strawberries and smoke~

~chapter 1~

If you're 16 and live in Rome's most beautiful neighborhood, you're lucky. That's what Fiorella considered herself to be. Not everyone gets to live in Italy and wake up to the morning view she does. She likes her room. Countless pairs of shoes strewn everywhere, pictures with all the faces she knows tacked to her wall, posters of her favorite bands, her cherry red bedsheets. She likes waking up and throwing her hair in a messy ponytail for track practice. She likes school, besides math, but it was mostly the seeing her friends' part she liked. She likes eating breakfast with her parents in the morning and gossiping about what they've read in the new week's articles, and drama Fiorella heard about at school. Some say she has eyes and ears everywhere, which isn't totally wrong. Her best friends just have the loudest mouths on planet Earth.

Fiorella had been inseparable with Brando and Niccolo since the very early age of 10. The two boys had met even before she joined their circle, and all the teachers jokingly referred to them as Dumb and Dumber due to their constant pranks and antics. Naturally, it made sense that one day during gym class, while playing dodgeball, Brando got a little overzealous and competitive. He threw the ball with so much force that it hit Fiorella square in the middle of her face, sending her straight to the nurse with a bloody nose. As she sat in the office, holding an ice pack to her face, two sets of sneakers walked into the room.

"Go on," Niccolo nudged the curly-haired boy forward, snickering under his breath. Brando gave her some half-assed apology that she could tell he practiced on the way there. He was also trying and failing to suppress a laugh, and under any other circumstance, Fiorella would've been annoyed. But despite the pain in the center of her face, she couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation, which just solidified their creeping bond even further.

~~

A random rap song Fiorella doesn't know drifts from her bedsheets. She immediately knows the ringtone, causing her to pause in the middle of getting ready and head over to her bed to search for her phone. Her worst habit has always been losing it at important times, but this time she quickly finds it nestled between the pillows. Not that this is an important time seeing as it's just Niccolo, but she knows if she doesn't answer the first ring, he'll continue to call until her head implodes.

"What do you want, and how'd you get my number?" She jokingly questions while attempting to keep her phone in her hand, pull her sweatshirt on, and not ruin her makeup. Don't her friends have great timing? 

"Good morning to you too, Rella,"

"You still haven't answered my question, stranger,"

"Can you take this stranger to school?" She can hear the hopeful smile in his voice and can't help but crack one herself, along with an eyeroll. With all the money he has you'd think he'd put it to a car but take one look at that boy's grades and you'll understand why all he buys is cologne, more cigarettes, and new soccer games for them and Brando to play. Brains aren't his forte. 

"Can your little girlfriend Chiara not do it? Since when am I on chauffer duty?" They bicker about Chiara, who he once again tries to deny having any relationship with. He often forgets that she sees everything and has a knack for reading people like a book. She finds herself rolling her eyes again when he tries to use the excuse of being with Brando, an excuse he's used far too many times.

"Plan foiled, Brando called me asking to play Crazy 8's,"

"Of course he did. Doesn't he have some magazines to whack off to?"

"No, but I did send him over some pictures of Ms. Govender. I wonder if he's used those," Fiorella smirked to herself, knowing that the mere mention of Niccolo's mother would get under his skin. But to them it was a joke that got funnier each time, unless you were the victim of it. She loved pushing his buttons, especially when it came to family. She could hear his voice tighten, but he tried to play it cool, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of getting him riled up. Fiorella is one of those types of people that's always one step ahead, so Niccolo knew it was useless.