Chapter 1:

Prize

The house bell ringed. It must be Denise. I quickly looked at myself in the mirror to make sure I looked okay. My naturally curly golden brown stopped at my shoulders. My pale grey eyes were examining my makeup. My skin was lightly tan because of the recent summer that just passed. I then opened the door. She's my best friend. She has dark brown-almost black hair and hazel eyes with olive skin. She's pretty.

"Are you ready Ari?" she asked.

My real name is Ariana but my close friends and my foster family call me Ari.

"Yeah" I said smiling and then we departed in the taxi.

Today we were going to a place where we play Bingo, and every month there is a day when you go there you can win big prizes or win trips to other countries. Denise insisted that we should go and I happily accepted. I do not like my foster family. I like to spend as much time possible away from my foster home. I am an orphan, and grew up in an orphanage for 12 years. And then this rich foster family adopted me. It's been 4 years and I'm now 16. I met my best friend Denise, in primary school, in 2nd grade. We are best friends since then. We have very different personalities. She is an extrovert and I'm an introvert. I think because of my childhood, I am a very quiet person and have a lot of patience but Denise is the only person I can open up with the most. We are like sisters and despite our different personalities we get along very well. The taxi arrived and we paid the driver. We then went inside. We bought two tickets for us and started playing the game.

I cannot believe this. There's just one more number left for Denise to win. We couldn't contain our excitement. Finally the announcer said the last number and she won! Denise immediately got up and said

"Bingo!" Everyone looked toward her and the guy came and checked her sheet.

"Congratulations Ms. Denise Foss, you have won!" and everyone clapped for her including me.

I was so happy for her and I hugged her. The guy then brought a booklet with two tickets attached to it.

"You have won a free 1-month trip for you, and for anyone else who you would like to go with, to a special city in Italy, called Volterra, to celebrate their special festival called St-Marcus day! Congratulations again!" He handed it to her and she was so happy and I could see shock on her face.

"Thank you so much" she said.

When we got in the cab we couldn't contain our excitement. I didn't expect to win but I'm happy enough that she won.

"Omg I can't believe this I'm so happy omg" she kept on going on and on.

"I'm so happy for you Denise! Btw who are you going to take with you for the trip?" I asked.

I don't think there's much chance she was going to choose me. She can take a family member with her or something but deep down I really wanted it to be me. "Good question" she said. She was thinking. I couldn't help but look at her expectantly. I really wished to go too. She then looked at me.

"With you!" she said. I was so happy I hugged her for the second time.

"Omg Denise thank you so much I love you! (as a friend)" She hugged me back.

"It would be so exciting to travel somewhere only us two, without any adults finally!" She said.

"Yeah" I agreed. "I will be flying on the plane for the first time and getting away from the boring family"

I grinned. I couldn't contain my excitement.

The taxi stopped in front of my house. I hugged Denise for the last time and got out of the cab.

"Hey Ariana!" she called. I looked back. "Keep this ticket with you" She handed me the second ticket.

"Okay" I said.

"Keep it safe". She said.

We said bye and I got in my house. The first thing I had to do was to ask my foster father if he'll let me go. I really hope he will. Usually they don't care about where I go or what I do but this is a serious matter. I hope they don't refuse. My foster father was doing some of his business work. He looked in a happy mood. This was the right time to ask. I went to him.

"Hey daddy!" I said smiling. How was your day?"

He looked at me. "Hey Ariana. I'm very good thanks. You look quite happy today." He said.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked.

"Yeah sure" he said.

He looked curious about by unusual behaviour. But I can't blame him I don't smile often.

"Me and my friend Denise, we won a prize in Bingo and we got a free trip to Italy. It's just for one month."

He looked shocked. "Wow, I need more information about this. You're just 16 I can't send you alone with another teenager. You have to be supervised by an adult there" He said.

My hopes died. But I decided to give another try. I decided to lie.

"Denise's mom is coming with us too. She's 40. She knows me very well. Denise and I are best friends since primary school!" I said.

He was thinking about it. "Alright then. I would like to talk to her mom to make sure about this." He said.

"Okay dad, is it okay if you talk to her on the phone tomorrow?"

I tried to say confidently but from inside I was really nervous. What am I going to do about this now?

"That's perfect." he said, continuing doing his work.

I went upstairs to my bed. I had to call Denise now to tell her about this problem.