the diary | hummels/lewandowski

6

Carina's least favorite subject had always been math. Mr. Vespucci, however, made her look forward to the class. As far as she was concerned, he was the only other Italian around—but he assured her there were Italian boys lurking around, too. Some of them were even footballers. It didn't matter to her—the last thing she wanted was to deal with them.

"Carina," Mr. Vespucci set a test down on her desk. "See me about this after class, will you?"

Carina picked up the test. 75/100. She groaned. "Okay, signore." She watched Mr. Vespucci smile, turn around, and walk away. Marco, who she shared a desk with, whispered.

"Are you really flirting with Mr. Vespucci? He's like, 40 years old."

Carina curled her lips. "I can't speak Italian with my fellow compatriot without it being considered flirting?"

"Okay, you're right." Marco smirked, then leant forward. "What'd you get on your test?"

Carina hid the score. "Something terrible. You?" She leant forward, too, and saw that he'd gotten an almost perfect store. "Oh," she muttered. "Congrats."

"Believe me, I'm not the smart one." Marco grinned, charmingly. "It's Robert—he's a math genius."

Carina handed Marco a flat look. "Well, I find it hard to believe that he's good at anything but playing football—and women."

The bell rang, signaling the end of class, and the conversation between her and Marco. Carina stood, slung her backpack around her shoulders, and approached Mr. Vespucci at his desk. He was a kind man—she didn't understand why he had a reputation for being so strict amongst the students. She spoke in Italian. "Signor Vespucci, you wanted to see me?"

He stopped erasing the board and nodded, keeping his voice quiet. "Sì, Carina. I wanted to see you because I was concerned with the grades you were receiving on my tests. If you keep this up, you'll fail the class." He sat down. "Now, I understand that it's a lot different here in Germania than it is back in Italy. So, I'm going to cut you some slack. I'll only count the grades from here on out that you receive on my assignments, and I'll disregard all of the past grades you've gotten. But I'll only do that if you make a deal with me."

"Tutto apposto. What is it?"

"I want you to get some kind of help. A tutor, a friend. I want to know you're really making an effort."

Carina shrugged a shoulder. "Alright, Mr. Vespucci." That was easy enough, wasn't it?

Carina had no choice but to agree. As she exited the class, her last one of the day, she ran into none other than Robert himself, already dressed for training.

"Carina!" Robert rushed over to her.

Carina scowled at him. "What do you want?"

"You really do despise me, don't you?" Robert smirked and fell into step with her.

"As far as I'm concerned, our feelings are mutual. You made it clear that you don't like me, either."

Robert looked down at Carina. "Are you really still upset about something that happened ages ago? Didn't I apologize to you?"

"That's not it. I simply don't like your intentions."

"My intentions with what?"

"Everything," responded Carina, bluntly. "You are an asshole."

Robert was silent for a few moments. He even stopped walking. But then he picked his pace back up. "Yeah, I get that a lot."