"Yo, Anika heads up!" Chantal Bridge said as she passed the soccer ball to Anika, who stopped it easily. Anika dribbled the ball forward past one guy and past another. She got to the edge of the area and shot the ball. The ball made its way to the back of the net and her team erupted in cheers.
Chantal came running up and gave her a hug. All the other girls came to hug her. Anika turned to the bleachers to look at her best friend and frowned when she saw he was in the middle of a serious game of tonsil hockey. Chantal noticed and kicked the ball against the fenced that separated the field from the bleachers. Jordan broke away from his girlfriend, Claudia, in shock and looked at the field. "What the hell is your problem, guys?" he asked angrily.
"Your best friend just scored a goal, you Douche Bag," Chantal said from where she stood on the field. All the other players, Anika's team and the opposition, shouted in agreement to what Chantal said.
"Guys, just leave him alone," Anika said, tightening her ponytail. She took a glance at her watch. "Oh crap, guys, I have to go. My uncle seems to think that I want to run away from home so I need to get home now," Anika told them.
"You'll be here tomorrow right?" Chantal asked.
"Of course, I'll be here. If I'm not, you can have my 'My Chemical Romance' collection and my cell phone," Anika said seriously.
"Okay, then. Go on home. I'll see you tomorrow," Chantal said as she hugged Anika.
Anika walked towards the bleachers to get her bag and saw that Jordan and Claudia were still kissing. She shook her head disappointedly and walked home remembering that her uncle mention something about a friend coming for a visit. She put her headphones on and Cemetery Drive played in her ears.
Luca sat on the sofa in the South African's living room in England while his dad had coffee with his African friend, Phillip. At 19, he wasn't aspiring in anything diplomatic or political. In fact, he wanted to be on a soccer field doing what he loves the most or become a lawyer or something like that but for now, he'd enjoy his gap year.
He was looking around the lounge and saw a rack of Cd's that caught his attention. The artists didn't look like anything he imagined the ambassador would listen to but what a teenager like him would listen to. He actually liked a few of them like Incubus, Tokio Hotel, My Chemical Romance, Katy Perry, Rammstein, Metro Station, Metallica, Scorpions, the Killers and Green Day. He remembered the tantrum his father threw when he heard Green Day play so he knew that it couldn't be Phillip's.
He heard a door close and the ambassador saying, "It's about time. She should have been here half an hour ago."
Then his father laughed and replied, "Well, at least she came home. Weren't you complaining that you think she wants to run away?"
So the ambassador has wife problems, he thought with a smile. According to what his father told him, the ambassador has no children. What did he expect if he has no children? Or was it no wife?
"Hey Uncle Phillip. Hi, visitor, I'm Anika. I need to go now," he heard a female voice say.
Luca's father laughed. "She's in a hurry.
"She wants to watch the Simpsons in an hour. Go figure," Phillip said.
"May I be excused?" Luca asked the men.
They both waved him away.
He got up to go to the bathroom when he encountered a short maid. "Scusa, where is the bathroom?" he asked.
"Down the hall," said the short woman who spoke with a heavy Irish accent.
As he was walking down the hall, he saw a picture of a girl, pretty girl with brown-green eyes and curly black hair. Who could it be? Luca had heard that he had his niece staying with them, but surely she'd be five or something but not as old as the voice he heard.
He opened the bathroom door after he finished using it and a cell phone rang. It wasn't like the ambassador's PDA. It was a sleek black and red one. Obviously, someone left it here. Then, he noticed the ringtone. It was the intro of the song Scream by Tokio Hotel. As he opened the door, collided with a rather tall girl wearing black Adio's and a My Chemical Romance t-shirt who happened to be holding a can of coke that spilled onto his t-shirt.
"Ohmigosh, I am so sorry." she said.
"It's alright. Your phone was ringing." he said as he tried to wring his t-shirt.
"Oh gosh, I'm really sorry. I could lend you one of my t-shirts. I might have something that could fit you." she said. Do I really have something that could fit him? She thought.
"It's okay. I'll get it to dry. It's just a -"he was saying before she interrupted him. "No no, seriously. I have something that will fit you. Follow me." she said as she began to walk towards the stairs.
How can someone be that bossy? Or pretty for that matter. He thought as he followed her up the stairs. She stopped at a ladder at the end of the hallway.
"I closed the door before I went to take a shower. This could take a while," she said as she was climbing to open the trapdoor in the ceiling.
So she's the girl in the picture and the owner of those Cd's, he thought as he looked up at her nimble fingers working the latch. "My name is Luca."
