(A/N) Sorry if the timeline for the beginning of this chapter seems confusing. Putting this note here real quick to point it out for you just in case of confusion.

Luca and Alberto's tutoring takes the same amount of time as Giulia, Guido and Luna's soccer practice. So it'd make sense that Luca and Giulia can still walk home together.

At the soccer field that same day

"So, how'd tutoring go?" Giulia asked Luca as he met up with her.

Luca was hoping that he'd be the one to ask how her day went first to mentally prepare himself for Giulia's rage that would most likely overcome her once he told her how it went.

"It went…-"

"Lemme guess. He was only half paying attention to the actual lesson and then practically fell asleep. Am I right?" Giulia interrupted.

"Actually, I was the one who fell asleep…" Luca said sheepishly.

"What?! Why would you do that? What did Scorfano think?" asked Giulia, confusion in her expression.

"He didn't think anything because...he didn't...show up…"

"...What?" Giulia said sharply as she stood there with a scary fire of anger in her eyes.

Luca put out his hand out to her slowly to try to get a headstart on calming her down before she blew up. "Now, Giulia-"

"Di tutti i cretini irresponsabili dell'intero pianeta!" Giulia yelled.

'Too late… ' Luca thought.

"Giulia, please calm down." Luca started, putting his hand on her shoulder.

Giulia pushed it off and started pacing. "No, Luca! I will not calm down!"

"Really, Giulia, it's fine. I dealt with it, okay?"

"What do you mean ' you dealt with it '? What did you do? Smack him? Because I seriously hope you did. This is not okay! This is far from okay. I mean, Santa Bel Paese! Does he have any idea how disrespectful that is?!" Giulia stopped to take a breather.

Luca stood there in silence with his arms crossed, "Are you done now?"

"Absolutely not!" Giulia continued. "I thought that maybe passing the tenth grade would be a little bit more important to him! I know he's part of his 'oh-so-important Scorpion gang'." she said as her fingers made quotation marks. "But the world doesn't revolve around him!"

Giulia now panted out heavy breaths leftover from her rant. She was always prone to these outbursts whenever she felt someone disrespected her friends. It wasn't ever pretty. Luca understood though and knew her heart was in the right place. He just wished she'd let him speak.

Giulia's breaths finally started to soften. "Now you can speak."

"He did come back at least. He said he had to take care of something that was 'out of his control '. I was about to walk out on him but...I don't know, something seemed off about him when he came back. He wasn't his usual self..."

"You know what his ' usual self ' is now? What are you, all buddy-buddy now?" Giulia asked.

"No! I just have art class with him and see him almost every day. I also sit next to him so I have a basic idea of how he's usually like."

Giulia raised an eyebrow at that but said nothing.

Luca continued. "It's just...he came back hurt. He had a big bump on his head that made him dizzy. I don't know, I got concerned, what if someone did that to him?"

"Eh, is probably nothing serious." Giulia waved it off. "He seems so arrogant that he's dense. He probably did something stupid and clumsy and caused it upon himself."

"I'd think that too if he didn't seem so serious...he did apologize and it sounded genuine."

"Wait, what? He knows how to apologize?" Giulia asked with surprise. "Huh...I always thought that that whole gang was incapable of doing such things."

"Yeah, me too. But, because of that, I decided to give him another chance."

Giulia put her fists on her hips and shook her head. "Oh, Luca, Sei veramente un santo…But I swear to god if he pulls that shit ever again I will kick him straight to the moon! I won't care what is out of his control."

"Okay, okay, I got it. Take a chill pill."

With that said they then started to head home.

At the Paguro residence

Luca had entered his home to find Grandma Paguro sitting at the table by the phone, worry in her expression. She didn't realize he had walked in.

Noticing this, Luca wearily approached her. "Nonna?"

She turned her head toward her grandson in semi-surprise. "Oh, Luca, you're home. Uh...how did the tutoring go?"

Luca could sense that she was trying to hide her concern over whatever was the matter with her.

"Is something wrong, Nonna? Where's mom and dad?" he asked.

Grandma Paguro sighed, giving up her facade. "Nothing gets past you, does it, Bubble? ...Well, we got a distressing call from your Uncle Ugo."

"Uncle Ugo? Is he okay?"

