The Summer of the Selfless - 13. Chapter 13

Giacomo had asked for some time, and that was what Daniele meant to give him. He refused to give up hope, but there was nothing to be gained by crowding the other boy.

Faced with another spell of enforced separation, Daniele turned to his other friends. By now, they all knew, one way or another, how things had gone between them, and he was able to relax a bit, knowing that he had little to hide. Although he found precious little joy in the passing days, it still raised his spirits to spend time with a group of people who understood how he was feeling and didn’t judge him for it.

A sunny Wednesday morning a couple of days after Giacomo’s birthday found Daniele and his friends wandering as a group among the old stairways and lanes on the hillside below town. They were heading nowhere in particular, just going wherever their feet took them.

Emilia and Luca stayed closely attached, pausing to admire the flora and fauna as they walked, sharing the interest in natural history that had brought them together in the first place… or so they had claimed. Daniele wasn’t sure he believed in love at first sight, but he smiled slightly to himself at the thought that it had probably been a little more than wildlife that had made them stop and speak in the street in the first place.

Laura, with her glossy brown hair, fashionable city dresses and fussy handbag, still looked rather out of place but, against the odds, she seemed to be adjusting ever slightly to country life. She was adorned with a little less jewellery than usual and had traded her high heels for some slightly more practical, flat-soled shoes.

Stranger still was the fact that she seemed to have adopted Marco. The smaller boy, who looked as neat and tidy as ever, seemed flattered, if a little confused, by the attention.

Daniele was content to be the fifth wheel. It meant he could chat to everyone without things getting too deep with any one of them. After an intense few weeks, it was sort of a relief to be able to float around the group as he wanted.

‘Hope you’re doing ok,’ he wrote in a text to Giacomo as they walked. He didn’t really expect a response, but it made him feel better to show the other boy that he cared.

“I told you, no,” Emilia was saying, “I’ve never handled a lizard. They’re way too fast!”

“If you could just catch one by the tail…” Luca suggested.

Emilia folded her arms. “They’d shed it,” she said, “as you well know.”

Luca grinned. “Yeah, but… if you held onto the tail for long enough, would it grow a new lizard?”

Daniele snickered. “That’s a great image.”

Emilia rolled her eyes. “Can you believe I’m actually dating this guy?” she sighed, elbowing Luca in the ribs.

Laura smirked slightly. “At least someone here’s getting some,” she murmured.

Next to her, Marco laughed quietly. “Boyfriends are overrated.”

“That’s a sad statement,” Laura replied, lifting his chin up to face her. “I hope you meet a boy who’ll change your mind, one day.”

Marco shrugged. “I’m fine. I’ve got what I need.”

They were somewhere on the hillside above Torello, walking slowly down between weathered and rustic walls of sun-bleached stone. The early July sun shone hazily down from above the mountains beyond Maiori, whose impossibly steep, tree-lined slopes formed a rugged and uneven backdrop against the powder-blue sky. Hardy trees and prickly pears peeped up over the wall, and they were never far from the ever-present burr of the cicadas.

“What’s it like here in winter, Emilia?” Laura asked.

Emilia thought for a moment. “It sort of goes to sleep. The mountains go a dusky brown, and the clouds sort of drift down them as if they’re falling into the sea.” She shivered at the thought. “It gets cold, sometimes.”

“That’s kinda beautiful, ’milia,” Luca said, flashing her a quick smile.

“Give me the summer any day,” she replied. “Right, Dani?”

“Dani is the summer,” Luca remarked, glancing over at Daniele’s breezy yellow tie-dye t-shirt. “If the summer were a person, it would look just like him.”

Daniele shrugged. “Maybe that was true once,” he replied sceptically.

Emilia smiled. “Just you wait, Dani. When Giacomo comes back to you, you’ll shine like the sun.”

Daniele gave her a grateful look. It was good to know that somebody else was keeping the faith.

“Everyone’s a poet today,” Marco murmured.

Laura laughed. “Look who’s talking, soul boy.”

