A.N: Hey guys! (I just realized that I haven't written my A.N. when I first published this fanfiction) I'm trying a new thing with this story...I'd like to write a more serious one. Don't worry, it won't be a drama ;)
Tell me if you like it, and if I should continue it!
Thanks to my wonderful beta, who is nice and of great help as always! So, enjoy it! And please, review!
...
What would be one of the most haunting nightmares for a thirty year old who hated school with all her heart?
According to the brunette, who was nervously pacing back and forth in front of a big glass door that lead to into a modern building, that said nightmare rather was: coming back to school.
Ysabeau Dennis -Bo for the friends, relatives and every stranger she had ever met- didn't have nice memories of her high school years. Some spoiled brat in her class had spread the word that she had been involved in a sexual relationship with her teacher, and for five years she had been known as the 'Bitch who liked to dress like a whore and got on her knees to get good grades.'
But the truth was, that Bo had found a truly inspiring person in her teacher, but nothing more. That man had taught her that culture could give her a future. A real one.
Not the one that had been laying ahead of her if she had remained in that house, where her mother had been too busy getting drunk to realize that she had a daughter to love and take care of.
But those rumors that had persecuted her over the school years had slowly made her usually good grades go inexorably down, such as the love for school.
As time went by, Bo had found a job in a company that dealt with the development of new technologies.
It seemed like a great, interesting and well paid job, when Bo had read the job posting, but in reality Bo just became one of the dozens of underpaid careerist of a big multinational company.
Sometimes her job was funny. Especially when she had to travel around the States to meet new associates. But most of the time she just spent her time behind a stupid desk, crushed by the weight of tons of papers. And, oh boy, that was incredibly boring.
A week earlier Bo had glimpsed on a way out from that paper hell in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: her boss was looking for someone to travel to Italy and meet new potential founders.
If that founders could be convinced of them to build a new agency in Rome, it would mean just one thing: a new life. A new life in one of the most beautiful countries Bo could have ever been dreaming of living in. This and being an important manager with lots of money.
Not that Bo was a material woman, but she needed that money right now. The medical care for her mother were too expensive, and her house had soon become a den for unpaid bills.
The problem was: Bo knew nothing about Italy and Italians, and even though her boss was a good man, he had already expressed his will to send someone who could easily acclimate to a whole different environment.
Bo was already prepared to give up and watch her hated and 'Oh, look at me I'm so talented' colleague Nadia to take her place in this, but that damn special man who was her boss decided to give her an opportunity.
Since everybody needed to be trained for the meeting, he decided to include Bo, and write her, on the list of candidates, provided she could demonstrate a proper language preparation.
That meant: going back to school to learn some damn Italian.
That's why she decided to attend an evening course of Italian language and culture.
And that's why she was standing in front of the door, uncertain whether to go inside or not.
The brunette could see several people going back and forth in the halls through the large glass walls which constituted the entire building .
Adults usually attended the evening courses, because most of them worked during the day, while the afternoon courses were highly frequented by a lot of students and sometimes even children.
Bo sighed and made a move to enter when her phone rang. When she saw the name displayed on the screen, it made her heart calm down a little bit.
"Kenz."
"Hola BoBo, where are you? Hale is out for work tonight, I thought that we could hang out and drown in alcohol a little bit. My liver is way too clean tonight."
Bo smiled. "I can't, Kenz. I'm about to start my Italian class in five minutes or so."
Silence filled the air for a moment, followed by an exaggerated laugh of Bo's best friend.
"Oh good Mother of muffins, you were actually serious about it!"
"Of course I was!" Bo snorted, kicking a small stone.
"How do you feel BoBo?"
Bo looked at her bag. On the inside, just a pen and a notebook with a sleeping sheep on the cover staring back at her. Nothing more. How depressing.
"Let's see...I feel the need to vomit, I hate this place and the secretary in the main hall is looking at me like I'm an inmate that must serve social services. I'm definitely back at school."
On the other side of the line, she could hear Kenzi giggling. She was already drunk.
"Boba Fett, I'm sure it will be just fine. This is your big occasion, so go get your mustaches degree."
"Thanks, Kenz. Be safe."
"BoBo?"
Bo smiled while she readjusted the almost empty bag on her shoulder. "Yes, Kenzi?"
"Can I call you Mario?"
The brunette answered to her best friend in a not-so-cute manner and entered the building. She greeted the old secretary and made her way in the hallways, noticing with relief that no one seemed to care much about her.
'How silly', she thought.
She was an adult, surrounded by adults. She wasn't in high school anymore. And those stupid stereotypes about the cool football team captain, the brat who lead the cheerleaders team and the shy nerd always first in class, could not have been more stupid and false.
She took a long breathe before stepping into the classroom marked with an Italian flag. At least she could recognize the damn flag, she thought. How hard could this be?
…
The classroom was small. Bo could count fourteen people and, judging by the fact that almost all school desks were occupied, she was probably standing in front of all her new companions.
Bo was right, it wasn't like high school. Maybe worse. There were a few old people -why on earth would a granny want to learn another language at that age?-, but the rest of the participant seemed to have Bos' age.
Before she could make her way to the back of the class, a heavy hand waved from a corner. A tall, muscular and blond guy was winking at her, motioning to sit next to him. He had a cocky grin that Bo would have slapped away with pleasure. But she opted for a polite smile as she shook her head and moved towards her original goal: an empty desk far enough from anyone who had the look of someone who loved to talk.
The guy snorted and kept staring at her with a grin. That must be him, Bo thought. The dumb-captain-of-the-football-team guy.
Some preconceptions were true, after all.
