Lovina was kind of glad to be returning to her classes. She loved break and she loved sleeping in even more, but two weeks was too much time to only be seeing her sister and grandfather. But then again, they certainly weren't the only people she saw over the holiday.

That was why her stomach was in knots as she walked down the hallways with Feliciana to her first period. Lovina couldn't shake Antonio's strange goodbye from her mind. She felt nervous just thinking about it.

Lovina tuned out her sister and her potato-bastard boyfriend. Feliciana was happily chatting and swinging his hand, so Lovina really felt she didn't have to contribute to the conversation. She might barf if she had to talk to Ludwig.

Lovina slowed a little as they reached the classroom. Damn her stupid chest for feeling all weird. Lovina held her head high as she followed Feliciana and Ludwig in. Anto-Mr. Carriedo was already sitting at his desk when they entered and gave the two idiot lovebirds a warm smile. Lovina felt her heart sink when his smile faltered ever so slightly and even more when he glanced away as she walked by. Usually, his smile was brighter when she was around.

Lovina scowled and rolled her eyes. She was being arrogant; of course she didn't have any effect on him. He was idiotically happy toward everyone.

Lovina stopped and narrowed her eyes when she saw a girl she hated sitting at her desk. The she glanced at the board and groaned. New seats. And Oh joy, Lovina was at the front of the class.

Lovina slumped into her chair before realizing new faces sat on either side of her. The first she saw was a weird looking guy who kept his hood on, covering most of the top half of his face. Lovina shrugged and turned to the girl on the other side, who was already facing her.

"Hi, I'm Bella!" she greeted eagerly. Lovina leaned away a bit and rolled her eyes. "Lovina" she mumbled back. Bella obviously didn't get the message that Lovina really wasn't in the mood and leaned closer.

"Um, I'm new and I don't really know anyone…would you mind, ya know…being friends?" Lovina sat up straight. No one had ever actually wanted to be friends with her. Except maybe Heracles, but they were mostly acquaintances. And there was also Antonio…

Lovina blushed to herself and frowned. He wasn't her friend, why would he even want to be? He was a teacher for god's sake. Bella politely cleared her throat when Lovina didn't answer.

"F-Friends?" Lovina stuttered. Bella chuckled and nodded. "It'd be nice to get to know someone that doesn't seem like a complete idiot" she smirked as she motioned toward a group of girls giggling in the corner.

Lovina decided she could definitely be this girl's friend.

"Sure" she finally answered with a small smile. Lovina glanced up at her teacher, who had stopped what he was doing to stare. Mr. Carriedo quickly looked back down at the papers in front of him when he had been caught.

"Would you mind looking at my schedule?" Bella asked, drawing Lovina's attention away from Mr. Carriedo. She nodded and took the paper from Bella to scan it over. They had a few classes together; English of course, World History, Physics, Econ, and Calculus. Bella, however, was taking art and Spanish while Lovina was taking voice and Italian (so what if she was already fluent? It meant she got an A).

"Spanish, huh?" Lovina thought out loud. Mr. Carriedo said some things to her in Spanish before, and the words that she didn't know kept bugging her.

"Mhm. I've been speaking it for awhile, so I'm just trying to keep my GPA up" Bella answered. Lovina gulped and let her eyes flicker to Mr. Carriedo for a brief moment.

"What does 'amada' mean?" Lovina asked quietly. Bella smirked and propped her chin up on her fist. "It means-"

"Bella!" Mr. Carriedo interjected quickly. Both girls looked up at him as he glanced between them. "I see you've met Lovina. I made sure you sat next to someone that could help you get caught up" he finished.

Lovina tilted her head and shot Mr. Carriedo a confused look. He just smiled and chuckled. "I know you can help her, Lovi" he said. "You're very smart" he added a bit more quietly. Lovina just nodded and stared at her desk. Her face felt hot and she didn't like it.

Mr. Carriedo looked up at the others after the bell rang. "Welcome back estudiantes. I hope you enjoyed your time off. I know I did."

Lovina cursed to herself when his last statement made her stomach flip. "I hope you finished the play like I asked you to. Midterms are approaching and I want all of you to do your very best."

Bella looked away coyly and sighed. She was pretty damn behind. Lovina nudged the girl's foot with her own to get her attention before mouthing "I'll help you". Bella smiled brightly and nodded, extremely grateful to have a nice girl on her side from the start. Mr. Carriedo quickly passed out review sheets and asked the class to work on them in pairs.

Lovina immediately scooted her desk over to Bella's and began to go over all they had learned in the first semester. Bella followed along and listened carefully. She was about to ask to use the restroom, but stopped when she picked her head up and found her new teacher looking at Lovina with the most adoring gaze she had ever seen.

