Edoardo watched Eleonora walk away, grinning like an idiot.

She was jealous.

She'd denied it, but he knew she was.

He could feel it, how close she was to admitting it. He just needed to stick it out a little longer, be a little patient with her.

He'd thought he was going full-Silvia at one point, seeing things that weren't there. But last Friday things had been different. She'd let her guard down just that little bit.

She'd lied about her brother being at a party. He still couldn't believe it.

He just really wanted to know what he'd done to inspire that lie so he could keep doing it.

He'd got a glimpse of everything he wanted; the two of them drinking tea and hanging out. Why couldn't it be that easy all the time?

Then there were his friends. His stupid, shitty, loveable friends. Without his supervision the idiots went ahead and trashed a bar. What was he, their dad? Why did they always get into trouble when he wasn't around?

Then they go and invent some stupid scheme to raise funds.

That stupid raffle. How was he going to get out of that?

He got where Eleonora was coming from, but what was he supposed to do? Not help his friends? He knew she'd do ridiculous things for Eva is she asked. Hell, she'd done ridiculous things already for Silvia.

He pulled out his phone, sending Fede a text telling him they needed to meet after school.

"Shouldn't you be getting to class?" Asked the janitor sitting down the hall, his paper still held up in front of his face. "Stop thinking about your girlfriend and get a move on."

Edoardo grinned at him, turning on his heel and walking the other way to his class.

At least that guy saw they were meant to be together.

Edoardo walked towards his car, giving Fede a single wave. "Stop leaning on my car, you loser."

"What's up?" Fede embraced him quickly, his usual grin on his face.

"We need to do something about this raffle."

"What about it?"

"I can't be first prize."

Fede smirked at him. "Why, your girl not too impressed?"

Edoardo rolled his eyes, but he was grinning. Should he have told Fede about Eleonora? Probably not. What's done is done. "Nah, she's not actually."

Fede's smirk turned into a full-blown grin. "Congrats, man."

"You know I didn't want to do it anyway, though. But I really can't now, man."

Fede grimaced. Edoardo kept talking before he could interrupt him.

"It's not just that, though. You've gotta help me. Silvia's buying up all the tickets."

Fede laughed, a short bark. "You poor bastard."

"Dude, seriously."

"Come on, she's pretty enough."

Edoardo didn't need to reply, his face said it all.

"Yeah, yeah. You're not into her. I know it, you know it, she doesn't know it."

If it wasn't so depressing, Edoardo would have laughed.

"Come on, help me."

"What do you wanna do?"

"Why can't we just have a made up girl win first prize?"

"I don't think that'll fool anybody."

Edoardo sighed. "Come on, I'll up my donation to a third of the bill."

Fede raised an eyebrow "really?"

Edoardo nodded. "Yep, but you've gotta do one more thing for me."

Fede just nodded.

"You've got to give part of the proceeds to the refugees."

Fede scoffed. "Why?"

"Just do it, come on. " Edoardo sighed, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. Eleonora had struck a bit of a chord with that one.

Fede shrugged. "Whatever you want, man. You're the boss."

"Am I? Didn't feel like the boss when you made me first prize without asking." His tone was teasing, but Edoardo's annoyance was real. Just a little bit.

At least Fede had the decency to look guilty. "Well you did ditch us all" he said, his tone making it clear he knew it wasn't the best excuse.

Edoardo scoffed. "Me not showing up didn't make you trash the bar."

Fede just shrugged again.

"You're a piece of shit, you know that?" Edoardo said with a laugh.

Fede grinned. "A piece of shit who's still your best friend."

"Nah, I'm starting to prefer Chicco."

Fede punched him lightly in the arm. "Whatever, you idiot. I'm the one helping you get the girl."

Edoardo grinned. "So you'll fake the draw? And help me convince the other losers to donate some of the money?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll do it."