When Giulia got home, fully dry, her father, Massimo was making her favourite dinner, Trenette Al Pesto. She was thankful there was at least something that made her smile after the puddle incident. It smelled delicious. Her dad was always the best cook.

Giulia heard a 'meow' sound. She looked down and saw a black cat with a patch of white fur in the middle of her cute face. The cat's belly was getting bigger.

"Mia, thanks for the greeting but you should be resting with Machiavelli. Who knows how many kittens you're carrying." Giulia softly scolded the cat. She picked Mia up and headed towards Machiavelli's, and Mia's as well, favourite spot to rest.

Mia was the newest member of the family. Their other cat, Machiavelli, had gotten together with the black cat over the summer. She was a stray but they were so cute together. Then one day, they unexpectedly became parents-to-be. Because of that, Massimo and Giulia couldn't keep the two felines apart so they adopted the cat and named her Mia.

Once Giulia got to Machiavelli, she gently placed Mia next to him. Mia then nuzzled up next to a sleeping Machiavelli.

Giulia cooed at the sight and then headed back to the kitchen for dinner.

"Assolutamente delizioso, papa!" She said as she finished up her plate, rubbing her tummy.

"Glad you enjoyed it, Giulietta." He replied with a smile. "How was your first day? You haven't said anything about it yet."

Giulia stiffened. She was doing such a good job of avoiding the subject but of course he'd ask. He was her father and very attentive. She decided to just talk about the positives, even though there weren't that many.

"Um...Luca and I made two new friends, Guido and Ciccio. They're both in the 10th grade." She started.

"Two older boys?" Massimo said, raising an eyebrow.

'What's that look? ' Giulia wondered. "Well, let's not get too hasty. They're only one grade ahead of us. Guido is in my multigrade gym class. He helped me find it."

"Hm."

Giulia raised an eyebrow herself at that sound. "Speaking of gym class, I found out there's a soccer team at the school."

Massimo smiled in interest. "That's great. Are you going to try out?"

"Definitely!"

That was all Giulia could report that was positive but it seemed to be enough for Massimo considering he didn't ask her any more questions after that.

Later, Luca was getting ready for bed. Earlier when Giulia had gotten herself dry he had immediately told her what his grandma had told him.

*Flashback*

"You can do what now?" Giulia asked, surprised at this new information about sea creatures.

"Well, technically I can't. But I can 'potentially' do it." Luca corrected her.

"How? How?!"

Luca chuckled at her eagerness to learn. Something that they both had in common. He loved that he could tell Giulia his sea creature problems without being judged. Giulia had always been fascinated by the fact that her best friend was a sea creature. She loved learning new things about them and, in a way, felt special that she was the only one who knew his family's secret.

"She said that I had to learn not to be afraid of the world."

"What's that mean?" she questioned once again.

"It means that I have to not be afraid to show people who I am. To embrace who I am." Luca said hesitantly.

Giulia looked skeptical. "Would you be willing to do that though?"

"I'm not sure...but it'd be pretty cool if I was able to."

Giulia nodded in agreement. "Well, as usual, Luca, you don't give yourself enough credit. I think you're brave."

They smiled at each other.

*Flashback end*

When his grandma had told him what he was capable of, Luca wanted to be able to do it so much. It'd be something he would be in control of for once. He really needed something like that right now after how terrible his first day at school went. But if the first step was wanting to show someone his sea creature form willingly then Giulia seeing him years ago didn't count since it was an accident due to rain landing on him. He had to want it. But who could he trust with that knowledge? He barely knew Guido and Ciccio.

He had thought about showing Massimo, who was like a second father to him. But Luca had been told many times by his father that he should be careful with water while around Massimo. Lorenzo trusted Giulia, yes, but not so much Massimo completely.

The two men were at most, mutual friends with each other due to their children being friends and them both working at the same fishery. They would sometimes go fishing together, Lorenzo having to go on those trips fully clothed no matter how hot it was since it was sitting on a small boat surrounded by water. Because of that he never went often. But, once during one of those fishing trips, Lorenzo had been told by Massimo that he had sea creature hunter ancestry during casual conversion, thinking it was safe to reveal that information since he thought he was just talking to another human and not to a sea creature. Massimo never seemed to act high and mighty about it his ancestry, he knew the law but what would always make Lorenzo backtrack on trusting him would be the times he'd slip up, accidentally calling sea creatures sea 'monsters' .