“Soul boy?” Marco repeated incredulously.

“Come on, guys,” Laura appealed to the rest of the group. “Check out these sad grey eyes. This boy is deep.”

Marco gave an embarrassed laugh and turned away, clearly unused to being the centre of attention.

“Quit it,” he protested, but he couldn’t quite hide his smile.

Their route led them into the welcome, stone-cooled shade of a church porch that spanned a place where several paths met. They took a rest against the rough plasterwork of the church wall. After a while, Luca produced a tennis ball and set up an impromptu game of catch. As far as they could be bothered against the ambient heat, they passed the ball from teen to teen, occasionally ricocheting it off the wall or the crazy-paved floor. It bounced and echoed in the vaulted space with a hollow, rhythmic thudding.

The game was brought to a rather abrupt halt when the church doors creaked open and an irritable, bespectacled face poked out.

“Do you mind?” the priest protested. “Some of us are trying to pray.”

His eyes fell accusingly on Daniele, who was unlucky enough to have the brightly coloured ball in his hand at that moment.

“Sorry, Father,” he said awkwardly.

“God be with you,” the priest said curtly, before withdrawing to the sanctity of the church’s shady interior.

Luca shook his head, tutting seriously. “Dani, you vandal,” he sighed.

Daniele shot him a dirty look and fired the ball rather hard in his direction. Luca caught it against his stomach, laughing even as he looked a little winded.

“I like Father Stefano better,” Daniele said.

“Yeah, well… it’s probably easier to have your way with the altar boys down here,” Luca remarked.

“Luca!” Emilia exclaimed accusingly, smacking him hard on the arm, while Daniele and the others gaped at him in shock.

The green-eyed boy had the good grace to look a little ashamed of himself. “Sorry. I… think that was my birth father talking.”

“Not much use for the church in the Neri family, huh?” Marco asked.

Luca spread his hands helplessly. “Does that surprise you?”

They moved on. Soon, they had crossed the bottom of the zig-zagging hillside road, and they carried on down into Torello itself, retracing Daniele and Marco’s steps from their day on the beach. After winding down through the close-knit houses, they came to rest in the small square outside the hamlet’s little church, an ancient building with a vaguely Moorish tower. In the shadow cast by the church itself, the three boys flopped down onto a stone bench built into the walls of the square. Daniele was beginning to feel thirsty, and wished he’d brought some water with him.

Laura and Emilia were still on their feet. The dark-haired girl was staring contemplatively out from the landward side of the square, where the terraced landscape of lemon orchards and scattered houses swept around the hillside below Ravello on its way round into the Sambuco valley.

“What’s on your mind?” Emilia asked, observing her usually lively cousin’s rare moment of quiet.

Laura smiled. “I was just taking it all in. I love the city, but… being out here does make me feel more connected, somehow.”

“Well, it is the land of our ancestors,” Emilia replied. “Our great-great-grandfather was probably out here picking lemons a hundred years ago.”

Laura brushed her hair back over her ears in a dignified sort of way. “I prefer to think I’m descended from a long line of illustrious Roman emperors,” she declared, but then she laughed. “It sounds like a hard life, but it is sort of a romantic image.”

Luca snickered. “We’ll make a farmer out of you yet, Laura!” he called from the bench.

“Quiet, you,” Laura replied, shooting the green-eyed boy a challenging look over her shoulder.

Luca smirked and got up to join them, leaving Daniele alone with Marco. They exchanged a slightly awkward glance.

“How are you doing, Dani?” the smaller boy mumbled. “Have you heard anything from Giaco?”

Pausing for a moment to double-check his phone, Daniele shook his head.

“Not yet.”

“I hope you’re right about him,” Marco said. “If he really has changed, then maybe all this will have been worth it.”

“You’d feel the same way if you’d heard him,” Daniele insisted. “He was speaking from the heart, I swear.” He gave the smaller boy a questioning look. “Is it really so hard for you to imagine…?”

Marco shrugged. “I’ll believe it when I see it. I suppose…” he hesitated, running a thoughtful hand through his mousy-brown hair, “if anyone could make him a better person, you could.”

