Getting the Boot (5 page)

“Good guess, Kelly,” Andrea said. “Anyone else?”

Lisa's hand shot up. “Hercules, son of Zeus,” she said smugly.

“That's correct,” Andrea said. She went on to explain the temple's history, but Kelly was too embarrassed to pay attention. It was only when the group stepped inside a second little building that Kelly realized she recognized it. “
Roman Holiday
!” she burst out. Everybody looked at her like she was nuts, except for Andrea, who smiled.

“You're absolutely right. Has anyone else seen the movie?” A couple of kids raised their hands sheepishly. Kelly silently thanked her parents for renting it the night she finally got her acceptance letter from the S.A.S.S. program.

“Why don't you tell everyone what it was about?”

Kelly used her practiced, drama-club voice. “It's about this teen princess visiting Rome who gets sick of being royalty and runs away. Since she's really chic and beautiful, naturally she attracts the attention of a hot young reporter, who takes her all over the city. Then, of course, they fall in love.”

Kelly finished, looked up at Joe through her thick eyelashes, and smiled. For the first time all day, she felt smart.

“This is the Bocca della Veritá, or the Mouth of Truth.” Andrea pointed to the fierce stone face mounted on the wall. “It's most likely a two-thousand-year-old manhole cover, but medieval legend had it that if a liar stuck his or her hand into the mouth, it would get snapped off by this guy's jaws.” She stuck her hand in the mouth and yelled in alarm. A couple of kids jumped. “That's what freaked out Audrey Hepburn in
Roman Holiday
, and it probably still freaks out at least one person every single day.” She removed her untouched hand and laughed.

As the group filed out of the portico, Joe grabbed Kelly's arm to hold her back. He placed her hand inside the Mouth of Truth.

“So, Kelly”—Joe leaned toward her—“do you have a boyfriend?”

Kelly laughed. That was another question she knew she could answer.

“Not yet,” she said, and they both smiled.

Classes were starting the next day, and Kelly had convinced Sheela to go shopping with her for school supplies. In the first hour, Kelly bought an adorable pair of strappy sandals (no heels this time!) and a baby tee from a street vendor that said CIAO on it. When Sheela finally pointed out to her that neither strictly qualified as a “school supply,” Kelly relented and agreed to go into a stationery store.

The first thing Kelly grabbed was a handful of brightly colored pens. “Aren't they perfect? I'm getting a different color for each class. That way all my notes will be organized.”

“Speaking as your oldest friend and roommate,” Sheela said, “it's going to take a lot more than colored pens to keep you organized.”

“Well, whatever. Maybe the bright colors will keep me from nodding off in history.”

Kelly scanned her class schedule to see what else she needed. She had assured her parents she would work hard this summer, and it was important that her course load look serious. But she was hoping looks could be a little bit deceiving; she wanted to fit in as much fun as possible. Unless students specifically wanted school credit, math and science were optional. This suited Kelly just fine; she would rather have scrubbed toilets all summer than dealt with math equations. Kelly liked to draw, so she had chosen Introduction to Art History and Studio Arts; it was an added bonus that Andrea, her new favorite teacher, taught both. She was also pleased to discover that Marco the cute professor was her Beginning Italian teacher. She had rounded things out with the History of Ancient Rome, which Dr. Wainwright and Steve were teaching together.

Sheela was busy loading up on notebooks and folders for what seemed to Kelly like dozens of courses. Back home, Sheela only took accelerated classes, and things were no different in Italy: Sheela had approached class selection like a starving person at a buffet. She enrolled in everything from ancient history to volcanology. And instead of a fun elective, she chose Latin.

Sheela consulted a long list. “I still need to swing by a bookstore to pick up some books for Orations.”

“What's Orations?”

Sheela smiled. “It's a nerd thing; you wouldn't understand. After that, wanna head back? I'm starving.”

Kelly collected her pens and notebooks, and threw some colored pencils and a large drawing pad onto her stack, too—sketching in the park seemed like a good way to meet the locals.

“Hey, how about a gelato?” she asked Sheela as she paid for her things. “I still owe you one, remember?”

Sheela grinned. “It's about time. I've been waiting for it since we landed!”

 

 

Two gelatos and an hour of people-watching later, Kelly and Sheela dropped their shopping bags on the floor of their room.

“Why is shopping with you so exhausting?” Sheela said, collapsing on her bed.

“When you shop with a master, the pleasure is worth the pain,” Kelly replied.

“Not to me. I'm ready to pass out.”

Kelly launched a pillow at Sheela's head just as someone knocked on the door of their suite. She jumped up to answer it, narrowly escaping Sheela's counterattack.

“Hey, babe,” Joe said when Kelly opened the door.

Kelly's heart flopped. “Hey yourself.”

“Rod and I are hanging out in the lounge, having a little preclass celebration. Wanna join us?”

Kelly shot a glance back at Sheela, who had pointedly buried her nose in one of her new book purchases. There was no hope for social entertainment there.

Joe nodded toward Sheela. “Do you really want to spend your last night before class watching her study?”

