Chapter 5 by Nina D.

Chapter 5

The next day went uneventfully, with everyone just chilling around the house. Before they went to bed, Gio told them what time church was in the morning. The girls got clothes ready that night. The next morning, of course, they did not want to wear what they had picked, so no time was saved after all. They all managed to be ready in time, miraculously(even Romeo), and headed off to the service.

They arrived at the little church, down in the city. As they walked in, the girls noticed that the congregation was mostly old people. The prelude was playing, and most of the people were sitting quietly, or whispering to each other. Over all the scene was meditative as the people seriously prepared their hearts for the service.

"This looks familiar" Eva whispered. Maria nodded.

Alex and his family sat nearby. Alex, his hair slicked and his collar looking a little too tight, glanced their way briefly. Gio led the way to a row of seats, and they all filed in and sat down. Romeo crashed into his seat, due to the fact he was staring at the piano and not watching where he was going. Francis glared at him. Romeo looked back, his big brown eyes innocent.

"Do you see the piano? It's really nice!" He whispered loudly. Francis nodded irritably and motioned for him to be quiet as the pastor stood up.

"Benevenuto! Welcome!" He began. The service was pretty normal. They sang some hymns. More than a few heads turned when Romeo began to sing, his powerful tenor voice echoing through the small room. Eva and Maria's soprano also stood out, though they made more of an effort to sing quietly. After the offering, the message began. The pastor spoke on  Romans 8:28 .

'and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose'

"This dosen't mean everythings going to be good all the time. It doesn't mean we'll never hurt. It means that through these things God is going to be orchestrating something so beautiful it will be worth it all in the end. Metal has to go through fire, pottery starts out as mud, paintings start out as blank canvas... and our sincursed lifes are the same. Stark, ugly things made glorious in God's Grace. Let us pray."

After the closing hymn, the congregation mingled, chatting. Eva and Maria, and the cousins as well, stood, somewhat awkward in the buzz of unknown people. Alex came over.

"What did you think?" He asked them.

"It was a wonderful message!" Maria exclaimed.

"I loved his illustration of our life's as God's artwork." Eva added softly. She was always quiet and reserved in crowds, and crazy bizarre at home where she was comfortable. But the majority of people probably would never guess that.

 Romeo gazed around unabashedly, despite Sofie's repeated injunctions to 'stop staring!!'. Francis stood in his typical fashion, his slightly bowed legs relaxed, his hands clasped behind his back, and his head cocked slightly as he observed his surroundings. Gio had been snagged by an old lady who was talking to him with great enthusiasm. Mrs. Guttuso was talking with a curious friend who wanted to know all about the guests- especially the strange Americanos. Ernie had disappeared. At last everyone was ready to go, and Ernie resurfaced suddenly.

"Sunday dinner!!!" Gio exulted as he got into his moms car, and the cousins into Romeo's.

"See you at the house!" He added in a cheerful voice as they pulled away.

"That was a great service! I love the piano- do you think they'd let me play it?" Romeo said as he drove along.

"Romeo, here's the thing. You have got to WATCH THE ROAD." Francis commanded his brother.

"I am!!" Romeo said as he stared over his shoulder at Francis, who just shook his head at him in disbelief.

"You're going to get us all killed one of these days" He prophesied dourly. Romeo just laughed at his tone.

"I know how to drive!" He informed Francis. Francis did not reply, but adjusted his seatbelt.

They made it back to the Guttuso's home safely though, and headed inside to the delicious smell of Mrs. Guttusos Sunday cena- a wonderful meat sauce that had been simmering while they were at church, some fresh spaghetti, bread, and nutella pastries. They sat and ate until they were stuffed- for the girls, this wasn't long, but the boys all ate an unbelievable amount. At last, everyone was satisfied.

"That. Was delicious." Francis thanked Mrs. Guttuso, respectful and polite as always- to adults.

"Oh, thank you, it was nothing," She replied in a weary tone that seemed to imply the opposite of her words. He smiled at her as he walked away. Gio threw himself on the couch with an unnecessary amount of drama.

"I am soooooo full." He moaned.

"Well, you ate enough." Eva remarked, somewhat under her breath. Gio looked injured.

"I'm a growing boy!" He defended himself.

"Growing is right!" Francis needled him, and Romeo jabbed him in the stomach.

"Oww!" Gio rolled into a ball and moved away. He glowered at Francis with reproachful eyes. Maria giggled.

"Everyone is soo mean to me." He joked, sitting back up, a safe distance from Francis,  Romeo, and Eva. To Maria's happiness, this placed him next to her. Sofie caught Maria's glance and rolled her eyes when Gio wasn't looking. Maria smiled back, her expression innocently asking 'What?' Sofie shook her head.

They turned the TV onto a soccer game, and watched that all afternoon, with great interest on all sides. Gio was the most vocal, however, his commentary even more thorough than the announcers and his cheering loud enough to be comparable to a whole stand of fans. Maria's ears were regretting her pleasure at sitting next to him. Ernie alone was silent, intently taking in the entire game with calm.

In the evening they went to church again. The evening service was, of course, more informal than the morning, and slightly more brief. Afterwards there was a fellowship time, which mainly centered around food- light(to Italian standards) dessert type refreshments and fruit. Eva and Maria were still stuffed, but the others, Gio particularly, ate another enormous helping.

"What?" He asked through a mouthful of food when he noticed Eva's gaze. She simply shook her head despairingly, to his surprise and slight concern. He shrugged.

"Again- he should be fat." Sofie murmured to Eva, when Maria wasn't listening. Eva nodded emphatically.

"He will be." She predicted in a foreboding tone. "he will be..." Sofie snickered.

 Maria turned"What?" She said brightly. The others grinned but didn't reply.

"What's so funny?" She demanded in a good natured tone. Eva laughed, and Sofie said,

"Oh nothing, trust me. it wouldn't be funny to you."

"Try me!" She protested. Sofie shrugged acquiescence.

"FIne- we were just imagining how fat Gio's going to be in 10 years." She stated. Maria's jaw dropped.

"Sofie!"

Eva cracked up. Sofie stared at her with disbelief and some amusement.

"Eva?" Eva simply buried her head in her lap, completely helpless and shaking with laughter. A few people glanced her way with skeptical looks. Francis and Maria simply looked affectionate, though and Romeo didn't seem to think anything of it. Ernie had gone off with his friend(another bespectacled kid whom he had introduced as Zac), so he missed the entire episode. Gio looked a bit annoyed.

"What is the matter?" he questioned, suspiscious that this may come back to his eating habits again.

 Eva just laughed even harder. Francis began to chuckle too, and Maria joined him wearily.

"It's nothing, Gio.. I think we're all just overtired." She assured him. He was not convinced. Eva was at last beginning to subside, slowly, as she repeatedly would start laughing again just as she was managing to desist. Finally, she sat back up.

"Ugh, my mascara." She said despondently, wiping her eyes and looking embarrassed.

"You should wear waterproof." Sofie told her. Maria nodded agreement.

"That washes off too hard." Eva negated this suggestion. She glanced over at Gio, who was still stuffing his face while watching her with a bemused expression. She choked.

"Don't," Maria put a warning hand on her shoulder. With a valiant effort, Eva contained herself, and sat primly the rest of the evening. Gio was officially weirded out, while Romeo and Francis didn't seem overly concerned, nor did Maria and Sofie. Mrs. Guttuso finally came over.

"Ok, kids, it's time to head home," She said in her typical depressed tone. Mr. Guttuso came behind her with a visibly reluctant Ernie in tow.

"We weren't done!" he was protesting.

"You're just fine." His dad said as they all headed outside. It was a beautiful summer evening, and a slight breeze was blowing in from the direction of the sea.

"Ahh." Maria breathed. "I want to take a walk!"

"We can at home if you want." Gio offered. Maria brightened.

"Oh, yes please!" She eagerly said. Gio smiled.

"Sure. See you there!" he grinned out the window. the breeze rumpled his curls as they moved off.

Maria sighed. Too much. She absently got into the car, not hearing Sofie's repeated voice. She was startled out of her revery by a jab in the ribs.

"Ow!"

"Did you not hear me???" Sofie asked her testily.

"Sorry, no!" Maria apologized. "What did you say?"

"Never mind..." Sofie turned to Romeo.

"Why aren't you driving?" Maria asked in surprise. Romeo looked dejected.

"Francis wouldn't let me. Even though it's my car!" He leaned forwards suddenly and bopped poor unsuspecting Francis on the head.

"Oww!!" he shrieked, swerving abruptly. Romeo laughed triumphantly.

"Who's the bad driver?" He crowed. Francis glared ahead over the steering wheel.