"I'm Ani. Anika to my uncle but Ani to everyone else. Now, Luca, welcome to my haven of rock." she said with a wink as she climbed into the attic.
"Wow. Nice room." he said.
She'd actually made the attic into her room. It was white with black borders and her curtains were black with red stars. Her bed was messed up but he could see the chocolate brown teddy bear peeking out from under the covers. Above her bed was a poster of the AC Milan soccer team and a shelf with over 50 books. How can someone read so much? She had a red acoustic guitar in a corner and all her music equipment was next to it. She had way more Cd's than the ones downstairs. Her desk was next to it and on top of it he saw a picture of girls' soccer team wearing red and black with Anika in the middle.
Soccer player, musician, bookworm and pretty... Is this chick for real? he thought as she came up behind him with a Tokio Hotel t-shirt.
"This fits you, right?"she asked.
"Not sure, where can I try this on?" he asked while looking around for a bathroom or something.
"You can do it in front of me or you can go back down. It's the second door on your left." she said. When he hesitated, she added, "I have 1 brother, a cousin and my best friend is a guy so I have been in a guys' locker room. So, there's nothing you should worry about." It's me I'm worried about. She added to herself.
She gasped to herself when she saw his torso. It was lean and muscled. It was like the hero in the book she had read last night. Anika knew that she'd have to stop reading romances because they were bad for her. She looked up at his face. He had raven black hair and blue eyes that matched the sky. He had a tan that she could only dream of having and lips that looked as pick and as juicy as the inside of a cherry. She smiled at that. Then she noticed he was looking at her.
"So, Luca, does it fit?" she asked to hide her embarrassment.
"Oh yes, perfectly so. You're a fan of AC Milan too?" he asked to help her get rid of her embarrassment. Why did it please him that she was looking at him like that? His gaze ventured back to the pictures on the wall behind her desk. "Is that the team you play for?"
"Yeah, the school's senior team. I'm the youngest on it but no one is complaining." she replied.
"What school do you go to?" Luca asked.
"Ferguson's Sports Academy," she said.
Luca nodded confusedly. Anika clarified for him. "We had some matches now, during the holidays," she said. He nodded again, understanding showing on his face.
"And the picture of you and the guy?" he asked.
"Me and my best friend, Jordan."
He was a handsome guy. Surely, she's interested in him. "Is that all he is?"
"Oh yes, he tried to get me to go out on a date with him. But I always said no. Now, he's going out with my neighbor." she said with a smile. "Of course, I had to offer some help first."
"Is he happy?" Luca asked.
"Definitely. He's so happy that now he's completely different around me but I have this friend at soccer, Chantal, she's the greatest. She kicked the ball at him when he didn't congratulate me for scoring," Anika said flippantly.
He laughed as his gaze ventured to an old picture of her and a couple. Her parents perhaps? "Who's with you in that picture? Your parents?"
Her smile disappeared as she looked at the picture and nodded. "Yeah, they got divorced. My mom got a job and moved around a lot. My dad found his calling and became a priest. I haven't seen him since I was seven. I wouldn't be able to travel with my mom if I am still studying so I came to live with my uncle and cousin. My brother is in Cuba and he's studying so if I went there I wouldn't have anyone with me. I turned seven on the day the picture was taken."
"Oh, I'm sorry." he said.
The smile returned to her face. "So, Luca. Tell me about yourself."
She can recompose quickly. "Well, I'm 19. I'm here with my dad for the summer. My mom's in Africa and I have no siblings."
She looked at him with a funny expression. "Come on, is that all you can tell me? Hobbies? Music? By the expression you had when you were looking at my books, I take it that you weren't fond of books."
"You were watching me? Really, Anika." he laughed when he saw her blush. "Well, I was looking at you while you were looking at me so we're even. As for hobbies, I like soccer, too. As you might have noticed earlier, I'm a fan of AC Milan too. I play guitar and the drums when I'm bored. Music? Well, I like rock but I can't stand those excuses for music like Cradle of Filth. And you got that right about the books. The last book I read was for a project last year but you, as I can see, are in the middle of a novel. Impressive for one so active. I take it you like math and science as well? "
"As a matter of fact, Luca, yes. I love math and science." she said with a wide grin.
"Now you're scaring me. All that's missing is finding out you're a 19 year old rocket scientist." he said jokingly.
"Really. Who said I'm 19? I'm 17! As for being a rocket scientist, that's not me. I'm more of a medicine person."
Luca could only stare at her. Seventeen? How could Anika be 17? She definitely didn't look 17. They could be friends... or more.