"They didn't go into details because it all happened so fast but, what I could gather before your mother and father rushed out the door was that he got into some trouble."

"What kind of trouble?"

"I'm not sure but it sounded serious. But there's nothing we can do but wait until they get back. Now come, tell me how tutoring went." she said, pulling Luca to sit next to her.

Luca didn't push any further on the subject and probably didn't because he couldn't handle any more drama but his own for today.

Luca did worry about his uncle though. His uncle's sea creature appearance had been a bit offputting to Luca when he was a little kid but as he grew he began to realize how much he and his family had to appreciate his uncle. He, with his fishery business being as successful as it had been recently, despite the popularity for fish always becoming slow this time of year, did a lot for the family by providing them with food on the table. Plus the benefits of Ugo letting Lorenzo work there as well gave way for great discounts for his family. Though Ugo had recently been giving Lorenzo less of those benefits for whatever reason. But that was none of Luca's business and nor did he care to dwell on it since he found his dad's job to be a bit of a boring topic.

At the Scorfano household

Alberto had been reluctant to come home. After he had run off like that. After Bruno had hit him. He was sure there'd be hell to pay. But right now, not letting down Luca again was more important to him.

With a deep breath taken, Alberto entered the house. Once in, he saw Bruno sitting in front of the T.V., flipping through channels. Alberto was expecting Bruno to say something but he didn't. He just continued to mindlessly go through channel after channel. Usually, whenever Bruno did this when he got home, Alberto would consider himself lucky and go straight to his room but he couldn't this time. He promised himself that he'd come clean about the tutoring to Bruno so what happened today would never happen again.

Alberto spoke up. "Uh, ...I-"

"You know, I was going to punish you for your cowardice today when you got home but then decided to cut you some slack for now because I'm no longer in the mood and just want to relax." Bruno interrupted. "If I were you I'd count my blessings and move along."

Alberto did want to 'move along' as suggested but he stood his ground and got straight to the point.

"I'm flunking math," Alberto admitted. "So, I got a tutor. We were going to do a session today and that's where I was supposed to be today. If I'm not at the sessions and not learning anything I will fail tenth grade."

Bruno didn't respond.

"So…" Alberto trailed off trying to get him to say something.

Bruno picked up on this and groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I knew this would happen." Bruno turned off the T.V. and stood to face his son. In all honesty, kid, if it were up to me from the beginning you wouldn't be in that school."

"Huh?"

"Yep." He leaned against the back of the chair he had previously been sitting on. "I even suggested doing so to your mother once you reached high school. But she insisted you keep going after eighth grade. I don't get why though. I never went to high school and I turned out fine." Bruno then pushed off the chair, came towards Alberto and put his hand on his shoulder making Alberto slightly flinch. Bruno continued. "You don't really need any of the knowledge high school provides you. Your future is already set. You only need the knowledge I give you to take care of the gang."

Alberto had the option of not going anymore? A part of him did find high school stressful to the point that just leaving it all together sounded tempting. But on the other hand, high school was one of the few escapes in his life. His chance to spend a large majority of the day away from the gang and Bruno five times a week. And if he was really honest with himself, art class was his favourite part. He was able to learn new art techniques, get better at his secret hobby.

And this year...he got to see Luca almost every day in class. Alberto was still figuring out what he and Luca were to each other. Would Luca consider him a friend? Probably not. He was probably a pest for Luca to tolerate. But Alberto could deal with people thinking that about him. He was used to it anyway. Just being around Luca was fine on its own because in art class with Luca, Alberto could pretend like he was normal. He could pretend his life was different. Did Alberto really want to give that part of school up just because the rest of it was hard?

Bruno continued, Alberto was so lost in thought that he forgot where he was.

Bruno let go of Alberto's shoulder. "But...I'm not going to pull you out."

Alberto looked up at him in surprise. "You're not?"

"Well, only if you want me to. But I choose not to because it's what your mother wanted for you."

The surprise did not leave Alberto's face. "You'd do that for her?"

Bruno sighed. "I don't talk about it a lot but when your mother left us, a part of my soul died that day as well. And when you accused me to be the reason she died I never forgave you and I never will, you little asshole!" He yelled the last part. He then continued in his usual tone. "Which is why I'm going to respect her wishes. I'm not keeping you there for you ."

