Frankie and I were taking our time going to our second class, so we were walking slow. We stopped when we heard laughing, then voices. I quirked my lips to the side, then pulled Frankie in the direction of the voices.

The voices got louder as we neared the back of the math building and I peeked around the corner. I frowned when I saw a group of four boys laughing at a much shorter boy who looked ready to cry.

"You're the heir to the sixth biggest gang in this country, but who would've thought you would be such a coward. You could never be as good as your father." The tallest boy laughed and the others joined him. "And I know that you won't say anything to your parents about this because you're a good boy who won't tell, correct?"

The tall boy pulled on the shorter boy's hair, making the latter whine. "Y-Yes, I promise I won't tell anyone. Please let me go!"

I scoffed and let go of Frankie's hand, walking forward and tucking my hands into my pockets. "Who the hell picks on a kid when you've got other things to worry about?"

The tall guy let go of the smaller boy and turned around. He rolled his eyes and smirked. "What? Are you going to be his hero?"

"Yes, actually." I pushed the two beefy boys aside and grabbed the younger boy's arm, pulling him away from the older guys and walking away.

"Hey, just because you're a Genovese, doesn't mean I won't try to fight you one day."

I looked over my shoulder and waved my hand. "Try, and let's see what happens, dolcezza!"

We walked around the corner and I finally let go of the boy. He stumbled a bit and Frankie caught him before he could crash into the wall.

"Woah, I didn't even push you?" I raised a brow at the boy and he blushed.

"Um, I'm very fragile, s-sorry."

"Oh no..." My face dropped, and the boy looked at me with wide eyes.

"What?"

"You're one of those people that probably apologizes for everything, huh?" The boy looked down and chuckled awkwardly, but didn't respond. "What's your name?"

"Brandi."

"Really?" I raised my brows.

"Well, that's what everyone calls me because they think I'm a girl, but my name is Brandon." He blushed and I raised my brows again.

This time, Frankie cut me off. "Where?"

The boy blushed and tilted his head down. "The c-clothes I'm wearing? My hair? My overall appearance?"

"I mean...I guess." I shrugged. "How old are you?"

"Uh, fifteen..." His cheeks darkened, and I deadpanned.

"Ah, you still have time to grow, don't worry about it. How long have those idiots been bothering you?" I asked.

"For a few months now, but...it's been getting a bit physical."

"What have they done?"

"It first started out with them picking on me, but then they've been purposely bumping into me to try to start something with me. Then within the past few weeks, they've started, um, maybe slapping me or hitting my arms, sides, and sometimes my face." Brandi explained.

"What? Why didn't you tell a teacher?!" I watched him flinch back a little and straightened up. "Sorry for yelling, but why didn't you?"

"Because they said they would hurt me if they were kicked out of the school. The place is pretty expensive, so it would be a waste if they were sent back to their family just because of a fight." He shrugged, and I nodded slowly.

"So why are you telling us this, then?"

"Because you're the first people to ask about what happened. I was never hiding it from people, but it's just that they never asked me, so I never said anything." He finished and I stared at him.

"Are you ok, though?" Frankie asked him, and the boy nodded.

"Yeah, I'm ok. The stuff they say doesn't really bother me, and I also have a high pain tolerance. Well, except for my head because it's sensitive which is why I almost cried back there." He scratched his cheek.

I blinked again and sighed. "It's good that you're fine, but we need to tell a teacher. The school doesn't allow students to fight because it can cause problems for both families that are caught in the middle of it. It's even worse if the parents find out their kid started it, so it's best if we let someone know."

Brandi nodded, but then stopped. "But I have class?"

I clenched my jaw and glared. "I would smack you right now for saying something so stupid, but I won't. Now follow us."

I turned around and Brandi followed Frankie and I. We went to the main office, then I decided to head up to Uncle Gio's office since this would be taken care of a lot faster. We went up, then Frankie gently knocked on the door.

"Yes?!"

"It's Frankie and Luci, Uncle Gio." Frankie blushed when I smiled at him.

"Oh, uh...give me a few moments!" We waited outside patiently and I looked down at Brandi, who was looking down at his feet. "Ok, come in!"

I opened the door and walked in, spotting Uncle Marco sitting on the couch with a small blush. I hummed but didn't say anything, but looked down when Uncle Gio grumbled.

