Babe!
"Same!" Charlotte replied, perking him in his lips before turning back to face Jovie and I with Claude's arm wrapped around her waist.
"Kara, Jovie" Claude acknowledge, sending us a small wave.
"Ohh you know them? The host family I talked to you about last night was actually La Masseria" she said "Jocasta, you didn't tell me you knew Claude?"
I was too speechless to talk. So the girl he was dating was actually Charlotte. The Charlotte I know and she didn't tell me.
I gave her my best fake sweet smile "Umm... I didn't know about both of you. Sure, you told me about the girl you were dating but Charlotte!"
"Is there a problem? And how do you guys know each other?" He asked.
"Ohh, we met at the orphanage in France" she smiled "I hope you won't mind with me spending lunch with him?"
"Of course not. Enjoy your selves, I'm sure you have alot to tell each other" I smiled sweetly. She nodded, waving me good bye as Claude took her away, intertwining their hands together.
Jovie laughed a little, surely trying to understand the situation in her own sigh way. We walked into the cafeteria and settled on our table.
"So..." She hummed.
"Don't Jovie. I'm not in the mood" I said annoyed.
"What's with the mood?" Shaun asked.
"So you will still be okay with Charlotte after discovering she is dating the boy you like?" she asked.
"I don't like Claude" I gritted.
"Ohh really? Then why are you so angry and nerves about them being together? She didn't even tell you she was dating" Jovie stated.
"Neither of them knew, I knew the other and I don't have a problem. If they are happy together that's their business" I said "As long as he doesn't hurt Charlotte"
"Are you insinuating that Claude is the problem? It's all about Charlotte not telling you. They must gave known themselves for pretty long to come to the point of dating and you've known Charlotte since you were in France. Come on, no signal" Jovie said.
I was about to reply wehn my phone buzzed in my pocket. I removed it and checked the message.
Charlie: Sorry about that. I met Claude 2 weeks ago and... it was just love at first sight
"Love at first sight? Super dumb" Jovie scoffed next to me. I quickly shut down my phone.
"Whatever"
"So the guy was Claude? I think you too will be cute together" Henry commented.
"Actually! Their love is real but who still believe in love at first sight? Stop refusing it" Jovie said.
"I think there's something off with Charlotte anyway" Shaun stated.
"Excuse me?" I questioned.
"She is acting really off, Kara" Jovie added "I don't trust her"
"I too" Herny added "We are just trying to look out for you. Friends don't date others crushes"
I let out a sarcastic laugh at their words "You all are just acting like my brothers, so I can't chose my own surroundings. Sorry but I know Charlotte pretty well and she is one of the best friends I've ever had. Moreover, I'm not fucking in love with Claude!"
I stood up, picking up my stuff and stomping out of the cafeteria. While attracting some pompous people their attention. I didn't actually know where I was heading to but before I acknowledge my surroundings, I bumped into a hard muscular chest, pushing me down to the ground.
"Ouch-"
"Sorry" the guy said in a thick Spanish deep tone, helping me up. I faced him and wondered on the familiarity of his cold features.
"You are..." I slurred in wonder "I think I know you"
"Zeke. Zeke Escobar. I got transferred to Allegro some weeks ago" He informed.
"Oh yeah, we've never spoken before" I said "Sorry, I wasn't looking"
"It's alright" he looked at me, pausing for a minute. This was very awkward.
"Okay then..." I trailed off, about to walk away when he gently held my arm.
"Umm... Kara... I know this must seem strange and out of context but I think I know you" he said.
I furrowed my eyebrow in confusion "You know me? No offense but I've never actually seen you before"
"Maybe you have but... you resemble someone from my past that I'm very close to and I lost 2 years ago from an accident" he said.
"Ohh and what happened to her?" I asked.
