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02

**FRANCESCA **

It has been three months since I have been attending school and unlike what I imagined the other girls are not at all kind, on the contrary, they are even meaner than the ones I had already encountered in my life.

At first, they would talk about my battered clothes, or my worn shoes, or even my backpack that wasn't the latest fashion.

When I go to the bathroom and find some of them touching up their makeup, or even smoking in secret, as I've seen a few times, they shut up and soon leave leaving me alone.

Not to mention the sports class, where they make it a point to always throw the ball at me in order to hurt me.

What's worse is that the teacher often turns a blind eye to knowing which families these same girls belong to.

Yes, I realized that here the surname you carry has a great weight. And mine has no weight, which does not differ much from the other institutions I attended.

To make matters worse, Rafaella Givadotti, the school's most respected student for being the daughter of one of the institution's greatest benefactors, didn't like me. According to her, because I simply exist and have crossed her path.

She got all the information regarding my origin and spread it to all the students, exposing me and my mother. But since my mother is a teacher, the worst part of the humiliation was left to me.

The only one who has welcomed me and treats me with affection is Giovanna, or Gio, who has become my friend. Just like me, she comes from a humble family, her mother is the secretary of the director, Ruth, but unlike me, Rafaella supports her presence and does not torment her. Because Gio's grades were always the highest in the room, the teachers chose her as a monitor and that's when she began to be "respected."

Here, unlike other schools, it is the teachers who choose the monitors for the high grades and Rafaella could not reach this mark, even though she is very respected by everyone here.

Giovanna is sweet and loves to read novels, is the typical girl who dreams of a prince arriving on a white horse to save her from the evils of the world.

I confess that I never believed in prince on white horse, after all from an early age life did not present me with this sweet and beautiful side, but I dream of having something I never had, a family.

Gio is the only one who talks to me and still tries to defend me from the gratuitous attacks of the other girls. My mother, on the other hand, cannot get involved so as not to risk being asked to withdraw from the institution and lose her income, as well as a quality education for me.

Since I also like to read, Gio and I spend a lot of time in the library, a quiet place where I can have peace. However, unlike my friend, I love reading books about Roman, Greek mythology. I am passionate about the narratives of the gods and goddesses of Olympus, I even discovered that my middle name is that of a goddess.

Diana is the goddess of wild animals and hunting, as well as domestic animals. Daughter of Jupiter and Latona, twin sister of Phoebus, she obtained from her father permission not to marry and to remain always chaste. Jupiter provided a retinue of sixty octaves, nymphs from the inaccessible depths of the sea, and twenty nymphs, natural female spirits, attached to a particular place or object of nature, who, like her, renounced marriage.

As I said, I dream of having a family and a husband who loves me and makes me happy. I don't want to be alone and suffer as I see what happens to my mother.

I have never seen my mother with anyone, after all her life is school and I, but I believe that she feels alone and I have even seen her crying many nights when I shared a room with her. Usually this happened when she believed she was already asleep.

In this institution, because it is a boarding school, unfortunately we separated. My mother every day returns to the house she inherited from her parents.

Yes, she stayed with the house after my grandfather died.

I ended up sharing a room with Gio, at least in that I was lucky.

I get out of my thoughts with my friend poking me.

"Fran, I've been calling you here for a while and you seem to be far away. What happened?”

“Nothing, Gio, just thinking about life. But what's going on? - I ask looking around.”

The classroom is in a real buzz and the girls laugh while the Arts teacher asks for silence.

“Friend, by the way you didn't hear anything at all. The festivities of Sant'Ana, our patroness, are coming, a day when we will have time off and go to the church of Orsanmichele, near Piazza della Signoria, together with the boys from the school next door. That's when we get to flirt with some and maybe be reciprocated. Too bad that at dusk we go back to school and have to wait for a new date to be able to meet them again.”

“Ah, that's it... Gio, I don't even get excited, because I know that I will be invisible to everyone's eyes and I even prefer it that way. Maybe Rafaella will find someone and forget me for good.”

“Rafaella is in love with Lorenzo Rocatelli, one of the most popular boys in the Roman school. He's gorgeous, but as far as I know he doesn't give her much of a ball. So, don't even approach him, otherwise yes, you will have more problems.”

“Creed in cross, I want distance and I hope not to cross with it. I don't want to take any risk of Rafaella thinking I want to steal what's hers.”

“He's not hers, but he's better.”

“Girls, silence! For the party there is still a month left, so let's pay attention to the class. Today we will paint a canvas about the history of Sant'Ana. How about using all this excitement to convey on the canvas a rich and full of emotion painting. Know that the improvements will be displayed in the main hall of the church," says the very excited teacher.

I admit that I hate painting, I don't have any talent and my works look like they were done by a five-year-old.

Come to think of it, I think the only thing I enjoy besides reading is listening to music. I love feeling the melody invade my ears and travel in the musical notes.

The teacher begins to tell the story of St. Anne, the holy protector of Florence, grandmother of Jesus and I decide to pay attention to her words.

Soon we have our blank canvases in front of us and a color palette on the side.

I won't be able to get away, I'll start coloring and whatever God wants.


The class ends and I'm dirty with paint as far as I shouldn't, but I managed to paint something. While I'm enjoying my work, Rafaella walks past me, looks at me in disgust, and bumps her brush into my canvas, spoiling the newly made painting.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I hadn't seen you," he says wryly.

Tears take over my eyes and soon they're flowing, even as I try to avoid it.

I run out of the room, walk down the halls, until I find myself on the wall that borders the two schools.

I sit on a rock in the garden and let the tears run free down my face.

I spend some time there, trying to calm myself down and when I can breathe, without letting the tears roll back, I realize that it's already night. I look around and realize that I am alone among the flowers and trees. There is only the sound of a few birds flying over the place behind a place to gather.

I stare up at the starry sky and think about my life.

My father abandoned me, my grandfather turned his back on us, and the person who gave me love, besides my mother, died.

Did I not come into this world to be loved?

“Hi, can I help?”

I open my eyes, startled, and find a beautiful pair of blue eyes, watching me intently.

“Who are you? What do you do here?”

I ask looking at the beautiful guy in front of me.

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