Teenage Years

During this time, young people my age discover Tolkien, H.P. Lovecraft and gory horror movies. The Star Wars trilogy invades France and a virus called “roleplaying” starts spreading.

Me, I do my part in this national campaign by contaminating my friends at the local games club (which I founded). I make sure the parents are involved (let’s be politically correct), I do class talks about The Lord of the Rings (let’s be cultural) and I practice English diligently (let’s be studious – also at the time, RPG manuals are all in English).

Practically speaking, I make up stories day and night. At lunch and during class. On breaks and on days off. All the time.

The others dive with me into this jolly craziness, happy to escape their tedious daily life.By the end of quatrième (eighth grade), I’m responsible for tanking the whole class’ grades.

Their parents have a chat with my folks, who in turn have a chat with me. This is followed by a very quiet time, during which I contemplate the joys of schoolwork, outdoors life and sports. Gaming books, novels and all things similar are locked in the cellar.

But I don’t give up that easily.