Leo's POV:
Grey and I walk into the main gym. There's 1 main gym and a few smaller, more private ones that the mafia recruits can use outside of training hours. I watch as faces drop as they notice both of ours's. I meannnn we are the Italian mafia Romano brothers after all!
The recruits in the room (ageing between 16-18) scramble into a messy square of 10 people per row. There's about 6 rows so quite a handful of people!
"Hello, everyone. I'm Grey and this is Leonardo." Grey bellows so everyone can hear his voice. We step onto this miniature stage at the front, so everyone can see us
"Today we're going to be training you for about an hour then observing you for the rest of the day so I'm assuming you will all be on your best behavior. Please space out a little from the people beside you!" I instruct
"Let's start with a few jumping jacks. We'll go for about a minute. Go!" Grey starts them off. I smirk seeing my younger brother give people a similar age to him instructions but continue to watch the recruits.
After around 45 seconds, half of the recruits start to get tired and their technique almost diminishes. "Jumping jacks, go! This is the Italian mafia for fucks sake. Work for your place here!" Grey shouts to motivate them and it seems to work. They each speed up and straighten their arms/legs further
After an hour of shouting instructions and watching the recruits tire themselves out, we finally finish the training session. It's now up to them to do whatever they would like for the rest of their days, which means Grey and I should find those people whose names were on the list from earlier
We walk to the office and I pull out my phone so I can read the 6 names written. I quickly search on the computer each of them to find out more details and whereabouts they could be right now.
Grey watches the computer closely. A silent understanding between us about where we would be heading. After a few more minutes searching, I log out of the computer.
"Let's go to to the closest gyms first, then we can check the common rooms" Grey suggests and I nod. I had a similar idea.
We walk into 'Gym 2' where a small group of the recruits where working out. Good on them to be working out so soon after that collective workout Grey and I led-
They were standing beside some of the treadmills but not yet on them.
There's 6 of them in total; 3 females, 3 males. I check the list of names and Grey decided to let our presence known. "Are any of you... Amelia, Blaze, Sky, Tia, William, or Max?" He read the list of names
Their heads shoot this way and fall into facial expressions of guilt, the one I recognize from the computer photos as Max, walks forward "Yeah, we're all here. Why?"
Well that saves us a lot of time...
Grey raises his eyebrows challengingly. Did Max really just question us? I smirk interally
He seems to realize he shouldn't have questioned Grey as he takes a step back closer to the treadmill.
"No but seriously.. why?" A girl steps forward
"Heard some bad commentaries on you all, we're here to let you know that if you continue, you'll be cut from the process" I say shortly
She nods, seemingly understanding what we're getting at. "Why you two though? Two Romano brothers! Why not one of the staff that are here frequently?"
I didn't have an answer, I don't really know why we were chosen to check on them. I guess the staff here got tired of them? All I know is Alessandro advised we did so I don't really care anymore about her questioning
Neither of us answer but I see Grey looking at her questioningly. We don't wear our emotions on our face but he's my little brother; of course I know what he's thinking...
Grey's phone chiming breaks him out of his trance, he pulls it out silently and reads the message before glancing his phone in my direction.
"Family meeting in 2 hours" from 'Sandro' It reads. I nod my head and he puts his phone back in his pocket
I internally laugh at how the group of recruitments crease their eyebrows about what the message could've read - they probably think it was about them. "Alright, let's go Grey!"
I turn to face the 6 young adults, "And if we hear anything worse, don't forget what happens to those who leave the mafia" I warn them. By their paling faces, I assume it worked.
Grey and I walk out of the doors, scanning our fingerprints a few times before finally leaving the facility. The recruits are able to leave after the first 3 months of training, they still have to come in weekly though.
Since Grey and I are Romano blood, we have access to things the mafia recruits don't... hence the overprotective fingerprint security.
Once we get into the car, I let out a laugh. I notice Grey turning to me confused but I can't help it... we just treated 6 mafia recruits like bad-behaving school kids!
---
Gabriella's POV:
It's the next day. Yesterday, we had a family meeting about school. Long story short, Sandro wanted to know if I would be happy being homeschooled but I said no. It's not necessarily the fact I wouldn't like being homeschooled but I would constantly have the fear of missing out.