"You boys should be in class." I chuckled and looked over at Frankie but saw him greeting Uncle Marco.

"Uh, you see, Frankie and I were walking to class, maybe just a little slow, but then we heard voices, so we went to investigate." Uncle continued to glare at me, but I held my hands up. "Wait! We went to investigate and found four older students picking on Brandi, so we helped him!"

His face softened up and he nodded. "You can sit down. I'm guessing you're the boy that was getting picked on?"

Uncle Gio looked behind me at Brandi. "Yes, Sir."

Uncle nodded again and gestured to the chairs. Brandi sat down and began being questioned by my uncle.

"Boys, you should get to class." Uncle Marco said, and I whined but quickly stopped when he gave me a stern look. "Gio will talk with the boy and he'll know what to do, don't worry."

I sighed, but nodded and Frankie got up. We waved at Uncle Gio and Marco, then left the office. Frankie and I walked to our class and we walked in.

The teacher stopped and turned to us, but we walked past him. "We went to talk with the big boss, don't worry, we're excused."

"You guys went without me?!" I heard Vito's voice from the other side of the room, and nodded. "That's mean."

"Oh well!"

Frankie and I stopped in front of two seats near the window, but I looked down at the two boys. "Can you guys move somewhere else, please?"

"That's rude." I heard Vito's voice again and shrugged.

"At least I said please." I looked at both of them and raised a brow. "So?"

They quickly nodded, then got up and moved to other seats. Frankie and I sat down, while Frankie got the seat right next to the window. I placed my backpack on the table and put my head down on it, facing the window.

The teacher went back to talking and I heard footsteps beside me. "Move."

I turned my head and saw the kid scramble out of his seat so Vito could sit down. He smiled at me and I scoffed. "And you're telling me I'm rude."

Vito shrugged and he went back to paying attention to the teacher. I looked out the window again, not really paying attention to the class.

When the bell rang, I got up and slipped my backpack on. Vito pulled Frankie and I out of class and we went to our third period, separating our ways with Vito since he had a different class. Frankie and I were on our own for the rest of the day until lunch. We met up with the others, including Romeo and Dino.

Two weeks ago, I discovered that Dino had no friends because he didn't really get along with other people, so I of course decided to invite him to our group.

Dino was a pretty dry and blunt guy, and he actually seemed different than everyone that my cousins and I have been friends with. He didn't care if we were the strongest or highest in power. He treated us like actual friends and not as people that he had to beat in the gang hierarchy. To be honest, he's a pretty lonely guy and I could tell, which is why I originally invited him to hang out with us, but also to make a new friend.

"Our dad made us some lunch." Georgie and I pulled out our bag of food, hearing Tony and Vito gasp.

"You have to share with us now!"

"No!" I smacked their hands away and held my food close to my chest. "What did you get anyway?"

Rocky chuckled sadly and pulled money out. "Pops told us to buy our food."

"That's sad..." I blinked, then shrugged. "Anyway, let me enjoy my yummy, delicious foo-"

My glass container full of teriyaki chicken, rice, and broccoli was swiped from my hand, and I gasped. "Dino! Give it back!"

"No."

One thing about Dino is that he loved food on a whole 'nother level. When I let him try one of my dad's food one time, he fell in love and began swiping and stealing some food from me, which was a big deal to me of course.

"You can have my food. I'll even give you money."

"No, Dino!" I reached over the table, but he leaned back. "I'm going to cry if you don't give it back..."

"Too bad." He opened the container and grabbed his fork, grabbing a piece of the chicken and popping it into his mouth. He moaned and chewed slowly with closed eyes, so I took that chance and jumped over the table.

I landed on top of him on the concrete floor, but was finally able to reach my food. "You loser!"

"Not yet." He pulled me down by my shirt and yanked the container out of my hand.

"Dino..." I whined and huffed, dropping my head to his chest. "You're so mean. No wonder you didn't have any friends before."

"Then why are you still friends with me?" He ate some broccoli, and looked down at me with dark-green eyes.

"Because I like you and you're a cool person when you're not stealing my food." I pouted, feeling like I was really about to cry. A piece of chicken was pushed to my lips and I quickly opened my mouth to take the chicken. I chewed and hummed happily. "More."