There was a pause, during which Daniele gave the other boy an uncertain glance. “So, you wouldn’t mind?” he asked, “…if we did get back together, I mean?”

Marco’s cool grey eyes flicked towards him for a moment. “Not if it makes you happy,” he sighed.

“Thanks, Marco,” Daniele said. He placed a hand gently on the other boy’s shoulder. “Look… can we be friends forever?” he asked. “I want to be there for you when you need someone – you know, the way you’ve been there for me this summer.”

Marco nodded. “I’d like that.”

They gave each other a tentative smile, and Daniele felt the ghost of what had happened between them beginning to fade away.

There were shuffling feet as the others rejoined them, talking quietly amongst themselves. Everyone was beginning to look as thirsty as Daniele felt.

“Do you guys want to come back to mine?” he asked. “I’ve got plenty of drinks for everyone.”

* * *

By Thursday, there had still been no word from Giacomo. Daniele told himself that the other boy just needed more time to work through his feelings, but the idea was getting less convincing by the day. Giacomo himself had said that he wasn’t much of a thinker. Why wouldn’t he even reply to a text, unless he had already made up his mind to take their friendship no further?

Surely, those weren’t the terms on which they had parted? Daniele refused to give up hope, but his good faith was beginning to cost him. He could feel his mood slipping again, despite the support of his other friends.

Late that morning, Daniele was home alone, killing time on his own, when there was a knock at the door. He moved to answer it, struggling to quell the irrational hope that he would find Giacomo on the doorstep, grinning and eager to get on with a summer of fun and adventures.

Nope… that’s not how it would be now, even if he had forgiven me for everything.

Some things changed forever, didn’t they? A friendship, once it had crossed a certain line, could never be completely reset. You could only hope to shape it into something new.

Of course, it wasn’t Giacomo, but the sheer unexpected nature of the new arrival made it easier for Daniele to hide his disappointment.

“Michele…?” he said, blinking at the newcomer in surprise. Although they were virtually neighbours, it was rare for the older boy to arrive unannounced like this.

“Ciao, Dani,” Michele grinned. “I’m glad I caught you. Claudia’s on her way back for the summer. I thought you’d like to join the reception committee.”

Daniele brightened a little. “She’s on her way right now?” he queried.

Michele nodded. “Guess who’s bringing her up from Napoli Centrale?”

Daniele thought for a moment. “Papà?” he ventured.

The older boy inclined his head. “Got it in one.”

Daniele scowled. “He never said anything about it.”

Michele chuckled. “Parents, eh? It’s almost like they’re not fully accountable to their children. Anyway, I’m heading up now if you’d like a lift.”

Daniele smiled slightly. “Just like old times.”

“And you’re wearing the lavender,” Michele observed, gesturing at the reliable old t-shirt Daniele had chosen that morning. “She’ll love that.”

“I’m in,” Daniele said. “Just let me close up.”

He retreated briefly to the house to shut down his laptop and make sure everything was secure, then he locked up. Michele was just wheeling his Vespa scooter down from the house a few doors up the road where he still lived with his parents. Daniele caught up with him just as he was fishing his spare helmet out of the storage compartment under the saddle.

“Well,” Michele said, handing the helmet to him and taking his position at the front of the seat, “you’re a bit bigger than you were the last time we did this, but I reckon you probably remember what to do. Saddle up, Dani.”

Daniele obliged, hefting himself up behind the older boy and closing his arms around his middle.

Michele laughed slightly. “This is strange,” he said.

“What?” Daniele asked.

“You hug differently now,” the older boy replied. “I guess a few things really have changed for you, huh?”

“Yeah,” Daniele replied quietly. “I guess they have.”

“Growing up isn’t easy,” Michele said gently. “I should know – I’ve lived it. I… still am, to be honest.”

The older boy gunned the scooter’s rattly little engine, and they began the slow but steady climb up the zig-zagging road. Daniele held on gently, enjoying the feel of the breeze on his arms.

