As we resumed our sightseeing after breakfast, it was obvious we were in the doghouse with Mr Johnson and Mrs Elwes, who insisted on keeping us within their sight. I hadn’t envisaged having two teachers on my tail as part of my new role as international woman of sophistication and experience, but I didn’t mind too much as there was so much to see and Mrs Elwes was a great tour guide. First we did the Uffizi Gallery with a million other tourists and school parties on half-term, so it was difficult to see anything in the long corridors and rooms there. It was easier for the others as they’re tall but, when you’re short like me and there are twenty people crowding round a painting or piece of sculpture, it’s hard to see over their heads. I found myself only getting glimpses of the art on display in between people’s armpits. TJ was in heaven as she loves history and we had to drag her away from some of the rooms. Nesta and Izzie seemed more interested in taking in what the tourists were wearing and eyeing up boys than becoming experts on Renaissance art.
After the Uffizi, we explored the interior of the Duomo, which was awesome. The domed ceiling was painted with some very strange-looking paintings. Some of heaven, which were OK, but the ones of hell were seriously gruesome. People being swallowed head first by demons or having their limbs or heads cut off. Yuck. Not my idea of spiritually uplifting. I began to feel a tingle of excitement at the prospect of seeing Teddy again, though. This is a new chapter in my book of life, I thought as we wandered round the vast cathedral. My cosy life in North London seemed a million miles away. Tony seemed a million miles away. Teddy, on the other hand, might only be a few steps away at the top of the Duomo.
At the end of the tour of the interior, Mrs Elwes called us all over to her. ‘For those of you who want to go to the top, you’re free to do so. There is a fantastic view from up there, so join the queue if you wish to go up. Mr Johnson will be at the back of the group and I’ll stay down here to meet you on your return.’
‘Well, I want to go,’ said TJ.
‘And we all know that Lucy will,’ said Nesta. ‘Isn’t that where you said you’d meet Teddy?’
I nodded. ‘If he’s there. We didn’t say an exact time.’
I got out my mirror and applied a slick of lip-gloss, then we went outside to join the long queue that wound itself halfway around the side of the Duomo. After about fifteen minutes, we were inside again and being directed to a small door where we could see stone steps leading upwards. I really hoped that Teddy would be at the top when we got there. It would be so romantic, like Meg Ryan meeting Tom Hanks up on top of the Empire State Building in the movie Sleepless in Seattle. Only this is Italy. And there’s no lift up.
‘Last one to the top’s a sissy,’ said Izzie as she sprinted up the first spiral of steps.
We raced after her and kept up a good pace for about five minutes, after which we had to stop and catch our breath. The stairway was very narrow, going round and round and round and round. I felt myself getting dizzy and Nesta was feeling the same.
‘Don’t know if I can do this,’ she said. ‘My head’s spinning.’
We looked behind us, but there was no way we could turn back as the stairway was too narrow and already we could see the next lot of tourists coming up behind us.
‘This has to be what hell is like,’ said Izzie as we set off again. ‘Stuck on a tiny stairway for ever with a million people behind you pushing you upwards so that you can’t rest.’
‘No, we can do it,’ said TJ. ‘We’re young, we’re fit . . .’
‘We’re gonna die . . .’ said Nesta as she puffed her way ahead.
On and up and on and up and on and up we trudged.
‘We have to be almost there,’ I said, after what seemed like an eternity of climbing.
Suddenly the stair opened out to a small landing and we could see people coming down.
A boy with his mother went past us and grinned. ‘You’re about halfway up,’ he said.
‘Oh noooooo,’ groaned Izzie. ‘I thought this trip was supposed to be fun. This is a nightmare.’
We made our way up more steps and more steps and more steps. By now, no one was speaking. It took up too much energy. It must be about five hundred steps to the top, I thought as I stopped for a moment to catch my breath. Now I understood why Mrs Elwes hadn’t wanted to accompany us. She must have done it before and knew what was involved. I hope Teddy’s not up there, I thought. I might have looked OK when I was down at the bottom, but I could feel that my face was now scarlet and I was out of breath and sweating like mad. Not my most alluring look. As I panted my way up, suddenly there was an opening and a ladder, and I prayed that this might be the end of the steps. Izzie went up the ladder first, then TJ, then Nesta, then me. Then at last, we were at the top and Florence stretched out in front of us. It was an amazing view and, as it was a bright day, we could see for miles. It felt like we were on the top of the world looking out. I edged my way over to the metal barrier to look down.