"It was a car accident, 2 years in France. I lived there for some years before moving to Italy for my studies. Actually, she was my bestfriend and after the accident, she fell into a coma. A year into it, I had to move" he explained "I couldn't stay and I just got informed some months ago that she had woken up and moved to Italy to her biological family"
"Well... that's quite strange" I chuckled "That's kind of what happened to me. I was in a coma for 2 years but I don't know the cause because I have amnesia. I moved in with my brothers and Casey some months ago"
"What a coincidence. I mean, you kind of have her character though you don't resemble physically" He said.
"What was her name?"
"Grace. Grace Sommerville" he said, removing a picture of him and the girl from his pocket and handing it to me.
I nearly gasped at the name, freezing in shock but the picture erased all doubt because the girl was exactly like me before I got the hair dye off my hair. In fact, the girl was me.
"Wait... how did you get this? I mean, this is- I'm confused..." I said.
"So it really is you!" He said with a smile tugging his lips "Grace or is it Kara now"
I faced him still trying to understand the new piece of information. So Zeke Escobar, the guy who fought with my brother and the entitled school's bad boy was my ex bestfriend?
"This is me. I may not look the same but... the doctor told me I wore blue contacts and my hair was dyed exactly like these before I had it removed" I pondered "This is a... Sorry, I can't remember you. That car must have hit me pretty hard"
"It's okay. I'm so happy having you back, Gr- Kara. I have to get custom to that" He said "I should gave stayed. Things just took a dramatic turn when you went into a coma"
"But I'm here now" I giggled "At least, I get to meet someone I was close to from my past"
He was about to reply but I hugged him, pulling him close. He hugged me back with a smile, placing a kiss on my forehead.
"Can I get your number?" He asked, pulling away.
"Sure" I said as he handed me his phone. I quickly typed in my phone number and handed it back to him with a beaming smile.
"You basically just made my day" I informed him.
"Really? Having a bad day?" He asked.
"Just family issues" I replied "Lunch is soon over, I should get to class"
"Yeah" He replied "Bye"
"Bye"
**********
I was laid down on my bed dressed in an Angel's Face pink crêpe & lace playsuit, my hair thrown in a messy curly bun, manipulating my phone and computer when Charlotte knocked on my door.
"Hey" she greeted walking in.
"Hey" I replied in a hidden monotony.
"I hope what happened earlier wasn't awkward. I saw on Jovie's face that she wasn't very pleased" Charlotte stated "I hope we're still friends?"
"Charlie, I've known you longer and I trust you. Why won't we no longer be friends? I'm okay with you dating Claude. I mean, we aren't friends or anything close. More like acquintaces, we've spoken once or twice"
"Ohh okay" she nodded "So who is that annoying guy?"
Ohh it's now you are asking? Nice question because you are actually dating that annoying guy.
But I didn't say that. More like,
"He wasn't at school today, thankfully" I giggled.
"Okay. What are you doing?" She asked trying to peak into the computer.
"Hey, it's a suprise" I reprimanded.
"Really? For who?"
"Casey. She loves sport but never gets the opportunity to do it so I'm organizing some little arrangements at a tennis court with members of the tennis team" I replied. I hadn't told any one, even Jovie didn't know about it but I could trust Charlotte with this info.
"That's sweet. I heard you're trying out for the music festival"
I shrugged at her question. I wasn't into it but if I was given the opportunity, I will go for it.
"Let's go for dinner"
I parked up my things and followed her down to the dinning room. My brothers were already seated around the table, having little conversations between themselves.
As I sat down, the atmosphere kind of felt thick and suffocating. The room went silent through out dinner but I didn't mind much about it.
I heard Alejandro clear his throat before speaking.
"Father will be coming back in a week and so will our paternals and cousin come for a family dinner. They all are very excited to meet you" he said.
"Ok" I replied.
"Meet me in my study" he said as he walked out of the dinning room.
I glanced at the others around the table. None of them bothered to look up at me, even Lawton and Kiernan weren't looking at me.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Nothing. Just go meet Rauw, Sorella" Haaland replied, sipping his glass of wine.
