(A/N) Hey, everyone! I'm so sorry I missed posting this week. It finally happened I missed a week. I'm so sorry. This past week just got so busy. But it's here now. Hope you enjoy this new one.

Giulia had invited Luca and Luna over for a sleepover. Giulia and Luca hadn't had a sleepover in a long time and this would be the first time that Luna had been inside Giulia's house and would officially meet Massimo.

But on a melancholy note, this would possibly be the last time Luca would have a sleepover at her house if there would be any sleepovers in the future at all and this would be Luna's first and last time. But all three of the teens were going to try their hardest not to mention their inner fears of what the future might hold. All three didn't want to spoil their time together.

At the Marcovaldo household - Saturday Afternoon

Luca had arrived before Luna did due to Luca's house being next door. Luna had arrived soon after. She was greeted at the door by Massimo. Luna looked up at the man with widened eyes. She had heard that Giulia's dad was a large man but she had underestimated just how large he really was. He seemed intimidating and his sea creature hunter background did not help her image of him. Luna pushed that thought aside and tried her best not to look as nervous as she was feeling.

"Ciao! I'm L-Luna, Giulia's friend," she said finally.

Massimo then smiled down at Luna, which slightly put her at ease. "Ah, yes. Giulietta has mentioned you quite a lot."

"She has…?" Luna beamed.

"Yes. It's very nice to finally meet you." Massimo said, extending his hand for her to shake.

Luna smiled. She then realized she had misjudged the man too quickly and shook his hand. "It's very nice to meet you too, Signore.

Suddenly Giulia and Luca came into view behind him.

"Luna! You're finally here!" Giulia said, hugging the older girl.

Luna was surprised by the sudden gesture but accepted it and hugged Giulia back, fighting back a blush.

"Ciao, Luna," Luca said, waving.

Luna waved back to him. "Ciao."

"Come in, come in!" Giulia said, pushing Luna inside the house.

Luna giggled at her eagerness to get the night started and obliged. Luca and Massimo followed after the girls.

At the Scorfano household

Alberto was in his room sitting on his bed alone, leaning against his pillows. He was throwing a small ball against the wall across from him, which made it bounce back toward him. He repeated this cycle over and over.

Alberto had decided to avoid visiting the tower today. He felt going over there would only remind him about what had transpired between him and Luca under the sea the day before. If he had had any sense at all in that moment he wouldn't have held Luca like that. He should have just let Luca hug him for a tiny millisecond and then cut it off. Not hug him back for as long as he did. And then what had almost happened after that… Mio Dio, what the hell had he been thinking? Alberto was getting in too close. Luca probably thought he was weird now and had just been too polite by not saying anything. Alberto had barely escaped the awkwardness of it all by pretending it never happened and Luca, thankfully, never brought it up again.

But Alberto hadn't forgotten Luca had admitted to trusting him which he honestly hadn't expected. Luca trusted him. The guy whose gang caused what Luca had been upset over. How could he face Luca again if he didn't do something about it?

"Think, Alberto. Think," he muttered to himself.

Then, just like that, an idea came to him. It wouldn't fix everything the Scorpions had done but it would make a difference for the better. But it was risky and if he got caught...well...Alberto didn't want to imagine that outcome. If he did he'd make himself think twice about it.

He looked out the window. The sun would be going down soon. In that instant, the memory of Luca's distressed and saddened face flashed in his mind. The face that had broken his heart. A heart which he thought had died out along with his mother. It was then he realized that Luca was going to be the death of him.

After Giulia, Luca and Luna with Massimo had enjoyed a pizza to eat for dinner, the three teens were now watching a scary movie together in Giulia's room. Giulia had sat in between Luca and Luna. Giulia was completely into the movie but Luca and Luna were put off by it. Neither were fond of scary movies which led the two to hold on tightly to Giulia's arms. But Giulia didn't mind. With Luca, she was used to it and with Luna she wasn't complaining.