"Who's the dummy who distracts the driver??" Sofie interjected.

"Please?" Maria sighed imploringly. Romeo looked guilty.

"Sorry."

They pulled into the Guttuso's driveway. Gio was waiting outside, and after a moment they noticed Ernie too. He was on his hands and knees under the shrubs. The looked at Gio questioningly. He just grinned embarrassment and shrugged. Ernie stood up.

"Caterpillar." He announced, then disappeared into the house to jar it.

"Oh, I want to see," Eva followed him, and quickly reappeared.

"It's really gross looking." She informed them. Ernie was close behind her.

"Ok, let's go." They walked along down the street.

The ancient houses glowed orange in the golden light of the sun, and the tree tops looked tie dyed with the sunset colors. Here and there you could catch sight of the sea, and the tops of the city buildings, contrasting with the old architecture of Montecivillo. Maria was blissful. Gio strolled beside her, perfecting the whole scene.

The cousins were a little behind them, chattering(mainly Romeo), and Ernie was just ahead, moving back and forth rather erratically. It took Maria a moment to realize he was collecting bits of trash and cool rocks.

"It's pretty nice here, huh?" Gio asked her in a tone of quiet musing.

'His voice is so amazing' Maria thought.

"It's perfect." She said aloud, although her meaning went a bit deeper than the words. Gio didn't know this of course.

"Yeah." He lapsed back into silence. Maria allowed herself the brief thought of how lovely it would be to walk here hand in hand with... someone. She shook her head at herself chidingly and dismissed the thought quickly.

"You speak English really well." She said after a moment. Gio smiled.

"Thank you... I enjoy learning languages. I'm fairly fluent in Spanish as well. I want to learn French too."

"Oui!" Maria laughed. "I love languages too!" She continues with excitement. "Obviously I'm learning Italian-"

"You're doing great by the way!" Gio praised. Maria blushed.

"Aw, thanks... I just really enjoy it. And it's not hard, for me. I want to learn Spanish too, and french. I'm fluent in American Sign Language and Ancient Greek..." She said.

"What? Cool! I could help you with Spanish while you're here. Italian too." Gio offered.

"Really?" Maria delightedly. "I'd love that!"

"Sure! We can start tomorrow if you want!" Gio was pleased.

Maria smiled at him, then looked off into the distance, where the sun had set into a dull red. The colors of the buildings has changed from brilliant orange to a dull purple, heralding the coming of twilight. Above in the winey sky, a few stars were just starting to twinkle. Maria walked along, lost in thought, until Gio broke into her meditation.

"We'd better head back, it's getting kind of dark, and....uh I think we lost the others."

Maria turned, startled. "Wait, what? Where are they?" She looked around. Her sister, cousins and Ernie were no where in sight. "Uhhhh..."

"Yeah." Gio said awkwardly. "I didn't notice they were gone until they were gone." He added a bit lamely.

"Oh, well we should probably find them." Maria headed back in the direction of the house. Gio followed. They saw no signs of the missing persons, until suddenly they heard voices down a little side street leading out into a field. Gio and Maria went towards the sound.

 At the end of the cobblestones, it opened suddenly into a dirt road that disappeared into a waving field. The little group was sitting on the grass, more blue than green in the half light. Ernie was chasing fireflies. The others were looking at the stars. Maria shook her head at her family, but looked with pleasure at the scene. Gio walked over to them.

"There you are!" He exclaimed, flinging himself on the ground beside Romeo, who smiled at him pleasantly.

"Why, did you think we were lost?" He questioned.

"You were lost." Gio said.

"That depends on your point of view," Francis cut in."From our perspective, you were technically the lost ones. We knew exactly where WE were."

 Gio frowned. "Well we didn't know where you were." He protested. "And we didn't know if you knew where you were... either." He looked slightly confused. Francis shrugged.

"Well either way. Here we are." He looked up at the dark sky. His dark eyes glistened as they reflected the twinkling stars, and looked like a new galaxy of their own.

"Well, you know, we should probably head home." Gio suggested. Eva, lying on her back staring absently upward, craned her head backward to look at him. He glanced down at her upside down face.

"What?" He asked, at her odd look. Eva blinked. Her eyes drifted back towards where the moon was rising, and she sighed, then sat up.

"Let's go," She commanded, suddenly on her feet. Romeo groaned beseechingly, but it was no use. It was time to go back to the house, despite the golden moon and gentle breeze, the sounds of the crickets and frogs, and the flickering of the fireflies. Ernie had managed to catch one and was cupping it with utmost gentleness in his slender hands.

"I will put it in a jar," he told them, wide eyed, "and keep it in my room."

"It will die, Ernie."

"I'll let it go free after I watch it blink." He said, trailing off towards the Guttuso's stone house. They all walked along, their voices somewhat hushed in the dimness. The warm light of the windows shone like the beckon of a loving voice. Gio held open the door and they all reluctantly went in.

That night, Maria wrote in her book,

"Summer nights are almost as beautifully sad as anything I can think of. They seem so long, but when they are over, it seems too soon. And you can never get it back, no matter how many more you live, that one is gone forever. Sunk with the moon over the horizon."

She stood for a moment by the open window, holding the fluttering curtains away with one hand and gazing over the moonlit village.  She took a deep breath of the warm air, then exhaled wistfully and climbed into bed. She listened to the deep steady breathing of the completley still Sofie and the fitful, sharp breaths of Eva, who tossed about constantly.

At last Maria, lulled by the breeze and the  crickets, slipped into her own peaceful, sighing sleep.





by Nina D.

Next week a missionary who used to work in Italy is coming to our church. I want to pick his brain for every thing about Italy I can think of-but I probably will not dare. I plan to try though. However, if he says anything about the Church services being different I will update!!:)
As always tell us what you think:) I really love hearing from you- it's so encouraging!! <3

Chapter 4- Pizza!! by Nina and Ryn

(photo not mine)



CHAPTER 4
The next morning,  when everyone had arrived at breakfast, Gio asked what everyone wanted to do.

"I need to prove to Ernie that I can beat him on Mario Kart." Romeo said seriously, but with a kindly sparkle in his brown eyes. Thankfully Ernie didn't notice this, he would have felt patronized.

"Oh, you two don't need to play video games all day, the weather is lovely." Mrs. Guttuso protested.

Ernie scowled and seemed about to speak, but a glance from his father changed his mind. Romeo shrugged amicably.

"Ok!" He said, taking a bite of his breakfast.

"Why don't you all just take time and get to know each other?" Mrs. Guttuso asked. The young people looked at each other.

'way to make things awkward, mama!' Gio groaned mentally.

"On our first day in Chiaro, we just drove around and chatted." Maria suggested. "You could show us around your town!"

Gio smiled."That's a good idea!" He said.

 Maria didn't appreciate the way her treated her as so much younger than him. However, she only smiled in return and took a bite of nutella toast.

"Well it's decided." Mrs. Guttuso said. "Good"

Mr. Guttuso said nothing, but smiled with amusement as he put his dishes on the counter.

"I'll see you all later." He picked up his briefcase and coat. "Have fun." He added as he went through the door. Francis watched it shut with an unusually apprehensive expression. Eva watched him,with a slight smirk hovering on her lips. Gio finished his breakfast.

"So, are you all ready to go?" He asked

"I'm still in my pajamas." Ernie said flatly. Gio leaned over to look at his clothes, then laughed.

"Oops, sorry I didn't notice. Ok how about we try to leave by 10, sound good?"

"Sure." Romeo answered for everyone. The girls headed upstairs to get ready, and the boys followed shortly after.

At 5 after 10(due to Romeo not being able to find one sneaker, which turned out to be in the closet where he left it), they headed out. Gio's tiny town was close to a little city beside the sea, so there was a bit more to see than in Chiaro.

"Ok, I'll save the best for last... we'll go down to the beach to start and work our way back up." Gio said, as the drove down towards the city. They passed a few interesting stores, of which Maria and Sofie made mental notes.

The beach was much more inspiring than the beach in Chiaro. A nice bath house stretched along the edge of the sand, and umbrellas and towels looked even brighter against the blue water. There was enough people to make it exciting without being a crowd.

"Well, this is nice." Sofie commented as they got out. Romeo looked around.

"It's bigger than our beach," He pointed out unnecessarily. Maria smiled at him, while Eva struggled to hide a smirk, and Sofie rolled her eyes.

They walked to the edge of the water. Maria and Sofie dipped their toes in the water, wading for a bit. The others waited on the edge. After a few moments, they were all ready to go- it really wasn't warm enough for the beach anyways. Gio drove them past his church, the library and the grocery store-

"Exciting" Francis said gravely as they paused in the parking lot.