‘Woah,’ I said, stepping back quickly. We were very high up and people on the streets down below looked like ants. Everything went blurry and, I felt as if I was going to fall. ‘Don’t go to the edge.’
Izzie stepped forward and like me, quickly stepped back. ‘High! ET wants to go home. Don’t like it.’
‘You big bunch of girls,’ said TJ, who was happy close to the edge and looking over. ‘Let’s walk round.’
I followed her along the narrow landing around the top, but I made sure that I kept as far away from the barriers as possible. Even though they were waist-high, I didn’t feel comfortable at all.
There were about a hundred people up there and I quickly scanned them to see if I could see Teddy, but there didn’t seem to be any sign of him.
‘He’s not here, is he?’ asked Izzie as she too scanned the crowd.
I shrugged. ‘Well I guess it was a bit of a long shot as he might have come earlier.’ I did feel disappointed though. It would have been great to have seen him up here at such a great location. And, with a bit of luck, he could have carried me back down.
After lunch of ciabatta, mozzarella and tomatoes in a café near the Duomo, our bus took us back up to the Piazza Michelangelo, the square with the statue of David and his bum that we’d been to the day before. We got off the bus to explore the market stalls there, where everyone bought aprons with a picture of the torso of the statue of David on them. I bought six as I thought they’d make fun presents and they were only eight euros each. The aprons were hysterical as they showed David’s willie and all the girls on our tour put them on and lined up for a photo in front of the statue. Sadly, Mr Johnson didn’t seem to find it very funny, especially when Nesta tried to get him to wear one. After the market stalls, we went up to a church and a fabulous old cemetery to the right of the square. Some of the gravestones were like works of art, with statues of people and ornate sculptures of flowers and swords. Of course we all had to have our pictures taken pretending to be angels standing over the graves.
At about three in the afternoon, Mrs Elwes announced that we were allowed an hour to explore or have a coffee or just relax.
‘And you girls,’ she said, looking at Izzie, TJ, Nesta and me, ‘what time do you have on your watches?’
‘Three, Mrs Elwes,’ said TJ. ‘We’ve put our watches on the right time.’
‘And don’t forget we have our mobiles,’ said Nesta. ‘My dad had them upgraded for us to use in Europe as a holiday present.’
‘Switched on?’
‘Yes.’
‘OK, I’ve got the numbers so I’ll give you a second chance to go off and explore but, if you’re not back in an hour, you’re in deep trouble. Understood?’
‘Understood,’ said Izzie.
As soon as she’d wandered off a short distance, Nesta turned to the rest of us.
‘Hotel Villa Corelli,’ she said. ‘It’s only down the road. Remember, we saw it from the bus.’
‘But we can’t go in there,’ said TJ. ‘We’re not guests.’
‘No problem,’ said Nesta. ‘Just walk in like you own the place. No one will ask. Remember Mrs Elwes said she went for cocktails? We’ll have a Coke and, anyway, we know Teddy. We can say we’re visiting him if anyone asks. Oh come on, TJ. I’ve always wanted to look in one of those really swanky hotels.’
Normally I’d agree with TJ. I’m not very brave about going in very posh places as I feel intimidated, but Florence was having a weird effect on me and I felt like I wanted to try everything and no one was going to stop me. Plus, if I was going to be an international woman of experience, I needed to have some. Experiences, that is.
‘And maybe we’ll see Teddy again,’ said Nesta. ‘It’s important for Lucy to help her get over my dumb brother.’
‘Lead the way,’ said Izzie.
‘It’s neoclassic,’ said TJ as we walked up towards the hotel’s entrance.
‘Neo-posh,’ said Izzie as we walked inside.
Even Nesta was fazed when we walked into the hotel lobby. It was fabulous with a very distinctive smell. Money. Marbled floors, marbled walls, humungous displays of exotic flowers. No one was about and it was clearly not a place where four teenage girls could hang about without looking conspicuous. And no way was it a place that you could just pop into for a Coke. The others were about to turn away, when I took a deep breath and marched straight up to the reception desk and rang the bell. A moment later, a blonde lady appeared from a back room.
