It was midday, and we had just finished lunch. Because Alberto won the Vespa race, we got a discount for lunch, and we all walked out the restaurant with a full stomach and smiles on our faces.

After resting for a while, Luca jumped up and said screamed, "LET'S SWIM TO THE HIDEOUT!!!"

"Geez, Luca, calm down!" I frowned.

"Says the one who's always NOT calm!" Luca retorted.

"Anyway, Giulia needs to change into her swimsuit," Alberto tried to reason.

"Thanks for the reminderrrrrrrrr... " I shouted while running off to go behind some trees. When I came back, the sea monsters were already splashing each other with water. "Wait for me!" I called out.

"Last one to the hideout is a rotten egg!" Alberto suddenly screamed, and he and Luca took off. "No fair!" I shouted after them, and leapt into the water, chasing after them.

I must say, swimming with Luca and Alberto has paid off. Guess who lost? Not me. :P

I grabbed the nearest towel from the rocks. You see, since we came here so often, I laid some towels on the rocks so that I didn't have to carry them all the way here. I also put some spare clothes in the hideout, just in case.

Running barefoot up to the hideout, Alberto waved a hand at us. "Come on, slowpokes!" he teased. I growled and ran after him, flinging my towel behind me like a cape.

We reached the bottom of the hideout, an old tower with the top crumbled away, so it formed a hole at the top floor, where we could gaze up to the stars. Climbing up two sets of rope ladders and another set of stairs, the three of us reached the top.

Right now, the three of us spread out in a row on the wooden floor of the top level. Luca had made it his 'life goal' to try and look at the sun without sunglasses, against our requests for him to quit doing it. "You're just gonna hurt your eyes," Alberto and I had repeated over and over again.

Today was no exception. Luca squinted at the sun, and turned away a millisecond later. "SO BRIGHT!" "What have we told you before?" I sighed, exasperated.

The clouds were exceptionally beautiful today, though. They looked as fluffy as cotton candy, floating around in the sea above. The clouds formed different shapes, but all of them were just a vague outline, so it was up to us to find out what they were.

"Look guys, that cloud looks like a sheep," I said, pointing at one of the clouds.

"No, it's a Vespa," said Alberto. I rolled my eyes. I pointed to another one.

"What about that? Looks like a lizard." I commented.

"Vespa," Luca and Alberto chorused. I facepalmed myself. "We're just joking." Alberto lightly punched me. "Of course," I grumbled (note the sarcasm).

"Come on!" Luca said. "That cloud looks like a fish," he exclaimed. "To me, it looks like a duck," I grinned. "Wait, so if we put a fish and a duck together, would it be a Dish or a..."

"SHUT UP!" Luca and I tackled him. "No swearing," I scolded. "But I didn't," Alberto smirked. I rolled my eyes again. "You know what I mean, Alberto Scorfano."

The three of us spent twenty minutes looking up at the beautiful sky and debating on what the clouds resembled. But the boys got restless not long after.

Alberto and Luca ran to the side of our hideout. "TAKE ME GRAVITYYYYYY" they shouted and jumped off. "You guys gotta stop doing that, you'll break your bones." I called after them. The response I got were two thuds and multiple groans. Following that were exclamations of "THAT WAS AWESOME! THAT WAS SO COOL! LET'S DO IT AGAIN!"

"Yeah, that was awesome." I deadpanned.

"Don't you want to try it?" Luca shouted. "At first I was wary too, but now I know that it. Feels. So. GREAT!!!"

"I don't see how breaking your bones is great." I said. "Unless we make a compromise..." Luca and Alberto looked at me expectantly. "I'll jump into the sea! Without one of those makeshift Vespas, of course." I smiled.

We all knew the exact place I was to jump—the same cliff that had almost killed Luca and Alberto multiple times when they were making Vespas. That was where they made some of their most memorable moments together. To be honest, I was slightly jealous that I missed out on the Vespa making. Definitely not because I would be spending more time with Alberto.

About half a minute later, I stood at the edge of the cliff. "Here goes nothing," I said to the boys, who were giving me encouraging thumbs-ups.

And with that, I dived into the water.

I don't even know how to describe the feeling. My stomach just dropped, and the moment I hit the water, I felt a rush of adrenaline to my head. It was one of the BEST feelings ever!

I resurfaced from the water, shouting, "That. Was. Awesome!!!" I was ready to go again, and began climbing up the cliff. Alberto extended a hand to help me, and I waved him off. "I don't need your help. I'm not one of those girls who needs to be saved by someone." I glared defiantly. Alberto just shrugged, probably because he didn't really understand the importance of it.  And so I got up just fine without the boys' help.

"Join me!" I waved to the boys. "On the count of three, we'll all jump." Luca and Alberto nodded.

"One...

"Two...

"Three!"

"SILENCIO, BRUNO!" We shouted, and jumped into the sea. 

When we all resurfaced, we had brilliant smiles on our faces. The three of us loved adrenaline, especially when jumping from heights. "We should try bungee jumping," said Alberto. "But since we're in Portorosso, let's enjoy the simple things of nature." 

"Funny," I thought aloud, "I enjoy extravagances, though." Luca stuck his tongue out. "Of course, you have to wake us up with a whole trumpet show in the morning!"

I nodded my head happily, and joined Luca and Alberto in jumping off the cliff into the sea, and doing swimming races for the rest of the afternoon. 

The three of us ended the afternoon of fun by watching the sunset. We linked our hands together, and raised them high up in the air, then shouted our catchphrase at the sunset—"WE ARE THE UNDERDOGS! AND UNDERDOGS NEVER GIVE UP!"

As the first evening star appeared in the orange sky, Luca, Alberto and I raced each other home for dinner—Papa's delicious pasta!

Ciao!

Giulia Marcovaldo