"Ciao, bella!" the friendly Italian greeted Teresa in the hall. Lunch had just ended, and she and Matthew had parted ways, only to run smack into Feli. "Oh, Feli!" she smiled, relieved that it hadn't been one of her tormentors.
"Come va?" he asked with a smile. Teresa used her very limited knowledge of Italian to respond. "Uh, set bene?"
"Sto bene," he corrected. "Oh, Teresina, I wanted to tell you! I had pasta for lunch today! Homemade, the cafeteria doesn't make good pasta. And Lovi was eating what I made, so now I'm proud!"
"Lovino was there?" Teresa interrupted suddenly, confused.
"Si!" Feli grinned, eyes closed as usual. Why are his eyes never open…? And why didn't I see Lovino this morning? What the hell is wrong with today?! "Oh, okay," Teresa laughed nervously out loud. "Just wondering."
The bell rang its usual annoying tune. "Uh, have to go, Feli."
"Ciao!" the boy exclaimed, waving.
"Ciao..!"
Teresa sped down the hallway and to her locker, her mind unattached to her body. Oh god, I did something wrong! And now he wants to confront me by himself…? What did I do what did I do whatdidIdowhatdidIdo….
Little scraps of paper fluttered out of the metal compartment, but she let them float down to the floor. She already knew the contents. A couple weeks back, however, she would've opened them only to see the mean comments written in graphite. I'm not even going to think about what they said….but I'm glad they haven't found out about my mom. That would mean a ton of trouble…
These days go by so slowly…
Teresa was a little hesitant to visit the rink that day, remembering how Feli and Lovino were there yesterday. Maybe more students from World Academy go there than I thought….But what am I thinking?! I can't give up the rink! No sir, I'm going to keep going as long as I can! Onwards! After her short self motivation speech, she half marched out of the school building and on the same path her feet had walked since ninth grade, to the same building she'd loved as a kid.
Right as she placed a hand on the steel handle of the door, she reminded herself that there were going to be volunteers letting her in instead of Otis. I just hope it's no one I know. The door swung open easily when she pulled it.
It was a little more crowded than usual, but Teresa wasn't too worried. Things like birthday parties or playdates happened occasionally at the rink, and more little kids would be clomping around in their skates than usual. The only thing that shot her stress up was seeing two Asian teens behind the counter where she usually met Otis. One had long hair knotted into a ponytail, and was scanning the racks of skates for a little boy. The other was glancing back and forth from a thick comic to a computer, short hair swinging by his ears.
"Uhh…" Teresa tried to say. The teen with the shorter hair and brown eyes looked up from his comic, which he had just flipped a page of the wrong way. "Um, herro," he said with an accent. "You're here for the free skate?" Teresa nodded cautiously. "That's 10 dorrars, and do you need skates?" he told her.
"Oh, um, no," she said. "I'm Teresa...did Otis tell you about me?" The boy threw a glance at a sticky note on the screen of the computer. "Teresa? Hai, Otis did terr me about you. I'm Kiku," he introduced himself. "One second." He turned to the other teen and said something in a different language. The taller one hefted a small pair of skates in the air along with a bigger pair. As he turned, Teresa held in a 'What?'
I know him! He's Yao, from one of my classes, I don't even know which, but I know he has it with me! And he's never been the nicest, but he's not a bully….I think….
"Here you go," Yao stated, dropping her skates on the counter and handing the little blond haired child his. "Thank you!" he smiled with a small accent, adjusting his blue and white hat while running off. The Chinese turned to Teresa. "And yours-" he started to say, his gold eyes meeting the girl's royal violet ones. "You?" he asked. "Why are you here?"
"I'm here to skate, just like everyone else," Teresa replied briskly, taking her skates. She turned and walked towards a bench, overhearing Yao comment, "她在我班上，她是个好学生。"
"这是你唯一关心的吗？" Kiku asked him. (A/N: Probably should look this up. Google Translate is forever.)
Teresa sat down and set her skates on the floor, nicking her ring finger on the blade as she reached for the laces. "Ow," she winced out loud, shaking her hand. A red line about a half inch long ran across her skin. That's deep.
Wait.
I cut myself on the blade.
That's never happened before.
What's wrong with me today?
"Hola, bella!" A cheerful voice called out to Teresa, snapping her out of her thoughts. The Italian ran up to the girl. "I had a feeling you'd be here again, so I wanted to come! Lovino wasn't the happiest- Mio dio, Teresina, you're cut! Are you okay do you need a band-aid are you bleeding do youneedtogotothehospitalwhat'stheemergencynumberagain-"
"Feli," Teresa interrupted. "I'm fine. But thank you." She wiped her finger on the side of her pants and started to lace up. "And did you come just for me? That's sweet."
"It's no problem for a bella ragazza like you!" Feli smiled. His eyes are still closed….
