Frere Jacques

The Only Chapter

The beeping sounds of all the machines attached to young Jacqueline echoed off of the wall. Oh, young Jacqueline, beautiful young Jacqueline, sick young Jacqueline. Since the age of 5, Ange Jacqueline Beaulieu had been diagnosed with a weak heart, where she gets heart attacks when too much pressure is inflicted on her or sudden shock comes at her. Her parents have sought help from many professionals since they have discovered her sickness.

Her parents were extremely cautious to what they fed her and the activities she participated in. Though they never pressured her on her studies, she still worked hard, ran for presidency in the school committee, and tried her best to live like every other teenager does. She did not have a lot of friends, basically just one. Jacques John Leira, he had always been there for her, always. He would always help her in anything he thought she could not handle, and yet he would also stand by her no matter what happens.

They were always together, which led to the uprising of rumors that they were dating. People would think that they had to look pretty similar to look so well together, but it was the complete opposite. Jacqueline had the complete foreign look with a hint of Asian. Her dad was French after all, but she did not look like her mother at all. She had light brown hair with almond brown eyes, and really fair skin, though it could just be her being pale from her sickness. John, however, had the complete Asian look, jet black hair and brown eyes so dark it almost seemed black. The only thing that did not seem Asian about him was his freakishly long eyelashes. They were both quite attractive, which was also one of the reasons why they suited each other so well.

It was just another spring day, after school, and they were messing about. John was teasing Jacqueline about how she had stopped growing since long ago, and how she needed him for everything. They were running around the field while laughing and jokingly hitting each other, but John obviously would never hit her, not even in a million years. It took quite a toll on Jacqueline physically so she had to have a quick stop. They sat down shoulder-to-shoulder, the wind brushing off of their faces and Jacqueline's long hair.

"Say, John, do you have someone you like?" Jacqueline asked, she was 17, she needed at least someone to talk about these things to.

"What do you mean like?" John was obviously not an emotional teenage male.

Jacqueline stuttered, it was embarrassing for her to talk about something like this to a guy. Especially to the guy she admired.

"Like, as in," she took a minute to think of the right word, love would be an exaggeration," Admire! Ya, do you have some you admire?"

"Of course, I do." He looked up to the sky and smiled at it.

"Who is it? Don't tell me it's me." she joked.

"You wish." He laughed and ruffled her once neat hair.

Usually, she would pretend to be annoyed at him and come up with a wittier comeback, but at the moment, it was not the usual afternoon she spent with John.

"Hey, don't tell me you're mad just because of that." He leaned forward to get a closer look at her blushed face.

She stood and just said that it was about time for her to go home. She kept her head drooped down low and just walked straight with her backpack slung behind her right shoulder.

"Ange! Ange!"

John's words sort of reached her, but barely.

"ANGE!"

His voice rung in her ears as he pulled her into an embrace. Her pupils followed the white truck that just sped past them.

"That was close. You almost got run over." He huffed and puffed, but even in his warm embrace Jacqueline felt cold to his touch, "Ange? Ange!"