Before the last note

chapter03: The spaces between us

Jane's world :

Jane had always known how to keep her world small.

She had lilia or Lily, her one constant at school the loud, overly dramatic with terrible taste in crushes she was the force that refused to let her slip far into solitude.
And then there was Chiara, the missing piece of their trio, who went to a different school but never let distance change a thing between them
Her parents were not perfect, but they tried. They knew about her cancer few months ago  and they carried the weight of it in different ways

Her mother was the kind who expressed love through constant care. She cooked her favorite meals, drive her to every doctor’s appointment, and checked in on her every few minutes.

Her father on the other hand was quieter about it. He wasn’t the type to say I love you  but he showed it in the way he stayed up late researching treatments, in the way he holds her hand before every hospital visit.

Some days, their concern felt suffocating. But deep down, Jane knew she was lucky. She wasn’t alone.

So, she played her part as the good daughter, quiet, responsible, never asking for too much. She did her homework, helped around the house, wrote her songs late at night when no one could hear.

And in the spaces between it all, she existed.
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Elles's world:

Elles was used to people knowing his name nothing about his life except being the golden , the future football star, the one who carried the school’s hopes on his shoulder, and at home, his father’s expectations weighed even more heavy

His dad, had once been an athlete until an injury took that dream away. Now, he pushed Elles harder than anyone, to make him what he couldn't be to him  football wasn’t just a game. It was his ticket His future
even with all that  Elles sometimes felt like he was running a race he wasn’t sure he wanted to win.

But that night, when he looked  and seen Jane Morgan watching him not as a fan, not as another person expecting something, but just watching he had felt something

And now, for reasons he didn’t quite understand, he wanted to see her again...

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After the game night

Jane didn't expect to run into Elles again so soon.

But life had a funny way of putting things together when you least expected it.

She was sitting outside at lunch under her usual tree, with the lyrics in her notebook. Lily had ditched her for some class drama, and Chiara was at her own school, so it was just her, the wind, and her notebook

Until a shadow fell over her

“You always write alone?”

She looked up and there he was
“oh not him again” she shouted inside .Elles stood in front of her, hands in his jacket pockets, His area up his eyebrow was still bruised from the game

Jane blinked. “Do you stalk people in your free time?”

He shrugged. “Only when I’m curious”

“Curious about what?”

“You.”

Elles suddenly glanced down at her notebook. “You write music, right?”