Isabella's POV
I woke up to the sound of birds chirping. This time I wasn't annoyed by it.
I look at the mirror and do something I'd never do even though I'd be held on gunpoint.
I smiled.
It felt so awkward. I tried putting on a genuine smile but failed miserably.
As I was putting my smile together, someone barged into my room.
Ashton.
"Come down — what are you doing freak?!" He laughed at my attempt to smile.
"I'm not a freak, I'm just trying to smile dumbo" I said with folded arms.
"Yeah, that's not working out for you" he laughs, again.
"Shut up"
"Just like old times, you'd try something new and I'd laugh about it" he chuckles and wipes a tear off his eye.
"Really?" I asked. Genuinely surprised.
I've bonded with Ashton?
"Yeah. Even that time you want to paint family together, you acted like a French painter. I laughed so hard. You cried to Mama and Papa. Nonno wanted to beat the shit outta me" he sat down on my bed as he reminesced.
"Wow" I say, utterly bewildered. I didn't even know when I sat next to him.
"It was the best and worst day of my life" he said.
"I ended up apologizing to you and Mama and Papa bought us ice cream" he continued.
"I wonder what they were like"
"They were the best parents you could have. They weren't strict, unless they had to. Well, that's when Nonno decides to step in, then they're all strict" he said.
I giggled and he turned to me.
"You can giggle?!" He said and laughed, rolling on the floor.
"Shut up" I said and hit him with a pillow. My dear friends that's how a pillow war started.
"Hey Ashton, I told you to—" Xavier walked in on our fight.
He laughed and joined in.
I was outnumbered.
"Okay you had your fun, let's end it here" I said backing away.
"No no sister, we're just getting started" Ashton said and on cue, they but hit me with the pillow.
I fell on my bed and pulled them off their feet and ran out.
"Catch her!" Xavier yelled.
I ran to Ethan.
"Help me!" I latched onto him.
"Ethan throw her" Ashton said.
"Okay" he said. I looked at him with betrayal eyes.
"Sorry sis" he said and threw me like I weighed nothing. Ashton caught me and started going outside with me in his arms.
"What are you doing"
"Teaching you a lesson" he smirked and threw me into the pool.
Water engulfed my lungs. Yeah, I know how to swim. I've almost been drowned. But why doesn't it feel like I can't move my body. Like my body isn't responding anymore?
Soon, everything looks blurry and slowly I'm going down. Down. Down.
I see a splash of water, arms wrapping around me, air fills my lungs and I can move again.
"Kah kah kah kah kah" I choke up all the water.
"Shit, are you alright?" Ashton asked. His fluffy hairdo is now wet and flat, sticking to his face and neck.
"I'm....kah... alright" I wheeze out.
"I'm so sorry, I thought you could swim. I'll never do that again, I promise" he says and hugs me tight.
"I'll never lose you again"
"What was that?"
"Nothing"
"Shit, Isa baby" Xavier comes running.
"Are you alright?" He asks but what's the first thing I do? I laughed.
"Isa baby?" I asked.
"Yeah, I used to call you that when you were a baby" he said, his cheeks turning bright pink.
I'm so tempted to squeeze his cheeks when I voice inside stops me on time.
What do you think you're doing? They don't care about you, it's all a facade. They'll dump you soon after.
That makes me return back to my senses.
I push Ashton's warm embrace and stand up, stumbling a bit.
"I'm fine, if there's nothing else I'll be in my room" I said and walked off.
"I guess we need to try harder to win her trust back"
"Yeah"
Yup, you gotta try a lot harder.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I showered, again, and sit on my bed scrolling through Instagram.
I see a post about a boy with a few other boys together.
Ashford.
I like the post and check out his other posts. Some where his chest is exposed, some where he got a new haircut and lots more.
After a few minutes, I exit his profile because I feel like a girl stalking her crush.
Suddenly, another new post pops up with the caption, ' Good to be with friends '. It was Noah and the boys.
Did he just land after how many weeks? How's that possible?
I quickly comment on the post and send him a message.
Me
You're in California?
He replies soon after.
Noah
Yup, sorry it took a while. My father made wait a while.
Me
No problem. But you're with the others right now?
Noah
Yeah, they came to pick me up from the airport.