(-)

Lovina walked down the hall with her new friend after the final bell, eager to show the girl her secret to success in English. Bella chit chatted and got to know Lovina more as they walked back to Mr. Carriedo's classroom. Technically, this was supposed to be their one-on-one time, but Lovina didn't think he'd mind if she brought along someone who needed help more than she did.

Lovina poked her head in and saw Mr. Carriedo concentrating intently on something he was writing on the board. She stared a bit as he stepped back and ran his hand through his curly brown hair, letting out a shallow sigh with a small smile gracing his lips. Lovina slowly stepped in and silently stood beside him.

He had mapped out everything he had taught in the last three months along with some of the material their previous teacher had skimmed over. It was actually pretty impressive; every bit of information was displayed in an organized way that also connected everything together. He had clearly put some thought into it.

Mr. Carriedo smirked a bit as he glanced at Lovina. "Think this will help your classmates?" he asked, genuinely interested in her opinion. Lovina nodded and waved Bella over.

"I brought her with me today. I figured you could help her too" she said before walking over to a desk and setting her things down. Mr. Carriedo gave Bella a warm smile and nodded. Lovina would be lying if she said she didn't feel a twinge of jealousy. He hadn't smiled like that for Lovina this morning…

"Of course, I would be more than happy to" he beamed. Bella thanked him before arranging her desk so that she sat across from Lovina. She listened and took down notes as Lovina and Mr. Carriedo dove into the material right away.

Bella soon realized she had learned more from just observing them than she had in any other classroom. It was amazing, the way they worked through the material together, completing each other's thoughts, finding things the other had missed. It was like a dance; when one moved the other followed. When one stumbled, the other supported. Connections, analysis, criticisms: all made in step and in rhythm between the two with everything from poems to the main piece of literature, Romeo and Juliet. Lovina and Mr. Carriedo both regularly asked Bella questions to make sure she was benefitting as well. Bella answered yes every time, just wanting to get back to watching them.

She couldn't help but be intrigued by the way Lovina's eyes followed Mr. Carriedo as he paced around the room. Or the way Mr. Carriedo read over Lovina's shoulder, leaning one arm on the back of her chair and using the other to follow along. Bella quickly absorbed the information before glancing at the clock.

"It's 4:30" she said before putting her notebook in her bag. Mr. Carriedo nodded and smiled as he moved from behind Lovina. "Thank you so much, this really helped a lot" she added earnestly.

Antonio leaned against his own desk and chuckled. "That's why I'm here, Bella" he replied.

"No really; I mean it" Bella praised. "You and Lovina work so well together" she added quickly. Antonio stiffened a bit and glanced at Lovina, who hadn't noticed the last comment. Antonio just nodded slowly in agreement as Bella headed toward the door.

"Well I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Carriedo" she called back when she reached the door. Bella paused before she trotted out and looked over her shoulder.

"By the way, Lovina. I never answered your question this morning. It means 'beloved'."

Lovina dropped the book in her hand. She quickly looked up to tell her new friend she must be wrong, she must be mistaken, or she must not have heard her correctly, but the girl was already gone. So instead she was left with the source of the word that felt like taboo.

Antonio cleared his throat and stared at the ground. "I-It was very kind of you to take Bella under your wing" he muttered weakly. Lovina nodded, more than happy to try to ignore the elephant in the room. Who was she kidding, this wasn't an elephant. This was a fucking whale.

The fact that he never denied anything sent Lovina's mind spinning. She knew he wasn't oblivious to what Bella was referencing. "I'm glad you've made a friend" he added a bit more confidently. Lovina rolled her eyes and picked up the book she had let fall to the floor.

"You make it sound like I'm and anti-social 5 year old" she grumbled. Antonio let out a small chuckle and stood up straight, sticking his hands in his pocket.

"That's not what I meant. I'm just happy to see you've finally found someone you can relate too."

Lovina smirked a little and moved her bag onto her shoulders. "I already had someone" she mumbled to herself.

"Who?"

Lovina's breath hitched. She hadn't meant for him to hear that. Lovina became increasingly uncomfortable under his stare. Lovina bit her lip and tried to control her heartbeat.

"You" she answered quietly. Antonio's lips parted when the word hit him. Both glanced away and stared at the floor as the seconds ticked by.

"I have to leave" Lovina stated quietly, though it sounded like a roar compared to the heavy silence looming in the room. Antonio just nodded and kept his head down while she walked out. He slowly unclenched his jaw when he could no longer hear her footsteps and slowly threw his head back to stare at the ceiling.

He was in deep shit.

Ok I know he seems a bit creepy, but had she not been so helpful and nice, he wouldn't have been so…interested in what she was doing. He keeps getting drawn in, dammit!