The man mouthed her something, maybe he was asking for her number?
Bo raised her middle finger before turning on the other side. She heard a woman's laugh and then the guy murmured something like, "Bitch." before shifting his weight and facing the blackboard.
The quiet murmuring that had kept the students busy in the last minutes ceased when a tall and beautiful woman entered the classroom with a bright smile.
Her face was characteristic of the Mediterranean people, with big deep brown eyes and long curly hair. She was fascinating. The woman put the bag on the chair before sitting down on the desk, legs crossed, looking at those who were present with an expectant smile.
"Good evening everyone, I'm Ms. Tamara Foschi and I will be your Italian teacher for the next ten months." she introduced herself with a slightly Italian accent.
Bo looked around. Several people were smiling and some of the men -including a creepy ninety-year-old and the rude guy from earlier- seemed to be more interested in the teacher's legs than in her words.
Some college students -probably there in order to gain more credits- were texting with their phones, not very worried to hide them.
The only person who really seemed to care about the lesson was a blonde woman, who had already took out her immaculate copybook and started writing.
What the hell was there to write just yet? Her teacher's name?
Bo squeezed her eyes lightly at the sight of the blonde's hand, writing fast on the paper.
Was she using colorful bookmarks? And...how many different pens did she have?
What a dork.
"Found the nerd..." Bo murmured amused before returning her attention to the teacher, who was now finishing to write her full name with chalk on the blackboard.
She turned around still smiling and ignored the cocky grin on the man's face, just a few desks away from her.
"In the first part of the course you will learn the basics of the Italian language and culture. I will split our weekly lessons into three different types: grammar, vocabulary, and mass culture, so I recommend to be present at all lessons. At the end of these first five months you will have to pass a preliminary test. Some of you will succeed, some of you won't. If you pass the first test, you will access the advanced stage of the course, more complicated and specific. After the final test you will receive a degree. Is that all clear?"
Several people nodded, including Bo who was scared as hell. Two tests? That was insane. She knew that she had time and that the school she had chosen was a good one, but she didn't expect such a big thing.
Bo looked around once again. The blonde -whose face she couldn't look at- was writing as if she was possessed by that God damn ink pen holding in her hand tightly.
'Geez, relax woman!' the brunette thought.
Ms. Foschi slowly started walking around the desks.
"Now, for our first lesson I want to get to know you a little bit." she said with a reassuring smile.
"Oh crap...here we go." Bo moaned in pain.
She hated this part. The part when you had to stand up and talk about your shit.
'We are adults!' she thought, 'What could there ever be to tell about ourselves? We are boring!'
"I want you to introduce yourselves one at a time. Tell the class who you are, why you are here and, if you want, tell something in Italian!"
Some people looked insecure, but the woman was fast to reassure her students. She raised her hands and laughed lightly.
"This is not a test, I just want to see at what level your language skills are. Who wants to start?"
Of course, nobody raised a hand. Oh, wait, somebody did. A skinny, gnarled and trembling hand raised slowly. It belonged to the old man who was enjoying the teacher's legs just five minutes ago.
The teacher nodded happily and waited for him to stand up.
"Is he having a stroke?" the rude man of before grinned, not caring of being heard.
The old man smiled politely and turned to the class. "Hello, my name is Amos H. Wells and I'm here because I want to do something new and I want to surprise my wife Celia..."
The students clapped their hands, amused by the old man's vigor.
Suddenly Bo heard a snort coming from the school desk nearby.
"You want to surprise her? Take some blue pills and you will see how she'll be surprised..."
Bo tried with all her might to stay serious and to give the person who made the joke an indignant look, but she couldn't contain the laugh that escaped from her mouth a moment later.
'You are a horrible person, Bo Dennis.'
She turned and saw a pretty girl with glacial eyes and platinum hair looking at her. Taking advantage of the fact that all the attention of the class was laid upon the old man, Bo gave her a shy smile.
"Sorry."
The blonde moved her desk a little more near Bo's.
"Don't be. I'm glad that there's still someone who appreciates humor."
She stretched her hand. "Tamsin."
"Bo."
"Why are you here?" she asked, but was interrupted by the teacher, who called for her attention by clearing her throat.
"Tasmin, I see that you haven't lost your attitude, even though being here in your second year."
The blonde stretched her arms and smiled.
"No...some attitudes are hard to surmount..." she said as she looked at her teacher with...desire? Bo couldn't read her eyes.
"Relax, Teacher, I was only asking my friend why she's here."
And now the all of the attention of the class was upon Bo.
'Nice move, Tamsin, thanks.'
Ms Foschi turned to Bo, and the brunette had the confirmation that teachers could really smell their students' fear. But the woman wasn't evil at all, that for was sure. Her eyes softened as they met Bo's.
"Would you like to introduce yourself to the class?"
The brunette smiled and stood up, very slowly. For the first time she caught a glimpse of the blonde in the front row, who had turned in her direction and for the first time that blonde wasn't bent over her copybook.
A pair of hazel orbs were staring at her with curiosity. Her facial features were well defined. Two thin and pink lips, bitten by perfect teeth in a slightly nervous reflex.
Although her hair was a little bit messy, it was beautiful nonetheless. And soft.
Bo swallowed hard before returning her attention to the teacher.
"Well, my name is Bo. I'm here because of my job. I need to learn some Italian. And I'm sorry but currently my Italian language skills are...well, I don't even have a level of knowledge of this language, or Italy in general."
Ms Foschi smiled and motioned her to sit down again.
"It's okay, Bo. We are here to learn. And we will start from the same level."
Bo smiled and sighed contently. That was easy after all.