@TotallySketchy: Help! I’m already seeing fairy-tale people everywhere.
As I pocket my mobile, the dragon herself approaches.
‘Hello, are you the InterSTEAM exchange student from Scotland?’
At my nod, she holds out her hand, jewelled rings from her hoard catching the light. Even her voice is expensive – flawless English like a Radio 4 presenter.
It’s not my Italian I’m worried about now. It’s myScottish accent. Mum’s fault – she switches to her phone voice around rich people, or herphoneyvoice, as I call it. She acts like people with money are somehow better, like she has to impress them. She must have drummed it into me too, because my voice shifts the minute I introduce myself.
‘Nice to meet you. I’m Evie.’
Her magnified eyes zigzag down the long fishtail plaits I did on the plane, pausing on my cardigan-over-jumper-over-shirt combo just long enough to make me wish I’d paid for that carry-on. ‘Welcome toVenezia. I’m Veronica, director of the Ballarin Institute. And this is—’
She frowns at the empty space beside her, then twists to check over her shoulder. The boy she’d been arguing with is still in the rectangle of light, but now he’s looking at his phone. A smile breaks through his scowl – one that would make me start his portrait over from scratch because it changes his whole face.
Then I remember the annoyed way he said my name, and watch his smile collapse when Veronica hisses something in Italian and he reluctantly hauls himself over.
‘My son, Leonardo,’ Veronica says smoothly.
‘Leo,’ he mutters, still not meeting my eye.
‘Leonardo,’ she corrects, like they’ve been arguingabout this since birth.
And now I have no idea what to call him. Picking one feels like choosing sides. With any luck, I won’t need to call him anything and he’s just a spare body for pick-up duty. Because yes, fine, he’s stupidly good-looking, but clearly rude, which pretty much cancels it out.
Veronica gestures vaguely between us. ‘You know how you remind me of Filippino Lippi’sPortrait of a Youth, Leonardo? Well, guess who’s hanging right beside you now.’
Leo’s full lips – I mean, just lips, totally normal lips – press together as if he knows the answer but doesn’t want to say it.
‘Do you knowLa Bellaby Tiziano?’ Veronica asks me.
‘Tiziano?’ I test the word out loud, then shake my head.
Veronica’s eyebrows pop up over the frames of her glasses. ‘The artist! Ah.’ She presses a hand to her chest. ‘You probably know him as Titian.’
‘Oh. Right. Yeah.’ I fidget with the paintbrush tip of one of my plaits. ‘I’ve heard of him.’ I mean, I’ve definitely heard of him, but I don’t actually know his work. I swallow the flare of embarrassment. This is what I’m here for, I remind myself. To learn this stuff.
Veronica ushers us towards the exit. ‘You see the resemblance, don’t you, Leonardo? A proper Renaissance beauty.’
Oh God. Did she have to ask him? I speed up to fall in beside her, leaving Leo a few steps behind.
His bored voice still reaches me, though. His English as polished as his mum’s.
‘If you mean complicated hair, pale skin and bright red cheeks …’
Redder now, thank you, Leo-Leonardo.
Veronica smiles at me. ‘You know the painting, Evie?’
This … this is what bugs me about rich people. They’re always asking questions that are more like tests.Have you visited this place? Seen that show? What did you think of blah blah blah?
It leaves me feeling small. Inadequate.
I make a non-committal noise. Then all thought leaves my head as we step outside and a gust of cold February air rushes at us straight off the water. The airport practically spills into the lagoon. Like, here’s your bag,signorina… and here’s the sea.
Water taxis and smaller boats bob along a dock, and there’s one with polished wood and plush leather seats that’s giving total movie star vibes. I’m still admiring it when Veronica and Leo climb aboard ascasually as if they’re gliding into a hotel lobby. It takes me a sec to realize I’m meant to get on too … and it kills me that I can’t post this on my socials.
They made it look so easy, I underestimate the wobble factor, and my sideways lurch sends me barrelling straight into Leo’s arms – strong arms with surprisingly good reflexes, I’m annoyed to notice.
