"Pupils in the quatriènne were allowed to join the cine club, wich held screenings every thursday evening in the boys’ assembly hall, though girls were allowed to attend. One night in december, just before Nosferatus the Vampire started, Bruno took the seat next to Caroline Yessayan. Towards the end of the film - having thought about it for more than an hour - he gently placed his hand on her tight. For a few wonderful seconds (five? seven? surely no more than ten?), nothing happened. She didn’t move. Bruno felt a warm glow flood his body, he thought he might faint. Then, without saying a word, she gently brushed his hand away. Years later, when some bitch or other was sucking him off, Bruno would remember those few seconds of terrifying joy; he would also remember the moment when Caroline Yessayan moved his hand away. What the boy had felt was something pure, something gentle, something that predated sex or a need for sensual fulfilment. It was the simple desire to reach out and touch someone, to be held lovingly in someone’s arms. Tenderness is a deeper instinct than seduction wich is why it is so difficult to give up hope."

Atomished-Michel Houllebecq