Massimo would never harm a fly, but would he feel the same about sea creatures? Luca wasn't sure but he never came across as violent to him personally.

Maybe one day he could trust another person besides Giulia. But for now, he needed some well-deserved sleep. It was going to be another school day tomorrow.

It wasn't until very late that evening that Alberto returned home. He didn't want to end up having to face his probably very angry father. Bruno would probably want to beat his ass for not showing up at the base as requested.

The door was locked. 'Of course. Well played, asshole.' Alberto thought to himself. This was a tactic so that he would have to face 'The Man', so that'd he have no choice but to knock. Bruno was probably waiting for him right now. Alberto wished he had a key to the house. He was going to have to start leaving his bedroom window open.

But maybe Bruno wouldn't be too mad. He had told Bartolo to tell Bruno he'd been heard. Surely that must've counted for something . With a slightly shaky fist, he knocked on the door three times. The deed was done. Alberto saw the doorknob turn and the door open to reveal his father, a bottle of beer that was halfway finished in his hand, and not looking too pleased with him.

"Well, look who decided to finally grace me with his presence," Bruno said, voice filled with passive-aggressive sarcasm and anger. "Can't even show up the one time I want you to. Piccola merda ingrata."

Alberto rolled his eyes. "Great to see you too, Bruno. How was your day?" He walked inside heading for the kitchen to look for something to eat.

Bruno slammed the door, eyes following Alberto. "You wanna know how my day went? Alright, I'll tell you. I expected my son to show up at the fucking base today but he didn't and I ended up looking like a fool."

"Didn't Bartolo tell you I'd show up tomorrow?" Alberto asked as he opened the fridge, disinterested in the conversion.

"I ordered you to come today not tomorrow!" Bruno slammed the fridge door shut, Alberto pulling his head out just in time, eyes wide looking up at him. Bruno continued. "You think you're in charge? You're not. I am! I'm the one who takes care of the entire gang and you!"

Alberto let out a condescending chuckle. "Sure, you take care of the gang but you don't take care of me. You use me!"

"I wish I had a more well-behaved, son. Instead, I have to settle for you ." Bruno crossed his arms. "Too bad Ercole isn't my son. He respects the gang more than anyone."

"Tch, you mean the asshole who's a total kiss ass to you?!" Alberto retorted. He started the leave the kitchen, wanting to end the conversion.

"At least he takes his position in the gang seriously. Maybe I should have him take my place after I'm gone." Bruno challenged. Alberto stopped dead in his tracks at that. Bruno knew how much Alberto hated Ercole.

Alberto turned and laughed at him. "You're not going to do that."

Bruno didn't expect that reaction. It only made him angrier. "You calling my bluff?"

"Yeah. I am. I'm not stupid." Alberto walked back to him, looking at him dead in the face. "You would never do that because Ercole, not only is he not a Scorfano, but he also has sea creature hunter ancestry," He pointed a finger at him. "and you would rather die than make someone with that kind of background be the leader of the gang!"

Bruno growled. Alberto didn't buy his threat but he wasn't about to let him come out of this fight feeling like a winner. "I make the rules which means whatever I say goes. You wanna know why you need to take this seriously!?" Bruno grabbed the sink head faucet and sprayed Alberto with water in his face, soaking him and making his purple scales appear. A move Alberto wasn't expecting as he looked up at Bruno in shock.

Bruno smirked, knowing he had once again gained the upper hand. He then ran his own hand under the water, showing his red scales and razor-sharp claws. "That's right. Because we're sea monsters. You're a monster, Alberto. If we don't have any power over the humans then we have nothing."

Alberto was speechless. Defeated.

Bruno felt triumph. "So you better respect that because the gang is going to be yours one day and you better be able to know what you're fucking doing! You better show up tomorrow or I swear you'll regret it. Now get out of my face!" he ordered, waving Alberto off.

Alberto, feeling humiliated, ran up the stairs into the bathroom. He grabbed a towel and quickly dried himself off, almost as if he was desperately trying to wipe his sea creature form off as if it were dirt. The force of his drying smeared off his eyeshadow as well making him look a mess.

