"Is Alessandro okay with that?" Sofia asked.
"He himself suggested to take you somewhere to relax and he told me to not ask questions what happened at the police station unless you want to talk about it" Francesco added.
Clara was very grateful for that
"Where are we going then?"
"How much Catania have you seen since you arrived? You should finally get to know the city from a tourist perspective" Francesco suggested.
"Really?" Sofia'a eyes started shining with excitation and eagerness. Francesco quickly glanced at her and the corners of his lips lifted after he noticed her expression.
"Yes, we need to go to the city center get you school supplies anyway. Unless you prefer to shopping online?"
"School?" Sofia asked with surprise. Wait. She was 17. She was a high school student. Riiight.
"Yes, school. You know the place where a normal teenager should attend on regular schedule" Francesco smirked.
"How does high school works here?" Sofia asked with curiosity. She knew it was different than in the US but how much different, she wasn't sure.
"Well it depends. Liceo (secondary school) lasts 5 years, not 4. People finish at 19 not 17"
Sofia's eyes grew big "Wait, really!?"
"Yes, really" Francesco chuckled seeing his sister shocked expression
For the past these few days Sofia kinda forgot that school exists. "Don't you have any school for international students, tho? I'm not sure if I can make it if all the subjects are in Italian"
"Your Italian is excellent you will get a lot of help from teachers too they know about your situation. If things are going to be too difficult we will move you to a different school but for now we were hoping you would attend the same school Valentino does"
"Oh. Okay" Sofia agreed not wanting to argue with him, they still barely knew each other.
During their time out Sofia and Francesco were mainly focused on sightseeing since Sofia displayed pure happiness and excitement seeing so many beautiful churches, museums, theaters just overall architecture of the city. Things were good. This should be a happy time. But Sofia could feel how she's loosing energy in the same way balloon looses air after someone it was popped with a needle.
For the past few days she was in a survival mode 24/7 getting things done, running away from the danger, making sure she's alive but now? Now that she felt safe her defensive systems went down, she was slowly sinking into a deep hole of depression. She quickly gave up on buying clothes, she was tired and wasn't feeling really motivated to go inside any store or building.
"Can we go back home?" Sofia asked hopefully.
"Of course" Francesco agreed easily. He must have seen something is wrong because he looked at her with worried expression and hugged her with one arm as they were walking. Sofia didn't mind. It made her feel safe.
"Sofia are you okay?" A warm hand appeared on her forehead all of sudden. She looked up to meet Francesco's warm brown eyes.
"Yes I'm fine" Sofia said pulling away quickly.
"Is it because of what happened on the police station?" He asked quietly as they were both sitting in the car driving away from the city center.
"Not really" she muttered. "I mean that's also important but it's just... a lot of things happened lately and I didn't had even time to think about how fucked up it all is"
"Normally I wouldn't be okay with you swearing but I guess it is fucked up. Things must have been very difficult for you and whenever you're ready to talk about it I will be here for you but for now just focus on here and now because life with us is going to be mostly boring for you, I promise"
Francesco had zero idea how untruthful his assurance was.