As time goes by I'm still thinking of you.

Chapter 11

Sitting in my chemistry class, Mrs. Dewy was lecturing to all of us about the dangers of acid. Why? Because, Clarisa Santiago “accidently” spilt some acid on me the other day. The good thing was that I didn’t get any on me or else I would have ended up in the hospital.2

“Now class, before the period ends Mr. Burns’s biology class will be joining us for the next month and a half. We will be combined to do a project that is environmental friendly and way to help improve the environment here locally.” Mrs. Dewy explained.3

Knock-Knock. Mrs. Dewy walked towards the door, opening to reveal Mr. Burns and his class right behind him. “Ah Mr. Burns please come in your students can choose to sit anywhere they wish for today.” Mrs. Dewy motioned for the people to take a seat. 4

Most of the students looked nervously around to find people that looked friendly enough to sit next to. Crocifissa Lombardi came over and sat down next to me in the empty seat. Crocifissa, or Cissa, is my best and only friend at this dreaded boarding school.5

“So, who in this class should I look out for?” Was the first thing she asked. Cissa had a thing about trusting people. Last time she did it ended badly.6

“Well, Clarisa Santiago, the blonde over there in the right corner, she’s one to look out for. If she hates you she’ll try to hurt you, and I should know. Then there’s Dominique Pari she generally hates everyone, and she has an attitude as well.” I whispered to Cissa while the teacher was giving out the instructions for the project that we would be starting tomorrow. “Then there’s Jared Gallo, I heard that he attempted murder on a random person in the street.”7

“Mr. De Luca! If you are finished gossiping about other people would you please be quiet?” Mrs. Dewy yelled at me. I did a mime gesture of zipping my lips and throwing away the key. “Grazie, now as I was saying…”8

Riiiiiiiiing!!! The bell signaled for the end of class. Bodies start to move around and they started to gather their belongings to leave for their next class. Cissa and I both collected our belongings and headed out of the door towards our sixth class of the day, Italian studies. Walking in we sat down in our usually seats in the back left corner where the windows are located. We started talking about random things about nothingness.9

“Alright class we have a new student joining us today.” Mr. Delgado announced. “He comes to us from the United States. So please welcome Demetrio Esposito.” When this Demetrio person walk in to the room, he looked like a mysterious person. The way he dressed in all black the way he stared out towards the classroom with a blank stare and the way he had his hair covering his eyes. “So, Demetrio, would you like to tell us more about you?”10

“Well, my parents originally came from Italy but moved to the States and we lived in New Mexico then my parents decided to move back because they missed living here.” Demetrio spoke with a Spanish accent, but it sounded like he didn’t trust his word much.11

“Thank you Demetrio. Do you have a person to show you around the school yet?” Mr. Delgado questioned, he likes to help new students out whenever he can. Demetrio just shook his head ‘no’. “Well then Dante, will you be willing to show Demetrio around after school today?”12

“Uh sure. Yeah I have nothing to do after school today.” I responded. I didn’t have to be home any time soon. My parents were fine without my help for awhile.13

“Good! Now that that is settled you may have a seat where ever you like.” Demetrio looked around and decided to sit next to me and Cissa. Mr. Delgado started teaching about what we are going to start reading in over the next few weeks.14

“So you’re Dante?” Demetrio questioned me.15

“Yeah and your Demetrio, and this is Crocifissa a.k.a. Cissa.” I replied. “So what’s your schedule?” He handed me a paper and I briefly looked it over. “Well let’s see. You have the same classes as I do except for fourth period you have with Cissa. So you can just stick with me for the rest of the day.”16

“Ok. Hey do you mind if my brother tags along with us after school today?”17

“Not at all, he can join us if he wants.”18

“Mr. De Luca! Are you finished with your conversation?” Mr. Delgado yelled. He hates it when people are talking when he is.19

“Sì signor.”20

“Grazie. Now as I was saying the next literature that we are going to be reading is a classic called The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. I do not have enough copies for everyone so you are going to have to share with the person you are sitting next to. So, are there any questions?”21

“I do,” I shouted, “If we have our own copy can we bring it?”22

“Yes Dante you can bring your own copy though I think you would be the only person in this class to have their own copy of that book. “ Mr. Delgado said. “But if any of you have a copy of The Divine Comedy you are welcome to bring it. So, if there are any questions you may ask them either after class or after school.” 23

Riiiiiing!! The bell sounded for class to be dismissed. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”24

“Dante! Lei ha bisogno di una passeggiata dopo oggi scolastico?” Cissa asked as we started to pack up.25

“Uh sì faccio. Grazie Cissa.” I replied to her.26

“K I’ll see you later then. Meet me outside of the main entrance.” Cissa said as she left for her next class.27

“OK, see ya.” I waved her good bye.28

By the end of the school Demetrio hasn’t spoken a work to me. Not one, it must have been that he is shy and doesn’t really know people that well plus everyone was speaking in Italian too so he didn’t know what we were saying either. So once school let out for the day I walked up to Demetrio and asked if he was ready to take the tour.29

“Uh yeah I’m ready but can we wait for my brother to come?”30

“Of course we can! So what does he look like?”31

“Like me only with green highlights in his hair.” No sooner later another guy that looked like Demetrio only with green highlights walked up to us. “Well that didn’t take long. Dante this is my twin brother Damiano. Damiano this is Dante. He’s going to give us a tour of this school.”32

“Hello.” I extended out my hand for him to shake. “Welcome to Aosta. Let me show you around. We’ll start here in the main hall.” For the next half hour I showed them where their classes are since they only had a half a school day. We were in the west wing of the school when my phone started to ring. “Salve.”33

“Dante? Potresti aiutarmi? Sono breve sugli operai.” My mom tells me.34

“SÌ mama. Sarò lì presto. Ciao.” I hung up and turned towards the twins. “Well I have to go my mom needs my help. If you need a ride Cissa will be glad to take you both home.”35

“Ok.” They both said. We walk outside the main entrance and I spotted Cissa leaning against her car.36

“Cissa! Could you give Demetrio and his brother Damiano a ride home?” I shouted across the yard.37

“Of course I can my love. Do you need a ride or are you walking?”38

“I’m walking today I need to be home soon.” I shouted and started to run off towards the direction of my house. My family owns a restaurant that’s right next door of our house. We’ve had it in our family for many generations so it’s pretty old, but it still looks the same when my great-great-great grandfather built it. We even still have the same menu since it started too. We like to keep things old-fashioned and original. I arrived at our little restaurant and was greeted by the smells of Aunt Emma’s cooking and a much stressed out mother of mine.39

“Buono suo qui. Lei serve stasera.” Ma told me I just nodded and grabbed an apron hanging on a hook in the kitchen and started to wait on people. I could tell tonight was going to be a long one.