I want to go to school, make friends, eat lunch with everyone else, be stressed out because of homework, go to school events or clubs, and more!
Plus, it's only been a day and I don't think that's long enough to make a decision. The guys didn't seem to mind I went back but were keen that I communicated more with them next time which I agreed to.
Grey dropped Matt and I off this morning and Leo got one of the workers to make me a packed-lunch which was sweet. I'm wearing some blue jeans, a casual T-shirt, and a red zip-up jumper. It's not the cutest outfit ever but I liked it!
I'm currently sat in my Economics class, waiting for it to start. Jay got here before I did and once he saw me, instantly sent a concerned look my way.
"You alright?" He asked once I sat down, but I nodded. "You sure, darlin'?" He repeats. I crease my eyebrows at him, sending a questioning look which hopefully hides my saddened feelings but he sighs.
"You don't seem alright, babe." Babe? "I'm fine and don't call me nicknames" I snap. I guess my emotions got the best of me...
He puts his hands up in surrender at my sudden outburst, he smirks "Sure thing, sweetheart". A small laugh escapes from before I can stop it but he hears and chuckles. I get what he was doing now! He was trying to cheer me up.
The teacher walks in and hushes the class "Settle down, class! I have some important news"
A few moments later, "Since I am the main teacher for Economics as a whole, you may know that I am responsible for arranging how grades are decided."
"There will be an exam at the end of the year where you will be tested on everything we have covered. However, the other half of your grade is from coursework.
I will give you each a topic where you and your assigned partner will need to work together to research and create a PowerPoint lesson slide on it.
You won't have to present these at the front but I will go through the slides and grade them so make sure they are clear but also filled with as much research as you can."
This sounds so interesting! Even though I find Economics difficult, I have a good feeling about this work. Hopefully my assigned partner is good!
Murmurs begin but the teacher shuts this down quickly with her next statement, "I'm too lazy to assign partners so everyone will work with the person sitting beside them"
I inwardly groan, of course I had to be sat beside Jay. I turn my head to be faced with his cocky smirk
"My house or yours, princess?"
"What?" I ask, why is he so keen to be my partner?
"For the project, gorgeous" he answers blatantly to which I roll my eyes
"You can come over to mine today but I need to ask my brothers first" I say. He nods still with a smirk stuck on his face, and swings his arm on the back of my chair, similar to how he did yesterday
I whine "get off" and he smirks even more. "Don't like it, sweetheart?" but I don't say anything and twist my upper body around so I'm facing the back of my chair. I shove his arm off my chair and carelessly lean back so he can't put it back.
I smile in triumph until a few seconds later when he leans closer to me. His lips mere centimeters away from mine. His forehead practically touching mine.
His eyes flicker down to my lips for a second before inning back to my eyes. "Looking forward to working with you, love" he says with his deep voice.
He leans back slightly to take in my flushed state. That close proximity really got to me! He lets out a chuckle at my red cheeks and brushes a strand of my hair behind my ear.
I gulp and push his hand away from mine which just made him laugh more but I ignore that
"Alright! I'll give out the topics now." The teacher states. She walks up to the first table and gives the first partner their topic. I think it was 'Economic Inflation'. She continues giving out topics before she gets to Jay and I, "Economic Growth is your topic".
She walks to the next pair giving Jay and I some time to discuss what we're going to research.
"You know those 'key notes' that Miss posted on our class channel?" I ask to which he nods, his eyes staring deeply into mine
"How about I find research for the first half and you do the second half? When we go to my house it'll be easier to turn it into a PowerPoint presentation" I explain, he nods again still staring at me.
Is he even listening to me? I gently slap his arm which takes him out of his daze, "Jay!" I scold playfully. He smirks at my unimpressed look, "Sorry princess, what did you say?".
I sigh "You do the second half of the notes and I'll do the first", he nods once more "Got it!"
We have around 10minutes left of class so I pull out my notepad and IPad. Every student is required to have an IPad/Tablet since it helps us more. The majority of people use them to play games but I decide to start on the research now. It means I'll have less to do later!