“I have missed this,” he shouted over the buzz and clatter of the engine.

“The way time’s going, you’ll be old enough to get one of your own before you know it,” Michele called back.

“Please, don’t…” Daniele cried. “I’m not even ready to be as grown up as I am now!”

“Welcome to teenage life, Dani,” Michele sighed. “A world built on endlessly shifting sands.”

The short ride up to town felt like it was over before it had even started. Michele nosed the Vespa into a parking space just below the end of the Naples road and they walked through the cool, echoing tunnel to the buzzy seclusion of the cathedral square.

“Last time Claudia updated us, they’d just come through the Valico di Chiunzi,” Michele said. “She really won’t be long, now.”

“Michele!” called a voice. Toto and Isabella were waving at them from the shade of a lime tree to the side of the cathedral. Daniele and Michele hurried over to join them at once.

“Glad you could join us, Dani,” Toto grinned as they approached. “I thought maybe Giacomo –”

Daniele shook his head, stopping the older boy in mid-sentence.

“Well –” Toto went on uncertainly, “it’s good that you’re here, anyway.”

“He didn’t break your heart, did he?” Isabella asked compassionately. “Only, we did warn him…”

Daniele shook his head again. “No… that’s not how it went.”

The older teens gave him a curious look, but they didn’t have time to dwell on it for long, because Paolo’s taxi was already pulling into the corner of the square. Taking a leaf out of Giacomo’s book, Daniele put his game face on, determined not to drag the mood of the occasion down any further.

Paolo was helping Claudia to unload a large suitcase and a heavy rucksack from the boot of the car. Having taken the money she held out to him, he tipped Daniele a wave and was soon on his way.

Isabella hurried over to help the new arrival with her luggage and the two of them embraced in the way that only two great friends can: with an enviable purity, free of the confusion that had dogged Daniele’s own friendships of late. She took Claudia’s suitcase, while the girl in question shouldered her rucksack and they hurried over.

“My boys!” she beamed, delight evident in her dark eyes as she ran to hug each of them in turn; first Michele, then Toto, then Daniele.

“You’ve grown,” she whispered in Daniele’s ear. “Be still my heart.”

She released Daniele with a wink. He offered her a smile in return, but she seemed thrown for a moment by his understated reaction.

“Ciao, Claudia,” he replied. “How are you?”

Claudia rallied. “I’m good,” she replied with feeling. “University is brilliant, but… I’m so glad to be back here with my people, at least for a little while.”

“D’you have time for a drink?” Toto asked hopefully.

Claudia nodded. “My family are expecting me at Da Rossi for lunch, but yeah, I’ve an hour or so. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do. I want to know everything that’s been going on here since Christmas.”

* * *

They took over a couple of corner tables at one of the bars, relaxing over cool soft drinks while Claudia regaled them with tales of her first year studying art in Rome. Daniele had time to wonder at how many of his friends’ lives had converged on the capital, from Claudia to Laura and, now, even Marco. It was weird to think of all three of them being there at the same time while he, Daniele, lived the same old life in his adopted mountain home.

Toto talked a little about his own forthcoming university application. Michele looked a little distracted while his boyfriend talked about his plans, but Daniele knew it was what they both wanted. He tried to imagine what a wrench it would be to leave Ravello without his friends and felt relieved that he was probably destined for a different path.

Isabella talked about the weekend job she had taken helping to pilot the ferries that ran up and down the coast during the tourist season, at which Claudia glowed with pride. Daniele, however, held his peace, sipping at his cool glass of iced Sprite and speaking only when spoken to directly. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk, exactly; it was more that he was enjoying listening. Hearing about the others’ hopes and dreams helped to take his mind away from his own, more prosaic problems.

His silence, however, had not gone unnoticed. He jumped as suddenly, unexpectedly, Claudia seized his hand, turning her full, rather intimidating attention onto him.

“You’ve hardly spoken two words since we sat down, Dani,” she said. “What’s wrong?”

