Amore Mio ✓

XXXII. Exhilarating

Alice's POV:

I sat on the swings, kicking my legs back and forth as I stared at the blue sky, wondering if Mr. and Mrs. Yi knew about this.

"Why are you here?" a familiar voice asks.

I dug my shoes down on the wood chips to see Pamala and Kayla, along with a few of their friends.

My eyes roamed over to see Ian, who was holding back Pamala. "Are you stalking us?"

My brows furrow together. "I think I was at the park before you guys."

"Pamala enough, let's go," Ian hisses.

Kayla takes a step towards me, but Carol and Devon, holding her back. "I just want to talk to her," she said, and they hesitantly release her. Kayla walks towards me while Ian, along with the two other guys, drags Pamala away, shouting something about ripping intestines out and choking me with it. I don't think she likes me very much.

"Mind if I take a seat?" she points at the swing beside me.

I nod.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

"What?"

"When Pamala knocks you out, does it still hurt?"

After some time, I realized what she was talking about, the bathroom incident. "Oh, I'm fine."

She inhales a deep breath, kicking her legs slightly. "I'm sorry for what Pamala did. She is just very short-tempered, particularly when it comes to friends," she said, as I glance at Pamala, who was arguing with Ian.

"She isn't fond-" Kayla stopped talking.

"Of girls like me," I finish for her.

She nods, "You and Nina reminded her of her older sister-" she tucks her lips over her teeth. "perfect."

I grip tighter onto the metal swing. "I'm not perfect."

"To everyone else you are," she smiles sadly, "even to Ian."

After some time, she stands up. "We won't bother you anymore," she gripped her hands tightly into fists. "So, please stay away from us," she inhales a deep breath, "including Ian," she said, before walking away.

I sat there, staring at them as they went back into Ian's truck. Ian stands there, staring at me, and I noticed he takes a step, but his friends shake their heads and pull him back. Hesitantly, he glanced at me once more as I raised a hand, waving at him, a smile on my face. He returns the smile and walks away.

Dragging my feet back to my house, I continued staring at the ground. "Neilson is in the mafia," I mumble, "Probably Drew and Marvin too."

When I feel a car zooming past by, tires squealing in front of Neilson's house, I stop walking. My arms were dangling on the side as I watched a man step out of the driver's side, scurrying his fingers through his dark hair. He licks his lips, throwing his sunglasses inside the car as my eyes meandered over to see a woman walking out. Red hair blew in the hot air as her heels clicked on the grey cement ground.

Her eyes locked on mine as a smile broke out on her red lips. "Alice!" she shouts, click-clacking her heels towards me as she threw her arms around my body.

"Michelle?" I question, scanning her body as she threw out another hug. Michelle is Anthony's younger sister, rebellious and crazy as fuck. When I was younger, I used to look up to her because she had this cool leather jacket that made her so badass. She doesn't look badass, but she is badass.

The man walks towards me, his signature smirk on his lips. "Long time no see Anthony," I threw out my arms for a hug, but he placed two hands in the air, taking a step back. "Still not a hugger, I see," I said, and he chuckles. "Why are you guys back in America?"