I write for about 1 minute, just bullet-pointing the key information from the paragraphs when my foot is kicked.
My head shoots in the direction of the perpetrator but Jay just writes in his notepad. I guess he's doing his notes now too!
I move on from the kick and continue to write but half-way through my next bullet point, he kicks me again. It doesn't hurt but I'm confused why he's doing this
"Can you not?" I ask. I sound really bitchy right now but I don't care...
"You grumpy, gorgeous?" he teases, finally looking up from his paper. I ignore him, "Why are you kicking me?"
He negotiates "I wouldn't call it kicking... more like 'nudging'." I let out an unamused sigh, "Whatever, just stop.. please."
I pick up my pen and write more notes. The kicking continues a few times but I ignore it, pretending like it didn't happen. I can tell my lack of reaction is starting to irritate him from teasing me so I put my pen down.
I scroll on the IPad a few pages down where the paragraphs I was taking notes from continues.
I pick up my pen but before I can write a word, it's snatched from my grip. I turn to face him with an annoyed look, "Seriously? You've resorted to stealing my pen?"
He grins in triumph, as if getting a reaction from me is an accomplish. Rolling my eyes, I lean slightly to snatch my pen back but he moves his arm further from me.
"Jay give it back!" I sigh, unamused. I have another pen in my pencil case but that's in my bag and there's only a few minutes left of class so there's no point getting it out of my bag.
He laughs at how bothered I am by this all, "Just take it" he shrugs, still smirking.
I lean forwards again but he moves his arm further. He even waves my pen in the air to taunt me.
I huff, sitting back in my chair, practically giving up. "Whatever, keep it then" I decide acting unbothered will persuade him to give it back but instead he laughs
"I know you want it, love. Acting cool wont get me to give it back" he chuckles. I roll my eyes, I guess I'll try get it back when he comes over later. Oh yeah! I need to ask the guys about that
I pull my phone from my jeans pocket whilst Jay watches, interested in why I've suddenly forgot about my pen and started typing on my phone
"can jay come over after school for my economics prject please" I send to the family group chat.
I put my phone down whilst I wait for my brothers to reply. "I asked my brothers if you can come over and they haven't replied yet but once they do I'll let you know" I say
He hums, "I'll type my number into your phone" and I unlock my phone and give it to him. Whilst he types, he smirks "if you wanted my number, you could've just asked"
I push his arm playfully, considering I did NOT ask for his number. He offered! He bellows a laugh "I'm messing with you, darling"
As he hands back the phone, our fingers overlap. Tingles moving across my hand, fireworks going off in my stomach. I clear my throat a little, "thanks"
He moves his hand away just as my phone pings 5 times in a row. I look down,
"JAY!? who tf is jay" From 'Grey'
"jay sounds awfully a lot like a boy's name, gabs..." From 'Leo'
"also r u sure u want to do the project considering it's your second day of school?" From 'Leo'
"i trust u but best believe i'm watching him like a hawk, if he comes over" From 'Seb'
"Bri, ignore them and yes, he can come over. You can work in your room but make sure the door stays open!" From 'Sandro'
Since they're all working together at home, they probably all picked up their phones at the same time and that's why they all came through together. I let out a small giggle at their protectiveness but nonetheless tell Jay that they said yes
"Okay, I'm sending my address now" I tell him, pressing 'send' on the message.
"Thanks" he replies as the school bell rings. I send him a small smile and begin to pack up my things, like everyone else.
Once everything is packed securely into my backpack, I head to my next class which is on the other side of the school grounds. I send a little wave to Jay who was looking at me expectantly, almost as if I was going to kiss him goodbye or something...
"See you later, beautiful" he smirks, turning and walking off in the opposite direction before giving me the chance to say 'Don't call me that'....
---
Sitting in my Sociology class is something new to me. I was meant to have Sociology yesterday but since I wasn't there, this is my first lesson since joining!
I'm sat on a two-seater table beside a sweet girl. Her name is Belle and she has short blonde hair and brown eyes. For the first half of the lesson, all we had to do was listen to the teacher's lecture where she explained how class, ethnicity and gender can affect school achievement. The last half an hour of the lesson was allocated 'note-taking time'. It sounds dumb but it was quite useful!