Daniele shrugged. “I’m fine, honestly…”

Claudia shook her head. “Not buying it,” she replied. “If I can flirt with you and you don’t cringe away, I know something’s not right.” She paused thoughtfully, looking intently into Daniele’s eyes. “I wonder, could it be…?” She shook her head incredulously. “No, I can’t believe it.”

“I…” Daniele was floundering, but Toto came to his rescue.

“I think Dani’s just a little past all that, Claudia,” he interjected.

Claudia frowned. “You mean, you’ve actually crossed the line already? With someone, I mean?” She paused, then her eyes widened. “Wait a minute…” her gaze flicked to Toto. “You said something, but I wasn’t sure I believed it…”

Daniele shifted uncomfortably in his seat and turned his attention to his fingernails. “Yeah,” he mumbled, “it was Giaco.”

Claudia sat back in her seat, staring at him in astonishment. “I need to have words with that boy, if he’s left you in this state,” she said. “Didn’t I warn him?” she added, looking around at the others for affirmation.

Daniele shook his head. “Please don’t,” he said desperately. “Everyone keeps assuming he’s hurt me, but…”

He grunted in shame and frustration and looked away. Michele, who was sitting next to him, gave him a quick, reassuring squeeze about the shoulders.

Claudia sat back a little. “Oh, I see,” she murmured. “Is it beyond repair?”

Daniele shrugged. “I dunno. I hope not.”

To his surprise, Claudia laughed slightly. “Hey, Dani… try not to worry too much. We all screw up. Just look at Toto here.”

“Hey!” Toto protested.

Claudia ignored him. “Or maybe you’d like to hear about some of my romantic misadventures over the past year?” she went on.

“You?” Daniele asked, with a trace of a smile.

Toto gave her a delighted grin. “You mean… you finally lowered your standards enough to dignify a boy with a date?” he asked. Michele and Isabella also focused on the older girl with renewed interest, poised eagerly for gossip.

Claudia shot Toto a challenging look. “One or two,” she replied, “but… I’ve already met the real deal…” She winked at Daniele for a second time, to quiet laughter from her companions. “…and they just weren’t up to it.”

“But…” Daniele said uncertainly.

“I wouldn’t give those boys a second chance because they weren’t worth it,” Claudia insisted, “but when you’ve got something real, like Toto and Michele here, or like Gianni and my idiot brother seem to have for some reason, it’s something that both sides will fight for.”

“Thanks,” Daniele mumbled.

Claudia smiled. “Of course, if you’d only come to your senses and marry me, I could save you from all of these problems.”

Toto snickered. “As if, Claudia.”

“A girl can dream.”

* * *

By the early evening, after the hottest part of the day had passed, boredom had brought Daniele back into town again. He couldn’t help regretting the endless, uneventful passing of the days; boyfriends or not, he knew he and Giacomo would have found ways to keep each other busy if they had been together. All the same, Claudia’s words had made him feel a little better. There was still a chance Giacomo would come back to him.

In the first instance, he found Marco and Laura. The dark-haired girl had dragged the mousy-haired boy into one of the small clothes shops on Via Roma and seemed to be trying to sell him on the joys of shopping. Smiling slightly, Daniele watched from the open door as Laura held outfit after outfit up against her body and asked the smaller boy for his opinion. Poor Marco looked a little lost; he was trying to make all the right noises, but he kept casting anxious glances about the room, as if hoping for rescue. When his cool grey eyes fell on Daniele, he almost sagged with relief.

“Dani!” he cried. “Come and join us… please!”

Daniele wandered into the shop, exchanging a brief greeting with the sales assistant, who was supervising her teenage customers with polite caution.

“Ciao, guys,” he said.

“Daniele!” Laura said with enthusiasm. “Excellent. Someone with an eye for fashion. Soul boy here is being no help at all.”

Daniele smiled. “I’m your man… if you really like tie dye.”

Laura gave him a condescending look. “Very funny,” she remarked, with a trace of sarcasm. “But I have a long memory, and I know you like shopping.”

