And then there was me. Every day at breakfast, Chris, the boy who’d given me the eye on the plane, sauntered past and made some stupid comment or tried to get my attention by throwing bits of croissant at me. Not a very impressive way of getting attention in my book. No way was I interested in him. I liked Teddy, but I wasn’t sure what was happening with him. I thought he fancied me, but nothing. Not even a peck on the cheek. It was weird. After all the anxiety about Tony trying it on all the time, now I was worried about a boy who didn’t want to try at all. I tried to tell myself that it didn’t matter. Nothing could come of it anyway and I’d had a brilliant week exploring some of the places around Florence with the school.
We’d spent Monday touring the churches and palaces in Florence, and then on Tuesday we’d been out to Siena which is a medieval town built on three hills. Nesta got in trouble there as it was an unusually warm day for the time of year and she went into one of the churches in a tiny tank top. The man on duty gave her a filthy look, then handed her a sort of paper pinny to wear to cover herself up. Course, she had to have her photo taken in front of one of the churches with it over her head like a mad nun. The place I liked the best there was the Piazza del Campo. It’s a huge square built on a slope in the middle of the town and, twice a year, they hold a famous horse race there called the Palio. Horses race round the outside of the square while up to thirty thousand people stand in the middle to watch. Don’t think I’d like to be there for that. I’d get squashed and wouldn’t see a thing.
On Wednesday we visited Lucca, which was a lovely quiet place. It’s surrounded by a high wall and you can only get in through one of six enormous gates. Inside, people tend to get about by bicycle as cars aren’t allowed, and we hired bikes and rode round the track on top of the city wall. It was a great way to see it all and much more relaxing than Siena which was hard work because, being on a hill, some of the streets were very steep. The bike ride also made a nice change from yet another church. They were beginning to blur in my head and I couldn’t remember which church or cathedral was where.
My favourite trip was to a place called San Gimignano on Thursday morning, and it was there that I felt like I’d really fallen in love with Italy. Like Lucca, cars weren’t allowed in and the only way in was through one of two great gates in a ginormous wall. TJ told me that it was nicknamed the Medieval Manhattan because there were thirteen towers there, and that there used to be seventy towers in the old days. Apparendy people used to build them to show that they were rich and successful. The higher the tower, the richer you were. It was smaller than Siena and Lucca and only had two squares, but I really liked the atmosphere. You could really imagine how it must have been in the past. Narrow streets lined with shops led to the main squares and, in one of them, there was a lovely church with stunning frescoes. TJ told me that some of the movie Tea With Mussolini had been filmed in there. We went up a tower in the centre of the town and from there was the most wonderful view of the Tuscan countryside. San Gimignano is on a hill so we were high up before we ascended the tower but, once up, we could see for miles in all directions. Rolling green hills, cyprus trees stretched out in front of us with the occasional dot of a farm or villa. It looked magical, like a painting. I felt as though I was standing on the threshold of my whole life, looking out on the beginning of endless possibilities. I really, really want to travel, I decided. See as much as I can while I can.
‘I’m totally frescoed out,’ said Izzie, as we travelled back from our Friday trip to a winery and yet another church on the outskirts of Florence.
‘Me too,’ said Nesta. ‘I’ve got art coming out of my ears.’
‘Yeah right,’ I said, laughing. I hadn’t noticed Nesta or Izzie taking too much notice of the art as we visited places. The boys from our hotel had done all the same tours as us and they’d spent all the time they could hanging out with them.
As we got off the coach, Mrs Elwes announced that we were to be allowed an evening out on our own as long as we stayed in groups.
‘Call Teddy and let him know,’ said Nesta. ‘We can all go out. We’ll cover for you as Mrs Elwes and Mr Johnson will think that you’re with us.’
‘I want to go out with Jay,’ said Izzie, ‘so can you cover for me too?’
‘No prob,’ said Nesta. ‘TJ and I had planned to hang out with the boys anyway. We can say we were all together.’
Half an hour later, the girls escorted me to the PonteVecchio, the bridge where I had arranged to meet Teddy.
