Love in Italy

-2-

"Beep...Beep...Beep"

I quickly moved my hand from under my blanket to turn my alarm off. I sighed into my pillow, sure I was excited about school today, but I still hated getting up early. Me and mornings don't exactly get along.

"NAAAAAAT YOU UP YET?" I hear Bella yell from the hallway. I hear the door creak and I just groan into my pillow.

"Come on!!! You're supposed to do my hair for school!" She says, jumping on my bed.

I sigh, "Fine, I'm getting up. Let me get ready and then I'll do your hair."

I walk to my bathroom and look at myself in the mirror. Man, do I look like a hot mess. I wash my face and do my usual skin care routine, can't let my acne breakout... again. I then take out my hair, styling my curls so they aren't frizzy, and I put on some mascara and lip gloss. Now I just need to figure out what to wear. I walk to my closet and stand there, looking at all my options. As you can see, I am very indecisive. A sundress in the back of my closet catches my eye. It is white and has a bunch of small yellow flowers on it. This is perfect! I change into my dress and put on my white sandals before heading downstair for breakfast.

"Morning amorino." My aunt says, setting a plate of waffles in front of me.

"Morning Aunt Stella! This looks delicious."

"Are you done yet, Nat? I need you to do my hair!" Bella whines, sitting down at the table. She is wearing a pink and white tie-die sundress and sneakers. Not exactly the best choice of shoes to go with the dress, but then again, she is seven.

I shove the last piece of my waffle in my mouth. "Now I am done." I get up out of my chair and walk over to where Bella is sitting. I pull on her hair, making a braid, and then turning it into a small French braid, then I repeat what I did on the other side. Bella's hair is very soft and easy to work with. It also smells good, like some type of fruit, maybe peaches.

"Did you sniff my hair?" Bella giggles.

"Maybe. Now stop moving so I can finish." I tie off the second braid and let it fall onto of her straight blonde hair. "Okay, now turn so I can see your face." Bella does as I say and she turns around to face me. I pull out a few strands of hair to frame her face and make her look even cuter.

"Alright, now you're done."

"Thanks Natalia! I'm going to go see Matteo." Bella then hops out of her chair and starts running up the stairs. Knowing Matteo, he is probably still asleep and already snoozed his alarm like 6 times. I walk up the stairs and walk into Matteo's room. The sight in front of me makes me laugh. Matteo is screaming into his bed as Bella jumps on him, hitting him with his pillow.

"Bella, don't do that. I just did your hair."

"Sorry, but Matteo wasn't getting up. I had to do something." She says, using her big brown puppy dog eyes. With that face, she could get anything.

"Alright fine. Let me deal with the lazy sack of potatoes you go eat breakfast."

"Hey, I'm not lazy!" I hear Matteo mutter from his bed.

"Says the one who slept longer than me and I hate mornings more than anyone."

"I don't hate mornings. I just hate school." Matteo says, sitting up.

I roll my eyes. "There has to be something you are looking forward to. What about soccer?"

"For the last time, Natalia, it's football or Calcio. No one in school is going to know what soccer is." Matteo replies angrily at my 'American terminology.'

"Well, I'm sorry that I lived in America for 10 years. Which isn't even my fault."

"Well, you learned how to fluently speak Italian so how hard could it be to not say soccer?"