Daniele snickered. “Not in this town. It’s all fancy pasta, limoncello and ceramic souvenirs.”

“And wine,” Marco chipped in.

Daniele nodded. “That too. And Amalfi’s basically more of the same. If you want real shops, it’s an hour plus drive to Salerno.”

Laura shook her head. “Dio, how do you survive here?”

“You adapt,” Daniele said mildly.

“You should listen to him, Laura,” Marco remarked. “He’s been wearing the same five t-shirts for two years.”

“That’s not fair, Marco,” Daniele countered. “I have at least ten t-shirts.”

Marco nodded brightly. “Yeah, it’s true. His wardrobe is like a tie-dye rainbow. I’ve seen it.”

“I don’t wear the ultraviolet one very often, though,” Daniele said, “on account of how it’s invisible.”

The corner of Marco’s mouth twitched slightly. “It’s a pity, though,” he added. “He looks really good in it.”

That sent them both into a peal of slightly hysterical laughter. Laura gaped at them, still holding up the light green summer dress she had asked Marco to evaluate.

“Okay,” she said blankly, “I just stepped into bizarro-land, right? What’s the deal with you two?”

“Nothing,” Marco sighed. “Just the shortest-lived boyfriends in Ravello history, with an unbroken record of two disastrous kisses.”

Laura still looked a little mystified. “It’s good that you’re able to laugh about it, I guess.”

Marco sobered up a little. “Maybe I cried over it a bit at first,” he said, “but I learned my lesson last year.”

“What do you mean?”

Marco shrugged. “You don’t always get what you want. What’s the point in losing all your friends over it?”

Laura nodded thoughtfully. “And you?” she asked Daniele.

Daniele gave the mousy-haired boy a sideways look. “I’m just glad we’re still okay,” he said.

Marco nodded slightly. “Yeah.”

Daniele glanced back at the dark-haired girl. “Oh, and green’s not your colour,” he added in a matter-of-fact way. “You should go with the yellow, it’d bring out your eyes more.”

Laura put the green dress back at once. “Yes!” she cried, “you’re absolutely right.” She turned to Marco. “See, soul boy? That’s how it’s done.”

Daniele dared to send a slight smirk in Marco’s direction. “Beat you again,” he whispered.

“I’m just devastated,” Marco muttered, dismissing him with a casual flick of his chin.

* * *

“I think Emilia and Luca are around here somewhere, too,” Laura informed them as they finally left the shop. In one hand, she held a carrier bag containing the yellow dress, as well as a pastel pink hoodie she had taken a liking to – ‘for winter lounging’, as she had put it.

Marco had managed to resist her cajoling and came out empty-handed, but Daniele was wearing a new, light blue denim jacket over his old lavender t-shirt. He couldn’t quite remember how he had been persuaded to buy it – it was all a bit of a blur – but he had a feeling it had had something to do with his eyes, as if Laura had somehow managed to turn his own line straight back on him. He wondered what his parents would say about the sudden dent it had made in his savings.

He also wondered what Giacomo would make of it if he ever got to see it. He had a feeling the other boy would approve.

They found Emilia and Luca in the cathedral square, gazing out at the valley in the shade of the umbrella pines, amidst the late scraping of the evening cicadas. It was a picture Daniele was used to seeing, but usually among loved-up newlyweds or other first-time visitors to the coast – not among local kids who saw the view every day. Slightly wistfully, he marvelled at the power of love to change the way you saw the world.

Will that ever be me? When I try, it feels like something always goes wrong.

Marco hailed them a greeting, and they came away from the railings happily enough, hands loosely twined together.

“You’ve been shopping, then?” Luca observed. “Nice threads, Dani.”

“Thanks,” Daniele replied. “It was sort of… accidental shopping.”

“Oh, but that’s the best kind,” Laura said, her eyes gleaming.

Emilia snickered. “You’re going to need to work on your sales resistance if you’re going to hang round with my cousin, Dani.”

“So, d’you guys want to do something?” Luca asked.

