Pepito's molten brown chocolate eyes teared up seeing that the window that faced infront his room's balcony had now been barren of life and closed off. No more was there a redhead that strung her locks with a bright yellow ribbon and no more was her twinkling eyes and cherub-like face.
She left before I did. He thought sadly.
Only yesterday did he find out that she was to leave for a university which infuriated him saying that she was being a selfish arrogant little diablo that didn't have the decency to tell him straight and had kept it to him for a long time. Never had he seen her look so utterly broken and fragile. Tears now dribbled down the size of her face in big fat drops, and the once defiant green eyes had lowered matching the crestfallen way her shoulders drooped with the hurtful words he spouted.
He didn't mean to. His temper just got the better of him. He didn't intend for her to be hurt.
As he was to apologize, Madeline had beat him to it and had mirrored his outraged state awhile ago, snapping back in rapid fast french saying that he was the selfish one. She had let him take all his time for his packing and had been understanding whenever he said he had too get things done. She had to hold her sadness in everytime a piece of ornament or furniture was suddenly stripped from their house and had now been shipped towards Spain. She bit her tongue when he answered the question of why they had to leave,repeating the very same answer his father replied when he asked; that he was the ambassador's son, he had priorities.
She simply nodded cause she didn't want to be a burden.
Only then he also realised how much negligence he had imposed to his dearest friend.
And again just as he was about to apologize, Madeline had beat him to it by turning on her heel and stomped back towards the kitchen of the school muttering under her breath about how she shouldn't have trusted a bad hat like him. It didn't offend him though cause one,like him he knew she was only spouting out of anger and that she couldn't stay angry for long cause their friendship had out weighed tons of fight and despite this one being their largest fight yet. Two, bad hat had grown to be more of a nickname than an insult. And three, he knew he deserved it.
So later on that night, he had climbed out of his room and bridged the tree branch towards her windows and knocked which was then opened by her clever little dog Genevieve. 11 beds were now void of occupants and tomorrow it'll be 12 once she left. Her back was faced towards him and the illumination that glowed underneath the blanket and shaped a silhouette was enough proof for him that she was still awake. And sniffling.
Padding towards the smallest bed that fit her small frame she pulled the blanket off of him earning a gasp from her tiny rose bud lips.
"Pepito?!" She exclaimed but only in a hush, afraid to awake Miss Clavel and Helenne who were rooms apart from them.
He flashed her the same boyish grin he donned whenever he caught her by surprise or boasted another prank he got away with.
"What are you doing here? Miss Clavel will strangle you if she finds out you.!" Madeline scolded him turning a wary look at the door and hit him with the flashlight on his side.
But Pepito knew better, her wariness for Miss Clavel wasn't why she wanted him to leave. No. But because she didn't want him to see her cry and whine and be a hindrance for his departure.
"I'm sorry." He said looking into her eyes and gently grasping her hand under the sheets.
To the other girls-like Vicky for example- they would see this as a gesture of love adpated from a romantic film. But no, it couldn't be, Madeline thought.
It was nowhere near that to Madeline. It was something more but she couldn't explain and she held his hand back tight a silent message telling him not to leave. For her dear friend to never leave. Yes a friend. Just a friendly gesture.
Pepito felt a shudder at the small of his back and for some reason he felt like the light were inflicting tricks on his sight. Her coppery blonde hair was a bit past her shoulders. Without the ribbon pinning the side of it she looked mature and a beautiful classy French girl. Her pale skin glowed in the dim light and there was a rosiness to her cheeks.
He halted his gaze from trailing down but since he had grown a few feet taller than her he wasn't able to do so. Her chubby frame was gone now replaced into a feminine one, delicate collar bones, dainty arms and shapely bosoms. He saw Madeline at an entirely different light and it made something prickle inside his chest.
"You're my dearest friend Signor." She whispered only for him to hear. Like a sacred secret that only they knew.
"And you are mine Madamoiselle." He whispered back now taking her into his arms and rubbed circles on her back as she did little sniffles again.
When dawn came he had to leave a sleeping Madeline and decided to finally rest. Drowsiness had made his promise slip from his mind. A promise that he should see her goodbye.
But alas, he had slept till noon and awoke in a jolt and dreamt of a Madeline planting a soft feathery kiss on his forehead. But it wasn't in disgust that he woke in a jolt but out of reminder that today was her leave.
Which now brings us back to a heartbroken Pepito solemnly staring at the windows of the small school covered in vines. Who had twelve little girls who walked in straight lines and the littlest who was called Madeline.
The one that never left his mind.