He was already waiting for me when I arrived and I agreed to meet the girls back there after two hours.
At first, it felt strange to be on my own with him, wandering round unfamiliar streets in the dark and there wasn’t a whole lot to see as the shops were closed. After a while, he asked if I’d like to drive around some of the surrounding area. I nodded. Even though I’d only known him under a week, I could tell that he was trustworthy. Besides the girls knew where he was staying and had my mobile number, if he decided to kidnap me and sell me to the slave trade.
As we sat back in the leather seats in the limo, I longed to reach out and hold his hand, but I didn’t want to seem forward and I certainly didn’t want to feel an idiot if he wasn’t into it. The driver drove us out of Florence and up to a little town called Fiesole in one of the hills, where we got out and strolled along the lanes until we came to some steps. At the top of the steps, we sat on the wall and gazed out over the lights of Florence, twinkling away in the distance. He stood behind me and, for a moment, I thought he was going to put his arms round me. But he didn’t. It was beginning to drive me mad. I wondered if Izzie was right and he was gay. He did seem like a sensitive person and he dressed beautifully, in simple but well-cut clothes, the way a lot of gay people do.
‘Have you seen that film A Room With a View?’ he asked.
‘Yes. I saw it before I came out here.’ I had a quick flash of the night I’d watched it, wrapped in Tony’s arms before he got his attack of the wandering hands. For a moment, I felt sad and wished he was here with me looking out at the view, standing behind me and snuggling into my neck.
‘And do you remember the scene where Helena Bonham Carter’s character is in the poppy field and sees the boy she likes?’
‘I do.’ It was a really romantic scene – probably what got Tony going, I thought.
‘It was up here that it was filmed,’ said Teddy and at last he put his arms round me. ‘Do you remember the name of the character that Helena Bonham Carter played?’ he asked as he turned me round to face him.
I shook my head. ‘No.’
Teddy smiled. ‘It was Lucy. Her first time in Florence. The film was in the classic collection on the plane coming over here, so I thought I’d give it a watch seeing as it was set here. Then the first girl I meet when I get off the plane is called Lucy. Her first time in Florence. Kind of like fate or synchronicity or something.’ And then he kissed me.
After a few moments he leaned back. ‘I’ve been wanting to do that all week but, bit mad I know, I wanted to wait until I could bring you up here. Even though it was a sunny day in the movie and it’s dark now, I wanted our first kiss to be up here just like the movie.’
I felt really touched. It was the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for me. Tony may have got the DVD out for me, but wanting to play out a scene from it in exactly the same location, that’s cool. For a moment, I felt sad that it wasn’t Tony that I was sharing a kiss with, then I made myself focus back on the present. Tony’s moved on, I told myself. He’s doing God knows what with Andrea Morton in Devon. It’s over between us and I mustn’t let memories of him ruin what could be a perfect moment with someone new. Teddy wrapped me in his arms again and I snuggled in and pushed any thoughts of Tony away.
‘So what about the second kiss?’ I asked. ‘Where should that be?’
‘Anywhere you like,’ he said with a smile.
So we kissed in the lane going back to the square, in the square, in the car drivin
g back into Florence and again on the Ponte Vecchio. He was a really good kisser and I felt like I was in a movie. Maybe not A Room With a View as that was about Edwardian times, but it felt every bit as special.
By the time the girls came to collect me, I felt as though I was floating on air.
A Room With a View (1985)
Directed by James Ivory
Written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Based on the book by EM Forster
Starring: Helena Bonham Carter,
Julian Sands, Simon Callow
Denholm Elliott, Maggie Smith,
Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench
Chapter 13
Outsider
‘I’ve heard of love making you feel weird,’ said Nesta as I retched into the loo the following morning, ‘but this is taking it a bit far.’
‘Oh ha ha,’ I said weakly as another spasm of nausea hit my stomach.
‘Must have been that seafood pizza you had last night on the way back from the bridge,’ said Izzie as she leaned over the sink and soaked a flannel.‘I told you you should have had the four cheeses.’