Without responding, Gio turned dramatically in his seat.

"And now, as I said, I've saved the best for last. We now go to the most important place in town- you guys are hungry, right?"

"Sure!" Romeo replied.

"Not just you, Romeo- anyone else? I promise its something good"

"I'm hungry, too." Said Maria, looking with hungry eyes at the Nutella ad in the store window.

"Well, ok then, lets go." Gio drove off again, back up the hill towards the little stone town. About halfway there, he turned down a side street. After another minute of driving, he stopped in front of a quaint, well kept building. He stared at it in almost reverent silence. The others, unsure of how to respond, did the same. Finally, he got out of the car, and everyone else did too.

"Behold," He broke the (now awkward) silence- " Gian Franco's pizzeria."

Marias face lit up.

"Pizza?!!"

Gio smiled. "Yes. Really,really good pizza."

Maria laughed, "Oh my goodness, Pizza is practically my boyfriend, I love it so much!"

"Same here- its my girlfriend, I mean." Gio paused and shook his head, "anyways, come on. I'll introduce you to Alex. He's one of my best friends- and his dad's the owner."

"Ahha..." Francis said, in a tone of comprehension.

 Gio glance at him with narrowed eyes, but continued walking. He held the door with a flourish and usher them through.

Inside, the smell was heavenly. Cheesy, doughy, saucey... Maria closed her eyes for one moment and breathed in in- then crashed into a chalkboard sign, which fell to the floor and shattered. Her eyes flew open.

"Oh no!!" Her face turned scarlet, "I am so sorry,  I-"

"It's ok," Gio said, his tone roughly equivalent to patting a crying tot on the head. A curly haired youth appeared around a corner. He took in the situation.

"I figured it was you, Gio." He said after a moment's silence.

"What, you hear a crash and assume its me? Ouch, Alex!" Gio kidded. Maria stepped forward.

"It was me, actually. I'm sorry, I can pay for the sign." She said, slightly reluctant. Alex glanced at her. Their eyes met for a second before Alex blushed.

"It's ok, you don't have to do that," He said awkwardly. Maria thought she heard a snicker behind her, but Francis did have a cough, so maybe that was all it was. After a brief pause, Alex offered to seat them. He led them to a nice big booth in the corner.

"Ok, I'll be back in a few minutes..." He headed off to fetch a broom to clean up the shattered sign. Maria winced.

"Don't feel bad," Gio comforted her. She smiled(slightly forcedly), and picked up her menu. His attitude was bugging her slightly, but she couldn't quite be annoyed with someone that handsome.
After a quick perusal, she decided to just try their original pizza to start with, then glanced around to observe the pizzeria.

It wasn't very large, it was cozy. Painted in warm shades, with painting on the wall, and rough, homey beams. Old music was playing at just the right volume, and the animated buzz of talking Italians completed the picture.

"I love this place." Maria murmured, half to herself. Sofie banged her menu down.

"Me too." She stated. "pick what you're getting yet?" She added amicably.

"their original one," Maria said. "You?"

"Same." She replied. Romeo looked up at them over his menu.

"I think I'm probably allergic to all this." He said, his brown eyes rather tragic.

"Aw," Maria laughed sympathetically. "There must be something?"

"Maybe these cheesy garlic breadsticks, just minus the cheese and the garlic." He said, after glancing back at the menu for a minute.

"Oh, well... there you go." Maria said. He smiled, equanimity apparently restored to his soul.
Just then, Alex came back over.

"Ok, are you all ready to place your order?" He asked, pulling a notebook from his apron.

"I think we are," Gio said, looking around questioningly. At their agreement, he ordered his own, "the way I always have it." Romeo ordered his non garlic and cheese cheesy garlic breadsticks. Francis ordered salad. Eva was still having a very difficult time deciding, so he moved to Ernie.

"Do you have worm pizza?" He asked suddenly. Alex looked startled.

"Uh, no." He said. Ernie looked mildly disappointed.

"Well, I'll have chicken pizza then." He conceded. Looking slightly disturbed, Alex wrote this down. Maria and Sophie had decided to share their pepperoni pizza.

"Eva?" Maria questioned. Francis glanced down at his struggling cousin.

"I can't make up my mind..." She said, looking frantically up and down the columns of food.

"Get a salad," He suggested mildly.

"I hate eating those in public," She admitted without looking up.

"How about vegetable pizza?" Maria prodded.

"Yes, that sounds good- but..."

"She'll take a small vegetable pizza." Francis and Maria said at the same time. Maria scowled at Francis, who shrugged apologetically. Alex went off to start their orders, and the group sat and began to chat. Eva leaned back, relieved to have her selection crisis solved.

"SO," Gio began, "What do you guys have for hobbies?" He smiled at the girls.

"I already told you!" Romeo said in surprise. Gio turned to him and smiled pointedly. Romeo, still perplexed, went back to doing complex math problems on his place mat. Ernie watched him with interest.

"Anyways." Gio resumed, expectantly. The girls looked back at him for a moment.

"Um." Maria tried to remember.

"Knocking things over, just kidding," Gio laughed. Maria blushed.

"Well, yes," She smiled, "But, um I love to sing, and write! And listen to music."

Of course Gio already knew all this, however he masterfully acted as though it was completely new information.

"Neat!" He said. "What about you..." He trailed off, staring at Eva.

"Eva," Francis snapped at him.

"Thank you, yes, I KNOW." Gio lied defensively. Eva eyed him for a moment.

"I like singing, drawing and painting." She said at last. Gio nodded, unsure of how to continue the conversation. Francis came to the rescue.

"So I noticed that you had some Shakespeare movie adaptations in your living room." He said

"Oh, those are my mom's," Gio dismissed them. Francis frowned.

"Oh. So you haven't watched them?"

"Ew no way, boriinggg. i like Action. You've seen Spiderman of course?"

"Actually no, I haven't," Francis said, disgusted at Gio's treatment of the Bard.

"WHat?????? You have to watch it. We can watch it tonight." Gio decided.

"Uh, no thanks." Francis declined, to Marias dismay.

"I love Spiderman!" She protested. Gio smiled.

"Good!" He said, "I'm glad one of you has some sense."

"Hm." Francis was extremely unimpressed by Gio's existence thus far. And he didn't have a lot of hope for this improving in the future. he sighed and sat back more comfortably.

"So how long does the pizza take?" He changed the subject.'

"Oh around 25 minutes. It's not too busy right now." He added, looking around. Just then Alex brought over some waters.

"Here you go," He said, shyly glancing at Maria and then spilling one water all over the relaxed Francis.

"Yow!!" He cried, leaping up. Ice clattered to the floor. Francis looked at Alex in indignation. Alex was appalled with himself.

"I am so sorry!!!" He exclaimed. Gio was amused.

"Al, what is up? In all the years you've worked here I've never seen you make a mistake!"

"There's always a first time," Francis grumbled, brushing himself off, grimacing at his wet clothes, then sitting back down.  Alex, his ears scarlet, hurried off to get the broom-again.

"Well, that makes me feel a little less embarrassed about breaking the sign!" Maria laughed.

"Well, good, you shouldn't be embarrassed anyway."Gio assured her.

Alex hurried back over to clean up the mess he'd made. He narrowly missed smacking Francis in the head with the broom, with flustered him even further. He hurried away again. Gio watched calmly the entire time, then chuckled after he was gone.

"Wow," He commented," I have no idea whats come over him!" Eva and Sofie glanced significantly at each other, then at the oblivious Maria, but Gio missed their meaning completely.

"Huh," He finished the subject. then his eyes lit up, his face completely transfigured with joy. The others follOwed his gaze to the beautiful sight that had so affected him- Alex was coming with the pizza.

"Finally." Francis said ungraciously. Alex set down the food, with no mishaps.

"Enjoy!" he said wistfully, wishing he could join them.

"Why don't you join us?" Said Gio, reading his thoughts. Alex brightened.

"Are you sure? I'll go tell dad!" He said, rushing off once more.

"Interesting." Francis thoughtfully watched him go, then turned to Gio.

"Shall I bless the food?" He asked Gio.

"Sure." Gio replied.

Francis did so. When he had finished, Gio, before devouring his pizza, quipped,

"Bless the bunch that munch the lunch." He took a huge bite. "That's what my dad always says," He explained between chews. Alex breathlessly returned and sat down with a sandwich.

"So whats new for you?" Gio asked him. Alex shrugged.

"Not really. We've been playing around with the sauce recipe-"

"Don't change it. I mean it." Gio said seriously.