Soon the movie was finally over and they turned on the light and shut off the tv.

"Aw, man. I haven't seen a movie that scary since Attacco Del Mostro Marino ." Luca breathed out.

Luna gave out a huff at that. " That movie? Ugh. That was a horrible portrayal of sea creatures. Completely specist."

"True, but it is an old movie. It came out in the early 60's." Giulia said.

"Yeah. Only a decade ago." Luna crossed her arms.

Giulia put up her hands in defence. "Hey, hey. I'm not defending it. It just came out when humans weren't alright in the head about sea creatures yet."

Luna loosened up. "Yeah...I know...it's just, those types of movies get to me sometimes."

"Me too. Trust me." Luca added. Then he thought for a moment and added "But if I'm completely honest, the sea creature in that movie did scare me. The sea creature looked just like my uncle and when I was a little kid my uncle kinda scared the crap out of me."

The three then busted out in laughter. Soon, Giulia's laughter slowly died down and turned to look out her window. It was now dark outside and the stars were out.

"Guys, look! The stars are finally starting to come out. Grab your coats and let's go out onto my hideout." Giulia said excitedly.

"Oh, yes! Come on, Luna. You're gonna love this." Luca said, eager.

All three of them got their coats on and crawled out onto the tree across from Giulia's window. Giulia started first, carefully balancing on the hardly sturdy-looking wooden steps that were attached to one of the tree's branches leading to her room. At first, it looked like Giulia would've fallen over, leading Luna to flinch and look as if, if Giulia did fall, she'd try to catch her. But Luca wasn't too worried over Giulia's safety. Giulia had done this many times in the past. When Giulia made it across Luna let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Luca got on next with help from Giulia who held onto his hand halfway across.

When it was Luna's turn to cross, Giulia stepped a little bit closer for Luna to take her hand as she got on. Luna took her hand and held on tightly, trying to mind her stepping. But on the last step, Luna misstepped and fell forward onto Giulia making them both fall back onto the wooden hideout. Luna, recovering from the surprise of the fall, lifted her upper body and found herself on top of Giulia's body. The two girls stared at each other in shock.

"Are you guys alright?" Luca worriedly asked, snapping both of the girls out of it.

Luna, feeling foolish, instantly got off of Giulia now sitting upright on her legs. Giulia's eyes followed Luna as she got off her, a tiny blush appearing on her face.

"Sorry…" Luna apologized.

Giulia sat up. "It's okay...I still need to make a better alternative to getting up here."

They then all sat down, admiring the stars that were appearing in the night sky one after the other.

It was getting later into the night. Alberto was planning to strike on his plan soon. Bruno, who was usually home on the weekends, had been watching TV throughout most of the evening. He had been drinking while doing so of course, and he and Alberto had hardly conversed with one another all day. So it was overall a pretty basic Saturday for them.

The last time Alberto had gone downstairs, which had been almost a half-hour ago, he had noticed that Bruno looked like he was about to crash soon. He needed Bruno to be asleep for his plan to officially start. Alberto quietly walked downstairs and peered to look at where Bruno was. He was finally passed out in his chair, seeing that his body was now limp and his breathing slowed. Alberto, being as stealthy as he could, sneaked closer to his father's sleeping form. When Alberto reached him he slowly and carefully slipped his hand into one of Bruno's pants pockets. Alberto didn't have to feel for it for very long at all before he pulled out a Scorpion keychain with keys attached to it. Step one was completed. So far so good.

Alberto grabbed his backpack and then silently slipped out the back door. A few hours ago in preparation for Bruno's pass out, Alberto had gone out the back door and drove his motorcycle further away from the house so when he would get on it and start driving, Bruno would not be able to hear him leave. Now he was on his way to where he had parked his bike.

His destination? The Base.

Luca, Giulia and Luna, while stargazing, had now been playing 20 questions after both Luca and Giulia had nerded out about space. Luna hadn't minded at all though. The space lecture had been very endearing to her. They were running out on the number of questions they had left and their questions were now starting to get private and personal.