I then sat up and scoffed. "I shouldn't even be asking for more. It's my food."

Taking the box out of Dino's hand, I got up, but then he pulled me back down on top of him as he sat up so that my legs were awkwardly over his thighs and around his hips. He held another piece of chicken out and I quickly took it as I glared at him. "You're weird."

"Ok." He shrugged and lifted me up as he stood up, then sat down on the bench.

"What the heck...?" I blinked since I was surprised, but didn't move away.

Tony, Rocky, and Vito came back with their sad lunch that they bought, and sat down. Frankie actually knew how to cook, so he sometimes made his own lunch, but was too lazy to make the rest of ours. I knew how to cook a bit too, but I wasn't as good as Georgie or Frankie. My brother knew how to cook as well, so he stole all of Dad's cooking skills and left none for me.

"Can I have some?" I heard Romeo ask shyly from beside us, so I turned to look at him.

Dino held out a forkful of chicken for Romeo, so the latter took the fork and ate the chicken. He hummed and handed the fork back to Dino, thanking him and turning back to eat his food.

"You should be thanking me! It's my food—!" Dino covered my mouth and tapped his lips, silently telling me to shut up.

I licked his hand, but he didn't pull it away until I huffed. "You're mean."

Dino nodded and fed the both of us my food for the rest of our lunch. We threw our trash away when the bell rang and left for training. We changed in the locker rooms and met up with Alvaro and the dogs outside.

"Luther!" I ran towards the golden-eyed dog and he jumped on me, wriggling in my arms as I kissed his fur and patted his head. He whined and barked happily, then I put him down, but he continued to jump up and down around me. "You miss me?"

"Clearly." Vito huffed beside me and I smirked.

"You're just jealous, V. It's ok. Sumo probably-" My eyes widened as Sumo crashed into Vito, forcing the both of them to fall on the floor.

Vito groaned and coughed as he was licked and repeatedly jumped on by Sumo. I let out a short whistle and Sumo quickly moved to my side, sitting in front of me and panting.

"Are you ok?" I asked Vito as he was helped up by Rocky and Tony.

"Y-Yes."

"You looked like you were hit by a hairy boulder." Romeo laughed behind me.

I chuckled at that and patted Luther's head, gently pushing him down. I turned to Alvaro. "What are we doing today?"

"You boys are going on a run with the dogs around the entire campus twice, then we'll go back to training you guys. You can't just be training the dogs. You guys have to train, too. You'll get to train with the dogs at the end." Alvaro laughed when we complained. "Deal with it. Now get to running!"

I huffed but followed Georgie, who was the first to take off. Romeo and my cousins managed to stick with Georgie, while Frankie, Dino, and I remained in the back.

"I'm surprised you're out of breath already, Dino. It must be all the food you eat." I joked.

"You're making it seem like you're not out of breath. Plus, the three of us are in the back which means that you're both just as slow." He replied in a bored tone, and I fake huffed.

"So mean, Dino."

"Not my problem that you're still deciding to be my friend." He shrugged, and I rolled my eyes.

"I told you, it's because I like you!" I sighed, sniffling a bit. "You can't even remember why I'm still your friend. So rude..."

"Ok."

I huffed and we stayed silent the remainder of the run. By the time we finished, my legs were shaking and my knees felt weak.

I threw myself on the floor and gasped for air. "I'm...about to pass out..."

"Well get up and get into pairs. The other trainers are training the dogs, while you guys get to train, too!" Alvaro cheered when we just stared at him. "I don't care if you don't want to work out, you still have to do it unless you want me to call-"

"No!" We all yelled except for Dino and Romeo.

"Alright!" Alvaro clapped his hands. "Once you find your partner..."

Alvaro lied. We didn't even get to spend a few minutes training with the dogs.

"Dino!" I yelled his name as I was putting my clothes into my backpack.

"You don't have to yell. I'm right behind you." Dino responded in a low voice.

"Want to come over to my house?"

"No."

"Why?!" I pouted and turned to watch him shrug.

"Because I don't want to-"

"My dad is coming over to cook dinner."

"I'll go."

I smiled and stopped him from changing. "We're going in the pool so don't change into your clothes."

