Chapter Fifteen

1237 Words
Kate had left the post office sans postcard and started walking to her class, knowing she would be extremely early. She sat on an old bench, not too far from the entrance and watched as other people started to arrive. She couldn't tell for sure, as she was too far to hear their conversations, but it appeared they were all familiar with each other. Perhaps they had been taking the class for a while? The post on the hotel notice board said beginners Italian and it included a contact number that Kate had torn off. The man she spoke to on the phone this morning was the teacher of the class, even though he sounded very casual about it all. He had only advised her to bring a notepad and pen. From the short conversation they had, she could tell he spoke English well but she was hoping to make friends with the students. What if they all spoke German or something she wouldn't even understand? Kate noticed that people were starting to make their way inside, she hurried over and entered the building following the others until she reached the classroom. Inside, the tables were arranged in a large semi-circle, not in the traditional classroom layout where all the seats are normally facing the front.  As she slid into a seat, her notepad and pen neatly placed in front of her, Kate's nerves began to grow. What if the teacher asked her to speak out loud? Worse, what if he called her up to do some kind of mock conversation? She clearly hadn't thought this through very well. Kate was almost standing up to leave when she noticed a rather attractive, casually dressed man walking in through the door. He made his way into the middle of the tables and introduced himself to the group as Raphael. Holy s***, he was going to be her teacher? Raphael was wearing a relaxed pair of grey denim jeans and a navy blue shirt, the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. His wavy, dark brown hair looked freshly trimmed and faded into the stubble that grazed his masculine face. Kate noticed his hazel-green eyes as he turned to her and asked for her name.  "KKate" She stuttered back, Raphael's gaze lingered on her a moment too long before he moved on to another student. She looked down immediately, so as not to draw attention to herself again but her teacher had other ideas. Raphael asked Kate to stand and introduce herself to the class and tell them a little about why she was here. The other new student, Alegra, who was from Spain had already had her turn. Kate stood reluctantly and opened her mouth to speak. At first, the words wouldn't come. Finally, with some encouragement from Raphael, she managed a very brief introduction. "My name is Kate, I'm from New York."  "And now you are in Italy because..." Raphael continued for her, causing a few people in the class to giggle.  "Yes, sorry I came to Rome on holiday. My family was from here so I wanted to come and see the history."  Never mind the part about her ex and her sister and the honeymoon and the baby and the quasi running away. Everybody clapped as Kate sat down, the nerves had begun to settle and if she didn't allow herself to get too distracted by her teacher, she might actually learn something from this class. The first lesson was in masculine and feminine words and covering the basics. Raphael explained that each and every Italian word was either male or female and they would need to agree with each other in a sentence. A chair was female and a table was male. This made absolutely no sense to Kate, a chair was just that, a chair, wasn't it? And why would it have to agree with the table? It was too confusing and Kate couldn't keep up with which word was female and which wasn't.  She did learn how to say you're welcome - prego and excuse me - scuzi, or was it permesso? She couldn't remember. Raphael taught them a few important phrases like: Do you speak English? - Parla Inglese? I don't understand - Non capisco and I'm sorry - mi dispiace.  The hour-long lesson had come to an end fairly quickly and Kate was pretty pleased with what she had learned, female chairs and male tables aside. Everyone was thanking Raphael for class or heading off to wherever it was they were going when she noticed Alegra was still sitting at one of the tables. Kate was trying to gather up the courage to go over and speak to her, but she was now gathering her things and making her way over to Kate.  "Hi, do you want to get a coffee and go over the notes with me?" She asked, excitedly. "I can help you with the words, it's similar in Spanish we have the same things. You can help me with English?" "This was actually my first class too, that would be amazing. You're English is already really good though, you don't need my help," Kate replied. "It is? Well, I don't really know anyone here, I came from Spain to work. How long are you here?" "I'll be here another four weeks and then I'm heading back home." "Oh that's okay, still we can be friends for while you're here, yes?" Alegra asked hopefully, as they made their way out of the building and over to the cafe across the street. Alegra was naturally beautiful. Her curly golden brown hair hung just below her shoulders but would have easily been as long as Kate's when completely unravelled. She had light brown eyes, a tan to die for and curves even Kate would have been jealous of. Alegra looked like she was only in her mid-twenties so it came as a surprise to Kate when she learned she was almost thirty-two.  "So why Rome?" Alegra asked, sipping her cappuccino and seeming genuinely interested in Kate. Kate laughed, "Have you got all day? Men. Well, just one man actually, my ex. He cheated on me before our wedding and Rome was meant to be our honeymoon so I came alone instead." "So your family wasn't from here?" "Oh yeah," Kate giggled! "No, they were, that's why I wanted to come here on our honeymoon.  How about you?" "I've just been divorced and I came to Italy for a fresh start and better job, it's been hard to find a good job here. I thought if I improve my Italian it might help me. English I know well. I lived in London for five years before I moved back to Spain and married that idiota."  Alegra's beautiful face had turned a crimson shade of red and the furrows between her brows deepened as she spoke of her ex-husband. "What kind of work are you looking for?" Kate asked quickly, trying to steer the conversation away from the topic of Alegra's ex. "Well anything, I don't care. Something that will pay enough so I can stay. It's just so... nice here. There's something about this place that just makes you want to put down roots and stay forever. It's like nothing could ever go wrong here, you know?"   And Kate did know. She had been having that very same feeling all week.
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