"...Why don't you tell your parents about us, Luna?" Giulia randomly asked.

"Huh?" Luna let out at that, caught off-guard.

"It's just...the first time I called you your dad answered and he said he didn't know about us. Are you...embarrassed by us or something?"

"That counts as a question!" Luca piped up, catching Giulia asking a question within a question.

"Santa Pecorino..." Giulia said, mentally slapping herself.

Luna laughed awkwardly. "Heh...What is this? An interrogation?"

"That's two questions!" Luca and Giulia yelled in unison.

"Okay! Okay…" Luna then sighed. "No. Of course I'm not embarrassed by you guys."

"You have to answer my question before that too." Giulia reminded her.

"Fine ...I'm just protective of who I hang out with," Luna said finally. "I get that from my parents ironically enough. I don't tell them I have friends anymore because of...reasons I can't share...at least not right now."

"Awww. Come on. Why won't you tell me now ?" Giulia asked.

"And that question leaves you with no more questions left," Luna said with a smirk.

"What? That's not fair! You didn't even answer that!"

"Actually I did. I said it was because of reasons I can't share at the moment."

Giulia groaned and turned to Luca. "Is that fair, Luca?"

"Well, she technically did answer the question," Luca said.

Giulia pouted in disappointment. "Fine. Then that just leaves you with one question left, Luca. Make it a good one."

Luca had almost forgotten that he had one last question to ask. He didn't have any more questions for the girls that he needed to know the answer to. But Giulia did say to make it a good one so he had to at least think of something juicy or interesting. But what?

Luca started going through his mind to give him a good idea. Then his mind started to drift, thinking about something that had happened the day before. Alberto had been a pretty big help in helping Luca deal with everything. But their hug in the privacy of the ocean had only confused Luca more. Though it had helped him with the way he had been feeling over Giulia leaving, it hadn't helped him with how he saw his relationship with Alberto.

Luca had hugged both Giulia and Luna before. Giulia many times in the past and from Luna here and there. But when Alberto held him the way he did, when Luca swore he was going to get pushed away and had been wrong, Luca's heart had never beat so fast before.

After it happened the two had looked at each other for longer than they should've, neither saying a word to each other. Only staring and then, they got even closer to each other. Luca hadn't been sure if it was the water that had made them do that. But after it had happened, Alberto acted like it hadn't happened at all which led Luca to believe he had over-thought what the repercussions could've come out of the hug. Of the lingering staring. Luca should have felt relieved that that was all that Alberto's reaction was but...he didn't. When their bodies had gotten closer, when Luca had once again almost let Alberto's emerald green eyes lure him into a daze, Luca could've sworn that he and Alberto were about to…

"Luca!" Giulia abruptly shouted, pulling Luca out of his stupor.

"Huh? Wha?" Luca looked back at Giulia.

"Your last question?" Giulia reminded him.

"Oh, right…" Luca couldn't believe how much of an idiot he was making of himself right now. Why would he think he and Alberto would do something like that? Stupid thinking. Nonetheless, there was an idea for a question. "Have either of you had your first real kiss with someone yet?"

The question made both girls tense up. They both didn't answer at first, the air feeling heavy. But then, at the same time, they answered.

"No," Giulia answered.

"Yes," Luna answered.

"Wait, what?!" All three said in unison as they all sat up, looking at each other with shocked faces.

"You and Guido haven't kissed already?" Luca asked Giulia.

'Damn it...' Giulia thought to herself. She was hoping this wasn't going to be a thing that was brought up between her and her friends. Also, Luna had already kissed someone before? Who? It better not have been Luca himself...Why did Luca have to ask that question?

"No...we haven't...yet." Giulia said embarrassed.

"Why not?" Luca pressed.

Well, I...just...I don't know! Okay?!" Giulia shouted, stumbling on her words.