Dino nodded and I waited for him to put his clothes away to grab his wrist and lead him to Romeo's locker. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah." He closed his locker, then followed us out of the gym and to the parking lot.

"Hurry up!" I watched Georgie pop his head out of his car window.

I pulled Romeo and Dino with me as I ran to the car. We got in, then buckled up and went home.

When we got home, we dropped our stuff by the front door and went to the backyard. We stripped down to our boxers, then jumped straight into the pool.

I poked my head out of the water once I reached the surface and looked back at Dino, who was just staring down at the water. "What?"

"I don't like the water. I only came for your dad's food. Where is he?"

I smiled as I swam closer to the edge of the pool. "I said my dad is coming over to cook, but he'll be here soon. Actually, my whole family is coming over since it's been a while since everyone has gotten together."

"Alvaro, Felix, and Ollie, too?" Vito asked from behind me, and I nodded. "Imagine if Andrea was able to be here, too?"

"The last time we saw him was what, four years ago?" I heard Tony ask.

"Yeah. We had surprised him for his eighteenth birthday, but he was completely different from the time before." Tony frowned, and we nodded.

I turned back to Dino and shrugged. "Anyway, just come in the water. It feels good on the sore spots. Huh, Romeo?"

"Yeah..." He replied as he floated on his back. He still couldn't figure out how to swim.

Dino nodded, then stripped down to his boxers and slowly moved in the water to my side. He watched Romeo for a while, then looked at me.

"So when is your dad coming over?"

"In a couple hours. Because it's Friday, my family will be here earlier. They might show up at different times, but definitely earlier than they usually would show up. Plus Dad has to make a lot of food for us too, so it'll take longer to make dinner, but I'm not sure what we're eating, so..." I shrugged.

"So he didn't tell you what time he would be here?"

I blinked, then sighed. "No."

Dino nodded and went to the deeper side of the pool. I stared at the back of his head, then turned to Romeo.

"Want to go to the deep side again?"

"Uh," he bit his lower lip, then straightened up.

"Hold onto the edge of the pool. I'll be beside you either way." I gave him a small smile, and he nodded.

We moved closer to the edge and went over to Dino.

"Can you teach Romeo how to swim? He kind of sucks." I chuckled softly at Romeo's pout.

"You don't know how to swim?" Dino looked over at Romeo, who shyly shook his head. Dino stared at him, then threw his head back. "Who doesn't know how to swim?! Are you a child?!"

My jaw dropped as I stared at him. I'd never seen Dino laugh before. Whenever we joked during lunch, he'd just crack a small grin but that was it. He never laughed out loud.

"I'm not a child. I-I just don't know how to swim." Romeo turned his head down to hide his red face.

"It's ok, Romeo." I moved to his side. "There's a lot of people that don't know how to swim in the world. Dino is just a big bully who doesn't like anything but food."

"Oh o-ok..."

I pressed a quick kiss on his cheek and rubbed his back. Secretly, Romeo was a child but it was adorable.

"Teach him how to swim." I poked Dino's side and he side-eyed me.

"Why don't you teach him?"

"Last time I tried, the both of us almost drowned, so..." I nodded, then shook my head. "I'm not trying to drown again."

"Fine." Dino sighed, and looked at Romeo. "Just...come over here."

I helped Romeo to Dino and watched him teach Romeo how to swim. Each time Romeo attempted to stay upright, he would sink and I could tell that Romeo was getting frustrated with himself since even he was getting mad at Dino.

"I'm just trying to help you swim." Dino snickered and Romeo pushed him away as he grabbed the ledge, facing away from us.

"I don't care anymore..."

"Aw," I moved behind him and rubbed his shoulders. "Don't be mad, Romeo, you'll learn how to swim soon."

"Mmh," he mumbled something but I didn't hear what he said.

I turned him around and tilted his head up. "What'd you say?"

"I'm tired..." His body suddenly slumped against my own, and I grabbed onto the ledge to keep us up.

"Do you want to shower?"

"Yeah..." he nodded, so I kissed the top of his head and turned my head to look at Dino.

"We'll just try again next time."

"Fine by me." He shrugged, then left.

I patted Romeo's back. "Come on, let's go."

___________________________________

Uh, I think it's gonna get spicy soon, ehe. ;3

What do you guys think?

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed! See you all next time, BYE!!! :))

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