Field of Dreams: Year 1

Madridista

Paige's POV:

"Paige, honey," my mom approached me, carrying the plates. "Would you set the table for me?" I nodded, stood up, and carefully took the plates from her. "How's your friend?" she inquired, putting her hands on the back of the chair. "Olivia?" she guessed her name correctly.

"Yeah, she's fine," I told her, still feeling...I don't even know how I felt. "By the way," I started, putting the first plate on the table. "I'll go to check on her after school tomorrow," I warned. Mom just nodded with sympathy and understating written on her face. "Thanks," I just responded with my back to her. 

As I said, I didn't know how to feel about the thing we experienced the same afternoon. I mean, the only thing I was replaying in my mind was how I felt her falling over me, and how Ms. Crater came to help me carry Liv. I got scared, I can't lie. In those two last weeks I've come closer with Liv again, I was really feeling...amazing. Like I've never felt better. 

Liv was...something different. You know, I've been close with Mia since the beginning of the school year. We've grown inseparable. We ate together, we chatted together, we studied together each and following day. She was really understanding, kind, always by my side. We just couldn't live without each other. 

That was until...Liv left our group. It wasn't the same in the whole group anymore. It was hard to communicate, to talk, to express our feelings. Not just I, but we all knew that something was missing. The one thing that was keeping us together. That someone who was keeping us together. It was frustrating and devastating at the same time. We've lost a friend. A helper. A good soul. Our good soul. 

Me and Mia started eating at the group table as in the beginning of the school year. We also missed Liv on our table where she was coming from time to time. We tried to fill the gap we knew we had deep inside with our other friends. I was reading most of the time, just trying to forget about the world around, and Mia was talking with Ava and Ivy. 

It was working well. I can certainly say that even though I wasn't participating in their conversations. I did so only when they asked me about some homework, book, or History notes since were with the same teacher. I didn't bother me. The world of books is the world I mainly live anyway.

When Liv returned...it felt like a dream. A completed dream. One that doesn't end at its peak. One that you remember for the rest of your life. The one you tell your parents, friends, relatives about. Like a prophetic dream. The kind of prophetic dream which you feel you live each and other day. No matter if it is through deja vu or something else. You just feel it so real that you refuse to accept that it's not real. 

When I discovered about Liv's secret, it was definitely something unusual for me. When we were alone in her room just talking about football and ourselves...I finally sensed it wasn't a prophetic dream. It was actually real. Tangible. 

And when we went to that match, I just felt something dissimilar. Something new. Something I hadn't thought I would ever feel or experience. I know that I said that I would go to the match with Liv only to prove her wrong, but that wrong-

"Yo, sis," my brother said, interrupting my thoughts all of a sudden, understanding I had zoned out. "Is that you?" he pointed to the TV. I turned white as soon as I glanced at the screen. He turned up the volume, I didn't  even try to stop him because of my shock.

"The two girls, whose identities have not yet been discovered, were firstly spotted on the right side of the football pitch with unidentified goal," the reporter from the news said, the video of me and Liv playing beside him. "No matter the cold weather, one of the two girls took off her shoes and started running to the other side of the field for uncertified reason. The other one jogged to her friend a few seconds after," he continued talking something, but my brother lowered the volume. 

"Paige," my father said, suddenly turning serious. I jumped on my place, not realizing he was there. "Was that you?" he continued with the same cold and stern timbre. I nodded, scared to let out a single word out of my mouth. 

My mother looked at me shocked, my father still not saying a word. My brother, however, being the clown of the family, just hit slightly my shoulder with the remote. 

"Well done, sis," he just laughed. "When did you become a football fan?" all of the people in the room looked with expecting expressions.

"Yesterday," was the only thing I managed to let out. "What?!" I asked myself kind of confused, trying not to let the other understand what was going on in my thoughts. "I'm a football fan..." I finally admitted to myself. "All of my unexplainable feelings through the game," I started listing. "My patience. My sympathy for the referee-"

"Finally!" my father suddenly started laughing and moved closer to me. "You don't know how long I've waited for this to happen!" he confessed, and I just looked at him with a are-you-serious-right-now look. "The only thing is," he pointed at the TV screen, on which the video someone from the stands had taken was still running. "We'll just need you to become a madridista," he kind of joked with a somewhat serious tone. 

"Uh-uh, dad," I refused. "I'm a proud culer," I felt that. I felt that I belonged to the Barcelona fans. He looked at me obviously startled by my sudden confidence. "Just like Olivia," this time I pointed to the screen. 

"We'll see about that," he let me escape his strong hug and laughed, convincing himself that he could achieve something that was simply impossible.