"...Do you want to kiss him?" Luna asked.

Giulia hugged her knees not looking at her. "Didn't you use up all your questions already?"

Luna was taken aback by her slightly snippy comment. "...Sorry. I didn't know it was a touchy subject."

Through the tone of Luna's voice, Giulia could tell that her reply wasn't very appreciated. "I'm sorry. I guess maybe I'm just not ready yet? I mean. I like him and I know he likes me. It could happen sooner or later."

"Okay…"

"Well, what about you? You said you have kissed someone already?" Giulia asked, wanting the spotlight off of herself and also dying to know. 'Please don't say Luca. Please don't say Luca. Please don't say Luca.' she repeated in her head.

Luna sighed. "Nobody you'd know. It happened 2 years ago. Before my family and I moved here. It didn't work out."

Before Giulia and Luca could ask more about it, the three of them heard the sound of thunder in the distance. They all looked up at the sky. The stars were starting to get covered up by dark clouds.

Seeing this, Luna's anxiety started to rise and she immediately stood up. "The weather looks terrible. We should really get inside."

Giulia looked indifferent to the idea while Luca looked up at her with a look that said 'How much longer are you going to drag out this charade?' Luna ignored the look and carefully crossed the branch of the tree back into Giulia's room. Giulia just shrugged and followed. Luca shook his head, displeased with Luna's continued secrecy then went in after Giulia.

At the Scorpion's Base a bit later

It had rained on the way to the base but luckily Alberto's helmet covered his whole face. Only his sea creature hands could be seen but he was going so fast and the rain clouds had been covering the moon's light.

Once there, Alberto had parked his motorcycle in a hidden area and then continued to the base on foot. Usually, around this time on Saturdays, nobody was at the base. But his bike was too loud for what he was about to do. He didn't want to risk it just in case someone did happen to be there.

It wasn't long before he made it to the secret entrance. Renzo wouldn't be there to open the door for him at this time nor did Alberto want Renzo to be there to do so. Alberto took out the keys he had swiped from Bruno and stuck one of the keys inside the keyhole. Before turning the key to open the door he checked behind him to see if he had been followed. He hadn't been. So he then proceeded to unlock the door as quietly as possible. Though nobody was supposed to be around, Alberto opened the door only wide enough that he could fit to slip through.

Alberto was thankful that Bruno felt secure enough about the base that he was so sure no one would dare try to break in. Secure enough to not install security cameras. So there was nothing to look out for. But he still felt the need to be a little cautious so he still concentrated on being as quiet as possible. He reached the door to Bruno's office. It was of course locked so Alberto used another key on the keychain to open it and he stepped in.

Alberto knew this room like the back of his hand since he had been coming in here for years and now even more so whenever Bruno would drag him here and show him what was where and how to keep some things safe. One of those things was where Bruno kept his stash of money. More money than he knew what to do with Alberto was sure. Bruno kept his money in a safe behind a locked part of the wall behind where he sat at his desk. That part of the wall was covered by stacked boxes of files that looked like they hadn't been opened in years.

Bruno didn't trust banks since banks employed humans. Maybe they hired some sea creatures as well, who knows? But that possibility wasn't enough for Bruno's trust. A lot of the Scorpions didn't know Bruno even had the stash at the base. Not that Bruno would ever tell them about it since they were among humans in the gang. Bruno trusted no one and it was surprising enough that he trusted Alberto with the knowledge of it at all. And since Alberto was about to do what he snuck in here to do, Bruno shouldn't have trusted him either. But Alberto thanked his lucky stars that Bruno did.

Alberto got to work on moving the boxes out of the way. When he finally moved all of them away from the wall it just looked like there was no opening in the brick wall at all. But Alberto could see it. There was a crack in the wall that was so fine you could easily mistake it for just a tiny nothing crack in the wall and nothing to take a second look at. After all, the structure of where the base was built was years old. Alberto slowly opened the wall and found the locked door that was covering the safe. He opened it with the next key on the key chain and was finally met with the safe.

