The following weeks flew on by and before he knew it, Dino had been attending school with Rosetta for a couple of months now. Of course no single day was boring, what with Reborn's usual random appearances, near run ins with Squalo, as well as the fact that Emilio now kept an even closer eye on him.

Despite the craziness though Dino saw a rise in his popularity since he took most of the student body by surprise with his victory against Emilio.

It started harmless enough, where his fellow classmates would pull him aside and ask him to show and teach them his skills. The young Cavallone would reluctantly agree, Rosetta would tag along and there wasn't any trouble. She was happy to come along for the sessions at first, but as he became more dependent on her being there she started to become more reserved and aloof.

"So who is it this time?" Rosetta asked before Dino could even say anything after approaching her.

"How did you know what I was gonna ask?" The young Cavallone inquired with shock.

"It's all you ever ask when you come to me lately." She replied stiffly. "Not to mention your body language gives it away big time." - she then gazed at him with uninterested expectancy - "So?"

Dino blushed a little before answering with, "Sorry. It's a bunch of girls this time…" - he trailed off as he noticed his friend looking at him with a disappointed expression - "They will shun me if I'm a no-show, so please?"

The brunette crossed her arms and thought for a moment. Sure she didn't like what he had become due to his rising popularity, but he was happy and she did have a sort of soft spot for him so maybe it wouldn't hurt to help out one more time.

Rosetta let out a sigh before uttering an exasperated, "Fine…" and as a result was immediately led by the wrist to their location.

There she was greeted with about ten or more judgmental glares before Dino explained that he personally invited her. The other females hesitantly backed off in response, but Rosetta could still feel the looks they shot at her.

She wasn't fazed at all however as she walked some distance away and leaned against the closest tree to read a book she brought with her while her friend did what he usually did. Soon the whole ordeal was over and Rosetta turned to leave silently but stopped when she happened to overhear something from one of his admirers.

"Wow~ You were great, Dino!" The last female who remained after the others had left said sweetly. "I can't help but wonder though…who is that girl who's always with you?"

"You mean my friend Rosetta?" He asked curiously.

"Yes! She's so dreary." The girl continued with a pouty tone. "You should ditch her and hang out with me. I'm tons more fun~"

The young Cavallone tried to object but was rendered speechless when the girl planted a kiss on his cheek.

Rosetta didn't need to see any more. She turned and left without another word. Dino happened to notice and tried to call out for her to stop but he was ignored.

"You don't need her anyway, Dino. Not when you have me now~" the girl told him while gripping onto his arm, preventing him from following her.

By the time Rosetta reached the main building, lunch was minutes away from ending but she just kept walking. She fell into a daze, wanting nothing more than to put as much distance between Dino and herself even though she knew deep down that would be impossible considering there was still more of the day left.

When she felt she had gotten far enough she slowed her pace and fell into deep thought. 'I can't believe Dino let that happen!…Did he…did he…even like it? Arg! How should I know?! I left before I could even see his reaction, but for all I know he could've…'

"…etta? Rosetta!" She suddenly heard a male's voice call out and felt her wrist being gently grabbed.

She was instantly jolted awake and whipped her head around to glare at who had stopped her, thinking it was Dino.

"Oh, sorry," Emilio stated in response, releasing her quickly. "I just noticed you were about to leave the school grounds and thought I should stop you."

"No, I'm sorry." Rosetta replied apologetically. "I…thought you were someone else…"

"Are you perhaps referring to Cavallone?" The brunette male asked with concern. "If that glare was meant for him then did something happen between the two of you?"

Her eyes widened with surprise before she looked away sadly. "Yes, but it's going to take a while to explain." She replied. "Isn't it almost time for class to start?"

Emilio chuckled a little in response. "Actually…class has already started."

"Really…?"

"Yes, but we can go find somewhere to talk about your troubles." The brunette male gestured back towards the school with a gentle inviting smile. "Shall we?"

Rosetta thought for a moment, then agreed.

And so the two of them ended up spending the rest of the day first talking about her troubles, and then talked about other general things. The two of them hit it off pretty well too and in the process became friends.

As for Rosetta's predicament, she ultimately decided to keep her distance from Dino for the time being until she was calm enough to confront it.

Weeks passed with little to no interaction between the two childhood friends. Because Rosetta kept ignoring him, Dino could not understand why she was doing so. Time and again he tried to confront her to give an explanation or get one out of her, but it never ended well…

"Rosetta would you please just stop and listen to me?" He asked while pursuing her one day. She didn't do as he asked so he took a chance and blocked her path before asking another question. "Can you at least tell me why you're ignoring me?"

Silently she walked around him but just as he sighed with defeat Rosetta stopped right beside him and stated, " I thought you would've figured it out by now since your girlfriend Mariella thinks you're so smart."

