Accidents Happen

Part 4

Lovino stared, glassy eyed, at the board as the teacher droned on in Spanish. He was grasping bits and pieces where Spanish and Italian connected, but it was not all getting to him.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see most of the students watching the very monotone teacher, who had introduced herself as Ms. Martinez, with an unnerving amount of interest. 

Every once in awhile he noticed them nodding and mimicked the motion.

He missed Feliciano and Romeo so much. Every part of him wanted to be mad that they had managed to get moved together, but his heart wasn't in it. Romeo had someone with him and that was what mattered at that moment. At least that's what his proverbial angel on his shoulder was telling him.

The young Italian glanced again at the other students. What were they so happy about? This was so boring.

And scary.

Lovino shivered.

It wasn't scary. It was kindergarten. All it was, was a bunch of strange new kids, and a really tall and strict looking teacher in a neighborhood he barely knew, and everyone was speaking a language he barely knew. Fun right?

His stomach churned and he pulled his crossed arms closer to him.

He gave up on trying to understand and started looking around the room.
It was...colorful.Bright posters lined the walls. Random objects that should not have faces looked back at him with unnerving smiles.

Noticing the long line of letters on the wall, he recognized the English alphabet with a few Spanish letters mixed in.

Thankfully Nonno had thought about teaching the boys basic English months before they came to America. And even more thankfully, Lovino had picked it up very quickly. His brothers weren't so lucky with Romeo being under a lot of medication and Feliciano just being an airhead.

It seemed like it was going to all go down the drain as he was going to have to learn Spanish, then slowly get back to English the way this was going.

His mind was still drifting when suddenly he noticed everyone staring at him.

He frowned and was about to ask what was so interesting, when he realized the teacher had set a paper down on his desk and was speaking directly to him.

He glanced at the paper but the writing on it was in Spanish and he had no idea what it said.

He sheepishly glanced up at the angry looking teacher in silence.

She sighed and spoke again."¿Has estado prestando atención?"

He flinched downward and tried imitating Feliciano's puppy dog eyes. Surely he could, they were identical were they not?

But his educator's gaze was unrelenting.

He gave up and tried a new approach.

"I have no idea what you are saying."

The older woman blinked in surprise. "¿Que?"

Lovino resisted rolling his eyes.

"I am Italian not Hispanic. Italiano. You know, pasta, pizza, Torre Eiffel?"

The last words were a little too sarcastic for his age but he didn't care.

Obviously confused, Ms. Martinez tilted her head.

"You speak English?"

Lovino huffed angrily.

"Better than Spanish."