Chapter One

Simon ran up to her after the competition, “Congrats! You were great!”, he said, trying to catch his breath. After weeks of practice, his friends – Alfred, Joel, Carl and Fredrick – managed to convince Simon that Gina wouldn’t sever his head, if he spoke to her.

“I’m sure I was, that’s why I didn’t even manage to win a consolation prize,” she sighed. She didn’t realize that they had started walking down the corridor, together. Suddenly, she spun around and said, “Do I know you?”. He just stood there and stared at her for a second, “How foolish of me!,” he stretched out his right hand, “Simon Russo”. She shook his hand back, rather reluctantly, “Gina Marina”. He was cute, in a very ‘boy next door’ way, a simple cuteness most girls would have easily overlooked. They started walking again, “So you’re Italian”, she said. “Yeah, and you’re”, he seemed to search every corner of his brain to figure out where she came from, but her surname didn’t ring any bells, “very smart”, he said instead. She burst out laughing. He stuck his hands in his pocket and gave her a sheepish embarrassed smiled. He walked her home that day and they chatted all the way. They reached her doorstep. She wished the walk had lasted longer, and by the look on his face, she knew he wished the same.