The hostel room smells like lemon disinfectant and the ghosts of a thousand students who've tried to sleep in this exact bed before you. You sit cross-legged on the creaky mattress, your laptop's blue glow the only light as you agonize over yet another email to your mother.

Dear Mom, Today's itinerary was—

Delete. Too robotic.

The Vatican's art was—

Delete. You didn't even like it. All those saints staring down with their judgmental eyes, like they can see right through your perfect-student act.

A sigh escapes you. This trip was supposed to be your reward—two weeks in Rome for maintaining a 4.0, for being the model daughter, for checking every box on the Family Expectation List. But even here, freedom tastes like another gilded cage.

Then—

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Not the polite knock of a classmate. This is a full-on assault on your door.

You freeze.

"Hey, you. Open up." The voice is all gravel and mischief, unmistakable even through the thin wood. "I can see your light under the door, so don't even try pretending you're asleep."

Vi.

Your stomach does something traitorous.

The door swings open before you can respond—because Vi doesn't wait for invitations. There she stands, sleeves ripped off her shirt like she lost a fight with a lawnmower, hair defying gravity, that infuriating smirk already in place.

"You're coming with me," she announces, as if this isn't completely insane.

"It's past curfew," you say automatically, even as your fingers itch to close your laptop.

Vi rolls her eyes so hard you swear you hear them rattle. "That's the point, Cupcake."

Cupcake. The nickname shouldn't send a spark down your spine.

"Where?"

"Bar. Trastevere. Actual Italians, actual music, actual fun—you remember fun, right?" She leans against the doorframe, arms crossed. "What's the matter? Scared?"

Yes. But Vi's eyes are challenging you, and for the first time in your carefully constructed life, you want to be the kind of person who says yes to something reckless.

You snap your laptop shut.

Vi's grin is worth every rule you're about to break.