"We're not." Alex said resignedly. "I wish we were though. I'm so sick of it." He bit into his sandwich.

"How?" Gio was incredulous.

"If you had to make it, smell it, use it, eat it, breathe it and live it all day every day, you might be too." Alex said with unexpected vehemence.

"Wow. I never thought of that." Gio mused for a moment.

"So are you enjoying it here so far?" Alex asked the cousins bashfully.

"Oh, yes." Maria said. Alex smiled. Sofie snorted and choked on her water.

"You ok?"

"Yes."

"I love the houses here," Maria continued. "And the pizza is divine." She added. Alex blushed again.

"Thanks.." He murmured.

-commences to be written by Ryn 

"So do you live near here?" Maria continued, taking a bite of pizza.

"Right across the road actually," Alex answered bashfully.

"Oh that's nice," Maria replied lamely. Small talk could be so hard sometimes.

Gio glanced at Maria, realizing she was out of things to say.

"So..." He began. "What do you all say to coming over to my house and watching a movie tonight? Al, you could come and I could call Tad." Tad was the other of Gio's two best friends.

"That sounds perfect to me," Maria said. She hoped she didn't come across as flirty agreeing with everything Gio said. He was just always right, that was all.

"Well, shouldn't we make sure that's ok with your parents?" Eva questioned.

"Oh mom doesn't care. Just as long as we don't make a mess or too much noise. And as long as we're not up more than an hour past Ernie's bedtime." Gio dismissed. Eva didn't look convinced. Ernie frowned at his brother as he absentmindedly picked at his pizza. Then Gio continued.

"How about Spiderman." He stated, shoving a peice of pizza in his mouth.

Maria opened her mouth and started to agree again, but than changed her mind and said, "Anything is fine with me." She smiled fakely.

"Aww Gio, please not Spiderman. Not again." Alex groaned.

"Spiderman 2? Spiderman 3?" Gio suggested, smiling convincingly.

Eva and Francis stared at him from across the table, chewing pointedly on their pizza.

"Well, I mean... like maybe Star Wars then?" Gio said.

Romeo face lit up.

"Oh I like that." He nodded. "So does Francis. He likes Princess Lei-" Francis's dramatic coughing fit cut him off. Romeo smiled at his older brother cheerfully. "You do," He said, under his breath.

"Well, I like Star Wars too," Maria began. "Actually my favorite movie is Revenge of the Sith," she said.

"Ok let's just watch that," Gio finalized. "Cool with everyone?" They all nodded, except Francis, but Gio ignored this fact. "Ok," He said. "Al, come over at 5," He said.

"Ok," Al said, happy to have the chance to get to know... all the guests better. "I better get back to work," He said, glancing at the clock. "See you all tonight!" He awkwardly got up and smiled at Maria. She smiled nicely back.

 Gio watched him leave thoughtfully. Then he turned back to the others. Everyone was done except for Maria and Ernie.

"Ernie, aren't you going to eat yours?" Gio asked his brother, sounding a bit concerned at Ernie's still full plate.

"Not hungry," Ernie replied. Gio looked back and forth to the plate and Ernie. He looked questioningly at his bro.

"If you want it you can have it," Ernie stated, shoving the plate towards Gio, who had already eaten a whole pizza by himself. This didn't stop Gio, though. He quickly and easily ate Ernie's and turned to Maria.

"Almost done?" He said, beginning to feel impatient.

"I'm full," She said. "We can go now."

"Ok, we don't waste pizza," Gio informed her seriously. Maria was confused.

"Why can't I bring it-"

He sighed as if it was a burden. "Ok hand it over," She was confused for a moment untill she realized what he meant.

"Well... I mean I'm not sick or anything.. but are you sure?" Maria began.

"No really," He said, smiling sweetly. He looked at her questiongly and held out his hand. Ok, Maria thought. She handed her plate to Gio and watched him eat yet another half peice of pizza. How is he so thin?

commences to be written by Nina

"Ok, now we can go." As they headed out he stuck his head in the kitchen and shouted, "BYE ALEXXX" at the top of his lungs. Eva winced.

"Don't shout like that Gio, it's not good for your voice." Romeo admonished as they got in the car.

"I'm fine," Gio laughed, starting the car.

When they got home, Gio told his mother about their plans. She tiredly nodded. The three girls disappeared to their room for some much needed rest. The guys crashed onto the big living room couch, and fell asleep much faster than the girls did upstairs in their beds.

When it was almost time for Alex and the unknown Tad to arrive, the girls straggled downstairs, sleepily fixing their hair and clothes. The boys woke up disheveled messes and made no effort to remedy that.

Soon a knock came on the front door. Mrs. G let them in, and they entered the living room. Alex smiled shyly at the group, while the presumed Tad- with dark blonde, curly hair and deep brow that made him look perpetually grumpy- inspected the guests with frank un-impression.

"These are my friends, and their cousins from America!" Gio announced, looking at him expectantly. It made no effect on Tad, who was no respecter of persons.

"Nice to meet you." He commented. He frowned at Francis(who was in Tads accustomed place), and rather put-outedly sat somewhere else.

"Hey, it's good to see you Tad!" Romeo exclaimed brightly

"You too. What's new?" Tad replied, congenially enough, despite his natural expression.

"I got a car. Did you see it outside?" Romeo said, pride filling his voice.

"Yeah I saw it." Tad grinned. "Pretty hard to miss. Nice one." He added. Romeo smiled with satisfaction.

"I know." He gloated. Gio was frowning. He didn't have a car, or prospects of getting one. He had to drive his mom's. So he was jealous. (As a side note, I once saw someone spell jealous as gelouse. Gelouse. Anyways.)

They watched their movie, to the dissatisfaction of Francis and Eva(and for that matter Gio who wanted to watch Spiderman). Afterwards they ate, then chatted for a while before Tad and Alex left.

"Your friends are really nice, Gio!" Maria said as they all began to disperse for the night.

"Yeah" He smiled. Maria couldn't get past how adorable that half smile was. She smiled back and dreamily went into her room.

Sofie and Eva were already there, debating cheerfully about which of Gio's friends was more annoying. They both concluded that neither were as bad as Gio. Maria sincerely hoped that they were kidding. However she doubted it. She sighed and pulled on her pajamas. She crawled under her covers and stared at the ceiling. Then she grabbed her notebook and began to write.

'Eyes as green as a forest,
and a smile bright as the sun through the trees.
I'd love to spend a life time in those woods.'

She gazed at the words for another moment, then put away her notebook, read her Bible, and peacefully went to sleep.

by Nina and Ryn D.

Tell us what you think!!! Constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated!!!

http://donfranchino.com/

This is where we got our inspiration for Gian Francos- a real Italian pizzeria!! Ours in the story isn't exactly authentic, but you should take a look at the amazingness they actually have there. I REALLLLLYYY WANNTTT TO GOOOOOOOOO!!

As is usual with links, I take no responsibility for other websites etc.

excitement... and a random thing I wrote.

I just sent in my entry to the Oakton Foundation Visual Art Contest!! Wish me luck:) If I believed in luck ,which I don't. SO I guess pray for my success, that's better:) After the results are out, I'm going to do a post on the process I went through with my painting:)

That's it I guess... Here's a random thing I wrote to add a bit of interest to this otherwise rather boring post. I was just thinking 'It would be neat to be a statue',(which is an odd thing to begin with I suppose) but then I thought a little more, and this popped into my head... so if you're wondering, that's where this came from.

She stood on her pedestal, in all the cold white grace of her marble curves, and watched the throngs come and go, admiring yes, but transient. And none of them knowing that for ages all she longed for was the warmth of love's embrace. ~ H.D.

Chapter 3- Arrival in Abruzzo

Chapter 3
"HI!" Maria and Sofie stared. Out the door came a short, slender young man, with thick, wavy dark brown hair. His green eyes were kind, and excited as he greeted his guests.

"I'm Gio!" He introduced himself, grabbing some bags and leading the cousins in. "Sofie and Francis, you I've met, but, who are these lovely ladies?" He asked, with a smile. Eva was disgusted, and Maria was absolutely enchanted.

"I'm Maria," She said awkwardly, and then tripped. Sofie looked down at her with no intention to help.

"Oh no, you ok?" Gio quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. Maria's face was scarlet.

"Yeah, sorry," She said quickly, brushing herself off. Gio didn't seem phased by her fall. She would soon find out he too could be a klutz. He continued inside.

"I'm Eva..." Eva trailed off as Gio was already through the door and apparently not really interested.

"Mean..." She muttered grumpily as she heaved a bag onto her shoulder, not noticing Francis right behind her.