Anika saw that he was shocked by her admission but it certainly wasn't her problem yet... She began to panic. She started picking up all her things from the floor but she didn't see her old skateboard on the floor and she tripped over it into Luca's arms.
"Please let me go," she said in a shaky voice.
"Okay," he said but he still didn't let go. "La bella ragazza è troppo giovane."
"What are you thinking?"
"I'll tell you one day. Just don't look at me like that or else you'll find out now."
"Right. Luca, please let me down," she said
"I tuoi occhi sono verdi come i pini nelle alpi. Uno giorni, I'll take you there." he said with this look in his eye that she had never seen.
"Please, Luca." she said with tears in her eyes. "Just give me 10 minutes. I'll meet you outside."
"Sure." he said as he walked out.
Why was she crying? Obviously it had to do with the tripping. She didn't look like the type that fell often. Nor did she look like someone who got embarrassed often. Was it his fault?
She wasn't going down, she decided. He could stay down there for all she cared.
She wasn't going to come down, he knew. He sat down with his father and the South African.
"What took you so long?" his father asked.
"I met your niece. She spilled coke on my shirt and had to give me a new one," Luca said pointing at the Tokio Hotel T-shirt he was wearing.
"Of course, Anika made me go all the way to Germany to get that t-shirt," the South African, Phillip Carwood, said.
Anika, we will meet again. Don't forget that.
Anika sat in her room for what seemed like an eternity when her cousin walked in.
"Cricket, why are you in here? Gossip Girl's on TV," Jesse said.
"I'll watch the re-run tomorrow. Do you find me unattractive, J?" she asked.
"You? Annoying, obnoxious, amazing, tomboy-ish - maybe but unattractive, never. Why?" he asked.
"Nothing. Did you meet the Italians?"
"Mr. Cantonedi and his son? Yeah, I arrived as they were leaving," he said, being as vague as possible. He had met Giancarlo Cantonedi nine years before when his father was still in the "Business".
She nodded her head and he suddenly had a feeling that they could be the reason why she was in her room. "Luca seems very nice. He's around your age, I think," Jesse said.
"He's nineteen," she said.
She had this look on her face that made him wonder what went down between her and the Italian boy. "So what went down between you two?" he asked.
"Nothing, why do you ask?"
"Anika Cordeiro Stryder, I know you. Now tell me what's up!" he said.
"Well, see, I spilled my coke onto Luca's shirt and I brought him up here to give him a clean t-shirt of mine. But we ended up talking about things and things I don't usually talk about. Then he was shocked that I am fourteen and started talking in Italian. I didn't understand what he was saying, but he sounded so hot. Then I tripped and he caught me. I really thought he was going to kiss me or something. I guess I've been reading too many romances, you were right. But he didn't kiss me and then my eyes started watering and I asked him to go down, saying that I'll meet him but I didn't so now he must think I'm some sort of spaz or something," she rambled.
Jesse wanted to laugh but he saw how stressed his cousin was. He could probably understand what the Italian boy said to Anika since he did live in Italy for a while. "What did the guy say to you?" he asked.
She repeated what he said and Jesse laughed at it. "The dude is so sweet," he said in a squeaky cheerleader voice.
"What did he say?" Anika asked.
"He said the pretty girl is too young and he said that your green eyes are like the pines in the Alps."
"He's taking me to Alps one day?" she asked.
"He didn't say that," Jesse said.
"Yeah, he did say that. In English," she said.
Jesse laughed hard at that. His cousin was going to start crushing on this Italian and he had to do something about it. Maybe if he could get the Italian crushing on her, too. This would be interesting.
Across the city, Luca sat in the library with the book he'd chosen. It was from the same author that wrote the book on Anika's nightstand. Luca really wanted to figure out what was so interesting about books that made the girl read. He sat for hours on end reading. He reached the middle of the book and understood why the girl read so much. The suspense was incredible.
The clock chimed eleven and Luca got up. He met his dad in the hallway.
"Luca, what are you doing awake at this hour?" Giancarlo Cantonedi asked.
"I was in the library," Luca said, yawning.
"Reading? Right, Luca, which girl is it this time?" Giancarlo asked.
"No girl, dad, I just wanted to read. Can't I do that now?" Luca asked irritated.
"Fine, fine, I'm going to watch a soccer game tomorrow. Ferguson's Sports Academy and Magdalene Girls High School, do you want to come?"
The name sounded familiar. It was Anika's school. A brilliant plan brewed in his mind.
"Yes, dad. Buona notte," Luca told his father as he turned around.
He walked into his room and shut the door. He turned on his lava lamp and remembered what he said to her. He must have sounded so stupid but he'd fix that.
Song of the Hour - Moment by Aiden