I nodded and walked out, heading to his study. I didn't bother knocking on the door and just walked in, seeing his looking down at the picture he had same in his room with Mother.
"Is that you?" I questioned as I sat down.
"Yes... with mom" he replied, keeping the picture and turning it for the picture to face the desk.
"I'm sorry about telling them a bout your coma. I should have let you told them by yourselves but you have to understand that I was just trying to look out for you. You can't actually blame me for having a background check on Charlotte, after all she is living in my house and I have to take double security before letting her live with my family" he explained.
"I get but that was being rude and i felt like you couldn't trust me enough. I will never befriend someone who will bring harm to our family, Alejandro" I replied.
"I know but I'm the older one. I take on the responsibility to protect all the members of La Masseria family because I'm the family head of this very big family"
"Sorry, I shouldn't have disrespected or shouted at any you but I won't be apologizing to Riordan. He is always so mean to me and I can't help but snap whenever he speaks anything related to me" I stated "I just don't want my treatment to change because I have amnesia"
"It's okay. I will talk to them about it" he replied "Moving to the better part, Our cousins will soon be moving to your school as they claim they want to get closer to you"
"Ohh how many are they?"
"On the paternal side; you have 3 uncles, 2 living aunts and 13 cousins in total and then, the grannies" he said.
"Wait... aren't there girls? And why are you precising paternal?"
"No. You are the first girl in 4 generations of the La Masseria lineage. Italian families are very big as I said earlier, I would also invite your grand cousins but I wouldn't want to overwhelm you. Mom is from the Ferrari family, she is half Italian and half black American. She an older brother and he has three sons"
"So I have 16 cousins plus 8 brothers to give 24 guys. I thought they were joking when they said Italians have big families. You must be loaded" I said "What's your business? Did you take over the Ferrari automotive Industry?"
"Yeah, we are rich. I took over the La Masseria family company and I'm part of the board in the Ferrari Industry as Uncle took over the company and his oldest son is about to take over. Hester is the one who more involved in the Ferrari industries and he even works there" he explained.
"That explains why our garage is filled with so many Ferraris. Do you guys even pay for those?" I questioned.
He chuckled at my words "Actually no. We get most of does as birthday presents"
I nodded my head impressively "Two very powerful families got married together. Nice. So how was mom with Dad?"
the room suddenly got filled with some cold scary atmosphere. For some reason, his eyes suddenly filled with cold murderous anger.
"So... I heard you have a girl outing with Casey?" He questioned, changing the topic.
"Yeah, she is cool-"
"I don't want you hanging out with her, Kara. She is not a very nice or pleasant person" he said coldly.
"But she is my sister and she is really nice and fun to speak to" I reasoned.
"She isn't your sister, Kara. She has never been. You may think she is so nice and extraordinary but she is just like her mother, a blood sucking leach and a viper out to destroy our family once more" he replied emotionlessly.
"What did she even do that all of you are so mean to her?"
"Mean? I think I'm giving her a place to stay, a room to do her business in, freedom and foo to eat. If I was a monster, I would have sent her mother and her away a long time ago as the family head"
"Why?"
"Because if that fucking man hadn't had a stupid affair with her whore of a mother, mom wouldn't have died and you wouldn't have been taken away by that crazy lady, okay! It's all her fault. Jealousy! That's the route to all her issues and she thought that as you were away, she could become the centre of attention and replace my sister. Who the hell do they think they are? They broke our family, Kara. I don't want that again. Casey can hurt you so bad and put you to your very lowest, talk less of when her mother is around. I don't even know what's stopping me from killing them-"
I stood up, cutting him off. How could he say that? O turned on my heels and walked out on him in anger. I liked Casey and his words won't destroy the image of her in my mind.
Why did no one trust me? First, Charlotte then Casey?
What's wrong with all of them?!