank you.” He genuinely smiles. Jullien cracks a little smile, “You’re welcome.”

Juvien, Joanine and Jullien walk towards the restaurant nearby, while Geneve goes to get himself dried. Both Juvien and Joanine know that Geneve is in love with Jullien; he has been, since he was eleven years old, just five years ago. Geneve has been proving his genuine love to her. Jullien takes his actions for a joke and plays with his emotions for amusement. That is cruel.

Jullien’s P.O.V

I thought about what Geneve had said, I have a lot of times. Yes Geneve is sweet, handsome, kind and I adore him calling me darling, even if I don’t show it. He is a true product of his parents. Growing up I thought his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Gustav, were the perfect couple and I still do. I admire that they show each other true affection, even in public. Sometimes when we are out on trips with my parents and my best friend’s parents, you will see Mr. and Mrs. Gustav sitting together; Mrs. Gustav would normally be sitting in her husbands lap, talking and giggling. Once, I saw them when we were at a barbecue in Joanine’s backyard, sitting on one of the large chair swings. Mr. Gustav had his wife’s hair twirling around his fingers while their faces were almost touching. In that moment they looked in each other’s eyes as if they were speaking with their eyes. Then before they moved closer, Juvien’s mother, my aunt, shouted to them, “We have children around, you know.” They looked at her and started to giggle. Just to mock Juvien’s mother, instead of pulling apart they kissed. Geneve had his camera ready for the big moment. While they showed their love, he took a picture. “Mom, Dad, this one is going in the album.” He laughed as he went back to sit at the table near the pool. It’s amazing that the union produced a handsome young man that took so much of their character.

“Have you guys ordered yet?” Geneve asks us taking a seat beside me. His curly brunette hair is still wet from his jump in the water. He looks tanned and his lips have a darker shade of pink, they look dry.

“Geneve your lips are dry.” I say to him without really thinking.

He looks at me surprised. His eyebrows knit in confusion. “Hmm, I see you’ve decided to give me that kiss.” He places his clasped hands on the table and raises his eyebrow questioningly.

“No, I’m just saying your lips are dry.”

“Really?” He asks not believing my answer.

I reach into my pocket and take out my cherry Chapstick. “Here’s something that will get rid of the dryness.” I put it on the table beside his left hand. Geneve looks down at it with an expressionless face and looks back at me. “Thank you,” he says picking it up. He opens it and gently rubs it on his lips while looking at me. Why is he looking at me like that? I see he’s taking a long time to add moisture. He puts back the cover and hand gives me the Chapstick. “My lips feel better.” He says thoughtfully. “Come guys, let’s order.”

“Cameriere.” (Waiter) Joanine says waving her hand.

The waiter comes over with his notepad and pen. “Yes, what would you like to have?” He asks looking at all four of us. Juvien tells the waiter one chicken burger, two fries and water. Joanine orders a cheese pizza with extra cheese and water. Geneve takes a while to decide and finally tells the waiter he would like a chicken burger, a slice of pizza, fries and water. I tell the waiter I would like a cheese burger with chicken, fries and water. The waiter nods his head and quickly gives the cook our order. In a few seconds he returns with our water and a basket with croissants. We tell him thank you and he replies, “You are welcome.” Then he goes to another table to take the order of a couple that walked in a few seconds ago.

While we wait for our food Joanine brings up a topic I dread hearing. “What are you going to wear to school tomorrow Jullien?”

“I guess the same old outfits I wore the year before.” I say nonchalantly.

“Come on Jullien. It’s a new year – our final year in high school – and you are saying you’re going to wear the same outfits you wore the year before.” She says surprised.

What’s the big deal? Clothes are just clothes. Joanine cares about looking neat and dressing nicely. Well, I don’t. It’s not something I’m that much into…yet.

I take up one of the croissants and bite it and chew. This is delicious. The butter in the soft bread wets my mouth as I continue to chew. Joanine stares at me, possibly waiting for me to answer her. Juvien takes one of the croissants and stares behind him anxiously waiting for the waiter to return with his hot food. Geneve slouches in his chair with his hands gripped on either side of the chair with his head towards the ceiling. “Aren’t you going to answer me?” Joanine asks with her arms folded on the table.

