Mistakes were made ~ WLW enemies to lovers 1 READ DESC

Chapter 3. La Battaglia di Italian Class

It was barely ten minutes into Italian class, and the tension between Kiara and Piper was already threatening to explode. They were supposed to be working on a dialogue exercise, but from the moment they were paired together, it was clear things weren't going to go smoothly.

Kiara was staring at her notes, tapping her pencil against the desk. "You're supposed to read the first line, Piper. Are you even paying attention?"

Piper rolled her eyes, flipping through her book with exaggerated slowness. "Maybe I would if you'd stop breathing down my neck. You're like a mosquito, you know that?"

Jasmine and Talia, who had been partnered across the room, exchanged a look, both of them grinning.

"Oh no, mosquito Kiara is at it again," Talia whispered to Jasmine, who snickered, nearly dropping her notebook.

"I'll bite you like one too if you don't get your act together," Kiara shot back, her face flushed with irritation. "It's not that hard to pronounce 'ciao,' Piper!"

Piper lifted her chin, speaking with an exaggerated Italian accent. "Ciao, Kiara. Sei un incubo."

Kiara scoffed. "You're barely coherent in English; don't embarrass yourself in Italian."

Their teacher, Signora Rossetti, looked over, raising an eyebrow. "Ragazzo, calmatevi," she warned, though there was a hint of amusement in her voice. "You'll both be speaking better Italian by the end of this semester, I promise."

Talia leaned over to Jasmine, chuckling. "End of the semester? I'll bet they'll be fluent in insults by next week."

Jasmine giggled. "They're well on their way."

The girls shared a laugh as Piper and Kiara went back and forth, snapping over every little line in the dialogue. They had moved on to arguing about the right intonation for "buonasera" when Talia couldn't resist making a joke loud enough for them to hear.

"Pretty sure 'buonasera' isn't supposed to sound like you're ready to duel," Talia whispered to Jasmine, her voice carrying over to Kiara and Piper.

Piper threw her head back dramatically, sighing. "Well, I would sound less aggressive if I didn't have to work with her." She jabbed her thumb in Kiara's direction.

Kiara scoffed, folding her arms. "Oh, please, the only thing aggressive here is your attitude problem. Ever consider therapy?"

Jasmine snorted, pressing her hand over her mouth to hide her laugh, and Talia smirked. "They're like two caffeinated chihuahuas," she muttered to Jasmine.

Kiara heard and whipped her head toward Talia. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, nothing," Talia replied, batting her eyelashes innocently. "Just observing the beautiful chaos that is this partnership."

As the class went on, the tension between Piper and Kiara escalated until Piper finally snapped. The class had fallen into an awkward silence as the two kept bickering, and before anyone knew what was happening, Piper had grabbed Kiara by the shoulder.

"Look, if you have something to say, just say it," Piper said, her voice tight, but there was a glint of mischief in her eyes.

"Oh, I've got plenty to say!" Kiara retorted.

Before anyone could stop it, Piper's hand shot up and slapped Kiara across the cheek. The classroom went dead silent, eyes wide as everyone processed what had just happened.

Kiara didn't miss a beat—she lunged forward, grabbing Piper's wrist as the two started tussling, yelling over each other in a mixture of Italian and English. Talia and Jasmine were frozen for half a second before they both burst out laughing, tears streaming down Talia's face.

"Oh my god, they're actually doing it," Talia managed between laughs, doubling over.

"Should we—" Jasmine started, but she was laughing too hard to finish.

"Break it up?" Talia wheezed, clutching her side. "Nah, this is the highlight of my week."

By the time Signora Rossetti intervened, Kiara and Piper were breathing heavily, still glaring daggers at each other, each one slightly disheveled but no worse for wear.

"Signore! Enough!" Signora Rossetti barked, crossing her arms as she looked between them. "If you two put half this energy into actually studying, you'd be speaking like natives by now."

Piper and Kiara muttered grudging apologies, each refusing to look at the other as they straightened themselves out. Jasmine and Talia, meanwhile, had to work hard to keep their laughter quiet, exchanging looks filled with gleeful disbelief.

As they left the classroom, Talia slung an arm around Jasmine, still grinning as she leaned close. "Best Italian class ever."

Jasmine smiled, nodding in agreement. "I think those two have just redefined 'explosive chemistry.'"

Kiara and Piper, however, barely noticed. They walked out side-by-side, each silently fuming, but somewhere, deep down, both of them knew they'd be back at it tomorrow—whether they liked it or not.