Amore Inaspettato

Capitolo 37

"Have you seen this video Chiara posted?" Nicco asked walking into her bedroom.

"No," Ginevra said, "I've been doing homework all night. What is it?"

"You're gonna want to watch it," Nicco said handing her his phone.

"We all have secrets. Even you, who's judging everyone. Here's mine," Chiara said, "For a year and a half I've lived two lives. Ludovica wasn't alone in what she did. She took all of the blame and that's not fair." Ginevra watched as comment after comment popped up on the video saying the cruelest things to her friend. "I was the one who convinced her to keep doing it. Ludo, please come back. Now everyone knows it wasn't you. Because I'm Emma. It's always been me."

Ginevra put Nicco's phone down as she looked up at the boy. She couldn't believe that Chiara was Emma. Her friend, she'd been hiding a whole different life from everyone. Of course she didn't judge her for what she'd done. Ginevra felt horrible for not being there for her through all of this. Chiara must have been feeling horrible and scared through everything that had been going on.

She quickly reached for her phone dialing Chiara's number. After two rings the girl picked up. "Ginevra," Chiara said from the other line.

"Chiara," Ginevra breathed, "Are you all right?"

"I'm great actually," Chiara said, "It was nice to finally be able to get that off my chest."

"You know you could have come to me," Ginevra said, "I wouldn't have judged you."

"I know you wouldn't have," Chiara said, "But I could have come to you. I couldn't go to anyone."

"Why now?" Ginevra asked, "Why now come out and tell everyone?"

"Some people already knew," Chiara said, "Plus I was tired of letting Ludo take all of the blame. Hopefully now she can come back and quit hiding."

"How are your parents taking it," Ginevra asked.

"Not very well," Chiara said, "Better now but still not well."

"Things are going to get bad aren't they?" Ginevra asked.

"Probably," Chiara admitted, "These next few months are going to be hard."

"I'm going to be here for you," Ginevra said, "Anything you need just ask."

"It will probably actually be better if you keep your distance," Chiara said.

"I'm not gonna do that," Ginevra said.

"I don't want you to get wrapped up in all of this," Chiara said.

"I'm not going to abandon you right now," Ginevra said, "I know we haven't been very close lately but I'm not going to do that. I won't let you push me away. Trust me, I know that's never the right thing to do." Ginevra looked up meeting Nicco's eyes as she sent him a small smile.

"All right," Chiara said, "But if your name even gets mentioned in the media you have to promise you'll take a step back."

"Okay," Ginevra said.

"I might not be at school for a little while. I'm not sure," Chiara said.

"Just make sure you text me," Ginevra said.

"I will," Chiara said, "I'm probably gonna shut my phone off for the night. It's blowing up."

"I'll talk to you later then?" Ginevra asked.

"Yeah," Chiara said, "Thank you...for being here."

"Of course," Ginevra said, "You need friends now more than ever. I love you, Chiara."

"I love you too," Chiara said before hanging up the phone.

"Is she all right?" Nicco asked.

"Yeah. She knows that the next few months are going to be hard," Ginevra said, "But she's glad to finally have it out there."

"I couldn't believe it when I saw the video," Nicco said, "I thought the video was a joke at first."

"She's going to need me the next few months," Ginevra said looking at Nicco, "A lot of people are probably going to turn on her."

"We'll be there for her," Nicco assured.

"We?" Ginevra asked.

"Yeah. I'd say we're kind of a packaged deal now," Nicco said.

"Oh, we are our we?" Ginevra asked, "I didn't realize we were dating."

"Well we're not," Nicco said, "Not officially anyway."

"Then how exactly are we a packaged deal?" Ginevra asked.

"Because we will be dating," Nicco said, "Soon."

"Oh yeah?" Ginevra asked.

"Yeah," Nicco confirmed, "I'm just waiting for the right moment."

- - - -

"If she gives me a quiz today I'm telling you I'm gonna fail," Vitto said.

"Me too," Carlo agreed.

"Well now that you said something you jinxed it," Nicco said.

"Now you're definitely going to get a quiz," Ginevra said.

"Ah, it's The Revenant!" Vitto called out. Ginevra looked over to see Brando getting out of his car. "Get your ass over here!"

"Hey!" Carlo called. Brando looked at the boys but didn't walk toward them.

"Look at that he's ignoring us," Vitto said.

"He's too good for us, man," Carlo commented.

"Why's he gotta be like that?" Vitto asked.

"Maybe he just wants to be by himself," Nicco said.

"Yeah I mean you guys are kind of jerks to him sometimes," Ginevra said.

"Oh we are not," Carlo said.

"We kind of are," Nicco agreed. Ginevra watched as Fabio walked toward Brando.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Vitto asked. They all turned to look at the two boys. A smile came to Ginevra's face as Brando leaned in kissing Fabio. Nicco laced his hand in hers as he walked off toward the school.

"I'm happy for them," Nicco said as they walked.

"Yeah?" Ginevra asked making Nicco nod his head, "I'm happy for them too."

Last chapter posted tomorrow. Thank you guys again for all the support 🥹🥹
~A