‘Er . . . excuse me. Do you speak English?’
‘Yes, madam. How can I help?’
‘We’re here to see Teddy Ambrosini Junior, please.’
‘Just a moment,’ she said. ‘Who should I say is calling?’
‘Lucy Lovering. Um. Junior.’
She gave me a funny look, then went to her phone and dialled. A few moments later she glanced up. ‘He’s coming down,’ she said.
‘Cool,’ I said. ‘I mean, thanks.’
Five minutes later, Teddy appeared in the lobby. He looked delighted to see us all.
‘Hey,’ he said. ‘I’m so sorry I couldn’t make the Duomo this morning. My aunt turned up to check I was OK.’
‘Why are you staying here,’ asked Nesta, ‘if you’re family lives in Florence?’
‘They don’t,’ said Teddy. ‘That is, some of them do. My dad has a place in Milan. It was my grandmother who lived in Florence, and her place is packed out with assorted relatives so Dad thought I’d be more comfortable here.’
‘I’ll say,’ said Nesta.
‘We’re very sorry to hear about her death,’ said Izzie. ‘Were you close to her?’
Teddy shook his head. ‘Yeah. She was a great lady. I didn’t see as much of her as my American grandmother, but I used to see her once a year when I was over visiting Dad. He’s arriving tonight with my stepmother. Say, would you like to see my room?’
We all nodded and trooped after him up a flight of stairs and into a room on the first floor. I say room, but it was more like a suite. It must cost a bomb to stay here, I thought as I took in the richly coloured rugs on the floor and heavy drapes at the window.
‘Nice place,’ said TJ.
‘It used to be a private residence,’ said Teddy. ‘Royal folks’ pad.’
‘Cool,’ said TJ.
‘I was just putting some photos on the computer,’ said Teddy, ‘ready to send back home to my mom.’
‘Brilliant,’ I said. ‘Can we see?’
We all crowded round the laptop, which was set up on a writing desk. Teddy pressed a button on his keypad and lines of photographs appeared.
‘God, I wish I could send photos,’ said Nesta.‘I’d love to send pics home.’
‘I can do that for you,’ said Teddy and reached over to his camera.
We spent the next fifteen minutes larking about and taking pictures. Izzie in a Buddha pose on the bed. Nesta sprawled like Cleopatra over the bed with her sunglasses on and a glass in her hand. Me peeping out from behind one of the curtains. Izzie insisted that I had one taken with Teddy, and it all got a bit silly as he pulled a rose out of an arrangement on top of the TV and knelt on the floor and held it up to me. Course, I went red and grinned like an idiot.
‘Romeo and Juliet,’ said Nesta.
‘Only that was in Verona, not Florence,’ said TJ.
‘Who cares?’ said Nesta. ‘Verona, Florence. It’s all Italy and it’s all romantic’
It didn’t take Teddy long to transfer the pictures on to the computer, take down our e-mail addresses then, with a ping, send them off to our computers in England.
‘The Renaissance folk might have been whizzes at art,’ said TJ, ‘but we have digital cameras and e-mail.’
After cups of tea in delicate china, we took our leave and ran back up the hill to the square. We didn’t want to be in trouble with Mrs Elwes and only just made it in time.
‘You going to see him again?’ asked TJ as we got back on the bus.
I nodded. Before we’d left, Teddy had asked for our itinerary, so I’d given him a rough idea of where we’d be going in the next few days in case he could get time off from his family duties. I felt brilliant. This place may be full of art and history and fantastic stories of who’d lived here in past times, I thought, but the past has gone. I’m here now. I’m alive and my story’s still unfolding.
Back at our hotel, we had supper and a bit of a laugh with the boys from the other school, then went back to our rooms and got into our pyjamas. We raided the minibar for goodies – one bar of chocolate, two chunks each. We tried watching the telly, but it was all in Italian so we decided to phone home. We took turns and Nesta was last to go.
She put the phone down and sighed.
‘What?’ asked Izzie.
‘I should have thought . . .’
‘What?’ asked Izzie again.
