Time and Time Again [Discontinued?]

3: New House, New Neighbors

The ride to Brooklyn was, in Nico's humble opinion, interesting but uneventful. He saw a bunch of big buildings, a park with a fountain, and his favorite, kids playing around. Kids meant friends to him.

Back in Italy, not a lot of kids wanted to be friends with him or his sister. Their family had a few rumors but the few rumors were plenty enough to scare the kids away from the siblings.

But here, it could all be a new start, a new life for Nico. "Nico snap out of it!" Bianca said, snapping her fingers in front of his face, causing him to jump a little. "Why?"

"We're here!" She said excitedly, opening her car-side door and getting out. Nico, just as excited, got out and slipped in some mud his sister managed to avoid. He fell on his butt, his head nearly hitting the edge of the car door. "Ow..." He said, slowly standing up.

He saw his sister giggling at him, which made him start giggling. It soon turned into full-bellied laughter. "Angelos, come inside and check out our apartment." Their mother called to them in Italian.

After brushing off what mud he could, Nico ran after his sister, running up a few stairs and nearly hitting a blonde boy. "Sorry!" Bianca yelled, still running. Nico, following close behind. "Be careful! The stairs here are rickety!" He yelled after them. The boy shook his head. He was supposed to meet a friend a while ago.

After finally reaching their apartment, which was only three floors up, the Di Angelo siblings were completely out of breath. Bianca, bending over to catch her breath and Nico, lying back on the floor. "Mi angelos, come inside." At the request of their mother, they walked on inside and marveled at their new home.

It was smaller than their old home in terms of size but in terms of height, it was the highest ceiling they've seen which for them, wasn't that high for them. The floorboards were slightly loose, great to hide stuff in, the kitchen was separated from the living room and the sunlight filtered in nicely from a few open windows.

Granted, it was a bit dusty but it was easy enough to clean. The new apartment came with its own furniture. The Di Angelo's now have a sofa, something they didn't have before in the comforts of Italy.

"Angelos, the both of you have your own rooms now ok?" The siblings nodded, seeing their mother point at two rooms.

"Now why don't you run around outside and play with the new neighbor's kids? It would be nice to have some friends, right?" Bianca nodded and headed for the door but Nico stayed behind. "Nico? What's wrong?" Maria asked her youngest.

"Nothing, I just wanna go to sleep..." Nico's eyelids were now noticeably drooping, which made their mother give him a soft smile. "Do you want a song?"

"Mmh..." Nico mumbled in agreement. Maria chuckled, picked up her youngest, and brought him to the sofa, all while humming a tune she often sang to make the siblings go to sleep. Nico, tuckered out from the whole drama of being lost,
promptly fell asleep.

"Mama?" Bianca said, coming back after a few hours outside. Nico, asleep on his mother's lap. All of their things in their respective places. "Yes Bianca?"

"I made a new friend.. Do you mind if I play outside a bit longer?"

"I don't mind Bianca." Maria said softly, to which Bianca grinned and ran downstairs to. She met up with her new found friend and together they played hide and seek til her friend got called by a boy.

"Hey Mandy! You told me you'd play with me and Steve today? What happened?" Yelled the boy. He was wearing an oversized shirt and cargo pants.

"Sorry Bucky, I met someone new! Maybe tomorrow!" Yelled Mandy back at Bucky. He groaned and walked off saying something about "weird girl stuff" to a scrawny blonde boy wearing suspenders beside him.