"Right?" He startled her, smirking. Eva stared at him, disconcerted he had witnessed her grumpily honest self.

"Do you think I don't know your true feelings half the time? It doesn't bother me." He shrugged as they headed inside. "You don't have to hide it from me. I'll like you just as well with out the sweetsy act." His face softened. "No one's perfect."

"I'm not really evil!!" Eva pleaded. Francis smiled noncommittally. He held the door and ushered her in.

"Welcome..." a small, caramel haired woman was saying in a weary but kind tone. She smiled, with some effort. "I'm Elenora Guttuso."

"She's named the same as mom!" Romeo pointed out.

"Mhm." Maria murmured, still embarrassed, and thinking about how much cuter Gio was in person, even than in his picture.  Sofie was secretly thinking the same but would never let on to this fact. Maria knew, of course.

"So you're Maria, ok. And Sofie. Oh wait, whats your name?" Mrs. G directed this question to Eva. Gio looked surprised.

"Oh that's right, what is your name?"

"Eva." She said, with a fake smile. Maria shook her head slightly with a little frown. She knew that that smile was more evil than the most nasty sarcasm Eva could come up with. Francis was smiling to himself.


Suddenly over Gios shoulder, a pair of glasses appeared. A moment later, a face peered up to join
them.

Gio sighed, slightly apologetic  "This is Ernie."

He stepped from behind Gio, blinking at the visitors. His huge green eyes scanned their faces, ending with Maria. His eyes went a little wider as they encountered her. She smiled.

In that moment, it happened.

Ernie fell hopelessly in love.

"Hi." He said at last.

"Hey Ernie." Romeo said. "I've been practicing MarioKart. I'll beat you this time."

"No, you won't." Ernie defied him flatly.

"Will." Romeo said. "Where should I take these?" He motioned to the bags.

"Oh, Gio will show you..." Mrs. Guttuso waved her hand vaguely towards the stairs. Gio led the way for the cousins, as Ernie trailed behind silently, his eyes still on Marias face.

"Ok, so Ernie has taken over one guest room since you were here last. So I thought the girls could share the other one, and you two can stay in my room." Gio directed.

Francis looked over at him with a look of panic at the thought of having to share living quarters with...Gio.

"Ok!" Romeo said, dragging his bags through Gios door. With resignation, Francis followed, but not without darting a slightly dark look at the back of Gios head.

"Your room is on the other side, next door down," Gio called to the girls. The headed that way, Ernie still following.

"Do you need something?" Sofie finally asked him. He stared at her for a moment.

"No." He said.

"Ok, just, you know, checking," She said pointedly, bringing her things through. Ernie however didn't take notice of things like hints.He was about to follow them in but Sofie shut the door in his face.

"Sofie!" Maria said, about to open the dor.

"Don't! He's being really creepy." Sofie said without bothering to lower her voice.

"Sofie!" Maria hissed again, looking at the door.

"What?" Sofie began unloading her belongings. Maria inwardly groaned at her cousin, but said nothing more.


Outside the door, Ernie frowned. "Well I don't like her." He said to himself, referencing Sofie. He walked over to Gio's door. Romeo and Francis were unloading their belongings. Gio was perched on the end of his bed, talking cheerfully to Romeo. Francis knelt on the floor, unpacking. He looked unhappy already. Ernie felt sorry for him. He walked quietly up behind him.

"Do you want help?" He asked him. Francis jumped, banging his head on a drawer.

"Ow!"He scowled at Ernie.

 Ernie shrank back guiltily.

"Sorry-"

"No, thank you." Francis turned back around. Ernie sniffed self pityingly. He walked over and sat silently next to Gio.

"So how are your cousins?" Gio asked Romeo. He paused completely and turned to Gio.

"They are adorable." He said earnestly. Gio smiled, amused.

"Well, good, I'm glad you like them" He said. Romeo nodded seriously and resumed his task.

"What did you think of them?" He asked after a moment. Gio was a bit taken aback.

"Um, I don't know" He stammered. Francis turned to him with narrowed eyes, which disconcerted him even more.

"What??" He asked. Francis frowned, then turned back to his clothes.

 Gio blew out his breath exasperatedly. Francis both baffled and bothered him. He didn't understand his odd mix of intelligence, sarcasm, kindness and laziness. It was an odd combination, admittedly.

"That was funny when Maria fell," Romeo laughed. Gio chuckled. "

"Yeah, that's like something I'd do," He said dismissively. Francis glared at him again.

"Now what?????" Gio exclaimed at his look, startling Ernie who fell backwards onto the bed.

"Oops sorry Ernie."

Ernie slowly sat up. He stared owlishly at Romeo.

"I thought Maria was beautiful." He said reverently.

"Yeah, she is." Romeo said, looking at Ernie. Gio looked down at his brother with some concern. He had never seen Ernie act this way before.

Ernie said nothing more, so Gio said, "what are they like? And how old are they again?"

"15 and 17. Um, they're... awesome?"

"Right, but I need more than that."

"Ummm.... SHE LIKEs OPERA!!!" Romeo suddenly exclaimed, sending Ernie down again.

"Who?!" Gio asked, surprised.

"Eva." Romeo said.

"Eva... Oh yeah, her I remember. Glasses, messy hair?"

"It's CURLY." Francis interrupted.

"Sorry. So that's it?"

"Maria likes Jazz." Romeo continued.

"I need more than their music taste, Romeo!"

"What else is there?" Francis asked sarcastically.

"Like what do they like to do, what do they have for hobbies, stuff like that." Gio was getting frustrated.

"Eva likes to sing and paint and read and play the piano(she's not very good at that but don't tell her I said that), and other things too probably, Maria likes listening to jazz and singing and writing, and taking pictures of herself."

"That's called a selfie." Gio said as Romeo paused for breath. He considered for a moment.

"Well, we'll see. They look older than I expected." He said at last. In fact they were both rather different than he had expected... especially... Maria.

"They are very mature." Romeo said, sticking his last pair of socks into a drawer. He shoved his suitcase off to the side of the room.

 Francis stood up. Ernie was still lying on his back staring at the ceiling. Francis observed him for a moment, then shaking his head, walked out of the room. He knocked on the girls door. Their laughter abruptly stopped.

"It's me." he said. The door opened immediately.

"You're not coming in either." Sofie informed him flatly. Francis was taken aback.

"Ok..." He said. Eva came over behind Sofie.

"Francis, what is wrong with Ernie?" She asked him quietly.

"I don't really know... I think he's just a little off... No, he's just different." Francis glanced over his shoulder. His tone was kind. "He's better once he gets used to you."

 Eva met his gaze. His words didn't appear to reassure her completely, but he realized she was actually beginning to trust him, like she did Maria. This took him aback slightly, but also made him happy and proud. He smiled down at Eva, then turned to walk away. He paused.

"By the way you might want to comb your hair." He added. Eva looked startled, and felt at her hair.

"Oh," She grinned and turned red. "Thanks."

"No problemo." He said as he headed downstairs.

Eva shut the door. Sofie was laying on one bed and Maria on the other. Eva frowned as she went to find her hairbrush. She was unsuccessful, but found Sofies comb, so she just used that.

"Where am I sleeping?" She asked as she combed.

"Oh, hm I don't know. you can sleep in my bed if you want." Maria offered.

"I guess I'll have to." Eva said, tossing the comb onto the vanity. "AH!" She suddenly gasped when she looked in the mirror. Ernie was standing in the open doorway
.
"Supper." he said, then vanished again.

"He's creepy." Sofie reiterated her former opinion.

"Hey," Maria warned as she stood up and stretched. "Be nice."

"I'll try," Sofie agreed as they headed down to supper. Mr. Guttuso had just arrived home from work. After the girls had been introduced, they went into the dining room.

 Mrs. Guttuso had prepared a yummy dinner of ravioli and nutella cookies. Maria was thrilled. The cousins didn't like nutella and she had been feeling a bit deprived.

"Nutellas my favorite." Gio noted as he ate a 5th cookie. Maria smiled at him as she slowly continued to nibble her 1st.

"Me too." She said. Romeo looked up.

"It is?" He was crestfallen, "I'm sorry! I didn't know."

"Oh its fine," Maria assured him.

"Well we would have gotten you some!" He insisted, stressed at the thought of being a less than perfect host.

Gio grabbed another cookie.

"Gio, baby how many have you had?" Mrs. Guttuso questioned wearily.

(I should note, this is actually Gianluca Ginoble)

"Ummmmmm..." He stared at his mom, his cheeks bulging. Then he just smiled. She shook her head.

The girls excused themselves after dinner. They were all exhausted. The prepared for bed, climbed under the covers, and despite the noise coming from the boys room, promptly fell asleep.

