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Spring Day Novel 1 by Maria
Pikoula.
Chapter 1
It certainly looked as if
it was going to be a hot summer for the city of Barcelona.
Already on the 20th of June the sun was too hot and too bright,
Pierre noticed, as it was the first time in his life that all
the brightness wouldn’t let him sleep. However he didn’t get up
to close the curtains, he was actually enjoying it. Pierre had
been living and studying in Barcelona for a year. The first year
of college he had completed in Paris where his family lived, but
afterwards he decided to go somewhere else to continue his
bachelor on the History of Arts. As he expected, he had loved
Barcelona from the beginning. The city had welcomed the curly
haired, white skinned French boy he was a year ago, when he
first got there.
Still semi-asleep, trying
to decide if he was in Spain or France, he was forced suddenly
awake by the ringing of his doorbell. It took him half a minute
to clear his mind but then he knew: “My sister is here!” Quickly
he got up and ran to the door. He opened and saw a smiling face,
a very familiar one. “Bonjour Pierre!” she said and giggled,
“sorry to wake you up.”
“I was already up Jacqueline,
bonjour! Come in.” Jacqueline was his younger 15year old sister,
a very mignon and cuddly girl. She had just arrived in Barcelona
straight from Brighton, where she visited their aunt. He helped
her with the suitcases and started making a chocolate drink for
her and coffee for himself. “So, Jac, did you have a good time
in Brighton?” he asked her still occupied in the small kitchen
which wasn’t separated from the living room.
“Oh it was beautiful, even in
England the weather was fine, and Brighton is a lovely place,
auntie showed me the universities, both the one in Brighton and
the one in Sussex which is close.”
“Ha ha! You still have three
more years to think about university, don’t bother now!”
“I know, I know...Oh! I almost
forgot! Look what I brought you!” She searched her pockets and
picked up two coins, two British pounds. She gave one to him.
“Well Jac, I see the British
like to preserve old memories!”
“I know you like to collect
the old coins, Pierre, you like history.”
“Imagine Jac how it would be
if you had to exchange your money in order to go to the UK or to
come here! Just like going to the United States!”
“Sure, I wouldn’t like such a
hassle, however it’s nice that we’ve kept them oldies.”
“Speaking of oldies, or should
I say ancient in this case, how’s that summer project you have
for school? The Parthenon of the Acropolis, am I right?”
“Um...it’s really not going
well, finding information on electronic libraries is just not
good enough, if only I could actually see it...!”
“That can be arranged! I still
haven’t figured out what to do in the summer but...why not visit
Greece?”
“Wow! You say you can take me
with you, with your friends!?”
“Providing you behave, of
course! We do have to ask mum though.”
“I’ll call her! I just hope
she won’t get mad when I tell her your idea.”
She picked up the telephone
and looked at the small screen, expecting to see either her mum
or dad picking up the telephone. It was her mum. She said hi in
a very low tone of voice, hoping that her mother wouldn’t turn
pale after hearing what she had to say. Little did she think
that her mother would not only have approved of the trip but
that she would make suggestions for it. She suggested that they
drive all the way, so as to visit also other countries on their
way, in order to eventually arrive in Greece. They thought it
was an excellent idea.
Suddenly the door opened
and Pierre’s roommate-girlfriend, Rafaela, came in. Quite a
noticeable girl, tall and thin with long black hair and
chocolate colored skin. She had just finished with all her exams
at the university, and looked tired but happy. The minute she
saw Jacqueline she ran to hug her. She had always loved Pierre’s
sister since the day she had met her. After making herself a cup
of coffee she sat down and Pierre and Jacqueline filled her in
about the trip.
“I’ve always wanted to do
this, guys! I’ve never been on a road trip before. I’ve been to
many places, but only on a flying car, never the classic way!
Some times the classic way is better, it gives you the best
opportunity of knowing the places you go through.”
Rafaela
was half Spanish half Italian; she had indeed travelled a lot
and could speak Spanish, Italian, and English fluently. Also
Pierre had been teaching her French for the past 10 months.
“Now we have to tell the
others,” Pierre said.
“Definitely! They haven’t
arranged anything and I’m sure they’ll be thrilled by your idea,
guys”.
“Yes
but Jacqueline here will have to promise she will finish her
project and get a good mark!”
“You bet I will!” Jacqueline
yelled, excited.
Pierre and Rafaela started
by calling Jose to come over. He was a Spanish boy, he was THE
tall guy of the group, dark haired and well shaped. With Hose
they, of course, expected Sarah, his beautiful English
girlfriend. Like Pierre and Rafaela, they had been living
together for 2 years now. Jose and Sarah were left with the
usual task: to call the others. Sarah called her Swedish friend
Tilde, a pretty girl, aged 18; who was the youngest of the
group. Jose called Christopher, a half Belgian half Finn blue
eyed, baby-faced guy whom Jacqueline had always considered the
best looking guy inside Europe! Pierre himself called the tour
leader for Greece, George from Athens. He had been Pierre’s
closest friend for a long time.
They thought the idea of the
trip was terrific and decided they wouldn’t use the Great
European Highway which connected all the great European cities.
Instead they would use the small roads to have a slower and
better view of the places they wanted to visit. Also they
decided they would take two cars, Pierre’s
semi-gasoline/semi-electric and George’s electric one.
Already each and every one
of them had started thinking about the trip, the places, the
people, and the whole “on the road” atmosphere. Planning their
vacation felt great. Eventually they cleared the small living
room by moving the table to the corner and they unfolded a
European map on the floor. It was about time to start planning
the Journey “Spain-Greece” and to decide which countries they
would go though in order to get there. They got to work...
If
you want to continue our story download it as
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titled Spring Day novel 1 -chapter 2 :
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