─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

although she loved making new friends and strived to be kind to everyone, gioia was having some difficulty adapting to the new school. so far, she hadn't seen miguel since the previous day, and had a pleasant chat with a girl named aisha robinson. it was now lunch and she had collected her tray once she had reached the front of the line.

she scanned around the large cafeteria and her eyes landed on miguel sitting with two other boys. as she walked towards them, gioia passed a table with four girls.

"hey." the brunette girl called out to her, "i really love your top." the blonde girl looked down at her simple butterfly top and flushed red, "thank you." she whispered out, loud enough for her to hear.

"would you like to sit with us? i'm moon." the girl introduced herself, earning a shove from her blonde friend beside her.

"i am sorry, but i was going to sit over there." she used her tray to point at miguel.

moon frowned in bewilderment at her seating decision but nodded, "no problem."

gioia gave her one last smile before strolling over to miguel and the two boys he was sat with.

"you've pretty much signed away all hopes of losing your virginity at college." was the first thing gioia heard as she pulled a chair out and gently down on an empty seat - that was on the other side of the table, opposite the three boys.

"caio, miguel." gioia flashed him a smile.

"hey." miguel nodded.

"okay, i take that back." the boy with an orange short sleeve and an orange flannel shirt over it, muttered, "you're the new girl, right?"

"gioia barbusca." she stood up from her seat and leaned over to shake his hand.

he stared at her hand, hesitating for a moment before shaking it, "i'm demetri, and this is eli." he introduced.

the blonde girl nodded and placed her hand out for the other boy. he had a lighter tone of brown hair, wore a light green sweater and stared at her with wide eyes. just like his friend, eli paused before gently shaking her hand.

"how do you already know a hot girl?" demetri whispered as she sat back down. miguel frowned at demetri's choice of words, "she's my neighbour." he explained.

"lucky." demetri nodded slowly before turning to the blonde who was kindly sipping her chocolate milk, "why are you sitting here?" he questioned her genuinely, intrigued. unintentionally, his words came out harsher than he would have liked.

"i am so sorry." gioia frowned, feeling like she had infiltrated their space. she lifted up her tray of food, "i can go if you would like." the girl offered.

"he didn't mean it like that." eli moskowitz uttered in a soft voice, looking away when she gave him a grateful smile. he had noticed the girl didn't take a second glance at his scar and simply came up with the conclusion that she was shaming him in her mind.

"i mean, why are you sitting with us?" demetri rephrased his question, "moon offered for you to sit with them."

"well, miguel is my friend, and now, so are you two." gioia beamed, placing her tray back onto the table.

"i'll take 50$, cold hard, please." demetri said, sitting up straighter.

"for what?"

"you don't think i'll willingly be your friend?" demetri frowned.

"i think you will," she told him with a large smile.

"oh, shit." eli swore, "yasmine's looking at us. she's probably making fun of me."

all four of them not-so-subtly turned to look over to the four, and the blonde was in fact glancing at them before muttering words to her friends. gioia grimaced at his conclusion, "i do not think you should assume like that."

"i agree, i don't think she's making fun of you." miguel reassured him, "just because they're hot, doesn't mean they're mean."

demetri rolled his eyes, "the only person you have to prove that theory is gioia over here."

"thank you?" she nodded. as the girls from the other side of the room conversed with themselves, eli began moving his hand closer to the defect on his face.

"gioia, you're... italian, right?" demetri asked her as he chewed his food, "i assume because of your voice and everything."

"yeah, i am." she nodded.

"could you say: you're so hot, in italian?" demetri suggested.

"dude?"

"you are so hot, in italian?" gioia repeated with a petite smile.

"that's not what i meant..." demetri shook his head, "you know what, i'll ignore the 'in italian' part and just pretend you've called me hot."

"are you manipulating my words?" gioia leaned forward on the table with a teasing expression on her face.

"yeah, i am." demetri nodded before turning back to the four girls, "i don't care, i would kill both of you to have yasmine spit in my face."

"there's three of us." eli pointed out.

"i'll spare jb because she said and i quote: 'you're so very hot and attractive and i would love to give you a hand job'." demetri reasoned.