Belle wrote all her notes in the first 15 minutes but I was a little behind and took 20minutes. After that, we both started talking about random things: school, family, pets, etc! Everyone in the class was talking and the teacher didn't seem to mind though.
Ring ring!
The bell rang which meant I started to pick up my things. During my Sociology class, Leo messaged me, saying he would pick up both Jay and I. I can't help but think about how awkward that will be for Jay, sitting in the car with the person he sits next to in Economics and her older brother.
Ignoring that thought, I messaged Jay offering him the ride home but much to my surprise, he agreed. We decided we would just meet at the front gate since that's where my brothers usually drop me off. They're not meant to but whenever they do, the teachers let it slide. I don't know why though?
Arriving at the front gate, I see him waiting for me "Hi, Jay", he sends a "Hey, love" noticing my presence. "Okay... Leo should be around this corner I think".
He nods and we walk forward but just as we're about to turn the corner, I put my hand on his arm, halting him "Oh and please don't call me any nicknames in front of them, they'll get really overprotective" I warn him
He chuckles "Alright but if I let one name slip, just know I can handle myself, princess" to which I nod. We walk around the corner, greeting Leo with his sports car and jumping in
I got into the front as Jay shuffled into one of the backseats. Matteo was already in the car before us so he was waiting in the back.
We drove in awkward silence except for the occasional questions Leo would ask Jay like what he studied or if he had any siblings etc. Kinda random but I zoned out after the second question
A few minutes later, we arrived home. Yes, I know I could've walked home but having one of my brothers drive me is wayyyy nicer! "I take it you had a good day, Gabs?" Leo asks me specifically to which I smile and nod. "Good" he ruffles my hair whilst telling Jay to follow all of us inside.
Opening the door, it was eerily quiet but of course that had to be ruined when Grey and Seb came saunting down the stairs. I let out a quiet groan knowing this meant they would go into their 'overprotective' modes...
"Gabby, why don't you go wait in your room?" Seb asks me innocently but I could see the mischief in his eyes.
"Sebbb......." I say uncertainly to which he sighs but smirks at the same time "We're just going to talk to him, don't worry." I see Matteo walk into the kitchen, probably getting an afternoon snack.
"Alright" I take off my shoes, leaving them neatly by the front door and walk upstairs to my room. Hopefully Jay will know how to find my room or one of them will guide him here so he doesn't get lost. I definitely got lost when I first came here!
I take off my backpack, sitting at my desk. I pull out my IPad and papers I needed for my notes. I only have one seat at my desk so I could potentially bring one of the guys' chairs here for Jay to sit at the desk too or he can sit on my bed.
Waiting for Jay to finish talking to Grey, Seb, and Leo, I continue my notes I started in class. I have about a page left to write before I can start the PowerPoint.
Around 2 minutes later, I hear a quick knock and the see the door fly open. Jay walks in and slumps straight onto my bed, "miss me?" he teases
"Absolutely not" I state but the corners of my mouth lifting upwards into a smile beg to differ
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, love". He props himself so he's laying back onto his elbows which beautifully showcases his arm muscles. Physically straining myself to look into his eyes and not at his veiny arms, I say "So what did they talk to you about?"
"Aww wouldn't you like to know" he coos. I roll my eyes and ask "Okay, how much of your notes have you done?"
"The majority, I have a few left to do" to which I nod. At this point, I'm writing notes whilst talking so I'm usure if he saw me nod my head or not.
A few seconds go past before I hear him mutter "wow", so I question it "what?"
"I can't believe this is the first time I'm in your room and we're doing homework..." he admits, "well what else would we do?" I ask naively but he just gets off the bed and laughs at my innocence
He doesn't answer but a few seconds later, it clicks that he's talking about making out "Ohhh..."