“Like…?” Emilia prompted, giving him a sideways look. “It’s not like we can just pop to the cinema or go bowling or whatever.”

Luca sighed. “We need to make some proper evening plans, like… a campfire barbecue, or something. That’s what you’re supposed to do in the countryside isn’t it…? Make your own fun…?”

“I’ve never done something like that,” Laura confessed, “but it does sound pretty cool.”

“See…?” Luca said. “Even the townie agrees. Let’s set it up soon, while we’re all still here.”

There were nods and noises of agreement from the others. Daniele glanced from one friend to the next, thinking a couple of things: that it could be fun, but that it would also mean sharing their secret place in the valley with yet another outsider. And, most of all, that it would be much more fun if a certain dark-eyed someone was by his side.

He sighed and nodded. “Let’s do it.”

“In the meantime…” Luca said, fumbling in his pocket, “who fancies another round with this?”

He produced the tennis ball they had played with the previous morning.

“Oh, Luca, you’re not still carrying that thing around?” Emilia said in exasperation.

Luca gave her a surprised look. “Well, yeah. What did you think the bulge in my pocket was all about, ’milia? That I was just really pleased to see you?”

Daniele and Marco snickered a little. Emilia gave her boyfriend a horrified look, flushing scarlet. “Quiet!” she scolded him, “someone might hear you!”

She made a mortified grab for the tennis ball, but Luca tightened his grip.

“Hey!” he laughed, “get your hands off my ball!”

“Oh, shush!” she hissed, pulling a little harder. “I can’t take you anywhere!”

A brief tug-of-war ensued, which ended the only way such things can: the ball flew out of their hands, bounced a couple of times, then disappeared down the flight of steps that led to the car park.

“Crap!” Luca cursed, but Daniele and Marco were already in pursuit. Now racing each other, giggling as they went, they clattered down the stairway until they were beneath the leafy pergola that Daniele had fallen through before.

The ball had come to a rest in a corner, and Marco pounced on it with a cry of triumph, but Daniele was no longer paying attention. He had come to a halt against the chestnut railings, staring wide-eyed at the sight that awaited him in the car park.

Marco, too, seemed to have realised that something was afoot.

“What’s up, Dani?” he asked, straightening up just as the others shuffled to a halt behind them.

Wordlessly, Daniele pointed down to the lower level. Cosmo Neri was walking listlessly towards the gate in the corner, presumably heading back to the compound to perform his evening guard duties, and with him…

Giacomo walked by his side, talking closely with the older boy. They paused outside the gate, seeming to discuss something quite animatedly for a moment. Cosmo flicked an arm impatiently out towards the car park, as if to tell the dark-eyed boy he should leave, but Giacomo stood his ground with his hands shoved stubbornly in his pockets. After a while, the older boy seemed to give up. He sighed visibly, unlocked the gate, and then they both disappeared inside.

There was a moment’s shocked silence, during which several glances were exchanged, then the assembled teens all began to talk at once.

“What the…”

“He’s…”

“It can’t…”

“Can you believe…?”

“Shut up!” Daniele cried, covering his ears with his hands. The words died on his friends’ lips, and they looked at him anxiously.

“What’s going on?” Laura asked.

Luca scowled. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? If he’s hanging around with my deadbeat brother, then he must be up to his old tricks again.”

Daniele shook his head desperately, fighting a hot, uncomfortable feeling behind his eyes. “No, it can’t be… he wouldn’t.”

Emilia edged towards him, placing a reassuring hand on his for a moment. “No, you’re right, Dani… I mean, why on Earth would he?”

They both looked at Marco, who shifted uncomfortably on his feet.

“I think I’m with Luca on this one,” he said. “Sorry.”

Looking at the array of concerned eyes that faced him – green, grey and brown – Daniele was overtaken by an overwhelming urge to be on his own. He backed away towards the steps back up to the square.

“I’ve… got to go,” he said. “See you later, guys.”

Amidst the golden rays of the low, evening sun and the steady churring of the cicadas in the pine trees above, Daniele fled.