Kelly turned back to Joe with a smile. “What's in it for me?”

“Come and find out. I dare you.”

 

 

Rodney was playing his guitar when they walked into the lounge. He offered Kelly a water bottle. “Want some?”

Kelly put the bottle to her lips, then put it down again. “Ew, what is this? It smells like turpentine.”

Joe laughed. “Grappa. It's great—it'll knock you flat on your ass.”

“When you put it that way, it sounds so appealing. I think I'll pass.” Kelly curled up on the couch and watched Joe pull a guitar out of its case. “I didn't know you played.”

“I guess I'm full of surprises,” Joe said.

Joe didn't just play—he was seriously talented. And he and Rod made a good team, improvising and riffing off each other. Kelly shouted out requests, feeling like she had a front-row seat at her own private concert. She was so wrapped up in the music she lost track of time.

It seemed like only minutes later that she was awakened by a hand tussling her hair. “Rise and shine.” Joe was kneeling beside her.

Kelly sat up abruptly, instinctively patting her messy hair. The lights in the lounge had been dimmed and the building was absolutely quiet. “What time is it?”

Joe grinned. “Four.”

“Four A.M.?” Kelly cried, shooting off the couch. “Oh, my God! Classes start in four hours.”

“Relax,” Joe said, rubbing her shoulders. “You slept for a couple of hours down here. You'll be fine.”

“I won't be fine. If I wake up Sheela coming into the room, she'll kill me.”

“Bore you to death, more like it. Come on, I'll walk you upstairs.”

Outside her door, Kelly turned to Joe. “I think I'd better be careful—I have a feeling you could be a bad influence on me.”

Joe leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the lips. “Yup, and you're gonna love every minute of it.”

Bleep! Bleep! Bleep!
Oh God, not again. Sheela's travel alarm was obviously broken. Kelly peeked at her own clock: 8 A.M. . . . EIGHT A.M.! She was late for the first day of classes! She was supposed to be in Marco's Italian class right now! Sheela, Minnie, and Lisa were long gone. The least they could have done was wake her up before they left! She jumped out of bed and ran across the hall to the bathroom.

Kelly tore off her T-shirt and shorts and turned on the shower. She'd just rinse off. She didn't have time to wash her hair; she was late enough as it was. She jumped into the shower and lathered up as fast as she could, which was next to impossible with the freaky shower nozzle. It was on a metal hose that reminded her of the dish rinser in a kitchen sink. To get clean, she had to lather up with one hand while holding the hose in the other hand. She had one side successfully soapy when the hose slipped out of her hand. The nozzle spun around and blasted a shot of water right into her face. So much for having a good hair day. By the time she finished showering, her normally shiny, bouncy hair was limp and stringy.

At least being damp cooled her off for a few minutes. It was too hot in the un-air-conditioned bathroom to blow-dry her hair, so Kelly staggered back to her little room to do her makeup and choose her outfit. She went to grab a top out of her extra suitcase, only to remember that it had been banished to the storage room. She'd been stowing it behind the couch in the common room until one of the little traitors in her suite had complained to the janitor. Now every time Kelly needed something other than the absolute basics, she had to haul her sweaty rear down five flights of stairs, unlock her little cage, and rummage for clothes. It sucked.

She sighed. She had wanted to make a good impression her first day of classes. In fact, last night she had planned to pick out the perfect outfit. Now she'd have to work with whatever she could throw on the fastest.

On top of everything else, she was starving, and the cafeteria had stopped serving breakfast ages ago. As she picked up her books in the common room, she spied Lisa's jar of organic peanut butter on the table. Kelly looked around nervously and scooped out a big fingerful. It wasn't an Egg McMuffin, but it would keep her from zoning out in Marco's class.

She arrived at Beginning Italian out of breath and already sweaty. So much for the shower. She inched open the classroom door, hoping Marco would be too absorbed in his teaching to take notice. No such luck. He stepped over and swung the door open for her.

“Buon giorno, Signorina Brandt.”
Marco smiled warmly. “We're so glad you could join us.” His smile faded. “I'm always willing to excuse students who are late once. Twice, however, will be a very different story.”

“Sorry,” Kelly mumbled. With everyone watching, she dragged her sweaty, stringy-haired self to the nearest desk. This was not going to be her day.

 

 

That afternoon, Kelly counted her blessings as she emptied her book bag. Her classes had gone well, other than Marco's. And she had loads of time to make up for that. Kelly read a note, written in Sheela's precise script, that was sitting on her pillow. It said she was in the library studying with Jarvis, a boy from her Latin class. The tiny room was all Kelly's! She yawned luxuriously; maybe there was even time to get in a little sunbathing before dinner.

She had just changed out of her sweaty clothes when Lisa appeared in the doorway, her face twisted with rage and an open jar in her hand. Kelly's heart sank. Ever since they'd met, Kelly couldn't so much as blink without kicking off a Lisa lecture: Her makeup was tested on animals, her perfume was too strong, her opinions were superficial or just plain wrong.