Getting the Boot

Table of Contents

 

 

When in Rome

At home, Kelly had spent hours looking at Rome websites (or the cute Roman guys on them, anyway), and now, from the bus, she recognized the jagged ruins of the Colosseum, Rome's ancient stadium. She hoped it would be as impressive in real life as it looked online.

The bus turned through a set of iron gates with a brass sign posted on them: PROGRAMMA INTERNAZIONALE DI ROMA. The building wasn't enormous, but it was impressive: four stories high, in reddish stucco with lighter-colored details around the tall, arched windows framed with green shutters.

“It's even prettier than the pictures in the brochure,” Kelly said. “Check out that terrace over there. That'll be the perfect place for sunbathing and soaking up the scenery.”

“Or reading,” Sheela said.

Kelly sighed. “You can't tell me we've just flown four thousand miles so you can stick your head in a book and ignore a view like this.”

“Okay, okay. For once, I'm totally with you,” Sheela answered. “This is absolutely beautiful.”

Spontaneously, the girls reached out and squeezed each other's hands. They had arrived.

SPEAK

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Published by Speak, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2005

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eISBN : 978-1-101-15706-0

 

 

 

 

Turbulence jolted Kelly Brandt out of a deep sleep as the captain announced their initial descent into Rome's Fiumicino Airport. Almost there! She looked at the view out the airplane window, expecting a fairy-tale scene below her. Instead, the neat squares of fields looked surprisingly like the Illinois farmland they had passed over on their takeoff from O'Hare.

Kelly could almost feel the Italian sunshine hitting her face. Rome was going to be awesome—delicious food, tons of culture, and shopping, shopping, shopping! She pictured handsome gondoliers rowing down moonlit canals past chic Romans wearing cutting-edge European fashions. And there was absolutely no such thing as a bad slice of pizza. Who could live there and not end up worldly, sophisticated, and glamorous? She would return home in three months' time, a vision in flame-red lipstick and couture clothes, throwing around endearments like
cara
and
bella
without sounding like a pretentious ass.

Kelly yawned loudly and stretched her arms over her head, wondering just how long she had slept. Judging from the thick novel in her friend Sheela's lap—now halfway read—it had been quite a while. Kelly had sorely needed the rest.

The night before, her best friends, Starr and Tyffani, had thrown her a going-away party. Starr Santoro was legendary for throwing the best parties; she always attracted the hottest crowd, found the best DJs, and made kids from all over the area beg for invites. Going to a Starr party was like going to an exclusive club: If you didn't have the right look or know the right people, you couldn't get through the door. And the party she threw for Kelly's last night home had topped them all.

Normally, Sheela would never have made the invite list, and she wouldn't have cared a bit. But Kelly had insisted that Starr include her, and had begged Sheela to come along. Sheela would, after all, be Kelly's only tie to home once they got to Italy; it was key that the girls get along this summer.

Kelly had known Sheela Ramaswamy forever. Their dads had roomed together in college, and their families still got together every so often on weekends. Even though their crowds didn't mix much in school, the girls had a history that kept them together.

Sheela and Kelly had been inseparable in elementary school, but things changed in junior high. Kelly got braces, made it onto the dance team, and landed a plum role in the school play. All of a sudden she was surrounded by a tight new circle of friends, and had more and more excuses for spending less and less time with Sheela.

By the time they started high school, Sheela was every parent's dream—and every party girl's nightmare. She was responsible and mature, got fantastic grades, and stayed out of trouble. Instead of enjoying being sixteen and single with a spanking-new driver's license, Sheela was wasting the best years of her life on moldy books and the math team. If Kelly could convince her to loosen up and have some fun, maybe there was hope that they'd have a blast together in Italy.

When the two girls walked into the party, Starr and Tyff hugged Kelly as if it had been months, not hours, since they'd seen her.

“Our guest—
guests
—of honor have arrived!” Starr announced, ushering them in the door. “So Kel, are you ready for
bella
Roma?”

“The question is, is Roma ready for us?” Kelly laughed.

“Love your hair, Sheela,” Tyff said, smiling at her.

Sheela's hand flew up to her head self-consciously. “Thanks. Kelly did it for me. And my makeup.”

“Well, no wonder it looks fabulous,” Starr said over her shoulder as she and Tyff ran off to greet some new arrivals.

“Since when do your buddies even know I exist, much less shower me with compliments?” Sheela whispered to Kelly.

“Since I told them that you have a pierced nipple and your boyfriend's name tattooed on your butt, and that that's why you're so shy about taking your clothes off in gym.”