“Joanine, my answer is the same as before. What’s the big deal anyway? It’s school.”

“Jullien, it’s not any school. It’s art school.” She defends our school, Florence di il Expressivo L’arte (Florence of the Expressive Arts) with such authority.

“Hmm,” Geneve says taking a sip of his water, “this is good.”

“It’s water Geneve,” Joanine says irritated.

“That’s why it’s so good.” Geneve giggles.

Joanine sighs and takes a croissant. She is obviously irritated by me not caring about what I am going to wear to school tomorrow.

“So, Joanine I’m guessing you bought a lot of new outfits for the school year, right?” Geneve says with interest.

Joanine instantly smiles, “Yes I did.” She turns to me, “See Jullien, Geneve cares. It’s such a shame you don’t.”

“Good for you Geneve,” with sarcasm in my voice.

“Okay guys,” Juvien speaks while pulling his chair closer to the table, “time to eat.”

The waiter places our food before us and we tell him thank you. We eat in silence for a few minutes and Juvien finally speaks. “This is some really good food.”

“Sure is,” Geneve agrees with a mouth full of fries.

“Darling, careful now, you might choke with all that food in your mouth.” I laugh sardonically. He finishes chewing and takes a gulp of his water. “Don’t mock me Jullien, darling.” He said that in a very serious tone.

“Whatever.” I continue to eat and enjoy the food juices that flow into my mouth.

We finish eating after twelve minutes. “That was some good food we had there,” Juvien rubs his tummy satisfied.

“Yep, but I’m still hungry. I wonder what desserts they have.” Geneve wipes his fingers with a napkin.

“Yea, let’s see.” Juvien takes up the menu and looks at the desserts.

“How about we order gelato?” Geneve says looking at our faces for confirmation.

We order gelato. Juvien has watermelon, Joanine orange, Geneve cherry and I have strawberry. We are served and we instantly eat the cold ice-cream. “I never get tired of eating this.” I smile putting my spoon in the gelato.

“We all know you love this stuff,” Juvien giggles.

I take another scoop and putt it into my mouth. Geneve puts down his gelato and pulls his chair closer to me. I continue eating my lovely cream and so does Geneve. I accidentally mess my right cheek with the cream. Genve puts down his gelato and takes up a napkin. “Jullien, there is some gelato on your cheek.” He moves closer towards me with the napkin in his hand. He raises his hand to my cheek to wipe off the gelato. Instead I feel something wet being mixed with the gelato on my face. To my surprise, Geneve has his lips on my cheek wiping the gelato off seductively. I gasp with the feeling of having his lips on my face. To make things worse Juvien snapped a picture while Geneve got rid of the gelato. He pulls away and giggles, “That gelato tastes really good, especially on you.” His tone was low when he said that. What is he implying?

“Geneve that was so embarrassing. Why did you do that?” I say with gritted teeth.

“That wasn’t embarrassing.” He takes up his gelato. “I did it because I wanted to.” Smiling with his white teeth showing, he puts a spoon of gelato in his mouth. He slowly removes the spoon while staring at me. “You totally loved it.” He says putting the spoon in the glass bowl.

“No I didn’t.” I quickly say taking up my cream.

“You’re lying to me Jullien. I can see right through you.” He startles me by holding onto my left shoulder and whispering into my ear, “Your cheeks are red.” His cold breath dances on my skin before he pulls away.

I did love it, but I’m not going to tell him that. Geneve is my best friend, nothing more. Once I believe that, then I’ll be fine. Who am I kidding? He shows true affection, he cares about his friends, he cares about me, and he is the definition of genuine love.

“Jullien stop fantasizing.” Joanine says.
“I am not.” I say defensively. Geneve giggles and continues to eat his gelato

“Yes you are.” She places her empty glass bowl on the table. “We’re going to the mall after we leave here. Is that ok with everyone?”

“Sure,” Juvien says placing his empty bowl on the table. Geneve nods his head. “Okay,” I say simply.

Geneve and I are finished and the waiter clears our table after giving us the bill. We put money on the table along with a tip. “Let’s use the bathroom before we leave,” Geneve suggests. We all nod in agreement and go to use the bathroom. We meet each other after a few meets later and we depart for the mall.