Beyond the lies

Chapter 11

"A sleepover?"

It was the middle of Sofia's lunchbreak when Nicole tried to explain her plans for the weekend.

"Yes! Well only for us girls, the guys can come over and as soon as it's evening we can kick them out and have a girl's night!"

Owen huffed, "that's so not fair! Besides, me and the boys aren't that desperate that we're actually gonna come-", the boy ceased his speech and yelped as Martin elbowed him.

"We'll come Nikki! It's ok if we can't stay for the sleepover."

"Hey, that hurt!"

At the same time that Vera thanked Nicole for her offer and said she'd ask her mum, Martin grabbed Owen by the collar and hissed at him not to ruin his chances of spending more time with his girlfriend. It was quite a sight to see for Sofia, who was seated at the end of the table with Elias opposite her.

Once the fiasco was over, the four turned to the quietest two on the table.

"Eli, you're coming right?"

He shrugged, "as long as we can sit around instead of doing some stupid activity."

Nicole beamed, "super! I was planning on having a movie marathon anyways, what about you Sof?"

With all the attention on her, she habitually looked down.

"I don't know if my brothers will let me, I'll have to ask."

 Vera patted her shoulder in comfort, "it'll be great if you can, no worries if you can't though."

She nodded and faced to the front again, only to see Elias trying to finish his food quickly so he could have a nap before their afternoon lessons. The girl wondered why was he always so tired, but the question became no more than a passing thought as she directed her attention to the rest of her friends again.

The day ended quickly and before she knew it, she had managed to make it through her science lessons and the awful car ride home with the twins who loved to bicker. At home, she found she had nothing to do since everyone else was busy and she had no homework or revision left to do.

To the music room it was.

These days she was working on mostly composing on the piano and violin for fun as well as practicing some difficult pieces for the competition. Right now she was trying to play Chopin-Etude Op.10 No.4.

It was ridiculously fast and even the music prodigy was having trouble with it, thank god there was still time until she had to play this on a stage. She at least could try to correct all of her fumbles and mistakes within time.

As for the violin, she decided it would be best to compose a piece so she could impress the judges.

Eventually dinner time came and she decided to ask the dreaded question.

When everyone were finally quiet and concentrated more on finishing their food, she looked over at Vincent.

"Vincent...could I ask you something?"

The man paused his eating, placed his icy eyes on her and nodded.

"This weekend, my friend Nicole offered for me to go to her house for a sleepover. Can I?"

"NO!" Once again, the brother whose opinion nobody needed spoke up.

"Marco!", exclaimed Luca, "that's not for you to decide."

"I agree with him though, it's too dangerous."

Rocco rolled his eyes, "dangerous? Don't be silly Dante, Sof won't get hurt at all. Let her have a normal life."