Alberto started to get anxious. He was getting closer to his goal. A goal that was part of his crazy plan. But it was too late to turn back. He had gotten too far. Alberto got to work on the safe's combination. A combination that was easy to remember since it was the date of his late mother's birthday. A surprisingly wholesome discovery when Bruno had told him.

Bruno hardly went into the safe anyway and when he did it was to take out quite a lot so he wouldn't have to go through the trouble of opening the elaborate lengths he took to hide it all.

Finally, Alberto had the safe open and there the money was. The safe was very wide and went a ways back, leaving plenty of room for the many stacks of money. Though Alberto knew he was all alone with it he made quick work of grabbing a fair amount of it and stuffing it into an envelope that had been in his backpack. Once he got enough of it he closed back up the safe, locked up the tiny door cover, carefully closed the wall and put the boxes back against it. It looked as if it had never been touched at all. Then Alberto, being as swift and quiet as he could, booked it out of there. Locking up the base's door before leaving on his bike and zooming out of there. The rain seemed to have stopped.

Alberto had gotten away with the money in hand. Now he just needed to do one last thing.

Minutes ago

Luca, Giulia and Luna were now in their PJs and they had all had gotten settled to go to sleep. Giulia was in her bed while Luca and Luna were in their sleeping bags. It had been raining since the trio got inside. The rain hadn't stopped. All that could be heard was the rain and the sound of Luca's snores throughout the time they had begun to sleep.

But Giulia was still awake. Just staring at the ceiling. Lost in thought. She couldn't stop thinking about the short talk they had all had while playing 20 questions.

Giulia also had felt embarrassed that she had never had her first kiss even though she had a boyfriend. She enjoyed Guido's company and as she guessed before, Guido was a great boyfriend. He always showed her a good time on dates and was always very respectful. She had not been blind to his hints of wanting to kiss her but she had been hesitant time and time again. Giulia was worried she wouldn't be any good at it and she figured she wasn't ready but they had been dating for a while now. Shouldn't she be wanting to kiss him by now regardless?

Giulia had also been curious about what Luna had said about her first kiss. Giulia, though it had never been brought up before, never would've guessed that Luna had already had her first kiss. Luna seemed to have not been all that thrilled to talk about it either. She knew it was really none of her business to know but Giulia couldn't help herself. She looked down to where Luna was laying down. Luna was in between Luca and herself and was laying on her side, her back towards her.

"...Luna, are you awake?" Giulia whispered loud enough so Luna could hear but quiet enough to not wake Luca.

"Yeah..." Giulia heard Luna whisper back.

"I...I just wanted to know, if you're okay with telling me,... Why didn't your first kiss end well?" Giulia suddenly asked.

Luna was silent for a second then spoke. "It was...well, you know how when you're younger and in elementary school, your peers would ask you things like 'who do you like?' and you feel like you should have an answer?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, so, I remember figuring I should just pick a boy in the class that was found to be attractive by the other kids. I said I liked the most popular boy in the class. Of course, the other girls in the class were threatened by my answer and bet me to ask him out knowing there was a huge chance he'd turn me down."

"That's kind of bitchy." Giulia commented.

"Well, that's to be expected. Kids are cruel. But it wasn't really an issue to me if he turned me down. I just randomly picked him out of a group so I did ask him out. There wasn't much to lose. I didn't care what he thought of me. But what I didn't see coming was him agreeing to go out with me. That was a huge surprise."

"Whoa…so then what did you do?"

"Well,...This may have been wrong but I didn't take it back. Mostly because I wanted to stick it to those girls for being certain he'd turn me down. Anyway, we went out for a while. I actually ended up liking being with him. Over that time, I had my first kiss with him. But then...I opened up to him. I was completely honest with him. I showed him a side of me. A side of me that I'm...more private about nowadays. After that, he took one look at me and instantly rejected me. I guess you could say I suddenly wasn't his type. It was as if all that time we spent together...meant nothing...It hurt..."

