Zommunist Invasion by Picott, Camille (ebook reader ink TXT) 📗

believe it took me so long to figure it out.” She plopped the box back onto the floor. “I helped lift a big tree off of Lena and I moved a boulder to hide us from the Russians. I’m an amazon!”

“Heck yeah, you are.” Juli squeezed Amanda biceps. “You could be a WWF wrestler.”

“Maybe I will be when the war is over.”

“Not until you take a road trip across the country with me and Cassie,” Juli said. “Remember? We promised we’d do that together.”

They fell silent at the mention of Cassie.

“Do you—do you think she’s okay?” Juli asked.

“Of course,” Amanda said automatically. “Leo will look after her.”

Uneasiness stretched between them. Neither of them said the obvious: their friend should have been back by now.

Juli cleared her throat. “What do you think about a haircut?”

“What’s wrong with my hair?” Amanda ran a hand through her straight brown locks.

“Nothing’s wrong with it. But you’re an amazon. I think you should have an Amazonian haircut.”

“What does that mean? Since when did you become a stylist?”

“Please. I stole my mom’s old copies of Cosmopolitan out of the trash and hid them under my bed. I read them at night when everyone was asleep. I know all about fashion.”

Amanda laughed. “I have you beat. I stole my mom’s romance books. I know more about sex than you.”

“Who cares about sex when you can have great hair?”

They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

“Fine, you can cut my hair,” Amanda said. It would be fun to have a different cut anyway. “But we’d better get moving. Nonna will yell at us if we don’t start moving the supplies.” She bent down and picked up the giant box of dried beans.

Juli jumped in front of her and opened the door. As Amanda walked by, she said, “I’ll bet by the time Cassie gets back from Luma Bridge, she’ll know more about sex than both of us.”

Amanda knew she meant it as a joke, but it fell flat. She and Juli exchanged looks, silent worry for Cassie running between them.

Epilogue

Time

“Luca!” Valentina picked herself up out of the snow. The side of her face throbbed from its unfortunate run-in with the olive tree in Mrs. Romano’s front yard. “Luca!”

Her big brother had their cousin Marcello on the ground. The two of them alternated between yelling and laughing as they shoved snow into one another’s face.

“Luca.” Valentina stomped over to the two older boys.

They paid her no mind. Their delighted laughs and shrieks made her all the more angry. To get their attention, she made a snowball and threw it down on top of them.

When that didn’t work, she made a bigger snowball. It was roughly the size of her head. She positioned herself over the rowdy boys and smashed it down on their heads.

They roared in indignation, but were too busy grappling with one another to retaliate. In another fit of frustration, Valentina smashed another giant snowball down on the two of them.

It was big enough to send the two boys rolling in opposite directions. With a wild cackle, Marcello jumped to his feet and bolted away.

“Catch me if you can, Luca!”

“How could you, Valé?” Luca sounded more angry than he looked. He flicked snow out of his ear, all his attention on his retreating cousin. “I had him!”

“You tripped me.” She bunched her fists and yelled up at her big brother with all the force she could muster.

“I didn’t do it on purpose.” Luca finally glanced down at her. He pulled another handful of snow out of the collar of his jacket and tossed it to the ground.

“You tripped me and didn’t even stop to see if I was okay.” This was the real reason she was so angry. “Look at my face!” She dragged a glove over the scrape on her cheek. The light blue wool came away with small streak of blood.

Luca dropped to one knee in front of her. He was only four years older, but even on his knees, he was still taller than her.

“Awe, Valé.” He gently tweaked the end of her nose. “I didn’t stop because I knew you’d be fine. You’re the toughest girl in the village.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to discern if he was making fun of her. “I’m smaller than all the other girls.”

“And that, dear sister, is precisely why you’re the toughest. I saw you wallop Carmella when the teachers weren’t looking.”

Carmella. Mention of the girl made Valentina scowl. The girl was two years older and thought she was the boss of the school. “I didn’t wallop her.”

“You threw a ball and hit her in the back of the head.”

“That’s not a wallop.”

“Of course it is. She cried, didn’t she?”

Valentina considered this. Carmella had cried. If anyone had seen Valentina throw the ball, they hadn’t ratted her out. “Yeah, I guess I did make her cry.”

“That means you walloped her. My little sister wallops a bigger, older girl and gets away with it. Told you. You’re the strongest girl in the village.” Luca grinned at her.

“Carmella is just dumb. That doesn’t make me tough.”

“Of course it does.” Luca tapped her on the forehead. “Strength is up here, little sister. You’re strong, Valé.”

Too late, Valentina spotted the glint in his eye—right before he shoved a handful of snow into her face. He leaped away as Valentina squealed.

“Catch me if you can!” He bolted away as she spit snow out of her mouth.

She stared after his retreating form, torn between stomping home in righteous rage and chasing after him. It didn’t take her more than three seconds to decide that stomping home in righteous rage would be boring.

Besides, what if Luca was right? If she was as tough and strong as he claimed, she could wallop him just the way she’d walloped Carmella.

He and Marcello sprinted through the Regio family vineyard. Breaking into a grin, Valentina cut through the village.

By the time the two boys burst out on the far side of the vineyard,