Parrot (JaDine AU)

Chapter 1

Nadine's POV

He's smiling at me. It was my favorite smile; the smile he always reserved only for me. And I just feel very much at ease.

Everything feels right when Paulo is with me.

He touched my cheeks, his hands so warm.

"Nadine..."

I looked at him in question.

"Nadine." He called again.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"Wake up, Nadine."

I opened my eyes, feeling a bit disconcerted. I found my little brother looking down at me.

"Daniel." I said.

"Jericho asked me to wake you up. You need to start getting ready or we'll be late." He said and stood up from my bed, not waiting for my reply.

I just nodded though he had already gone out.

Daniel, my little brother. He's a bit cold, but that's because we are not close. We've live our whole lives apart from each other.

I sat up when the door closed, feeling a bit confused. I looked at the calendar and realized what Daniel meant.

It was finally that day; the day I was dreading the most.

I stood up starting for my bathroom and I had a glance at my window. Today was such a beautiful day. How ironic that the scene before me seems so lively, the sky so vast, so limitless, when this is the day I lose even the illusion of my freedom.

I started walking towards my bathroom. There was nothing I could do, really. And I am just so tired, so tired of everything to even try.

I remembered when there were no worries, when everything was simple, when I was happy.

I remembered Paulo.

I first talked him during my first year in high school.

I had always seen him in the library, in a table farthest from the door, always alone. He was much like me in that sense. I've always imagined that the library was also a sanctuary for him as it was for me. It was a place where no one looks at me with judging eyes. It was where I could open a book and hide in that world, where there are no expectations from me.

It was during our school's festival that I met him. As usual, I was in the library. I didn't really like festivities much, and I preferred solitude. The library was empty except for me and for him.

We don't really acknowledge each other, though we practically sit across each other everyday, but that day I had been looking for a book and I couldn't find it in the shelves. Instead, I found it in his hands. He seemed to noticed my gaze and looked at the book.

That was the first time he smiled at me. I felt my face grew hot then. I am not really used to socializing; one of the thing that makes my father frustrated about me.

"Here, you can have it." He said, raising the book to me. "I've already read it before."

I took it gingerly and gave him a little bow.

"Thank you." I said so very softly. I then went back to my seat, at the corner of the room.

After that, I've always found myself seated in the same table as him. We greet each others through bows, but no words were exchange.

The next time I did talk to him, it was during our summer break.

It was after a fight with my father. I was so angry and frustrated that I just started running from my house. I didn't really think of where I was going. I just wanted to be away from my father.