Stripper

Stripper
[Alpenhorn, 2022]

After a week in the new school, I knew my way around pretty well.

At lunch I went and sat at the table with some of the other first-year girls.  They were giggling over something on a tablet—an iPad or something.

I greeted them: “Hey, girls.”

“Hey, Marie,” some of them responded.

They looked at each other.  Then Lucie asked me, “The school football squad has its first match on Friday evening.”  I knew that she meant what I used to call soccer when I lived in the US.

I started eating.  Lucie continued, “Will you be going to watch the match?”

“No,” I replied.  “I’m not interested in sports.”

We ate for a while.  I could tell the girls had something on their minds.

“Marie,”  Lucie asked, “Do you know a student here named Jean-Michel Lacroix?”

“Sure,” I replied.  “He’s in my algebra class.”

The girls seemed excited.  “What’s he like?” Camille asked.

“Kind of cute, it a dorky sort of way.”

They were smiling and nudging each other.

“What’s up?” I asked.  My curiosity was piqued.

Lucie didn’t answer.  Instead she said: “Did you know we have a school stripper?”

“No,” I replied.  “I don’t believe it.  Wouldn’t that be exploitation of girls, or something?”

“Not a girl.  It’s Jean-Michel Lacroix!”  All three of them were nodding.  To prove it they showed me the announcement on the school Facebook page.  It was about the football match on Friday.  It listed the names of the players.  And at the end:

“Game begins promptly at 7:00 pm.  The school’s new stripper, Jean-Michel Lacroix, at 6:00 pm.”

.....

So, I went to the match after all.  Of course we arrived by 6 pm to get good seats in the bleachers.

Sure enough, Jean-Michel was down on the pitch.  He had a wheeled machine.  He pushed it, and it deposited chalk on the grass.  It was done to reinforce the markings there.  This went on for a while.  Kind of boring, even if he did have a cute butt.

“Oh, no!” Lucie said.  She was looking at her tablet.  “It doesn’t say STRIPPER.  It says STRIPER.”