Chapter 2

"Cough"

"Psst!"

Betty felt something hit her neck but she didn't move an inch. She frowned and concentrated in her assignment. She was determined not to exchange a single word with the new kid in school. She tried to make her resolve clear to him when she refused to return his greeting the moment he came to her and sat by her side. In fact, she made up her mind not to talk to him for the rest of her life.

"Psst! Psst!" Something hit her left arm. "Pistacchio…"

Betty paused for a second, breathed heavily and muttered something inaudible. Then, resumed her writing. Another little ball of scrunched paper fell on top of her notebook.

"Pistacchio!"

Feeling the anger boil in her veins, she turned and cried:

"My name is B—"

She couldn't finish her sentence. She felt something in her throat.

Cough!

"Silence, please" said the teacher without diverting her eyes from the book she was reading.

"Cough!" Betty grabbed the edge of the armchair, barely breathing. "Sorryyy… cough!"

The new boy jumped out of his chair. In less than a second, he was by Betty's side and started patting her on the back.

"Oh, crap! Crap! Crap!" he said hitting as hard as he could. "Oh, man!"

"Giovanni Rossi! Sit down this instant!"

"But…"

"Cough!! Stop!" Betty battled between trying to breath and trying to push the guy away from him. "You— killing me. Cough! Aaawk" Betty finally released the little ball of paper she had stuck in her throat. She could finally breathe freely and gasped as much air as she could. She was all sweaty; her eyes red, filled with tears.

"Are you alright, dear?" the teacher said when she finally came to her aid.

"I'm okay, Miss Rita." She managed to say and quickly took the glass of water she was handling to her.

"Okay, people. Stop staring. Show's over" Miss Rita said to the rest of the six students that were in the detention room. "Come on! Come on! Your assignments!"

Giovanni caressed Betty's hair.

"Are you really okay?"

Betty threw him a sharp stare. She felt the anger invade her nostril, her jaw clenched fiercely and, without even proposing it, two tears fell from her already reddened eyes. Then, she said between the teeth, careful not to be heard by Miss Rita:

"Estupido… you almost kill me!"

Giovanni stared at her cute angry face for a second and then, to Betty's surprise, started laughing right there. A dimple formed in his cheek, that made him look quite cute.

"Giovanni Rossi, please, sit down."

He obeyed, still laughing.

Frustrated, Betty folded her arms in the chair and buried her face in them.

She wasn't sure how long it had passed, maybe a minute or so, when a ball pen hit her on the head.

"What do you want?!" she said and then stopped as she met two brown inquiring eyes looking back at her. They weren't laughing anymore.

"Are you crying?" he said, sincerely.

Betty wasn't sure he was concerned or just mocking at her. She chose to believe it was the latter.

"Of course not" she said, cleaning her face quickly and sitting back straight. She pretended to focus on her assignment and ignored him. It didn't last long. Another object, this time an eraser, landed on top of her notebook. She turned back at him one more time and started:

"Giovanni, plea—"

"G"

She glared at him, trying to understand what he just said.

"What?!"

"G" he repeated, nonchalantly, showing her his leather wristband that had a letter engraved. "The name is 'G'"

She rolled her eyes and decided she wasn't going to waste strength talking with a person that called himself by a letter of the alphabet.

Giovanni stretched an arm and pulled down her ridiculously puffed sleeve.

"What now?" Betty blurted.

"You didn't let me finish…" he said, signaling the eraser in her desk. "That's mine."

She handled him the object, reluctantly. Then, he pointed at her hair. "That too."

Betty realized the ball pen was still tangled in her messy hair. She struggled with it a bit, to the amusement of Giovanni who kept biting his lower lip, clearly containing a laugh.

Then, a loud noise was heard from outside breaking the silence of the room. The sound of a motorcycle.

One of the students, a girl who was sitting near the window facing the parking lot, gave a little cry: "Oh-my-God!"

Giovanni didn't move an inch, while the rest of the kids stood up and bolted towards the window, amidst protest of the teacher.

Betty adjusted her glasses and looked through the window. A biker had just parked in the entrance. Elegant and determined, he descended from his ride and started walking towards the building. He wore tight blue jeans, all clad in black boots and a black leather jacket that wrapped quite nicely around his arms. His hair was long and silky, the kind that waved with the wind, like in the movies. He had steady secured steps, swaying his body in a very manly way as he walked through the sidewalk, unaware he was being watched. Betty found herself secretly praying that, when she grew up, she could have the chance to meet a super-handsome guy like that. She started hearing the church bells and the smile on her fiance shining just for her as he started singing one of her favorite Disney songs…

Still daydreaming, she opened her eyes and noticed that Giovanni was staring at her. She frowned and returned to her place at the window.

"Please… to your seats… or I will… you very well know what I will…" stammered the teacher without even looking to the students. She was clearly entertained in following the stranger until he disappeared from her sight. She kept looking for a little while, still trying to catch a glimpse of those tight jeans.