"i did not say that i would give you hand job." gioia laughed at his absurdity, "did i say that, eli?" she asked, wanting to include him in the conversation.

"i, uh..." he spluttered out in nervousness, "no. no, you didn't." eli eventually said.

demetri patted his back, "yeah, nice going pal." he scoffed.

"thank you." gioia smiled, "miguel?"

"no, you did not." he confirmed, "that's three against one dude."

"oh, shut up." demitri huffed.

"did you call me 'jb'?" she asked, having a late reaction to his words.

"yeah, it's your initials." demitri nodded. "it's kinda like justin bieber." eli added on.

"my name is spelt with a g." she explained.

"it is?" miguel looked at her in shock, he was her friend and he didn't even know that. "so g-o-y-a?" he asked.

"no, g-i-o-i-a and it is pronounced joy-ah," she told the trio of boys.

"that's cool," eli told her.

"thank you."

"demetri, if you don't make a move on yasmine, you'll never have a shot with her." miguel spoke.

demetri pointed at the boy in agreement, "true, but i'll also never suffer a humiliating rejection." he explained, "i'm at peace with my depression. last thing i need is to be suicidal."

miguel pushed his lunch tray to the side and began standing up. "what are you doing?" demetri asked him with disbelief.

"striking first." he told them.

"oh shit." demetri cursed.

gioia twisted around and tried to pull him down by his backpack, "miguel, do not."

"hope we don't get hit with the shrapnel," demetri muttered.

he was too determined and kept walking. as miguel walked over to them, samantha larusso looked up at him and smiled. suddenly, brucks and kyler sat down at the table, making him stop in his tracks.

when kyler gave miguel a taunting wave, he sighed and walked back. "see you later, rhea." kyler called out.

"so, how'd it go?" demetri asked the boy as he sat down on the table, pretending they hadn't heard and seen the entire interaction.

miguel shrugged him off and continued sipping his drink. gioia reached over and patted his shoulder in a reassuring way.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"welcome, miss barbusca." the female chemistry teacher greeted the girl as she walked into the classroom a little later than everyone else.

"hello, sorry i am late." she apologised.

"no worries. just take a seat anywhere that's available." miss williams ushered her to the tables. gioia nodded and trudged to the row at the back of the room, "can i sit here?" she asked the boy.

his eyes were fixated on the table, but when he heard her voice, the brunette looked up at her. "sit here?" he asked while pointing to the seat beside him.

"yeah, if that's okay." gioia nodded. eli quickly moved his bag from the seat to the right of him and drew the chair out, for her to sit on it. "thank you." she smiled while taking a seat beside him.

"... partner project." miss williams finished. the two had been so caught up with their own conversation that they had missed most of her announcement. "the sheet on your table should tell you what you're doing." she instructed.

gioia picked up the paper and examined it, "well, are you glad i am sat here?" she teased. eli shrugged, "i usually work alone." he admitted.

"not anymore, i am your new chemistry partner." gioia handed him the sheet so he could read it, as she reached into her bag.

"are you sure? you still have time to move," eli told her. she shook her head, "no, i am okay here, thanks."

"erm, the project is about creating a potato powered clock." eli read out from the sheet.

"that sounds fun. i will grab the clock and wires from the front desk." gioia began standing up.

"no, it's fine - i'll get it." eli pushed his chair back and hurried to the front of the class. gioia furrowed her eyebrows before shrugging and scribbling down the method on her paper.

the boy came back and gently placed the equipment onto the table, "what are you writing down?" he asked.

"the steps we will use when making the clock." gioia explained, "speaking of, would you like to start the project at my house, or yours?"

eli stayed silent for a while, thinking about it, "we could go to mine tonight, is that okay?"

"well, i have somewhere to be today, but i can come by after." gioia told him, "i will give you my number so you can text me your address."

he nodded and began digging through his pockets, fumbling for his phone. the boy finally found it, unlocked it and passed it to her. gioia took it from his hands and began typing her digits. she saved her name as gioia with a sun emoji and handed it back to him with a gentle smile.

⎯ ❃ janine speaks!

so my babies have finally met eli and metri 🤧