"...Wow. What an idiota."

Luna turned to look up at Giulia in the darkness.

Giulia went on. "How could he reject someone like you?"

Luna blushed at that. "Heh...thanks. But it's okay. I've moved on. And if I'm honest, now that I'm older and wiser, I see now that, in a way, he wasn't my type either."

"Oh…"

"Now it's my turn to ask a question. Are you really not ready to kiss Guido or...is it something else?" Luna asked, hope sparking in her eyes.

Giulia was hoping Luna wouldn't ask that. But she had stuck her nose into Luna's business so it was fair of Luna to ask a question like that.

"I'm not sure...I guess... maybe because I'm scared I might mess it up? That I might not be good at it and make a fool out of myself or something." There was silence in the room after that for a good minute until Giulia whispered again. "...Y-you've kissed before. So you must be considered at least somewhat of an expert."

Luna raised an eyebrow at that. "I...guess so?" she wasn't sure where Giulia was going with this.

"So then...if you are okay with it...could you teach me how to give at least a decent kiss? So that...when Guido and I do kiss I won't look stupid?" Giulia asked, her voice shakey.

Luna then turned completely red and she was thankful Giulia's human eyesight in the dark was terrible. She couldn't believe what Giulia was asking her. Giulia, for sure, just saw her as a friend if she was asking this of her. She should say no. If she did kiss her it would mean something on her end. But...Giulia would possibly be leaving town in the future. She'd never see her again and this opportunity would never come up again. If she was to never see Giulia again she'd at least get to kiss her at least once. She'd have no regrets. And God did she want to kiss her.

"I...I mean...I guess I could...sure." Luna finally said.

Giulia's heart instantly started beating like crazy. She had only half expected her to agree to it. It had seemed like a good idea when she thought of it but now that Luna had agreed to it, the possibility of kissing Luna had just become real. Too real. Giulia hadn't expected to feel this worked up about it when she first thought of the idea. But it was too late to back out now.

"O-okay then...g-great." Giulia hated how she couldn't keep her voice steady. She probably sounded so ridiculous to Luna right then. Giulia then felt the weight of someone getting onto her bed with her. No doubt it was Luna but she couldn't see her in the darkness. "Where are you? I can't see you," Giulia whispered.

Luna was able to see Giulia just fine. "It's okay...I'm right here. Just...feel for me." Luna whispered back softly.

Giulia slowly sat up and reached her arms out to feel around for Luna. Then their hands met. Luna intertwined their fingers with one hand and with her other hand, she gently pushed on Giulia's chest to lay her back down on the bed. Luna was now hovering over top of her and Giulia's breath hitched. Giulia could feel the tips of Luna's soft hair dangling against her face. Their hands were still intertwined. Their intimate position was overwhelming. Giulia's bed covers were the only things keeping their bodies from fully being against one another.

Luna was admiring the redhead's facial features now that she was up close before she made a move. The girl had such adorable freckles. She was beautiful.

The rain had stopped and the rain clouds started to float away revealing the moon. The light from the moon shined through the window into the room. The light had abled Giulia to see Luna's blushing face finally. She gazed into Luna's eyes, the moon reflecting in them. It made her look so serene. The sight was gorgeous.

Luna had not removed her other hand from Giulia's chest. She could feel Giulia begin to tremble and felt her heart beating faster than normal. Almost as fast as her own.

"...Are you nervous?" Luna asked.

Giulia only nodded.

"Good…I didn't want to be the only one."

And with that said, Luna's eyes became half-lidded and she leant down and pressed a soft chaste kiss onto Giulia's lips. The kiss had been so short that as Luna's lips left hers, Giulia had let out a tiny whimper. Luna wanted to go on longer but she was afraid to overstep any boundaries.

"Was that okay...?" Luna asked, anxious.

"Please …don't hold back..." Giulia whispered.