"Come on, guys" she said after the refreshing vision was gone. "You don't want me to call on Principal Heyward."

Like an imperial order all the students stopped talking at the same time. Miss Rita smiled, surprised at her influence when, she suddenly jumped to the sound of a loud knocking coming from the door.

The beautiful stranger had suddenly materialized in front of her eyes.

A husky voice spoke through a pair of charming, confident lips.

"Rita Geronimo?"

She nodded.

"May I speak with you for a minute?"

She followed him outside the classroom, hypnotized by deep stare of his brown eyes and the scent of his perfume.

Betty returned to her seat, still surprised by the appearance of the handsome biker. After a few minutes he returned, accompanied by the teacher, her face all crimson. They looked at Giovanni who quickly stood up.

"Can I go now?" he said picking his belongings.

"Of course you can" Miss Rita said as she went to her desk and started scribbling a note. "It was nothing but a misunderstanding."

"Could she go too?" Giovanni picked her notebook and backpack without her consent. He grinned back at her, and the dimple showed up again. "I'm the reason she's here, after all. It was my entire fault."

Betty's eyes shot open at this.

"You… you really are the one from the van. You… you…"

The guy at the door threw a quick glance to Miss Rita "I'm pretty sure, your beautiful teacher understands it's also a misunderstanding." He winked at her, who blushed in turn. "I'll make sure to speak with the principal about this young lady, too."

Giovanni held a very reluctant Betty by the hands, making her stand up and follow him all the way to the door until they were in the main ally.

He finally let herself free and returned her belongings.

"You… you did this to me! You… idiot!" she yelled at him in the middle of the empty hall. She was surprised how easily she could insult him when she'd never insulted anybody before in her life until that day.

All he did was laugh and that always made her even angrier.

"I say you're breaking the Rossi record," said the man as he finally joined them and handled Giovanni several notes. Now, at close distance, Betty could notice the man and the young boy were remarkably similar: same features, the same conceited smile on their faces, dimples included. "First day at school and you already got detention and found yourself a girlfriend."

…definitely the same annoying disposition.

Betty protested. "I'm not his girlfriend!"

"Woah!" said the man. "Character! She's a keeper!"

Giovanni just smiled.

"Hey! What's this? You can't wear this in your first day of school?" the older man replaced the boy's ridiculous deli logo cap with a Mets cap. He gave him a bag he'd been carrying. "Your jacket is there. I gave Tino the rest of your bags".

"Man, finally!" said Giovanni. "I was expecting my clothes two days ago. Where've you been?!"

"Well, I had urgent business to attend" he said with a grin on his face. "Which reminds me, task numero uno for you, kiddo: number and address of that smoking teacher you've got, soldier. Roger that?"

"Sure."

"Good" he said and, without saying anything further, turned to the main entrance.

"Hey!" yelled Giovanni. "When are you coming back?"

"Who knows?" without looking back, he raised an arm and waved goodbye to them. "Take care, kiddo… pretty lady."

"Bye" answered Giovanni. Nobody else answered. He looked around and discovered that Betty was striding silently away across the corridor.

"Hey, you. Stop!" he yelled at her. She pretended she wasn't listening.

"Hey!" he followed her, without response.

"Betty Suarez!"

Betty stopped at the mention of her full name and turned to him. "How did you—"

Giovanni Rossi waved a piece of paper.

"It just says it here in the release note."

"Give me that!"

"Don't you need this to enter the classroom?" he said waving the note out of her reach.

"Give it to me" she tried unsuccessfully to snatch it out of him but he switched hands. "Giovanni!"

She was infuriated.

"It's G" he corrected, smiling at her failed attempts to get the note. He played with her some more, until he finally allowed her to snatch the paper from his hands.

A thunder was heard in the distance. Betty jumped.

"Man! It's raining outside" he groaned.

Betty took the note inside her bag and walked away, ignoring him completely.

"Hey wait" said the boy again. "I've been told the junior high school building is across the street".

"So?" she said, growing annoyed by the minute.

"I'll accompany you" he produced a small umbrella from his backpack. "It's the least I can do for you. You know… for the dress."

"What for?"

He blinked.

"Well… what class you're in, then?"

She hit the floor with her shoes.

"I'm a sophomore!"

He opened his eyes and blatantly evaluated her from head to toe.

"Wow! Are you some kind of genius? Man! What are you… like twelve, now?"

Betty's felt her ears explode and she imagined smoke coming out of them.

"I'm sixteen!" she yelled. "You know what? Mind your own business and stop following me, stop throwing things at me just… let me be!"

She stormed out so violently that the sound of her ruined new green shoes echoed all across the hall.

Will definitely be continued…

Notes:

Pistacchio! = (it.) Pistachio

Estupido! = (spa.) stupid, idiot!