"But Rosetta I'm trying to tell you that she isn't…" he explained as he turned around, trailing off when he saw her walking away. "…my girlfriend."

He gave up after that, seeing as he wasn't getting through to her and decided to give her the space she needed to cool off.

'Geez, why are girls so complicated?' Dino thought while resting on his bed after school that day.

He thought of Rosetta and her stubbornness, outright ignoring him and then thought of Mariella who was the total opposite, clinging to him despite the fact that he didn't show any interest in her to begin with. Now that he thought about it, ever since Rosetta started ignoring him, Dino's ever increasing popularity was now decreasing.

He didn't know how but his clumsiness would somehow flare up and he would mess up the session, causing the spectators to leave right away. Mariella would always stay however much to the young Cavallone's chagrin, saying she thought he was cute whenever he tripped over himself.

At first he forced himself to tolerate it but enough was enough. He took his stand and broke off their relationship (like there was even one to begin with) and she ran off looking broken-hearted.

That left him all alone and Dino felt that he deserved it with how things ended up with Rosetta. He realized now that he was prioritizing the popular students and spent more time with them than his friend. The only times he would approach her were to ask if she would accompany him.

If he had instead invited her to join him with his popular peers would things have been different? He hoped but it was far too late now.

At this time he could only hope that giving Rosetta her space would lead to mending things with her eventually.

At first Dino did the best he could to do just that, as the two of them did share some classes, but he couldn't help but notice that Rosetta would tend to wander between classes. The young Cavallone disregarded it at first but curiosity got the better of him so one morning he followed her quietly around the school grounds.

His first thought was that she was just taking a walk, but he eventually concluded that she was searching for something…or someone…

"VOI! What is scum like you doing here?" Squalo asked with an annoyed tone while pointing the end of his sword at her throat.

"Well first of all," Rosetta replied calmly. "I'm wondering if you have permission to wield a sword during classes other than combat."

"I do. It's for training." The white haired teen stated in response. "Now answer my question scum. Why are you here?"

"I…just wanted to see what you were up to."

"What a load of bull, considering we've never interacted since the first day." Squalo became a bit calmer as he withdrew his sword. "If you have no business with me then go frolic around with that Cavallone scum. You're friends aren't you?"

Rosetta's expression fell and she looked away. "Dino and I…haven't been on good terms lately…" she muttered.

The white haired male stared at her for a moment before going back to swinging his sword. He hoped that she would leave but when she showed no signs of doing so he stopped and said, "Haven't I seen you with the prez lately?" - he looked at her - "Why don't you go pester him instead?"

"Well, I guess I'll be leaving then since I'm getting the impression that I'm not wanted here." The brunette stated before leaving in a huff.

Dino watched her leave and thought, 'So all this time I've been alone, Rosetta's been hanging out with Alfieri…?'

He didn't believe it at first so he decided to continue following her that week to see for himself whether this fact was true or not.

Unfortunately it was true. Rosetta was spending most if not all her time with Emilio now. Whenever Dino watched them hanging out, he would feel nothing but pangs of pain seeing her smile in his rival's presence. It was almost as if he was replaced and forgotten. Eventually the pain turned into jealousy which bubbled up inside until he couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Oh, hello Dino." Rosetta greeted stiffly after almost bumping into him.

He said nothing so she just started walking by but stopped when he stated, "Rosetta, we need to talk."

She turned back to face him. "About what?" She asked with a bit of curiosity.

"We need to talk about you…and Emilio." He replied, earning a shocked expression from his friend. "What exactly is your relationship with him?"

"What does it matter to you?" The brunette answered with a question of her own. "We don't even spend time together anymore."

"It does matter to me because all this time I've been alone and you've totally ignored me to go hang out with him of all people."

"And? Did you expect me to go through the same thing as you? You're so shallow."

"I didn't mean that at all!" Dino exclaimed quickly. "It's just that when I was thinking of making up with you I learned you had turned your back on me. The ignoring I understand, but turning to Alfieri and befriending him was a deadly blow."

Rosetta narrowed her eyes at him. "What are you getting at…?"

"I just don't want you hanging out with him anymore, okay?!" The young Cavallone finally shouted what he was truly feeling.

For a moment the brunette was speechless. Dino's intention was to hopefully make up after this statement but unfortunately she got angry with him instead.

"Well I'm sorry but I have some news for you. You aren't in control of my life, so I'll do what I like and that's currently being Emilio's friend because I actually like him. He's nice and caring, unlike you!" She rebutted before turning and stomping away with balled fists.

"Well you know what?" Dino shouted after her, desperate to get the last word. "I actually never wanted to make up with you in the first place. Who needs you anyway?"

He then turned and ran the opposite way, managing not to trip until he reached the crest of a hill. There he gave up and tumbled down to the base before laying there and staring blankly at the sky.