Dans ce Paris “Heads!” came a voice, and a boy went flying through the sky as Manu and Louis ducked just in time.
“P****n, Alejo,” called Manu in irritation, and Louis chuckled.
Landing stylishly, Alejo flipped his skateboard under his arm and came to join the two boys. “Long time no see, Lou,” he said, ruffling the younger boy’s hair and knocking his sunglasses off his head. Louis ducked away and made a face, but didn’t really mind that much. The Spanish boy had been the one to introduce him to the group, taking pity on the stray Louis he’d found on the street and becoming something of an older brother figure.
“Blame mes parents,” replied Louis with a scowl, picking up the sunglasses. He was very proud of them, thinking they made him look older and cooler despite there only being a weak winter sun. Despite having come to a sort of détente with his father (in which Louis’s comings and goings were ignored provided he was there when wanted), Louis still had ‘duties’ to attend to (read: long and boring talks and dinners, at which no father but Louis’s would expect a 14-year-old boy to be present). Still, Louis’s grandmother helped him sneak out a lot of the time, and had even provided him with some muggle money. Louis had used it to buy the precious sunglasses, as well as a skateboard and some headphones. A mobile phone had also been a gift from her, wanting to be able to check on her grandson and also to warn him if his father was on the warpath.
The time spent with his street ‘gang’ of misplaced muggle lads definitely made up for any amount of boring pureblood stuff Louis had to do. For every day spent in a suit, he managed to spend at least two others on a skateboard at the Skatepark de Bercy. Needless to say, at first he’d been awful, laughed at good-naturedly by the others, but after a few weeks under Alejo’s tuition he’d become decent enough. Surprisingly he’d found a few Quidditch skills helped him, specifically a sense of balance and a lack of concern for personal safety. Now he felt like he belonged here, laughing with Manu, fist-bumping Hugo, winking at JB, trying cigarettes with Romain (disgusting – he was never doing that again!) and falling off skateboards with Alejo. The camaraderie and joie de vivre of the whole group made the midterm break fun for Louis, and for once he was slightly sad about the thought of the holidays ending. Still, most of the group would be splitting up until the summer, some going off to their schools and finding jobs.
OOC glossary: Dans ce Paris = In this Paris P****n = French swear word!