He continues to chuckle as I don't really know what to say. I hear Sandro walk past my door but before he fully walks away, he pushes the door open a little making it fully wide open. He smirks at me then walks away which makes me roll my eyes
"Okay I have like 2 bullet points left then we can start the PowerPoint if you want!" I say, "Oh I need to do the last of mine too" he replies but doesn't make a move to get his work out
"Alright, do you want to sit here to do it? I can sit on the bed if you'd prefer" I offer, thinking that's why he hasn't taken his things out but he refuses, "Nah I'd rather if we're both on the bed"
I don't say anything as I'm not sure if that's a rude remark or a serious statement that so happened to sound dirty but I instruct him to take his things out, "Bit bossy huh, love?" he teases
"If you don't get your stuff out or help then there's no point in being here" I say matter-of-factly, "Is that so? What if I wanted to talk to you? Or spend time with you?" He asks rhetorically but I gulp
"Please can we just get this over and done with, we can talk later" I bargain. It seems to do the trick as he unzips his bag and pulls out his notepad, pen and IPad.
I look back at my own IPad and copy half a sentence before the words start to blur out. I'm surprised this is the first time it's occurred today to be honest. I drop my pen in frustration and it lands harshly onto the paper.
I'm so tired of this happening to me, why can't I be like everyone else? What am I meant to do now? I can't even do this dumb project. Before I can comprehend what's going on, I feel a tear slip down my checks and I automatically sniffle
"Hey hey hey, what's wrong?" Jay asks softly as he jumps up from the bed and makes his way over to me. He turns my spinny-chair so I'm facing towards him and he crouches down. Grabbing my thighs to stabilize himself from falling but also distract me, he rubs small circles on them.
I let out a sniffle, "What happened?" he asks softly. My chin quivers as I let out a raspy "I t-think I have d-dyslexia and I c-ca-can't read the w-work" I sob. It's a little embarrassing to be crying to the guy I met only a few days ago but I can't help it. I don't want to feel like this!
"It's okay, you're okay. It will get better, don't worry!" He sooths, one hand still resting on my thigh, the other cupping my cheek delicately. He uses the thumb from his same hand holding my cheek to wipe some of my falling tears
"Do you want me to get one of your brothers?" He asks unsurely, instead of agreeing, I shake my head. Normally I would agree but today I felt safe knowing Jay was here. I'm not sure why-
"Want me to atleast read it for you?" He offers to which I sniffle and say "if that's okay"
"Of course it's ok, sweetheart". He moves around until he's holding my hands and pulling me off the chair. He gently guides me to my bed and sits me in there. He goes back to the desk to retrieve my notepad and IPad and then gets in beside me.
He pulls the cover/duvet over us both and sets up MY notepad and IPad on his lap. Without saying anything else, he begins reading. "Economics growth is on the rise, having an increase of 5% annually". He stops, "can you write or not so much?" to which I say I can.
"Alright, just say '5! growth increase annually'." and I do as he says, writing that down. He continues to read and I take notes until we've finished all the notes for both mine and his pages. It's so sweet of him to help with this
"Now for the PowerPoint, any specific ideas, beautiful?" he asks but instead of saying my typical line of 'don't call me that', I just shake my head. "Okay, let's just do a basic design plan since Miss won't really care about how it looks" to which I nod
After around 10minutes of creating a powerpoint, writing our notes on different slides, adding pictures, etc. I hear a knock at the door.
Matteo walks in and gasps VERY loudly. I crease my eyebrows, we're in the bed together but it's not like anything more happened.
He puts a hand over his eyes and I let out a small laugh
"Get the fuck up right now" Matteo says awfully calmy, with his hand still on his eyes. "Matt, nothing happened! I swear-"
"UP!" He cuts me off, shouting at Jay. Jay who is looking a little frightened hesitantlty gets up. I send him an apologetic look as Matteo removes his hand covering his eyes.
Matt points to my desk chair that I was previously sitting on, "You can sit there. NOT on the same bed as my baby sister, let alone under the same duvet" he says with a hand on his heart, as if he's physically dying from seeing us sitting in the same bed together...
Jay walks to the desk chair and sits on it, still looking a little frightened but not too much. "Don't think I wont be telling Sandro about this, little lady" he points a finger at me before walking out my room.
Jay and I make eye contact, both letting out a breath of relief at the same time then laughing. That was so unnecessarily stressful.
---
A/N: