(A/N) For anyone wondering, it is now October in the story.

After lunch break

Giulia and Guido were headed toward the gym for their next class. The walk there, so far, was in awkward silence, at least on Giulia's part. Was it the same feeling for Guido? Giulia didn't know. After she agreed to go out with him she had been getting a nervous weird feeling whenever she was around him. The feeling wasn't there when Giulia viewed him platonically. When she did she felt more relaxed. Now she suddenly had the option to view him romantically. She hoped the feeling would fade soon because it was unpleasant.

Just then something caught Giulia's eye in her peripheral vision. She turned her head to look in its direction. It was a piece of paper taped onto the wall. The words 'Halloween Dance! ' were on it. Seeing this switched Giulia's mood from nervous to excited.

"Santa Burrata! There's going to be a Halloween Dance?!" Giulia asked.

"Oh yeah, it seems to be an annual thing at this school. Didn't get to go last year though." Guido said, his shoulders slouching slightly.

"Aww, why not?"

"Too busy with homework."

Giulia raised an eyebrow with confusion. "Huh? That doesn't sound like you. You're like, the top student with getting their work done on time."

"Oh, the homework wasn't ours."

Giulia gave a look that told Guido she now understood what he meant. "Oh...those jerks!"

"Yeah… it sucked." then Guido perked up. "But, it's not our problem anymore."

"So then you're going this year?"

"Yeah, it could be fun. Judging by your excitement I can assume you're going too?"

"Definitely! I know Luca will come for sure. He and I loved Halloween when we were little." said Giulia.

Third Period: Art Class

Luca had just gotten to class and was now setting up his canvas. When he was just about set, Alberto sat next to him. Luca noticed and couldn't help but say…

"Wow, you're early. Usually, you wait till the last second to show up." Luca said with a joking tone.

"Well, I'm just trying to make a point," Alberto said coolly.

"And what point is that?"

"I'm showing that I do have the ability to show up to places on time."

"I see…"

Alberto then smirked and leaned in closer to Luca. "Proud of me?" he asked

Luca had almost fallen out of his seat right then and there but luckily he was able to keep his footing and quickly leaned away from Alberto.

"Uh...w-well, we technically haven't started our s-s-session just yet s-so, uh, we'll have to see...I guess." Luca said, stuttering.

Luca thought that was a strange question for Alberto to ask and did he have to lean in so close like that? 'Is this really the time to be teasing me right now? What's his deal? Why does my face start to heat up like this whenever he pulls this kind of thing?' Luca asked himself. The redness in Luca's face was increasingly spreading which made Luca almost panic. He didn't want Alberto to notice so he then stretched out his arm, pushing Alberto away quickly.

"Right." Alberto chuckled, allowing Luca to push him away, feeling he had gotten his fill of teasing in for the day. He wasn't going to risk pushing his luck in teasing Luca during their tutoring session considering he had almost blown it the day before.

Luca let out a tiny sigh of relief once Alberto was at a comfortable distance away from him then continued setting up. Alberto started to do the same.

The teacher's lesson for the day was the basics of 3-dimensional art. She drew some 3-dimensional shapes on the chalkboard to show examples of what she wanted from her students and the class then started to draw cubes.

Luca was on his third shape when he subtly cleared his throat to get Alberto's attention. He turned his head to look at Luca.

"How's your head...?" Luca asked casually.

Alberto looked surprised that he asked. He figured Luca would have forgotten about the bump on his head but, then again, considering how weird he had acted when Luca had practically stroked it, something Alberto definitely didn't forget, he shouldn't have been too surprised. In retrospect, he should have contained himself. Luca never said anything but Alberto hoped he didn't make any weird noises when that happened. He had liked Luca's touch way too much. Alberto had made a mental note to never let Luca touch him like that ever again even though it felt good.

"A lot better than it was. Bumps' still kinda there but...I'm okay." Alberto assured Luca.

"That's good," Luca put simply.

Not very much else was said between the two boys after that. The rest of class time came and went.

As Luca was putting his things away in his backpack he caught a glimpse of what Alberto had drawn during class. The cubes that he drew were all shaded to the point that they almost looked like they were jumping out of the paper they were on. The class wasn't even expected to shade their shapes today.

"Whoa…" Luca said under his breath.

Before Alberto could witness Luca looking at his art, he quickly looked back to his own shapes he'd drawn. They were alright looking. Not terrible but they paled in comparison to Alberto's shapes.

That thought was quickly forgotten as Luca noticed Alberto get up from his seat, hand in his drawings and then heading out the room and into the hallway. Luca rushed to put his things away in his backpack, handing in his own drawing and then ran after him. Luca caught up to Alberto and grabbed his arm before he could leave. Alberto turned to look at Luca in surprise. They then heard a couple of students who saw Luca latch onto Alberto's arm and whisper something to each other while staring at the two boys, making Luca and Alberto instantly pull away from each other in embarrassment. The two students then walked away. Alberto made a mental note to go after those two and threaten them to make them keep their mouths shut about whatever they thought they saw.

"So, uh...you are gonna show at the library, right? For sure?" Luca asked with a slightly nervous tone.

"Yes, Luca, I told you I will," Alberto replied.

"I know. It's just after yesterday I'm a bit, ya know, nervous. Whatever it was that made you ditch me was last minute and out of your control... I don't know. I'm just worried it'll happen again."

"Hey, I didn't ditch you. I came back and explained myself. It's not going to happen again, okay? I made sure of that."

Luca sighed. "Alright...I'm trusting you." Luca then saw Giulia coming their way in the corner of his eye to meet with him as usual. "Well, you better go before Giulia comes closer. She may know that you ditched me yesterday and she's not too impressed."

"I didn't dit-" Alberto sighed and gave up. "Whatever, see you at the library later, okay?"

Luca nodded.

Alberto then left to find the two kids that saw him and Luca before heading to his last class. Giulia caught up to stand next to Luca watching Alberto leave.

"Man, did you tell him I know what he did yesterday? That boy ran off like he was on a mission. He must be scared of me." Giulia laughed.

After Classes - Soccer Practice

Guilia, Guido and Luna were setting up for practice, the three sitting together on a bench as they got ready. Giulia and Guido had been in the middle of conversion when Luna arrived. She had sat next to them feeling a bit out of place as they continued talking.

"You're really not going to tell me where you're taking me tomorrow?" Giulia groaned.

"No, it's gonna be a surprise. I'll be picking you up at your house so you better give me your address," said Guido, as he laughed.

Luna couldn't help but roll her eyes at the two. Did they seriously have to act like this in front of her? True they were already in the conversion when she entered the field but they hadn't even had said 'hi' to her. She let out a very audible huff, finally grabbing the attention of both Giulia and Guido. When they both looked at her she froze.

'Did I really just do that?' she mentally asked herself.

"Uh, hey guys, what's up?" Luca asked, trying to recover from her jealousy-filled huff.

Thankfully they both didn't question it. Guido spoke first, given that Giulia didn't seem to look like she was going to initiate a reply first for whatever reason.

"Giulia and I are gonna go out on a date tomorrow. I want to keep where we're going a surprise. Can you please tell her to be patient for one day?" He joked.

Giulia seemed to be more alert at that and she crossed her arms looking slightly annoyed.

Luna went along with it. "Heh, um, yeah Giulia...you only gotta wait a day."

"Yeah, yeah," Giulia said begrudgingly as she finished getting ready, now walking off to join the rest of the team on the field.

Guido stayed behind and scooted over beside Luna where Giulia had been sitting.

"Hey, I just wanted to say, you really did me a solid, Luna, so...Grazie." Guido said with a smile.

Luna smiled back half-heartedly. "It was no big deal...really."

Guido, done getting ready, followed Giulia onto the field. Luna watched him leave. There was almost a hop in his step. Luna, hating that she couldn't genuinely be happy for him, put her face in her hands in frustration. She was hoping she would be able to focus today.

After Classes - Tutoring Session

Luca was on his way to the library, praying that Alberto would keep his word. After talking to Alberto about it in art class it had put him more at ease but he was still paranoid. He took out notes for their session. Double-checking them to see what they had to cover. It seemed simple enough. At least to him. He remembered showing a bit of it to Giulia. She had looked at it with a hilarious look of confusion on her face, claiming it to be all Greek to her.

He put the notes back in his backpack and stepped into the library. The room seemed to be empty. The imaginary 'worry meter' in him started to rise just a bit but he took a breath. No one was late for anything. He shouldn't be worried about anything yet.

He turned the corner to go to his favourite spot when, to his surprise, Alberto was already at the table waiting for him, his feet resting on the table. Alberto noticed him and welcomed him with a smirk. Luca stood there, his mouth agape.

Alberto's smirk never faded. "What? Are you surprised? I said I'd show up this time.

"Well, yeah, but, I didn't think you'd be here before me. That's all." Luca scratched the back of his neck. "Are you eager?" Luca joked as he sat down at the table beside Alberto.

"I told you, I had a point to prove. Now that it's proven... now are you proud of me?" Alberto asked with a charming smile.

Luca found his face starting to heat up again, almost getting lost in the other boy's emerald green eyes. Luca quickly looked away from Alberto, focusing on getting out his notes instead.

"Uh, yeah, sure...heh…" Luca said awkwardly, feeling around through the inside of his backpack, his glasses slipping out of place a bit.

Why the hell did just a mere smile make him react that way? He wasn't even teasing him or saying weird stuff like usual. 'What the heck is the matter with me?' Luca asked himself.

Luca's mental question was then forced at the back of his mind when his fingers found the notes and pulled them out. Luca cleared his throat first before speaking while pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

"So, uh, your teacher has given me notes on what you're working on in class right now." he placed the notes on the desk. "These are the notes she gave me the day which was supposed to be our first session."

Alberto noted the emphasis Luca had put on the word 'supposed' and rolled his eyes. He picked up the notes and read them.

Luca, once again digging into his backpack, continued. "And this morning I was asked to her classroom again and she gave me more notes with updates." Luca smacked the table as he put the new notes down on it. "So, because of your stunt yesterday, I think it's safe to say we're a bit behind..."

Alberto slouched in his seat and groaned. "Why didn't you tell me about this during art class?"

"Well, 1: I wasn't 100% sure you were coming and didn't want to possibly waste my breath and 2:... I guess I didn't want to overwhelm you." Luca said, taking the first note from Alberto's hand and putting it with the other to keep them together. "Oh, and don't worry. Your teacher doesn't know you didn't show up yesterday."

"Oh, per l'amor di Dio! Can we stop bringing that up?" Alberto begged. "It's getting old real fast."

"Alright, I will if today goes well. Now, get your feet off the table so we have some space, please." Luca said, pushing at Alberto's ankles. Alberto begrudgingly obliged, setting his feet on the floor. "So," Luca pushed the first few notes in between himself and Alberto on the table. "Does any of this make sense to you?"

Alberto stared at it for a second. "Uh…vaguely?"

"'Vaguely' ?"

"Yeah, I uh...I know it's a bunch of numbers and suddenly it makes sense to add letters into the mix." Alberto joked.

Luca was now pushing up his glasses a tad to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Okay, okay, uh...I'm gonna try something so I know what I'm dealing with here." Luca took out his pencil and wrote a problem on the paper. Once he finished he slid the paper in front of Alberto. "Can you solve this problem?" he asked, handing the pencil to him.

Alberto took the pencil and looked over the paper, biting at his lower lip as he did so. He started to tap on the table with the eraser end of the pencil. A nervous tick he tended to do. Luca looked from the paper to Alberto's face. He started to sense that Alberto had no idea what he was looking at.

"You...don't know do you?" Luca asked.

Alberto chuckled awkwardly "Heh, well, that's why you're here. I don't know it and you're here to teach me, no?"

Luca sighed. "Alberto...this is a ninth-grade math problem. You should know this."

Alberto then opened his mouth to deny, to say 'of course, he knew ninth-grade math'. But nothing came out. Who was he kidding? Luca wasn't stupid.

Luca continued. "It's because Ciccio and Guido did the work for you last year isn't it?"

Alberto didn't look at Luca. He was too embarrassed to look him in the eye at that.

"You must think I'm pretty stupid right about now, huh?" Alberto said quietly.

"Well, it wasn't the smartest idea to leave all that work on them not thinking it would come back to get you in the long run. But you can learn. I don't think you're stupid."

"Oh, come on, Luca. Let's just face it. We're wasting time here. There's no way I can learn ninth-grade math and keep up with what I'm learning now. It's impossible." Alberto said, waving his arms in the air.

"It's not impossible. Just...tricky. But we can make it work. I just gotta figure out how. How about, just for today, we take it slow. That way, as we're going over the notes, while we do that, I can come up with easy ways to teach you, okay?"

Alberto let out a breath. "Okay, fine.."

With that, Luca and Alberto went over the notes, Luca brainstorming in his head on how he was going to take on this new task.

Later

Luca's alarm watch went off.

"Huh. Well, guess that's it." Luca started to pack everything away.

"Wait, what? That can't be it." Alberto said, standing up.

"We'll start the actual lesson on Monday, okay?"

"W-what if there are new notes on Monday and we just get more things piled up?"

"Well, this probably wouldn't have been an issue if-"

"Don't say it!" Alberto warned, interrupting Luca. "Okay, how about we continue tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow's Saturday."

"So?"

"So, it's the weekend. This is a school thing." Luca stated.

Luca honestly didn't want to make this a thing that was outside of school. He was already weary about tutoring Alberto to begin with. Now Alberto was suggesting they see each other outside of school? Why would he want to do that? Did Alberto seriously want to do tutoring to the point of sacrificing his Saturday? And it wasn't just that. Every time he was around Alberto he felt uneasy and that was because of his teasing and his intimidating status on the 'high school food chain'. He could barely handle being around him for the time he had to at school. Could he even take him on during a day off school?

"Besides, this library is closed on the weekend and the town library isn't as isolated and quiet as this one is after classes," Luca said, trying to think of excuses.

"That may be true but…" Alberto thought about what Luca said and then thought up an idea. "I know just the place that's pretty isolated."

Luca looked at him, a bit nervous at that. "What isolated place?"

Alberto read Luca's expression, seeing slight fear in his eyes. "Ohhh..." he chuckled darkly. He then stepped closer to Luca, trapping him between himself and the table. "You think I'm going to kidnap you and take you away with me somewhere, aww... do you want me to~?"

Luca, with his wide eyes looking up at him, desperately tried not to let his chest touch Alberto's. Luca started to freak out in his head 'Is he implying something...? No, no way. He's just doing it again! Why does he keep teasing me like this? It's weird!' Luca found himself now sitting on the table, allowing his body distance from Alberto's.

Alberto could sense Luca's discomfort. Damn it, he promised himself he wouldn't tease him for the rest of the day. Why couldn't he control his teasing when he was around Luca? The shorter boy just made it just too easy. He enjoyed Luca's reactions way too much. Alberto then decided to let up and backed away from Luca who was now shifting nervously where he sat.

"I'm kidding. Loosen up," said Alberto.

Luca scoffed and got off the table. He was unbelievable. Telling him to loosen up after pulling that kind of stunt. What a jerk!

"See you, Monday," Luca said bluntly. He finished packing away his stuff, put on his backpack and stormed out of the room.

"Aw, merda…" Alberto cursed.

Alberto quickly grabbed his things and went after him. Luckily he caught up with Luca. "Luca, come on, I'm sorry I did that. Just, hear me out! It's just a bit of extra time on a Saturday. It won't kill ya. There's this place I sometimes go to relax and just be by myself. We can do a tutoring session there." said Alberto. Luca still looked a bit unsure. "Nothing is going to happen to you, why would I hurt my tutor?"

That was true. Alberto had no motive to cause harm to him and it would be a drag to always be behind in their sessions.

Luca sighed, finally giving in. "Alright, fine. We'll try that. It better be a good spot."

"It's the best spot. Now, when do you want to meet up? I can pick you up on my bike. Where do you live?"

Luca couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was Alberto actually planning to show up at his house on his motorcycle? If his mother saw him get on that bike she'd probably have a heart attack!

"Uh, I don't think it'd be a good idea with you showing up at my house on that bike of yours. My mom would freak." he laughed awkwardly. "How about we meet a bit away from my house and there you can pick me up."

"You got an overprotective mom?" Alberto asked with a smirk.

"...more or less."

The two were now stepping onto the soccer field. As the two boys got closer to Giulia, she and Guido noticed them coming. Seeing Alberto with Luca, they gave sour faces but Giulia decided to approach them anyway, Giulia only focusing on Luca, pretending that Alberto being there didn't bother her. An excited smile replaced her sour frown.

"Luca! You should have seen me out on the field today! Coach says that I was the fastest I've ever been. I can't wait to show off my speed in an actual face off against another team soon." Guilia said to Luca.

"Really? That's great Giulia!" Luca said with a grin.

"Yeah, she was really something out there," Guido said, now joining in. Guido looked at Alberto with a disinterested face.

"Alberto." Guido greeted him.

"Guido." Alberto greeted back.

Both of their greetings sounded disingenuous and bitter. Luca could sense the tension in the air between the three. He looked around for a distraction. His eyes landed on Luna standing by the bleachers by herself. She looked distressed.

"Uh, guys, I'm just going to say ciao to Luna before she leaves. I need to talk to her about something. Just a minute." Luca then rushed away from the awkward atmosphere.

Alberto, with wide eyes, watched Luca leave him with these two teens who clearly hated his guts in horror but he quickly regained his composure, not daring to show his anxiety over the position he was now in. He could leave now but he didn't yet have Luca's address.

Guido, also not wanting to stick around anymore, turned to Giulia, no longer acknowledging Alberto's presence.

"I'm gonna get going home now. See you tomorrow." Guido said, walking off.

"Yeah, see you." she waved.

"You two, dating or something?" Alberto asked.

Giulia, with a scowl, crossed her arms. "That is none of your business!"

Giulia was holding back from letting Alberto have it for ditching Luca the day before with every fibre of her being. Thankfully, a couple of her teammates, two girls, came up to Giulia, distracting her.

"Oh my gosh, Giulia, you were so fast out there today!" one of the girls said.

"Totally! You were awesome!" said the other. "You must work out!"

"Well, I do put in a lot of effort in gym class," Giulia said, flexing the muscles on her arm.

"Oooooo!" the two girls said in unison, admiring her muscles.

Alberto didn't quite care for Giulia's hostility towards him. He didn't do anything to her. Alberto smirked as he came up with a power move. He swiftly got beside Giulia and started poking at her cheeks.

"Aww, Giulia, you're so adorable when you try to act tough. Look at this cute baby face." Alberto mocked.

The two girls didn't laugh though. They only looked as if he had just unleashed hell. They could see an almost murderous look appear in Giulia's eyes. She then all of a sudden grabbed Alberto's wrist and slowly turned her head to look at him dead in the face. Seeing the look in her eyes, Alberto tried to step back, slightly intimidated by her expression but desperately trying his best to not show it. He tried to pull out of her grasp but it was no use. Giulia had a strong grip on him. Alberto could sense that, after what he just did, she was going to make him pay for it. He braced himself.

A minute ago

Luca, relieved to be away from the tension that lingered between Alberto, Guido and Giulia, approached Luna who was now drinking from her water bottle.

"Ciao, Luna." Luca greeted.

"Ah!" Luna jumped in surprise, causing her to spill a bit of the water from her bottle onto her chin and down to her chest, making her pink scales visible on her chin. She internally freaked, quickly grabbing a hand towel from her backpack and drying herself off as fast as she could. Luckily she had been turned away from the soccer field so no one saw. "Oh, uh, ciao, Luca," she said with a shaky voice.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." Luca apologized.

"Oh, no, no, it's...it's nothing. I've just been a little off today I guess," she said, now dry and facing Luca.

"I can kind of tell. Is everything alright?" he asked.

