─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"gb!" eli moskowitz, personally nicknamed hawk, strolled over to her. gioia had been head over heels for that boy for nearly a year. and just when everything was about to go right, they went wrong.

gioia had vacated miguel's hospital room when samantha larusso arrived. sam notified her that she merely wanted to give miguel a card and she'd leave. the pale blonde saw no harm in that and left them to grab an apple and some water. she quickly caught hawk's attention when he entered the hospital.

"you've finally emerged from your house." hawk joked as he rummaged through his pocket for something.

gioia gave him an expressionless gaze.

"tough crowd?" he continued.

nothing.

"cat got your tongue?" he questioned.

that made her chuckle. but it wasn't her normal, loud yet soothing laugh. it was more of a wheezy, croaky one. despite this, hawk didn't seem to mind. he gave her a small smile and handed her a mixed berry granola bar.

gioia gave him a revolted look.

"calm down, i put it there this morning, here." he handed it to her.

"thanks." she whispered.

"so she speaks!" hawk announced as she led him to miguel's room.

she shook her head with a grin, taking a bite out of her red apple.

"when are you back in school?" he questioned.

gioia frowned, he hadn't noticed? "yesterday."

"yesterday? i didn't see you." hawk shook his head.

"t-thanks." gioia scoffed.

"were you hiding from me or something?" hawk joked.

gioia rolled her eyes and turned away from him. quickly, hawk grabbed her wrist, stopping her from going any further. the girl shifted back to face him and the two were gazing at one another.

"look." his voice was now softer. "i'm not trying to be a douche, okay? i had no idea you were back yesterday because you don't text anymore."

he had a point there, gioia had ghosted nearly everyone. the only person she didn't was tory nichols, who had ghosted her first. in gioia's defence, hawk was becoming a grade-a asshole. she watched the aggressive videos he would send her and post of cobra kai karate, knowing she had rightfully quit karate.

"goes both ways." gioia reminded him.

"don't do that." hawk scoffed. "i messaged you everyday and you chose not to reply. i came to visit you but you never left your room. i never gave up on you."

"until you did."

"you expected me to keep wasting my time?" hawk raised his voice.

gioia backed up, knowing she couldn't compete with the tone of his words. "i d-didn't... ask you to do that."

"but i did it, gb!" hawk stated, "because i cared."

he cared. past tense. so he didn't care anymore? all it took was one isolation episode for him to lose faith in her. gioia was getting better, everyone knew that. clearly everyone but hawk.

"okay."

"we're good?"

"sure."

"el serpiente!" hawk called out once they reached the door.

both sam and miguel shifted to look at them. hawk's smirk visibly lowered when he saw that samantha was there too.

"i'm gonna go." the girl told miguel.

"okay, yeah." miguel replied.

as she walked to the door, gioia stepped in and grabbed the remote. she watched as hawk and sam had an inaudible conversation before hawk entered the room and left her to stand alone. the larusso girl sighed deeply before making her way to the exit.

"hey bro! what's up, man?" hawk's smile returned as he greeted his friend. "you good?"

"yeah."

"i like the spot. holding up?"

"yeah, thanks." miguel nodded with a small laugh.

"so gb, what are we watching?" hawk questioned, taking her seat and getting comfortable.

the girl threw her water bottle at him, making miguel chuckle.

"actions speak louder than words." hawk said to her as he got up. "that's what you always told me."

"and those other inspirational quotes." miguel added.

"you're w-welcome." gioia scoffed at their ungratefulness, she knew that her quotes and jokes had helped them one way or another.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"i was just hoping that you could help out." sam explained to the girl. "you know, wash cars and talk to some people-" she then saw the sad look on the girl's face. "i am so sorry." sam sighed.

sam had messaged her on instagram, telling her about the fundraising car wash she had planned for the community at a gas station. gioia chose to come, not having anything else better to do.

"it's fine." gioia shook her head. "g-go on."

"that's about it." sam shrugged. "but it's for a good cause."

"what?"

"we're going to put all the money we earn towards miguel's surgery." sam informed her.

gioia wouldn't lie to herself, it was a good idea. she wished she had thought of helping raise some money for miguel, but she hadn't.

"moon brought mickey and the girls from their cheerleading squad." sam continued. "so... i wanted to invite you."

"thanks."

"they're wearing bikinis, there's some extras if you want to change-" sam started.

"no." gioia was quick to cut her off as she shook her head. "no."

"are you okay?" sam asked, giving her a confused glance.

"yeah." gioia nodded as she collected the metal bucket from her, "i'm fine."

"okay... well moon and the others are over there." sam pointed to the group of girls washing one of the cars. "you could either join them or do a car on your own."

"i'll d-do my own." gioia explained, strolling off.

"be careful!" sam called out.

gioia had already walked out of earshot, she approached one of the posters that had miguel's face on it. the girl couldn't help but frown at how joyful he looked and how everything had changed.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"i do want to help her." mickey explained to moon as she scrubbed the window of one of their customer's cars, "i just don't know how to."

"we just have to... let her know we're there for her." moon explained.

the two were inside, scrubbing the interior windows and chatting.

"even though she doesn't want to be around us?" mickey questioned, glancing over to the blonde girl. gioia had declined the offer to help them and went off to hose a car alone.

"i know it's hard, mick. we all love her." moon nodded. "but we have to remember how hard it is for her."

"i just wish there was something we could do, to make her happy." mickey continued.

moon shrugged. "i don't know."

before mickey could speak again, a reporter from the local news and their cameras were surrounding the car they were sitting in.

"hi, i'm amy from ktvl news and i'm covering the story here." the lady introduced herself to them once they had stepped out the car.

mickey and moon shared a look before moon walked forward and shook her hand. mickey quickly copied her actions.

"and you two are?"

"mickey obediah."

"moon lewis."

"lovely to meet you." she gave them a smile. "i just spoke to samantha larusso, a friend of miguel?"

mickey nodded. "yeah, she's awesome. she organised the whole thing."

"it was quite last-minute. she called mickey and i yesterday asking if we were free today." moon continued.

"once she explained the plan, we just invited all these people." mickey chimed in.

"it was like hosting a party." moon finished with a wide smile.

"that's so sweet of you all." amy gushed. "are you close to the victim, miguel diaz?"

"we're friends with him." mickey nodded. "nearly everyone is."

"but no one as close as gioia." moon sadly smiled, her eyes averting to the blonde girl.

"thank you for your input, we appreciate it." amy gave them a curt nod, before turning to her camera crew. "let's go talk to her."

"wait!"

"no, no." mickey gently took her hand. "it's better if you didn't. but i'm sure sam has somthing else to talk to you about."

"thank you. let's go."

mickey observed as the crew went back over to the larusso girl, asking her more queries. she then climbed back into the driver's seat, moon joining her on the passenger's side.

"are you all right?" moon questioned.

"yeah." mickey nodded.

"how much have we made today?" moon asked.

with a grin on her face, mickey dug into her pocket and pulled out a pile of cash notes. moon squealed in excitement as they had raised almost $300 for miguel in under four hours.

⎯ ❃ janine speaks!

A|\NGSTTTTTT sorry guys this is not their season