Love Thy Enemy

Chapter 11: Bang Bang

I leave my apartment to find my bicycle conveniently propped up against the wall, Valentino's doing no doubt. I head to school wearing jeans and a tight red t-shirt. After tying my bike to a pole, I enter the school in a hurry even though I am not late. It's become a habit, just like checking for enemies behind my shoulder has. My first class is Italian literature. We are studying Inferno by Dante Alighieri. Talk about coincidences.

Saskia is sitting next to Tommaso in the back row while I am up front, trying not to wonder whether anybody else has noticed the outline of a gun through my backpack. I take a deep breath, and turn my head to look at the happy couple. Tommaso meets my eye and like a child who has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, leans slightly away from Saskia. Noticing the distance, Saskia turns around to see me staring. She takes Tommaso's chin and kisses him like her life depends on it. I turn back around, unbothered.

"Saskia, what are the beginning lines of Inferno?" my teacher, Mr. Rizzi asks, unnecessarily loud. Saskia doesn't hesitate to answer.

"Midway upon the journey of our life, I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost." I think back to my own life, and how it has changed so dramatically in the last couple of weeks. For some reason, I burst out laughing.

"Adelaide, what's so funny?" Mr. Rizzi bangs a ruler against my desk, but I can't stop chuckling.

"Nothing." I reply, trying not to breathe, stifling the giggles.

"Then why are you laughing?" he asks annoyed. I gather myself and shake my head.

"I was just thinking about metafores, Mr. Rizzi. About how the "straightforward pathway" can mean different things to different people." I answer, trying to save my grade in the class.

"How so? Elaborate" Mr. Rizzi asks, trying to inspire an educated discussion. With a mischievous grin, I turn my head and look at Saskia.

"It's just that some people lost the "straightforward pathway" a while back, around eighth grade wasn't it?" Saskia's face turns bright red and there is an eerie silence in the room. Had I said that to anybody but Saskia my classmates would be laughing like hyenas.

"Ana, please leave the classroom at once. I will not tolerate such disrespect." Nodding, I gather my books and leave. Mr. Rizzi's reaction was to be expected. If there was ever a day to skip school this would probably be it.

I am just about to exit the building when Tommaso catches up to me.

"I told Mr. Rizzi I was going to the bathroom" I laugh, Mr. Rizzi was probably too busy fantasising about Saskia's lacking virginal status to notice Tommaso leaving.

"You lied? How... infernally cruel" I mock him as I continue walking, through the exit, down the stairs and towards my bicycle. Tommaso keeps up with me.

"You humiliated Saskia."

"Tell me something I don't know" she had it coming.

"She is not that bad, you know." I shrug, undoing the chain around my bike.

"Look, I am sorry about your girlfriend, but to be honest, her feelings don't concern me." I answer, getting on my bike.

"Do anybody's feelings concern you anymore?" Tommaso challenges. I stop trying to get away and assess him for the first time in weeks. His brown hair frames his delicate face and his strong chin. He is lean, less muscular than Alessio, taller than Marco. He is handsome, no denying it.

"I am not a monster, Tommaso."

"Maybe not, but you sure are starting to behave like one, principessa di ghiaccio" he finalizes, walking away from me and back into the school. Tommaso's statement bothers me, because unlike what some may think I am not unfeeling, or incapable of love. I do care for him, but why should I be careful about what I say to a girl who has never been anything but mean or fake to me?