He looked at himself in the mirror. Disgusted with his reflection. Bruno was right. Without the gang he had nothing. He had no other life outside the gang, no friends, and no family who truly cared about him. If he messed up and the gang somehow found out the truth he'd be a dead man. Either the gang would kill him or his father would. He was in too deep now to walk away. He had to start learning how to keep the Scorfano's facade going.

The Next Day

Luca and Giulia were walking to school.

"I hope today is a little better than yesterday." Luca said nervously.

"Same. I was not prepared for yesterday. I just wish I had an older sibling that could've warned me about all the terrible things that go along with being a freshman. I hate being an only child." Giulia said with a huff. "At least tryouts for the soccer team are after school. Something to look forward to."

Luca suddenly realized something. "Oh no."

"What's the matter?" Giulia asked.

"I just remembered who's in my art class..."

Giulia thought about who he meant but it quickly came back to her. "Ohhh. Scorfano. You gonna defend my honour?" She joked.

"Yes!" Luca confirmed with determination and anger. "What he and his gang did to you after school yesterday was unacceptable!"

Giulia giggled. "Thanks, Luca. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to give him the cold shoulder. I've noticed he loves attention so I'm not going to give it to him."

"Good. Stick it to that poser. But most of all, I want to get back at Ercole. He's the worst one. I can already tell."

"What are you going to do?" Luca asked with curiosity.

"...I don't know yet. But no matter how long it takes for me to think of it, it's happening. Don't worry." She smirked.

Third Period: Art Class

Alberto was looking forward to art class. After the night before he needed some enjoyment in the day before he headed off to the base after school. Not only because he could draw and relax for an hour but also he could have fun and tease Luca.

He wasn't late this time, due to wanting to soak up every minute. Once in the room, he headed over to where Luca was setting up his space. Alberto sat on the art bench next to him again. Luca didn't even acknowledge him. Weird.

"Afternoon, Luca ." He greeted, voice filled with suave.

Luca slightly perked up when Alberto said his name for the first time. The way he said it made him blush but Luca tried not to let it show, looking away from him. How did he manage to just say his name like that and automatically make his face heat up? Luca knew Alberto was trying to gain familiarity with him. Well, Luca wasn't going to let him have it after what he did to Giulia yesterday.

"Sir." Luca greeted back, voice purposely sounding filled with absolutely zero respect.

This took Alberto aback. That was disappointing. He was hoping to hear what his name sounded like on Luca's lips. What was his problem?

"...Everything okay?" Alberto asked.

Luca scoffed at that. Was he seriously acting dumb? He had been right there when they splashed Giulia. He and his gang were aiming for him. Did he really expect Luca would just forget all about that the very next day? Unbelievable.

"As if you didn't know." Luca said, continuing to not look at him.

"I don't… Did I do something?" Alberto had no idea where his hostility was coming from. He may have known Luca for only a day but he didn't expect this type of mood out of him.

Luca started to get frustrated. "Just don't talk to me, alright?"

That stun Alberto a little. The feeling was very apparent in his expression. Luca noticed and regretted his harshness a little. But he stayed strong. He had to make it clear to Alberto that he wasn't getting off easy for what he did.

He must've done something to make Luca this ticked off but Alberto just couldn't figure out what. Was he not okay with him telling Luca not to tell his gang that he took this class yesterday? He thought he'd understand. Did he pull on Luca's hand too hard?

Alberto wanted to ask Luca but he had made it clear to him to not speak to him and he wasn't about to try Luca's patience out of fear of another stinging remark.

Alberto didn't put that much effort into the drawing assignment that day. If Luca wasn't going to even glance at him why should he try to do better? Maybe Luca's mood would pass tomorrow. If not, he supposed that, like the rest of his classes, this class was probably not going to be all that fun. Not anymore.

(A/N) Hope you all liked this chapter.

I wanted to touch upon the dads in this chapter. Now before you crucify me, I'm not making Massimo some kind of bigot. That's not where I'm going with him. His slip-ups are caused by how he was raised. You're supposed to like him in this. I love Massimo. He's the best dad.

Mia is supposed to be the black cat you see in the credits of the movie. I'd thought it'd be fun to have her be in the story. The many kittens are not here yet though.

My headcanon is that Alberto's dad is a red sea monster while his mother was a blue sea monster because red and blue make purple.

Poor Alberto though. But, at the time, the gang all had their helmets on when they splashed Giulia. How's Luca supposed to know Alberto wasn't there?