With her free hand, Giulia reached up and cupped the back of Luna's neck, bringing her lips back down onto hers. Luna gave in and couldn't bring herself to deny her. They both closed their eyes and their lips reconnected. This kiss was even better than the first. It was longer and felt savoured. Giulia felt as if she was floating on air. She had never been kissed before and she never thought it'd be with another girl. It felt so right. Their lips then started to move together slowly and softly.

Luna could feel her heart doing harsh flips. It was a lot for her to handle but she wouldn't trade this moment for anything even if it was just some sort of practice for Giulia Though it sucked that this was what the kiss was, at least just for this moment, she could pretend otherwise. The kiss felt so real and that was what made being able to pretend easy.

Soon they had to detach their lips for air. The kiss was over. Their hearts were still pounding and their eyes slowly reopened. The room was dark again. Giulia couldn't see the expression on Luna's face but Luna could see her's. She could see the younger girl was seemingly in a daze but was trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness to see her. Luna put her hand on Giulia's cheek.

"I'm right here...was that better?" Luna asked.

Giulia was bummed that she couldn't see Luna's reaction to what they had just done. She sighed and then rose her hand to hold Luna's that was on her cheek.

"That was...wow…" Giulia replied.

"Is 'wow' good?"

"'Wow' is great..."

Luna smiled hearing that. "It was 'wow' for me too…"

But then Luna's smile slowly disappeared when she remembered this kiss was just a warm-up for when Giulia would have her first kiss with Guido, which turned her mood bitter. She may have been Giulia's first kiss but it hadn't been real. Even though it had felt real.

"...Which means...you're ready to kiss him now," Luna said emotionlessly. She got off of Giulia and went back into her sleeping bag without waiting for Giulia to say anything. Luna spoke again, very quietly that Giulia could barely hear it. "Guido is very lucky…"

When Giulia heard that she could have sworn the comment didn't sound genuine. It sounded sad and a tad passive-aggressive. Was Luna mad at her? Now she just felt confused. Suddenly Giulia got up from her bed and left the room.

Luna had heard her leave but she was too emotionally exhausted and tired to pay any mind to it. The kiss had felt great but the after effect of it emotionally drained her of giving a crap about the whole situation any longer. Their kiss had served its purpose. Now Luna just wanted to sleep and forget it ever happened.

Outside the Marcovaldo House

The house's porch lights were on. Giulia, still in her PJs, was sitting on the porch steps, thinking.

The outside air was cold but she had on a jacket to fight a bit of it off her body. But the cold was hardly a problem compared to the conflict Giulia was dealing with in her mind. The kiss had been amazing. She kept replaying it in her memory over and over. The kiss had felt...like it meant something more. Like they were...a real couple. That thought confused Giulia. She shouldn't have been feeling this way. She was with Guido. A fantastic guy. That kiss wasn't supposed to mean anything. So then...why did she feel so guilty about it? She hadn't been cheating. It had been her idea! But why did it seem like Luna suddenly did a 1-80 in her mood?

Luna's tone. It had sounded unfeeling and deadpan by the end of it all. Giulia hadn't gotten a chance to read Luna's expression after the kiss since the brightness of the moon had gone by the time they had gotten up for air. Luna said she liked it so then why did Luna sound so cold towards her? She had agreed to kiss her. The whole idea behind the kiss was to be better at kissing for when she would kiss Guido. That was why Giulia had suggested it. That was it…..right?

Before Giulia could ask herself another question she heard footsteps approaching. She looked up and saw the figure of a boy. Once the boy got closer into view the porch lights flashed on him. It was Alberto Scorfano.

Giulia instantly stood up when she saw who it was.

"What are you doing here?" she asked firmly, her body getting defensive.

Alberto held his hands up signalling he meant no harm. "Put away the fire, Marcovaldo. I come in peace."

Giulia crossed her arms skeptically. "Alright then. What do you want?"

