Chapter 22
"Stop it" I laughed
"Come on" John pulled me
As you can guess. Yes. He took me to town. It was a beautiful night on the streets.
The warm fresh air of Rome was filled with conversations of people in the streets, whispers of lovers sitting on benches and the clink of expensive wine glasses in the fancy restaurants.
John narrated some interesting facts about Rome as we walked down. We bought ice cream earlier on. I feasted on a very sweet vanilla flavour as I took in the beautiful scenery in front of me.
"Do you know that women in ancient Rome dyed their hair with goat fat and bench wood ashes? The most popular colours were red and blonde"
He briefly glanced at my hair and looked away. I gasped in horror
"I'm a natural blonde" I defended
He grinned widely
"Just making sure"
I rolled my eyes
"Yeah, right"
"Do you know that modern Rome has over 900 churches?"
"Over 900? That's massive"
"Tell me about it"
I noticed the dress code in Rome is basically T shirts, jeans and sandals. It's not a wonder why people were looking at me some type of way.
I was wearing an off shoulder crop top paired with a matching mini fitted skirt and black heeled boots. My hair was let down and flowing. I had no make up on apart from mascara and very bright red lipstick. Yup, it was quite obvious to the citizens of Rome that I'm a foreigner
"Are you okay?" He asked me
"Yeah"
"All liars go to hell. Spill it"
I sighed
"It's just... I feel like I don't belong here in this school"
"Does that feeling have to do with your confrontation with Cindy today?"
"You heard about that?"
"I think everyone did"
"Great" I murmured "it's not just that...its just...I miss home"
I miss Rainer. He was my home.
I'm starting to regret the way I lived my life. I only did those bad things to get attention from my parents now look where it got me, in a city thousands of miles away from home. In a school where I'm a stranger who doesn't fit in, not only by being a new student but by character.
These kids were well behaved and had good morals while I was a girl who slept around and did all sorts of bad things. I have ruined my reputation now I have to pay for it.
If I behaved myself I'd still be at home in bed face timing Jenna Ortega or eating shrimp on a private beach in Atlanta.
"You'll be fine" he assured me
"I hope so"
We walked in silence for a while. Things were getting a bit awkward so I decided to start up a conversation. After all I asked him to come here, I might as well make it interesting and worth his time.
"Where are you from?" I asked
"I'm from England"
I almost choked on my ice cream in shock...if that's possible.
"You're British?"
"Yes" he smiled "Unbelievable, isn't it?"
"Yes. You don't even have an accent"
He laughed
"Oh, how stereotypical of you to think that all English people have accents"
"Oh wow"
The farther we got, the busier Rome gets. He showed me around, naming the best restaurants and even cinemas.
He talked about his late mom. How she used to sing rock and roll while making breakfast and how he hated when she made meatloaf. He talked about how beautiful and smart she was. He told me she was Nigerian. I was even more shocked to find out he was biracial. I watched in awe at the excitement when he talked about her. His eyes always lit up when he remembered a moment with her.
He would smile, make faces and gestures to complement his words. I noticed he didn't talk about his dad but I didn't say anything about it. Maybe it skipped his mind or maybe he's not too close to his father.
We approached a bridge and leaned forward on the rail to watch the stars. They twinkled beautifully in the night sky.
"Ruby look!" John exclaimed pointing to the sky
I held the rail of the bridge and leaned a little bit more to get a closer look of what he was trying to say.
I almost screamed in excitement when I saw what he was talking about....it was a shooting star
"Quick, make a wish" he said
"I wish..."
"Shh..."
He put his index finger against my lips to stop me from talking. I looked at his lips then back at him. I had the sudden urge to suck on his finger.
He looked at my lips then straight into my eyes. To a passer by, this would look like a scene straight out of a Hollywood movie. We looked like a couple caught in the moment. Nobody would even guess I was his student and he was about to become a priest.
He dropped his finger and cleared his throat.
"Uh.. I meant if you say it out loud, it won't come true"
"Oh"
"Close your eyes" he whispered
I closed my eyes. There are so many things I could wish for.
--I wish I was back home with my friends
--I wish my parents would give me more love and attention
--I wish my life would change for the better
What if my greatest wish and desire was something --or someone. Someone that I can't have. What if my wish was to have this amazing man beside me.
Instead of wishing for anything in particular, I wished for the most reasonable thing I could think of
I wish for everything to fall into place at the right time.
I opened my eyes and sighed in happiness as the shooting star passed us by.
John smiled
"Done?" He asked me
I smiled back at him
"Done"