Idalia --- TEAM 10 FANFICTION

Chapter 1

Idalia bit her lip as the tiny white arrow on her laptop gravitated towards the black rectangle at the bottom of her laptop screen. Did she want this? Her mind went back to her family, back home in Basilicata, Southern Italy. She had never had much money growing up. Both of her parents worked three jobs while minding Idalia, her little brother Giovanni and the triplets: Alessia, Giorgia and Leonardo. She remembered the words of her mother: ‘Non pensare a noi; preoccuparsi di te e fare sempre il tuo meglio.’

Don’t think about us; worry about yourself and always do your best.

Click.

To join Team 10 was an . . . aspiration, one could call it, for Idalia since she moved to Los Angeles to further her YouTube career so she could send money home to her family; so the triplets could get the education they deserves---Giovanni, like Idalia, was out of school with a year, but he wasn’t able to go to college in the Netherlands like he wanted. Idalia wanted to be able to give that opportunity to him.

Team 10 would boost her career---she was at around ten thousand subscribers. One of Idalia’s videos had gone viral: a cover she had done of Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles, playing her old violin she had gotten for her birthday---and Christmas, technically.

Idalia’s birthday fell into that awkward early January time space. Her parents tried to get her separate presents for each, but Idalia could see it was a struggle for them. So, just before her seventh birthday around eleven years ago, she went up to her mother and told her that it was okay and that she didn’t want anything.

That was the year Idalia got her violin and the lessons alongside it.

A small smile graced her lips as she shut her laptop and looked up at the waiter. He was pale skinned and pimply and looked impatient and as if he had better places to be than at the small café Idalia often visited. The waiter ran his hand back through his dyed blond hair and sighed---for the billionth time. She even remembered his name, now: Brian.

‘Miss, can you please hurry up and answer? What d’you want: tea or coffee or what?’ he asked, glaring at Idalia slightly.

‘Tea with low-fat milk and two biscuits please,’ she answered pleasantly, smiling up at the boy. He was only a year or two younger than her: fifteen or sixteen, she guessed.

He scowled. ‘Coming right up,’ he said as he walked away from Idalia’s table in the picturesque garden at the front of the café. Miniature jacaranda trees lined the short walls which extended from each side of the café’s front wall. Both were painted shell-pink. Fake grass lined the ground outside the shop; it was the perfect place for Idalia to slip off her sandals and curl her toes up in the grass.

Her phone---a battered iPhone 4s which had been a hand-me-down from her uncle---buzzed. Idalia picked it up and read the message which was a tiny bit hard to read through the large crack which spread across the screen from corner to corner, not unlike a spider web. Idalia swore it grew more each day.

Papa: Triplets are good. Gigi got ten out of ten in her English spellings at school; ‘Sia got eight and Leo got five, he is a bit disappointed, though he came first at the annual sports day. Miss you loads. Hope you are liking Los Angeles. ---Gio

Idalia’s heart warmed. She loved hearing from her siblings. Giovanni and the triplets always had to use their father’s Nokia to text Idalia. Giovanni made sure to text at least once a day. They were always close as siblings as Idalia was only fourteen or so months older than him; their aunt called them “Irish twins”, though they didn’t look very alike.

Idalia: L.A. is good; just applied for Team 10, hope to get in so I can send more money back to you guys. I need to get you a phone and a ticket to Amsterdam. Tell Leo that it’s okay that he got five out of ten because Dalia got worse before (three, if he asks). Miss you too, Gio. Hope you are well.