Wait … is Silvia saying I can still get my certificate? Even though I lied?
I don’t dare ask. Instead I shift the attention to my parents. ‘You know why I’m here, now. But … how long have you been planning to come to Italy?’
‘Since you told us you’d got a place. It was Grace’s idea,’ Dad says. ‘She’s been desperate to come back and really wanted to see you at the fair. She spent ages finding cheap flights, and her friend got us a great deal at the B&B. She even collected work from your school so you wouldn’t fall behind from being away for two more days.’
Typical Griselda – have a break but also don’t have one. Still, I’m feeling guiltier with every word Dad says.
‘We always said we’d go abroad one day,’ Mum explains. ‘But it was impossible to line up time off. So we stopped waiting and worked with what we had instead. A city break.’ She looks almost proud, like she’s suddenly the kind of person who jets off to new places.
My heart squeezes for her, for all the sacrifices she’s made. I stretch my hand out across the table. I can’t quite reach, but Mum stretches hers too, meeting me halfway. ‘I’m weirdly glad you came now, even if I am in trouble.’
Martino chuckles, breaking the tension. ‘Science, art … it’s an old debate. Leonardo da Vinci didn’t seem to have trouble combining the two.’
Leo’s probably awake too. I almost get out of bed to do our gondolier call from the bathroom, but with Mum, Dad and Griselda right across the hall, I don’t dare.
Today has been … a lot. I’m grateful for parts of it – finally speaking up about what art means to me, my family seeing it with their own eyes, and actually feeling listened to for once. But I wish Leo and I had been able to spend our last evening together. Just us. Before the showcase turned into a showdown.
Tomorrow I’ll be going to Florence with my family. We’re getting the train after breakfast and the plan is to do some sightseeing. Looks like I’m actually going to meet Paola and see the Duomo, after all.
There’s a soft knock. At first I think it’s Leo from the bathroom, but a second knock tells me it’s coming from my bedroom door.
‘Chi è?Who is it?’
‘It’s me. Are you awake?’
Griselda.
‘Uh … yeah. Come in.’
The door creaks open. ‘This place is too big and creepy. Can I sleep with you?’
I prop myself up on my elbows and peer into the shadows. ‘You’re checking Leo’s not in here, aren’t you?’
She slides over in her socks and flops on to the mattress, immediately hogging more than half. ‘I’m not always trying to catch you out, you know.’
I make a disbelieving noise.
‘It’s true,’ she protests. ‘Except for the brains-in-jars thing.’
‘What?’
Griselda giggles. ‘There are no specimens on the top floor. I was testing you. And I’d have rumbled you way sooner if the dorm manager in Florence hadn’t refused to give Paola any information when she went to see you. I could tell something was off. But I assumed you were lying because you weren’t that interested in the science fair, and hadn’t bothered to scope out the building.’
She yelps when I raise a cold foot to her bare arm.
‘Unfair! I’ve been working really hard. Like, harder than I ever have.’
She rolls to face me. ‘I know. And I’ve been too angry until now to tell you how amazing the paradewas. I can’t believe you painted that and did all the fancy projections and light stuff.’
‘Better than the potato battery I made in S2 Science?’
‘Should have known then you weren’t cut out for lab life.’
We offer each other a tentative smile.
‘I’m sorry—’
‘I’m sorry—’