The mention of food brought on a fresh wave of sickness and I had to bend over the loo again. This is not the view I had in mind when I came to Italy and certainly not how I envisaged spending my last day, I thought as I gazed at the white bowl beneath me.
‘Don’t . . . talk . . . about . . . food . . .’ I groaned.
‘I’ll go and get Mrs Elwes,’ said TJ, offering me a glass of water while Izzie put the wet flannel on my forehead.
Food poisoning, Mrs Elwes declared fifteen minutes later and I was put to bed with some tablets for my stomach and strict instructions not to get out of bed.
Izzie put her coat on ready for the trip. ‘I’m so sorry you’ll miss Pisa,’ she said.
I felt myself wanting to retch again. ‘Ugh. Please. Don’t mention pizza.’
‘No. Pisa. Pisa, where we’re going today,’ said Izzie.
I waved her away. ‘Pisa, pizza, whatever. I never want to see food again.’
I was hardly aware of the girls slipping out of the room and I must have dozed off as, the next thing I knew, it was eleven o’clock and I was alone in the room. I lay there for a while staring at the paint peeling off the ceiling, then climbed off the bunk and tried standing up. I definitely felt better. I looked at myself in the wardrobe mirror. A little pale, but it seemed like the worst of the sickness had passed. I climbed onto Nesta’s bed, lay down and flicked on the TV, but it was all in Italian. I attempted to have a shower, but the water was freezing. I tried to read, but it seemed like a waste to be in bed when I was on holiday so I decided to explore the hotel and see if anyone was about. The corridors were empty and the only sound was the hoover behind closed doors. Cleaning ladies were busy in the lounge, so no chance of hanging out there. In the end, I decided to go back to my room and call Teddy and see if he was free to act out more scenes from A Room With a View.
He wasn’t in his hotel so I tried his mobile.
‘Come and join me,’ he said after I’d explained why I wasn’t in Pisa with the others. ‘I’m at the station waiting to meet my stepsisters, Arianna and Cecilia. They’re on the train from Milan and I promised Dad that I’d meet them.’
‘You didn’t say you had sisters.’
‘They’re not my dad’s. Not blood sisters. They’re my stepmother’s kids from her previous marriage.’
‘Are you sure I won’t be in the way?’
‘Course not.You’ll like them. I’ll send the car for you.’
When I got out of the limo at the station, I began to feel ill again and wondered if going out had been a good idea. The station was heaving with people, dashing to get their train or meeting passengers. It felt overwhelming. I was about to turn back to the limo when I spotted Teddy by the ticket office.
‘Train should have been in ten minutes ago, but it was delayed,’ he said, as he took my arm and he led me towards the platforms. ‘Should be here in a moment though.’
I started to feel faint being among so many people who were all in a hurry and for a moment felt like I was going to fall over.
‘I’ll sit back here,’ I said as I spied a bench, ‘and catch you up in a moment.’
‘Sure you’re OK?’ asked Teddy. ‘You look kind of green.’
I nodded.‘It’s the new fashion. Green is the new black. I’ll be OK. Go. You don’t want to miss your stepsisters.’
I watched him make his way over to the platform as a train came in and, as its doors opened, people started spilling out on to the platform. I looked among them for two young girls, but couldn’t see any that were unaccompanied. Then I realised that he hadn’t told me how old they were. Maybe they were older than him.
A couple of blonde girls in jeans wandered down the platform. They walked straight past Teddy, so not them. Then a very fat girl and her skinny friend with frizzy hair, but no, not them. Then, oh no, I thought, as two stunning girls in tip-to-toe black got off the train. Hope it’s not them. They’re way too glamorous and I feel such a mess. They walked past Teddy, although one turned back to check him out. But no, not them. I felt a sigh of relief. Suddenly I heard someone call out Teddy’s name and he waved. Coming towards him were two tall girls who looked about eighteen. If the two previous girls had been stunning, these two were super stunning. As in mega. They looked like they’d just walked off the pages of one of my Italian Vogue magazines. One of them had wild, curly black hair almost down to her waist. She was wearing a pair of black jeans (with diamanté down the seams – it looked as if she had sprayed them on) and the highest pair of pointy boots I’d ever seen. Men were turning their heads to look at her. She kissed Teddy on both cheeks and he grinned back at her. The other girl held back a moment, then took her turn at the two kisses. She was classically beautiful with fabulous cheekbones and silver-blond hair pulled back in a high ponytail. Like her sister, she had high pointy boots on. It was hard to tell which was the oldest as they both looked so grown-up and self-assured.