Ernie had a hard time falling asleep, both from the noise from Gios room and his perturbed feelings. However, he eventually drifted off.

by Nina

What dost thou think???? Like the gifs? I want to hear from you!! :D Ryn wants to know what y'all think of Gio (he's her favorite character)

Anndddd....

Just like they eat in the story!!! We tried the recipe, and can endorse it;) We halved it though(and yes that included the egg. I don't know how. Ask Ryn.)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The rest of the ride was uneventful, other than some small talk. Romeo was officially and eternally endeared to Eva already, and Maria had to admit that the red spectacled cousin was a bit more immediately likable, albeit strange, than his siblings. She reminded herself that they had had to stay up till all hours to get them. Probably they would be nicer in the morning. When they arrived at their cousins home, they dragged their things into their room and without changing, climbed in bed and fell asleep.

Francis and Romeo bid goodnight to their sister and went into their room.

"So." Romeo began, his eyes wide from either excitement or being up way too late.

"Yes she likes opera, and yes I think that's strange." Francis said, then ducked as Romeo threw his sneaker at his head.

"I like her." Romeo declared. "In fact I like them both." He added defiantly.

Francis looked surprised at his tone. "Well so do I." He protested. "And I think I'll like them even better after I get to know them. But right now I just want to sleep!"

 He pulled his blanket over his head, partially to emphasis his statement and partially in an attempt to protect himself in case Romeo threw his other sneaker. Not that a blanket would protect him much. But it was better than nothing.

Romeo, however, had no need to throw another sneaker, having satisfied his feelings quite well with the first one. He put his glasses on his nightstand, and settled happily into bed, content with his first impression of their cousins.

* * *

The next morning, the girls didn't get up until past 11, however the cousins didn't care. When they came downstairs, their aunt, Eleonora, had a (somehow)warm breakfast ready for them.

"Wow, thank you!" Maria said, while mentally mourning the absence of Nutella on the table. "This smells amazing."

"Mangia!!" Romeo said, looking at them intently. Unsure of the meaning of this look, the girls sat down, looking questioningly back at him.

"That means eat." He clarified.

"We know." Eva said.  He looked shocked.

"We know quite a bit of Italian." Maria explained, since Eva didn't seem to be planning on it. "We just want to become fluent. We can carry on basic conversations."

"And mangia is preeetty basic around here. You should know, Rome." Francis said, coming in and dropping into a chair. "Good morning." he added belatedly.

"Good morning." The girls said sweetly. He looked at them for a moment, then began to serve himself some food.

Romeo had already scarfed down his first helping. He took some more, then sat back.

"So Eva, " He began without preamble, "What is your favorite opera?"

Eva was startled. "Umm..."

"Also who's your favorite singer?" He continued, "Actually more specific- who's your favorite soprano, mezzo, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, preferably in that order. Oh, and-"

"Rome!" Sofie interrupted. He looked at her.

"Yes?" He questioned, obliviously. Sofie rolled her eyes hopelessly. Romeo looked at her with perplexity for a moment.

 Eva, after collecting her thoughts as best as possible, said,

"I'm not sure if I have one, although I do like some of La Boheme. And the mastersinger, by Wagner? I can't really think right now though. And for singers... do you mean present, past, or both?"

Romeo looked delighted at this bit of clarification.

"Both." He said, smiling widely.

"Ok, um, I like Maria Callas of course- her voice that is- and I like...Renee Fleming too actually, and Natalie Dessay. That new soprano, whats her name. Nina something. I don't remember. For tenors, I like Vittorio Grigolo, Jonathon Antoine... and Piero Barone-"

"Oh I like him too." Romeo said seriously.

"Alfie Boe, and of course Placido Domingo-"

"Yes!!"

"And, um. I can't think of any more off the top of my head." She finished, looking a bit apprehensive.

Romeo was blissful. Sofie, Maria and Francis stared at him, then glanced at each other. Francis shrugged and resumed eating. The girls looked back at Romeo, who was now happily eating. They both sighed, and stood up.

"Just stick your dishes in the sink." Sofie directed. Maria hesitated.

"Seriously." Sofie insisted, "this week is Francis' week. I'd appreciate if you washed them yourself when its mine though."

Maria immediately dropped her plate and fork into the sink. Francis was glaring balefully at his smirking younger sister.

"So what are you kids planning for today?" Aunt Eleonora asked.

"Well, are you two up for a tour of the town?" Romeo asked, pitching his plate as well.

"Hey, careful!" Francis squawked fussily, looking in the sink. "Don't break them please?!"

"Sorry," Romeo apologized apologetically. Francis looked despondently at the dishes for a moment.  He looked wordlessly at his mother. She sighed.

"I'll do them if you want to go right now." Francis' face broke into a smile

"Thanks mama," he said, hastily exiting before she could change her mind.

"So do you actually want to  go see Chiaro?" Sofie asked, since Romeo hadn't waited for an answer.

"Yes!" Maria said, "We'd love to."

"Ok, well it's pretty boring." Sofie replied ungraciously. She headed to the door. "Don't bother to change, trust me there are no reasons to look special." She added as she left.

The girls looked at each other, then at their clothes.

"Oh well, I guess we're fine." Eva shrugged and followed the cousins.Maria was not convinced, as she looked at her own floral shorts and t-shirt, but didn't want to make the others wait, so the reluctantly headed out to the little red car.

The music had apparently been turned back up, even louder, and Eva had been promoted to the front seat. Francis was grumpily slumped in the back seat beside Sofie, who was waiting expectantly for maria. She patted the seat beside her with the friendliest expression Maria had seen from her yet. She smiled back and got in.

"Hey wait, this is Il Volo!" She exclaimed delightedly on hearing the music. Sofie gave her a wicked smile.

"Yup." She said significantly. Francis made a gagging sound. Sofie punched him.

 Maria blinked, then without further comment buckled her seatbelt. Romeo was talking a mile a minute, describing in detail Piero Barone's career, up until his recent La Scala debut. Eva was listening fondly(whether this fondness was for the speaker or subject was hard to tell). Romeo occasionally compared the similarity of their situations in life, and Maria gradually gathered that Romeo also aspired to the opera stage.

"So do you take voice lessons?" She asked him. He halted mid-sentence, with a slightly irritated expression at being interrupted.

"Yes. So, have you ever seen the video from..." He was off again.

 Maria frowned slightly, then noticed Francis looking at her. She smiled sweetly. He was obviously not fooled.

"...and I even have a friend who lives in Abruzzo, how weird is that?"

"Wait Abruzzo?? Where Gianluca Ginoble is from?" Maria exclaimed.

Romeo paused again, this time with an emphatic sigh.

"Yes. So,-"

"No wait! I love... uh, the towns in Abruzzo." She amended hastily. She didn't want to sound like a fangirl of all things. Sofie grinned at her.

"Yeah the 'towns' are pretty adorable." She said. Maria looked at her for a moment, then grinned back, understanding her meaning.

Finally someone else who liked Gianluca better!! She thought. Eva had always been partial to the ridiculously good(vocally, that is), glasses wearing high tenor of the trio, Piero Barone.

"So your friend lives there?" She continued.

"Yesss!!!!" Romeo exclaimed. "His name is Gio."

"Thats a cute name." Maria said thoughtfully.

"He's a cute guy," Sofie whispered.

"Heard that." Francis remarked.

"Don't care." Sofie retorted. Francis sighed longsufferingly.

"can I... see a picture?" Maria ventured. This time Romeo ignored her, being busily involved in a detailed description of the qualities of his heroes remarkable voice.

 Maria narrowed her eyes, and contemplated tapping his shoulder, when Sofie stuck her phone in Marias face, startling her.

"Ah! Oh my word."


A pair of droopy green eyes smiled out of a tan face. Maria had never seen such a handsome man in her whole life.

"Oh Sofie."

"Right?"

"He's so handsome!" Maria cried.

"Yeah." Sofie shrugged. "Sadly he's kind of annoying. I mean, he's Romeos friend."

Maria didn't care. She stared at the picture again.

"Wow."

"Ok, that's enough." Francis said irritably, glancing over at the girls. Sofie ignored him.

"He has a bro too, he's more like our age. He is sooooo weird. Like I don't even know."

"He's cucoo." Francis said flatly.

Sofie found another picture.

"Wow." Maria said in a completely different tone.

 A pair of intense, hazel eyes stared from behind glasses even huger than the cousins. Curly brown hair crowned his long narrow face.

"Hm. Yeah, that's Ernie." Sofie said.

"Ernie." Maria repeated.

"Short for Ernesto." Sofie said.