‘We share our Inbox back home. Tony saw the photographs.’
‘So?’ asked Izzie.
‘The one of Lucy and Teddy. Mum said he flipped and stormed out of the flat.’
‘Serves him right,’ said Izzie. ‘I mean, it was him that finished with her and all because she wouldn’t have sex with him.’
‘It wasn’t just that . . .’ I began to protest.
‘Apparently he came back later,’ continued Nesta, ‘packed his rucksack and said he was going off to some rave in Devon.’
‘So?’ asked TJ.
Nesta glanced at me. ‘With Andrea Morton,’ she said.
‘Who’s she?’ asked TJ.
‘You don’t want to know,’ said Nesta.
‘I do,’ I said.
Nesta sighed. ‘Andrea Morton’s this girl who’s been after him for ages. I didn’t say anything about her before, Lucy, because, for one thing, he was smitten with you and, for another, he didn’t seem interested. She was doing all the chasing.’
‘How old is she?’ asked Izzie.
‘Seventeen,’ said Nesta. ‘Why?’
‘Obvious, isn’t it?’
‘No.’
‘Seventeen. Legal. We all know what Tony wants,’ said Izzie.
Nesta lay back on her bed. ‘Well, good luck to him.’
‘Exactly,’ I said. I felt a twinge of jealousy, but I knew that he’d move on sooner or later. He had to. I couldn’t expect him to stay single just because we’d split up. I mustn’t mind, I told myself. I have to move on as well and I knew just the person I wanted to do that with.
‘Um. Do you think that room service will deliver chocolate?’ asked Izzie, who was on her knees on the floor with her face in the minibar. ‘We’re all out here.’
‘Yeah,’ said TJ. ‘Who needs boys when you can have chocolate?’
‘Ah, but maybe we do need them when we haven’t any,’ said Nesta. ‘Let’s call the boys in their rooms. Maybe they haven’t eaten their supplies.’
There are four hundred and sixty-three steps to the top of the Duomo.
Take water and sandwiches. And oxygen.
Chapter 12
Exploring
‘Maybe Teddy’s gay,’ said Izzie as we got ready for bed on Thursday evening.
‘Maybe,’ I said, ‘or maybe he’s just come out of a relationship and is off girls for a while.’
‘No way,’ said Nesta. ‘I’ve seen the way he looks at you and I’m never wrong about these things. He fancies you big time.’
‘So why hasn’t he kissed me, then?’
I’d seen Teddy every day since Sunday in his hotel. I got the feeling he was a bit lonely as, although his dad and stepmother had arrived to join him at the hotel, once the funeral was over, his dad left Teddy to his own devices as he had business in Florence to attend to and his stepmother wanted to go shopping. He came over in the evenings for an hour or so and we sat in the lounge downstairs and chatted. We found we had loads in common as he was interested in design and wanted to do it when he went to college, though he wasn’t sure whether to do furniture or fabric. He brought samples of his dad’s fabrics for me to look at and they were stunning, all the vibrant colours of Italy. At the end of the evening, I’d walk him back to the limo, which always waited for him in the car park.
As the week had gone on, I could tell he liked me, but he never made a move, not even to hold my hand, and I began to wonder if he liked me only as a friend; if there was something wrong with me or I’d misread the signals. All the other girls from our school were having a whale of a time and just about everyone had got off with someone.
Izzie spent every moment she could with Jay and it looked like they were getting serious. TJ hung out with Liam, although she said it was platonic as she didn’t fancy him. He did look a bit odd, as one of the boys in their group had shaved off one of his eyebrows when he was asleep on the first night in Italy as a joke. Not a great look. Nesta however, for the first time ever, was having a hard time pulling. Loads of boys on the school tour fancied her, but she’d set her sights higher. She fancied Marco, one of the waiters. He was well fit. Tall and dark with deep brown eyes. She found out from one of the other waiters who spoke good English that Marco was a musician who was working at the hotel part-time. Sadly though, no matter how hard she flirted, he played it cool and treated her as though she was one of his customers. Nothing more. Of course that only made him more attractive in Nesta’s eyes, and it could only be a matter of time before he succumbed as Nesta, like her brother, liked a challenge.
Mates, Dates and Great Escapes Page 8