Me
Okay
Noah
So what's up with y'all? They didn't mention you once.
Me
They did something to break my trust and I'm not ready to forgive them.
Noah
Damn. Well, when ever you're ready, you forgive them. I'll be at your school on Monday.
Me
Awesome. You'll meet Ann.
Noah
I sure will.
I exited Instagram when I heard a knock on my door.
"Come in"
"Hey our cousins just pulled in the driveway, come on" Luca said.
I quickly look at myself in the mirror on more time because walking with him.
"So, I heard you nearly drowned" he said and I just nodded.
"Sorry about that" he said and I shrugged my shoulders.
We awkwardly went downstairs. Just as my feet touched the last step, a knock was heard.
Knock knock
"They're here!" Xander said.
He ran and opened the door. Behold, I saw three huge men walk in, behind them were about 15 boys dragging a couple of heavy luggages.
"Buorngiorno nipote" One of the huge men hugged Xander.
"Uncle Santi!" Xander jumps on the man and hugs him.
"Buorngiorno nipote" another man walks over to Luciano and hugs him with a pat on the back.
"Famiglia!" Another man says with so much enthusiasm.
Luca is no where near me and no one sees me, it's like I'm invisible. All the 15 boys try pushing the bags inside.
This is gonna be a long stay.
"C'mon someone help us!" One boy yells in frustration.
"Let me help" I say timidly and walk over to the boy.
I lift up the luggage and carry it on one shoulder to the stairs and drop it there, easily.
"There, it should be easier from there" I smile at the boy. He just stares at me for a long time, I start getting uncomfortable. Then I realize everywhere quieted down and everyone was staring at me. Including my brothers.
That's about 48 eyes. Creepy.
"What?" I asked.
"Ooooouuuu mia sorellina" one boy came up to me and squished my cheeks.
"Dolcezza!"
"Carina!"
"Bomba!"
"Mia sorellina!"
"Uno piccolo"
"Bebe!"
They kept on speaking Italian and it was overwhelming.
"Guys, please you're overwhelming her with the Italian, besides she doesn't understand what you're saying" Luciano saves me from the embarrassment.
But....I understand what they were all saying. I kept on staring at the boy who called me hottie.
He has a piercing on his lips. By the way they are super pink. Pained his nails black, has this bad boy haircut and I am loving it.
"Ohh sorry" one of boys said.
"Pretty!"
"Cute!"
"Baby girl"
"My love"
"Hey boo"
"Isa boo boo"
"I say it again, damn you're hot"
"How did you carry that shit on your shoulder, are you iron man's daughter?"
"Hey hey, enough boys. You're scaring her" one of the men said.
"Just leave the luggages, the maids will do that, come sit down and introduce yourselves" Ethan said.
We all sat down and the elders began introducing themselves.
"Hello Isabella, I'm your first eldest uncle, Luigi" he said with a smile wave.
"Hi" I said back.
"Hey there, I'm your second uncle, Santiago but you can all my Santi" he said and gave me a bear hug.
" My sweet baby niece, I'm your third and coolest uncle around, the names Romero darling" he said and spun me around. I giggled and he laughed.
"Omg, her giggle is the cutest thing ever"
"Did you see her dimples, God! She's cute"
I blushed as uncle Romero put me down.
"Now boys introduce yourselves" uncle Luigi said to the boys.
"Or you just do it for you, because we know how badly you want to do it" one of them said.
"If you insist " uncle Luigi chuckles.
"The first boy, his name is Aaron, he's 24. The second boy, he's Giovanni, he's 23. The third boy, he's Leonardo, he's 20, then down to ma boys, my twins Damien and Damon, both are 18" uncle Luigi pointed each of them out.
Some waved, some smiled.
"Now, time for you boys to introduce yourselves" uncle Santi said.
"I'm Ace, I'm 24"
"I'm Axel, I'm 23"
"I'm Brandon, I'm 20"
"His name is Danny, and he's 18"
"And his name is Dray, he's also 18" the twins switched up what they were supposed to say and it made me giggle.
"Now now, boys, show the Lombardi's what you got" uncle Romero cheered his kids.