"Hm." Maria looked at the photo a moment more. "I'd love to meet them." She said as she handed Sofie's phone back.

"Maybe you could." Romeo said suddenly, apparently finished on the subject of opera.

"No no no, you do not want to do that." Francis said quickly, sitting up.

"Why?" Maria asked indignantly. Romeo too looked annoyed.

"Exactly, Francis. Just why shouldn't they meet Gio and Ernie??" He demanded.

"Can you pleaseeeee watch the road?" Francis begged his brother, nervously. Eva's face exactly mirrored his. She was timid in the car as it was, and although Romeo seemed very adept, he was a bit nerve-wracking to ride with, as half the time he was not looking where he was going. Huffily, he turned back and stared pointedly through the windshield.

"Ok. So why shouldn't they meet my friends??" He asked again. Francis blinked.

"Umm, well... just... Because!" He said lamely. Sofie rolled her eyes.

"Your eyes are going to get stuck that way someday," Francis threatened her direly. She just rolled her eyes again.

Poor Francis. No respect from the younger generation.

"Maybe we could go stay with them sometime while you're here." Romeo suggested, not to be deterred from his point. Eva looked alarmed, but Maria and Sofie both brightened.

"Romeo that's actually a good idea!" Sofie praised him. He grinned.

"Ok, I'll call Gio and invite us." he said decidedly. Francis moaned.

"Oh come on I don't want to go there!!! Once was more than enough." He begged. Eva turned to look at him.

"I agree," she said, "I'm really quite happy to just stay here."

"Yes, you are, trust me." Francis assured her.

Romeo pulled into a parking spot by a small beach on a lake. "Our beach." He announced proudly.

An old lady and man were walking a fluffy dog. Other than that there were no signs of life.

"It's not too popular with the in crowd." Francis remarked. "Which is actually kind of nice." he added after a moments thought.

"Do we need to get out?" Sofie asked.

"No." Maria said.

"Ok, next stop." Romeo backed the car out and drove off. "The bowling alley."

"Yeah we spend some crazy times there." Francis said sarcastically.  Eva looked concerned.

"Francis shut up, that's not even funny. Its pretty much where the good kids hang out." Sofie explained in an exasperated tone. "The owners go to our church."

"That sounds like a good thing to me." Maria said.

Francis hesitated, then "yes, that's true." He admitted with a grin.

Romeo pulled into the parking lot. It was more or less an average looking bowling alley, but much less seedy.

"I'm not going in anywhere dressed like this." Maria protested, "I didn't even brush my hair!!"

"Oh!" Romeo said, surprised. "We can come back another time."

"They have reallly good pizza." Sofie informed Maria as they drove away.

"Yummm I must try it!" Maria laughed. Pizza was her favorite food.

"Yep." Sofie replied.

"The last place of interest-the car shop." Romeo announced.

"Wait what? Rome that's not interesting." Sofie protested.

"Why?" Romeo asked.

"Its- its just not." Sofie said.

"Do you have a library?" Eva cut in.

"Oh, yes. Would you like to see it?" Romeo said.

"I would love to." Eva responded eagerly.

Romeo pulled down a side street. He pulled up in front of an ancient looking building.

"Its perfect!!!" Eva was delighted. Maria shook her head.

"Wow, Eve." She laughed.

"It's not open today, we'll have to come back tomorrow." Romeo apologized.

"So, we've seen everything. Now what?" Francis asked.

"Wait, that's it?" Maria said without thinking.

"Yeah." Sofie said. "not very exciting, huh?"

"No, no that's not what I meant!" Maria said hastily.

"Yes it is." Francis said. Maria didn't reply.

"Well there's still the auto body place. We can stop there and say hi. Dad would probably like to see you guys!!" Romeo hinted.

"Oh, fine, we can go to the shop!" Sofie exclaimed. "Really, Romeo!"

They arrived there quickly. Everyone got out and went in.

"Hi dad!" Romeo called over the noise of tools and some music. A short, heavyset man straightened up from where he had been working.

"Hey!" He stopped the music, and wiped his hands on a greasy rag. The girls smiled shyly.

"Well girls! I was disappointed not to see you earlier. You look so much older than I expected!" He exclaimed, giving them each a hug.

"So what are you all up to?" Their uncle asked them.

"We're showing them around town." Romeo explained.

"We're headed home now." Francis added.

"Wait, we haven't shown them the church yet!!!" Sofie suddenly remembered.

"Oh, yes, we want to see that!" Eva said excitedly. Francis sighed. Uncle Giorgio nodded.

"Well, I better get back to work! I'll see you all later!!" He said as the group headed back out the door.

They drove off and soon pulled up at an old church.

"It's beautiful!!!" Eva said.

"It used to be a Catholic church," Francis told her, "but the people who started our church were able to buy it after it stopped being used."

"That's awesome!!" Maria said thoughtfully, looking up at the elegant structure. Eva was inspecting the stone carvings around the wooden door.

"Shall we enter?" Francis said, gently putting Eva out of his way(she didn't actually even notice) and opening the door. They headed inside.

The sisters looked around in awe. The interior was beautiful and well kept. The style and beauty of the old church had not been removed, giving it a feeling of majesty that the girls had never seen in a Baptist church. The cousins looked gratified with their response.

"Pretty nice, huh?" Francis said proudly. The girls didn't need to respond.

"Over here..." Romeo lead them to one side of the auditorium. "Is the piano. I play it."

"Oh you play the piano? I do too!" Eva mentioned. Romeo was enchanted with this idea.

"Really? Wow! Could you play something?"

"Um, sure... I'm not so good though." She agreed, sitting down. She blanked for a moment.

"What should I play?" She asked, feeling stupid.

"Oh anything you have memorized." Romeo said.

"I don't really memorize much..." She said, haltingly starting to play. The notes grew stronger after a moment, and she played a simple but pretty piece she had composed herself, as that was all she really had memorized.

"That was beautiful!" Romeo exclaimed.

"You play something!" Eva ordered. Romeo sat down, and after a brief moment, launched into an advanced, technical, classical piece. The sisters were both shocked. After he finished, they were silent for a moment.

"Wow." Maria managed.

"Sorry, that was the only song could think of!" Romeo apologized, for what exactly the girls weren't quite sure.

"No, that was amazing!" Eva said awkwardly. Complimenting people didn't come naturally to her. Romeo blushed and shrugged.

"Do you play?" He asked Maria.

"Um ,not really, no." She admitted. "I sing though."

"Cool!!" Romeo smiled.

"Ok, we have a piano at home, guys, and I'm hungry." Francis pleaded.

"Fine," Romeo sighed.

"Let's go," Sofie headed out the door.

When they got home, their aunt had a light lunch of sandwiches and fruit.

"Yum." Maria commented. After they ate, Francis suggested that everyone took a nap. He immediately followed his own advice,

"Without washing the dishes." Sofie snorted disgustedly.

Romeo tossed himself on the couch, taking up the entire thing. Sofie glared at him, then sat down on top of him. Maria reclined in the chair, which left Eva to sit on the floor. Which she did.

Romeo pulled out his phone. Maria and Sofie watched him with anticipation. He dialed. After a moment,

"Hey, Gio? Yes this is me. Yes Romeo, who else. Ok. So you know our cousins? No I mean you know about them, Gio. Mhm.Yes, they are here. We were wondering if maybe sometime we could come up and visit you? Yes. Oh great!! Huh? oh, umm..." He looked at the girls.

"When do we want to go?"

"Whenever." Sofie said.

"Shouldn't we, like, ask your mom?" Eva asked nervously.

"Gio? How about in a few weeks? two weeks? Sure!! Ok! Oh wait, Eva why are you looking at me like that?"

"Well, maybe we should make sure our parents are fine with this before we decide on final plans?" She said.

"Yeah." Sofie concurred. Maria was straining her ears to try to catch the sound of the voice on the other end of Romeos conversation.

"Gio? Yeah, we will check with our parents but I bet it will be fine! Thanks so much! Talk to you later. Bye."

Romeo clicked off his phone. "We can come whenever, but two weeks is best." He announced unnecessarily. "I'll talk to mom later."

"We can call our parents right away." Maria assured him. Eva still looked uncomfortable, but said nothing.

That night, after their aunt and uncle gave permission for the trip, the girls called their parents. They too were fine with the plan, and Romeo informed Gio accordingly.

The next week and a half were pretty uneventful, and were spent by the cousins in getting to know each toher. They all clicked well, and were pretty comfortable around each other, already feeling like family. The girls enjoyed the church services, which were not actually too different from what they were used to, other than that they were in Italian!!