‘Hey, I want you to meet someone,’ said Teddy, beckoning me to come forward. I stood up and shakily walked towards them. I felt like a midget peasant in my scruffy trainers, baggy jeans and unwashed hair. The girls towered over me and looked at Teddy quizzically.
‘Arianna, Cecilia, this is Lucy,’ he said. ‘She’s . . .’ He grinned at me. ‘What are you? A friend of mine. Yeah. She’s here on a school trip from England.’
‘Oh how fantastic,’ said Arianna, the dark-haired one. ‘You’re English. I love the English. Where are you from?’
‘London.’ I felt tiny compared to her. Pale. Uninteresting.
‘I know London well,’ continued Arianna. ‘Chelsea. Kensington. Mayfair. And Harvey Nichols. I love it. And the hotel we stayed in was divine. So quaint. Browns.You know it?’
I shook my head.
‘Which part do you live in?’ she asked.
‘Muswell Hill.’
She looked at her sister who shrugged.
‘Muswell Hill?’ asked Cecilia. ‘Where’s that?’
‘In the north.’
‘Ah. We didn’t go there.’Arianna put her arm through mine. ‘So you come with us back to the hotel? We can talk all about England.’
They plied Teddy with their luggage and he grinned sheepishly at me as the girls pulled him away towards the exit where the driver was waiting to take the bags.
I trotted along with them, feeling more and more like a child who was with grown-ups.
Once in the car, the girls began chatting away in Italian to Teddy. Just as they had perfect English accents when they spoke to me, he seemed to have a perfect Italian one when he spoke to them. I decided to make an effort to join in.
‘You speak great English,’ I said to the girls. ‘And you speak great Italian,’ I said to Teddy. ‘Do you speak other languages?’
‘French, German . . .’ said Arianna.
‘Spanish and a little Russian,’ said Cecilia. ‘How about
you?’
I was beginning to feel more and more inadequate and wished I hadn’t asked. ‘Um. Double Dutch,’ I offered.
The girls looked at me with a puzzled expression.
‘She’s joking,’ said Teddy. ‘It’s like slang.’
‘Oh, OK. Double Dutch. Cool,’ said Arianna.
‘You speak Italian?’ asked Cecilia.
‘A little . . .’ I said, praying that she wouldn’t ask me to say anything. ‘Where’s the loo?’ was about as much as I’d learned.
‘But how rude of us,’ said Arianna. ‘Speaking in Italian. We must speak English.’
She’s a nice girl, I thought. She can see that I can’t understand a word of what they were saying in Italian and is trying to include me. Beautiful and nice and sophisticated and speaks a load of languages. As they chatted about England in an attempt to include me, I realised that the England they knew was not the same as the England I inhabited. Private schools. Private cinemas. Private parties. Polo matches in Windsor. Ascot. Restaurants I’d never heard of. They were like the girls Nesta met when she went out with a rich boy last year. Girls who move in different circles. Circles with lots of money. I felt like a complete outsider and at a loss for anything to say. Asking if they knew Marks and Spencer on the Broadway in Muswell Hill just wasn’t an option.
This isn’t good, I thought, I feel excluded when they speak Italian and even more excluded when they talk in English about England. I mean, Ascot. I haven’t been to Ascot. Or shopped in Joseph in Knightsbridge. I’m out of my league here I thought, and I want to go back to my crumby hotel and crawl under the sheets. As the limo drove on, I couldn’t stop staring at the girls as they chatted away. They eventually gave up on me and reverted back to their native tongue. They were everything, I thought I wanted to be. International women of sophistication and experience. I could never be like them, I thought. Not on the pocket money I get and this being my first time abroad.
Mates, Dates and Great Escapes Page 9