Alberto sighed. He had been hoping not to be confronted by anyone when he got here but Giulia was here now. He was going to have to work with that. Alberto couldn't believe he was doing this. But the reason he was doing this meant more to him. Alberto took off his backpack, unzipped it and pulled out the envelope he filled with money.

"Here," Alberto said, handing it to Giulia.

Giulia took it with a bored expression. She flipped the envelope's flap open and peered inside. Her eyes widened. She looked back at the older boy. "W-what is this?"

"It's money. Doi."

"I know that! But why ? Is this some kind of screwed-up prank?"

"No. It's...it's just something I have to do. Just take it okay? It should be enough to last you at least a few months."

Alberto turned to leave but Giulia quickly grabbed his sleeve and with surprising force, turned him back around to face her.

"No! If you're going to give me this much money and not tell me where you got it you have to at least tell me why you're giving it to me," Giulia demanded, not letting go of his sleeve.

Alberto couldn't believe she was being so difficult. Why wasn't it enough that he was giving her free money?

He groaned. "Why are you being so annoying?"

"Tell me," Giulia said, not backing down.

"Okay, fine. I'm doing this because…Luca was being a downer yesterday. And...he may have told me what was wrong. So I...decided to do something about it."

Giulia's expression softened. "You're doing this for Luca?"

"That's not what I said!" Alberto said, raising his voice.

"But you implied it...do you like-"

"Look, just take the money, alright?!" Alberto interrupted, grabbing the front of the redhead's coat. He was done with this conversion.

Then, at that moment, a drop of water fell from the sky and landed on Alberto's nose, dribbling down along it leaving a scaly purple trail. Both of the teen's eyes went wide in that instant. Then another drop fell. And then another, revealing more and more of Alberto's scales.

"...Santa Mascarpone…" Giulia slowly whispered. "You're a…"

Alberto cursed under his breath. He thought he was in the clear. It had already rained a while ago. Now it was raining again? And now of all times. He had no coverage and it was already too late. Giulia had already seen his scales. Now she knew. There was no point in running away. Alberto let go of Giulia's coat and his arms now dangled at his sides, giving up. Letting it happen as the rain came down harder on him, now fully transformed. Maybe this was inevitable.

"Now you know…" Alberto said.

The two were now wet from the rain, staring at one another. Alberto stared down at Giulia and Giulia stared back at him in utter shock. After Giulia had spotted his scales she expected him to run away. Surely someone as high as he was on the status bar wouldn't want a secret like this out. Giulia doubted Alberto wanted this information out. Why was he just standing there in front of her doing nothing?

"Why are you revealing yourself to me?" Giulia asked.

Alberto sighed before speaking. "...Luca said I could trust you." He then got closer to her face, Giulia didn't move, still in shock. "...Do not make him a liar."

Giulia nodded. Alberto then swiftly turned around and started to walk away to where his bike was which was a bit further away. He needed to put on his helmet as fast as possible before he was seen by anyone else.

"Alberto!" Giulia suddenly shouted through the rain.

Alberto stopped walking but didn't turn to look back at her. "...What?"

"Thank you. This money...it means a lot."

"...I know." He said back.

Alberto then continued to walk forward into the night.

Giulia watched him leave. She had just seen a part of Alberto she never could have foreseen he had. That he was a sea creature and that he had just given her money. Money that could make a lot of her problems disappear. Mindblowing as it sounded, Alberto...had a heart...

(A/N) Again, I'm super sorry for being late on this one. Among the other reasons I told you up top I also wanted to get the Giuna first kiss scene right. Hope it was worth it.

Holy shit a lot of crazy shit is happening in Giulia's life right now. Dang.

It's lucky that it rains a whole lot in Italy during October so I can use that a lot to my advantage at this point in the story. XD

Tell me something. Am I any good at building suspense when there's danger involved? I really tried with the Alberto parts of the chapter. Please comment your thoughts on it.

The next chapter is the Halloween dance finally!