Luna then dawned a defeated look on her face. "Is it that obvious?"

Luca nodded. "Now that I think about it, you seemed a little bit off at lunch today too."

Luna sighed. "Let's just say...I've...come to realize something about myself that I'd rather not be verbal about to anyone."

"What? Come on, you can tell me anything. I can keep a secret. I mean, I've kept your other secret." Luca urged.

"That does not count. You figured that one out on your own and I'm still wary about that being known...especially now. I just don't want to talk about it, okay?"

Luca had a look of distraught but he let it go. The two friends then heard two voices make a sound of awe from where Luca had left Giulia, Guido and Alberto. It appeared that Guido had left. They saw Giulia flexing her arm to her teammates. Luna found herself staring and blushing, seeing the muscle on Giulia's arm. Luna started getting weak at the knees and the wrist of her hand that was holding her water bottle suddenly went limp making the water from it splash onto Luca's hand beside her, his green scales appearing.

"Luna!" Luca yelled in shock as he hastily wiped off the water from his hand against his pants.

Luna broke out of her daze. "Huh?!" She realized her mistake. "Oh, Luca! I'm sorry! Che sciocco che sono!" 'Get a grip you lunatic!' she mentally scolded herself. Regaining her composure to the best of her ability, she grabbed her backpack. "I...I need to go home and...try to salvage any dignity I have left." With that, Luna booked it off the field before Luca could say anything.

Luca didn't know what to say. He wasn't sure what had Luna all jittery and uncharacteristically clumsy. Luca just hoped his friend was okay. He then returned to Alberto and Giulia. The other girls had left. Luca noticed a big red mark on Alberto's cheek that was suspiciously shaped like a hand.

"What happened to you?" Luca asked Alberto.

"Oh, this?" Alberto pointed to the mark. "Oh, it's nothing. I fell. No big deal." he lied, having no intention of letting Luca know Giulia had bested him.

Giulia rolled her eyes at Alberto's lie but, with a smirk, she cooly went along with it. "Hmm, you should be more careful."

Looking between them, he sensed something was amiss with Alberto's story but brushed it off. He just wanted to go home at this point. Luca wrote down his address on a piece of paper from his notebook and gave it to Alberto.

"This is my address. I'll wait for you at the very end of the street at 12:00 pm and you better be there." Luca said.

"Of course I'll show up. It was my idea," said Alberto, taking the paper with Luca's address. Alberto couldn't help a little random feeling of giddiness as he took it. But he kept his cool demeanour on the outside. Alberto then took his leave to the parking lot to get his bike to head home.

"What the...you're hanging out with him tomorrow? Are you two, like, friends now?" Giulia asked, confused.

"We're behind in tutoring so we're going to try to catch up tomorrow," Luca explained.

"Oh. And you said 'yes' ? The things you do for that boy. Sacrificing your Saturday like that. Do you like like him or something? Hmm?" Giulia joked.

Luca flushed at her accusation. "What?! NO!"

Giulia laughed. "Haha! I'm kidding. Don't get your panties in a twist."

Luca's flush started to simmer down. "Let's just go home, okay?" he stomped away.

Giulia raised an eyebrow, thinking Luca's reaction to her joke was a little overboard-ish but she stored that thought away and followed Luca.

(A/N) Yay! I was able to do a longer chapter this time!

Ooo, Luna has a secret jealous side...

Yes, yes, I know that in Italy, Halloween isn't celebrated over there. But Halloween is coming soon where I am and I really wanted to do something in this story in the spirit of that. Now, I can't promise the Halloween stuff will happen on Halloween day. Just be prepared to possibly read about it after Halloween has happened.

Now, I myself am terrible at math or how to go about teaching it so, like in this chapter, the actual tutoring will not be written in its entirety to read. You can imagine the details yourself if you care enough to. This is the case mostly because I'm terrible at math to begin with and don't remember much from 10th-grade math other than my math teacher being super hot that it was a distraction for me. I will try to make it interesting in the future.

Reviews are very much appreciated! They really do motivate me and make me happy. I read every one.