"Hey there, my name is Alessandro, I'm your best cousin,I'm 24, over to the left, there Andrei and his 12th cousin, he's 23 over there we've got Grayson, he's 18 and he's your 13th cousin, and last but not the least we have the twin Kayden and Kyson and they are 17" the guy, which I now know is Alessandro said.
"Uhm okay, I'm Isabella and I'm 15" I awkwardly said.
"Speaking of that when's your birthday?" I think Danny asked that. I literally can't tell them apart, you know, Danny and Drey.
"March 27" I said.
"That's next year. We'll be around to celebrate that" he said and went to the kitchen.
"I'll be in my room" I said to Luciano and disappeared from there.
I walked into my room and look at myself in a mirror.
What's so hot about a tank top and shorts? I sighed and laid on my bed.
I started feeling bored, really bored. So, I decided to do some snooping.
Before I could stand up, my door bursts open and 8 boys walk in.
Luca, Damien, Damon, Kyson, Dray, Kayden, Danny and Ashton.
"C'mon sis! We're going to get ice cream!" Kyson said.
Damien was looking at me. Yeah, he's the one who called me hot.
He started advancing towards me and I started walking backwards. He stopped and stared at me.
"What happened? I just wanted to hug you" he said.
"Sorry" he looks kinda scary.
I started advancing towards him. Now he stepped back.
I laughed at the switched roles.
"Don't you want the hug again?" I asked amused.
"I kinda do" he shrugged and pulled me into his embrace. I tensed a bit but soon, relaxed in his hold.
"Fuck, your hugs are nice. Just like old times" he muttered.
"Are you really my cousin? Because you're too hot to be my cousin" he said and he held my shoulders.
"Excuse me" I say, offended.
"What? When you were a kid you were ugly" he said with a shrug.
"He's lying Isa, you were cute when you were a baby" Kayden said.
"Whatever, let's go get some ice cream" he said, still holding me.
At some point it got difficult to walk, " can you let go of me. I can't walk well"
"Don't worry, I can solve that" he said lifting me up in the air.
"Man, you weigh nothing, have you been eating at all?" He asked genuinely surprised at my lightness.
"I have" I said looking down.
We get to the car and he places me in the front seat. I squeal in excitement. I've never been allowed in the front seat.
"Hey! She's just a kid, why should she be in the front" Ashton whines.
"It's my car, my rules" Damien said.
"It's actually my car" Giovanni said, coming out of the house.
"You're my brother, what's yours is most definitely mine" he said smirking at Giovanni.
Giovanni just rolled his eyes and went to the back.
~~~~~~~~~~
We got some ice cream and went driving round the city.
I've never had so much fun in my life before.
An unwanted phone call interrupted me from singing Get Him Back by Olivia Rodrigo.
"Hello?"
"Isa babe, it's me Mike"
"The fuck are you doing with my number?" I said genuinely shocked. How did this bastard get my number.
"Look, I'm sorry for everything I did, please come back, I miss you"
"Who's that Isa?" Luca asked.
"Some guy" I was about to answer mike when Damien snatched my phone, but it on speaking and handed it back to me. In under two seconds.
"Who are you with, Isabella? Your new boyfriend? You left me for some crap guy, I hone—"
"Shut the fuck up. Who the hell do you think you are to call me and spit shit out? You have no damn right voice your damn opinion, so keep that shit to yourself " I was about to hang up when Damien took my phone.
"Who ever she's with is none of you business, piss off" he said and hung up.
"Let me guess, your ex boyfriend" Danny said.
"Yeah" I sighed.
"What the heck were you thinking dating that crap" Kyson said.
"Thank God it's over" Ashton said.
"Good thing it's never happening again" Damon said and the rest nodded.
"I'll get a boyfriend one way or another" I said.
"That's never going to happen" Damien strongly refused to believe it.
"What if I told you I already have a boyfriend and I'm 1 month pregnant" I said with a laugh.
Suddenly the car jerked and did a swerve turn.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"To the hospital" Damien replied.
"Why?"
"To do a pregnancy test" Ashton said.
"I was joking, none of that is true, common let's go, forget about what I said" I laughed. They thought I was preggo?
"Never joke like that again" Kayden said.
"I'm not ready to be an uncle " Dray said.
"I am!" Danny said and I smiled.
"Yeah, you've always been ready" Damien said and we all laughed.
How I wish moments like this could last forever.
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