Free Finding Monsieur Right (2010) by Muriel Zagha Page B

"?'
    'It means you are, heu ...' Bertrand smiled and used his hands expressively to sketch an hourglass figure in the air. 'Like this. Bien roulee, quoi .'
    Daisy was about to ask what that meant but thought better of it. Clothaire was staring ahead, looking bored. Octave, who was wearing shades, had turned away from the glare of the sun to check the messages on his mobile phone.
    'Yes, well, she's much larger than Agathe,' Claire concluded drily, taking off her jeans and stepping out of them in a chic one-piece black swimsuit. There was a pause, during which the boys went off towards the blue-and-white stripy tents to get changed.
    'Actually, I am jealous of Daisy's shape,' Agathe said as Claire and her sister, now both in their swimsuits, sat down next to them. 'It must be such fun to have really big breasts!'
    'They're not really that big,' said Daisy, pulling at her triangle top in an effort to cover some of her cleavage. 'It's because your swimsuit is a little snug for me.'
    'Hmmmmm,' Claire said from behind her shades. She lay on her stomach and began to flick through Marie Claire .
    There was another pause. The four boys returned in their swimming trunks. They all got down to serious sunbathing. Noticing that Amelie was reading a French translation of the last Harry Potter book, Daisy began to chat to her about it. Luckily she knew all there was to know about Harry Potter, having been forced by Jules, practically at gunpoint, to read all the novels. Amelie was shy initially but was soon asking Daisy, in a soft wistful voice, if she'd gone to a school like Hogwarts.
    'Not really. It wasn't a boarding school. But we did have uniforms.'
    'Oh, that's wonderful! I would love an English uniform. Of what colour?'
    'It was hideous, really. Brown with orange piping. I hated mine with a passion.'
    'Did you really play a game like Quidditch? Without the flying, obviously.' Amelie was trying hard to be grown-up.
    'Well, yes and no ... Hockey. And also netball. I used to love the bit where you spin on one leg ...' Daisy said, demonstrating and checking out of the corner of her eye to see if Octave was looking. He wasn't.
    'And then did you go to Cambridge?' asked Stanislas, looking up at Daisy. 'I spent a summer there once. It is quite a beautiful place.'
    'Oh, no!' Daisy shook her head, laughing.
    'So you went to Oxford? That is also good, I think.'
    ' No! Nothing like that! I went to university in Bangor. I wanted to do media studies, though I wasn't quite sure what that meant, but I thought it sounded cool. But actually I got bored with it, so one day I was in Harvey Nichols - a really great department store in London - and I just got a job there, which was excellent fun for a while. And then there was this girl I knew who was going for a job in fashion PR and then she was like, "Oh, I'm suddenly going to Thailand to travel," so she went to Thailand and I went to the interview instead. Voila .'
    Everyone looked astonished at this, except round-faced fifteen-year-old Amelie, who looked dazzled.
    'You English!' Agathe said, looking at Daisy with a brilliant smile. 'You are so eccentric!'
    There was a short silence.
    'I suppose,' Clothaire said from behind his copy of Le Monde Diplomatique , 'this proves that the British really are an empirical people. Nothing has changed since the eighteenth century.'
    'Are we going to have the discussion about Newton's apple again?' said Stanislas. 'Because I need coffee for that.'
    Daisy looked at Amelie and they exchanged a puzzled shrug.
    ' Enfin , Clothaire,' said Agathe, lazily stretching a slim brown arm to lower Clothaire's newspaper, 'do not be so rude, please. Not everyone can be as Cartesian as you. You are the most rational man in Paris, everyone knows it.'
    Clothaire smiled at her and went back to his reading. Daisy flicked through the pages of French Vogue for a moment, then turned to look at the three Pique-Assiettes , who had found a spot next to Claire. Octave was lying on his back