"Wait a second, Lovino's here too?" Teresa asked, realizing that she was probably in trouble. Feli nodded. "Si, he's over there! And he's having trouble tying his skates, and I couldn't do it too, and you're the only person here I know! So can you help us? Pleeeeeeeeeease?"
Teresa could feel her entire face going up in flames. "Wait, what?" she dumbly asked. "You want me to do what?"
"Tie our skates for us!" Feli stated simply. "It's been a while since we were here, and we've forgot!"
"Uhhhhhhhhm," she said. "I…...FINE, fine, I will! Stop making that face though!" Feli grinned. "YAY! Thank you, Teresina!" He grabbed Teresa's hand and pulled her to another bench where Lovino sat. The differences between the two siblings were highlighted when they were next to each other.
"Cosa sta facendo qui?" Lovino snapped at Feli in Italian.
"Fratello, she can help with our skates!" Feli responded.
"What?! This idiota?! I don't- what-" he started to splutter.
"You can watch her do mine first, if you want, ve~!" With that, Feli sat on the black bench facing Teresa. I guess I have no choice...she thought hesitantly as she bent down. In a minute, both the Italian's skates were done up tightly. "See, fratello?" Feli said happily.
Lovino responded with nothing but grumbles as Teresa moved on to his skates. The same feet that bruised me, she realized as a sore spot on her leg ached. His skates were done quicker than Feli's.
"Grazie, Teresina!" the light haired Italian thanked the girl.
"Uhm, no problem," she stated. Feli stood up quickly, almost falling over. "Bella, do you want to skate with us?" he offered. It was Teresa's turn to trip. This guy…..
Well, we're gonna be in the same rink anyways, so….
"Yeah, sure!" Teresa plastered a grin on her face. "I'd love to!"
"Yay!" Feli dashed to the double doors of the rink, tripping again and again. Lovino stood up briskly, causing the dark haired girl to take a step back. "This never happened," he muttered under his breath to her. Teresa nodded, holding back a snort at the boy's embarrassment.
When they entered the rink, they found Feli lying on his back in the ice. "Help, fratello! I've fallen and can't get up!" Teresa watched as Lovino struggled to balance on his thin skates while helping his brother up. Finally, the two were standing. Teresa stepped onto the ice and breathed in the cold air. This day has been a weird one...But I'm finally at the rink-
"AGH!" she yelled out loud, interrupting her own thoughts as Feli tripped once again and sent both of them sprawling. The girl could get up quickly, but the Italian needed Lovino's help again. "You said it's been a while…" Teresa commented hesitantly. "Do you remember how to skate?"
"I don't think so," Feli admitted, wiping the ice from his pants. "But I want to see you skate! You look like you're really good, you got up so fast!"
"Sure," Teresa shrugged, already stroking away from the pair. Just to show off, she leaned on the backs of her skates and turned 180 degrees swiftly, now skating backwards. She could see Feli clapping from the entrance of the rink. Pushing with her heel, the girl swiveled back, just in time for the curve of the rink. Doing crossovers the rest of the way, she was back at where the Italians were standing.
"Wow! Bella, you're so good!" Feli exclaimed, still clapping his gloved hands together. "Right, Lovi?" Only muttered grumbles were the answer. "Will you teach us?"
….
This kid never runs out of things to ask me for.
….
"Of course!"
The next hour was spent teaching one over-enthusiastic and one under-enthusiastic Italian to skate. At the end of the lesson, they could take a couple steps and glide without the wall. Well, Feli could. Lovino had refused to learn from the girl. "I'm not learning how to skate from an idiota!" he had stated.
"I'm skating!" Feli grinned as he glided a couple inches. Teresa held back a laugh. "Indeed, you are," was all she said.
Right after the brothers exited the rink, Teresa let out a sigh. Reteaching them to skate had nearly made her forget the red gash on her finger and all the strange things that happened that day. I ate lunch with someone today. Lovino wasn't with the group today. I tied two Italians' skates and taught them how to take steps on ice. I cut myself on the blade. Yao was at the counter instead of Otis.
Was all that necessarily bad? She had fun skating with Feli, if not both the brothers. She had met Kiku at the counter too, who seemed to be friendly.
You know what? Today was a somewhat decent day.
Hello, dear readers, your attention please. I'd like you to know - this chapter was almost not published. Last week, I really didn't have much motivation to write, so I just sorta did it all yesterday. Your support (and the knowledge that pitchforks and torches would be taken out) has really pushed me to finish it. Please know that it's appreciated and it's the only thing keeping me going with this story!
Another thing - the hellhole prison we call school starts next week. I wish you all luck for dealing with it and the challenges ahead, hopefully unlike Teresa's ._.'. I will publish the next chapter on Sunday, and updates will be fortnightly instead of weekly. *sigh* I hope you guys are okay with that - school keeps me pretty busy.
Thanks for bearing through that, and sayonara!