 Soon it was time to head to Abruzzo. Eva of course was very nervous, as even though she was comfortable with her cousins, she wasn't 100% with even them, and thus was generally exhausted from the constant social contact and upkeep. More new people were more than she could mentally take.

 However, to Abruzzo they were going, so, feeling pleasantly like a martyr(and acting unpleasantly like one), she packed her things.

Maria, who was used to her, payed little mind, knowing she would be as fine in Abruzzo as she was here. Francis was amused by her attitude. He had grown very fond of Eva and she him. Their personalities were quiet similar in many was, and complimentary in others. However she was not quite ready to completely be herself with even him.

At last, the morning came when they were to depart. Eva picked fretfully at her breakfast(normally one of her favorite meals, along with lunch and supper). The others(except Francis) were excited. They would be driving, which would take about 10 or 11 hours. Francis and Romeo took turns driving. The girls stayed awake to see the ferry, but dozed on and off for the rest.

That evening, they finally arrived. As they drove up the hill to the little town, Maria could barely contain her excitement. She and Sofie surreptitiously checked their appearances. Eva was carsick, and her back hurt from sleeping in the car. She sighed as they pulled up in front of a nice little house on the outskirts of town. Romeo stopped the car, and paused, about to speak.

"We're here." Francis said before Romeo could.

"Hey." Romeo said, annoyed at this interruption of his dramatic entrance. Francis grinned at him.

 Sofie and Maria looked at each other. Eva appeared unwilling to get out of the car. Francis took a deep, resigned breath.

"Well come on." He got out of the car. The others followed, Eva last.

That moment, the front door opened.

* * *

Tell me what you think!!! Do you think the little semi-fangirl section goes?? Or anything else you notice, I very honestly want to know!!
Also, sorry this is kind of long, and a day late:)
Nina

Chapter 1- Meeting the cousins

Chapter 1/continuation of the prologue which was actually the beginning of chapter 1...

some hours later...

The girls slept through most of the flight, surprisingly, and when they woke up it was almost time to land. Eva began panicking again the moment her eyes opened. Maria was used to Eva and calmly led the way off the plane, and through security.

As they entered the waiting area, they immediately noticed two dark haired, bespectacled young men and an equally dark haired girl. They hesitated a moment, before one of the guys began waving happily at them, a huge, crooked grin lighting up his tan face. The other, slightly shorter and thinner, and paler as well, just grinned slightly, his hands in his pockets. The girl appeared to be inspecting them.
Eva smiled tentatively and Maria waved back. They walked awkwardly over to where their cousins stood.

"Hi!" Eva managed in a slightly squeaky voice.

"Hi!!!" Romeo, the younger brother, taller and slightly stockier than his brother, exclaimed. The girls glanced at each other, unsure of what to say. Francisco broke the silence.

"The baggage area is this way." He jerked his head towards an escalator.

Eva gulped. She was 'slightly' frightened of escalators. The others had already headed that way and so she hurried to catch up. She paused again at the top. She tried to convince herself to get on- it didn't work. Apparently escalatorophobia is actually a thing.

Maria, half way down already, glanced up.

"Oh no. Eve, come on!"

Wide eyed, Eva shook her head.

"There has to be some stairs somewhere!" She called down. The 3 cousins looked up at her, silent and skeptical.

"i'll find them and be right down." Eva disappeared. Francisco sighed loudly.

"She won't get lost will she? I'd rather not lose my cousin before even getting it home." He asked Maria.

Maria was a bit taken aback. "Um, well..."

"Oh, Francis, can you at least make an effort at manners, for the first day they're here?" Sofie pleaded, despite the fact that she herself had been no paragon of polite behavior thus far.

 Francis grinned.

"It's the middle of the night Sofie, I'm not making any more effort at anything than I absolutely have to."

"There she is." Romeo announced. Eva hurried up.

"Sorry." She said, embarrassed.

"Ok. Baggage." Francis resumed his lead to the baggage area.

 After collecting their bags, the 5 of them headed out to the parking lot. A shiny, red sports car awaited them.

"It's mine." Romeo announced proudly, opening the door for them. "Oh, wait, put your things in the trunk." They did so, then got into the impeccably clean vehicle.

"Wow." Eva remarked. "Your car is really... nice!"

"I know." Romeo said, happily, as he started the engine. Opera began to play loudly. Francis groaned, even more loudly.

"Romeo PLEASE with the opera. It's 3 in the morning."

 Romeo ignored him, so he turned it down himself. Romeo glared at him over his glasses. He seemed about to turn it back up, when Sofie, in the back seat between the sisters, coughed pointedly.

 The boys turned, then with expressions of realization, looked at each other and fell silent.
They rode on this way for a few moments, the awkward silence broken only by the now soft opera music.

"I like opera too." Eva said finally. Romeos face lit up.

"You do?!?" He said excitedly. He turned around and looked at her, his huge dark brown eyes glued
to her face. Eva looked uncomfortably back. She smiled slightly.

"Yeah." She said finally. His smile widened, an he was about to say something else when Francis interrupted.

"Watch the road."

 Romeo turned back around, but first smiled at Francis happily- and a bit triumphantly. Sofie just rolled her eyes and leaned against her seat.
   

Now it was Maria's turn to worry.

by Nina D. Please tell me what you think!!!(note, this is my first draft)

Prologue to our stories!!

Hi everyone!!
So, I decided to take the plunge and post the first draft of this prologue/first chapter to our series. (which doesn't have a name yet)
We want to try to start regularly posting chapters, esp. if there seems to be interest in them. So anyways, tell us what you think!! Ryn and I are co-authoring these- this is one is of my composition. I'll note whose writing an when, or if it was a joint effort.
Ok, enough- here's the story!

Prologue:
"I can't believe we're actually doing this." 17 year old Eva remarked to her sister Maria. She looked anxiously out of the plane window.

"Stop worrying so much, " 15 year old Maria murmured sleepily. She yawned  and tucked a strand of her thick, dark brown hair behind her ear. "This is going to be amazing."

Eva didn't look convinced. "Maria. We haven't actually seen our cousins face to face, in the flesh, since we were 7 and 5. 10 years ago."

"Good job on the math," Maria smiled. Eva wasn't amused. Maria sighed and straightened up in her plane seat.

"oh, Eve, you're being silly. So we haven't seen them in person- we've been keeping in touch since then! And we've been emailing, texting and facetiming them all the time recently. This is the 21st century- those things count."

"What if they hate us in real life?!" Eva wailed. Maria raised an eyebrow, and shook her head.
"They won't" She assured her sister. "Trust me."

Eva leaned tensely back into her seat, but she didn't look convinced.

Maria understood why her sister was worried, even though she herself wasn't. They were on their way to a little town in Sicily, Italy, to spend the summer with their Italian cousins, the Conti family.

 The main reason was for language study- immersion was the best way to learn a language, and the homeschooled sisters were very serious about learning Italian. And, they wanted to get to know their cousins better. Unlike many Italians, they were no longer Catholics, but had, under the witness of both family and some Protestant friends, put their trust in Christ. While in some ways their beliefs differed slightly from the girls, they were confident that they would be able to get along. The girls were interested to hear their testimonies in person- especially their oldest cousin, Francisco.

 He had been the last to get saved, in fact only a few years before, through the witness of a close friend of his, in school. Since his salvation, his life had been dramatically changed. He was supposed to be a very intelligent young man, as well as his younger brother whose name was Romeo. The girls still found his name slightly amusing even though they were used to it. Sofia, or Sofie, was the youngest. She was in public school in her town, but sometimes had trouble fitting in. The girls hoped they would all be good friends
.
Maria glanced over at Eva. She appeared to have fallen asleep. Maria grinned and shook her head.
Eva was quite a worrywort sometimes. She had a propensity for expecting the worst, and had no trouble imagining some pretty horrible fates for the worst to be. She was an artist, and also loved to sing, along with her sister. She was unorganized and scatterbrained at times. Her ideas never seemed to turn out quite how she expected. Her personality sometimes made it hard for her to make many friends, but she didn't really care.

Maria herself, on the other hand, rarely worried, usually trusting God to lead everything to turn out for the best. She was organzied enough for both girls-thankfully- and helped her sister to keep on a more realistic track when her ideas got too farfetched. She was a singer, writer, and despite her practicality had a strong romantic streak, which her sister liked to call sappy. Maria had a easier time with people than Eva. She was prettier, her personality  was more welcoming, and she could be nice to people she didn't care for with more ease. She also was not sarcastic- a trait Eva hadn't seemed to be able to get in line yet.

Maria wondered how their stay in Italy would go. She was excited to see what God would do- what He would teach them. She sighed happily and shut her eyes.