Alberto didn't know what to think of what his father was saying. He really had loved his mother. But he resented Alberto, which meant their feelings towards each other were mutual. Bruno only needed him to carry on the gang's legacy, get together with a sea creature female, breed and make sure that cycle continued. That was it.

Alberto's head was starting to hurt again but he tried to mask his pain in front of Bruno, not wanting to show the effect his hit had over him. Alberto already showed weakness today, he didn't want to show it again.

"So, hows this tutoring thing work? How long are you going to spend on it in a day?" Bruno asked.

"Well, it lasts for an hour after school."

Bruno sighed in frustration at that. "Fine. Just don't half-ass it. It's bad enough you're killing more time that could be used for more important things. Do I have to pay for it?"

"No. My tutor is only doing it for extra credit."

"Pshh! Only doing it for extra credit? HA! They're dealing with you for free? Damn. That's a tough job to do for free, I should know." Bruno cruelly joked, snickering.

Alberto rolled his eyes.

Bruno then stopped laughing, his serious expression returning. "Alright. But if this happens again with another class I promise you that you won't get off so easy. Now that this discussion is over, move along." he waved him off.

Without another word Alberto nodded and left to go to his room. Bruno continued to flip through channels. Alberto had done it. It had gone kind of smoothly for the most part. He had expected much worse. But now there was no chance of what happened today ever happening again. He would be showing up for Luca on time.

The next day: Friday

It wasn't until hours into the night before that Daniela, and only Daniela returned home. Luca was already in bed so he didn't see her until the sun came up. When Luca had asked her what happened with his uncle she had been very vague about it. She had told him that his father stayed overnight for Ugo considering that he was in terrible shape. Luca had asked what caused his injuries but she told him not to worry about it and to just focus on school. Luca had no choice but to obey. His mother was a stubborn person and he knew that no matter how much he'd try to get a straight answer out of her she wouldn't tell him.

But quite frankly he didn't want to dwell on it anyway. He had a feeling that not completely knowing what was going on was probably a good call. After all, he was going to try again on tutoring Alberto. Luca was hoping Alberto intended on showing up today on time as he promised. He made a mental note to talk to Alberto about it in art class just in case.

Lunch break

When Luca and Giulia met up with Guido, Cicco and Luna, things couldn't possibly feel any more awkward between Giulia and Luna. Luna wouldn't even look at her for more than three seconds. Because of that Giulia grabbed Guido's wrist and booked it out of the area away from the tense atmosphere.

"Whoa, hey, what's the hurry?" Guido asked once they were away from the group.

Giulia ignored the question. "I've decided that...yes, I'll go out with you tomorrow."

"You will?" he asked with a shocked expression. Guido had expected her to reject him.

"Yes." She confirmed with a half-smile. Giulia had to admit that his expression of shock was pretty funny to witness and it had calmed her down over her awkward situation with Luna.

"That's great! You won't regret it."

"I certainly hope I won't." Giulia joked.

Around the next corner close by, Luna was spying on the two. During the night before she had thought long and hard about why she was feeling slightly angry towards Giulia after their last interaction. It had hurt hearing Giulia agree that she 'had nothing to lose' but she didn't know why. She made had made this possible. So why did she regret it so much? Why did this suck beyond belief? Then she had come to the conclusion that she liked Giulia. And not as a friend. She had a crush on Giulia.

Luna couldn't believe she felt this way. She had practically repeated history by having feelings for a human and worse, she had feelings for a human girl. That was like doubling the trouble on her part. What would her parents think if they knew? Nothing, that's what. She had planned to keep her feelings to herself and hoped they'd go away over time.

But Luna couldn't help but follow the two when they ran off alone. She had hoped that Giulia would turn him down. But what kind of twisted joy would that bring her? She wasn't going to act on her feelings. But it hurt to see her agree to go out with someone else. A part of her wished she could hate Guido. But doing that would only cause trouble for the friend group and she had no intention of messing that up. She had to continue to be a good friend to Giulia, apologize for how she acted the day before and banish these feelings away from her mind.

(A/N) Poor Luna. :(

Sorry if this chapter is kinda short only semi eventful and doesn't have much action in terms of the story's ships. But ending it where it ended was the only way the chapter would smoothly end.

I hope you found it interesting anyway since the realizations the characters are going through in this chapter are pretty big.

Reviews are very much appreciated!