Gabriella's POV:
I walk into my English Literature class. "Hey, Destiny" I smile as I sit in my seat. We're the only two people at our table right now. "Hi, how are you?" she asks politely
"I'm good, how are you?" I ask as I notice Jay and a few other of my classmates walk in. "Good good" she replies which I smile at.
"Everyone take your seats!" The teacher announces as they walk in
"I was wondering if we could hang out tomorrow after school" Destiny tells me which I of course agree to straight away. So exciting! I haven't hang out with something (not for school) in a while...
"Hey" Jay whispers to me as he sits down. "Hi" I whisper back. The teacher begins going through the lesson slides, explaining important aspects to us all when I feel something against my lower thigh.
I snap my eyes down to see Jay's hand resting on my thigh so I instantly look at him to see him smirking. I attempt to pry it off but my strength is nothing compared to his. I huff realizing he isn't going to take it off and attempt to do my schoolwork
He begins rubbing small circles with his thumb which turns out extremely distracting. My breaths become shorter and I pant quietly, tapping his arm to get him to take it off but he doesn't. My cheeks are as red as tomato's by now.
He scoots his hand up a little higher, inches away from-
Ring!
The bell rings and I shoot up from my seat, being the first one in the room standing. I pack away like everyone else and make my way out of the class but I'm pulled back by a hand on my arm.
"Why so fast, love?" he teases but I glare at him, attempting to walk away but he pulls me back again. "You're that turned on from my hand on your thigh?" he asks tauntingly but I snap "I'm not turned on, asshole"
He hums teasingly "Hmm, sure you aren't". I groan and smack his hand off my arm which he moves so he can playfully raise both hands in surrender. "Can you move?" I ask, just as my cheeks are beginning to return to their original color
"What's the magic word, baby?" he smirks. "Baby?" I question the nickname as I raise my eyebrows, ignoring how my heart fluttered in my chest at the nickname. He shrugs and raises his eyebrows to which I sigh at "please."
"Please what?" he smirks
"Please can you move?" I clarify which he grins at. "Anything for you, sweetheart" he lets go of my arm and I waste no time walking to my next class which I'm definitely late for
---
"Hey Sandro" I say as I walk into the living room. He's sitting on one our couches, scrolling through his phone so I sit beside him
"Hi, how was school?" he asks me. "It was great, how was work being the boss?"
He lets out a small chuckle "Good". Suddenly, I hear a shriek and the sound of footsteps running
"Help!" Matteo shrieks, running into the living room. "Get back!" Seb gruffs, running after him
I hear Sandro let out a sigh but nonetheless stand up. Me on the other hand, I stay sitting, thoroughly amused at my two older brothers
"Sandy, help me" Matteo exclaims. Sandy?!
He grabs Sandro's arm and runs behind him, using him as a human shield. Seb stops short and tries to reach behind Sandro to pull Matteo but he keeps dodging it, moving Sandro with him
"Give them back, Teo" Seb asks angrily
"You took mine first" Matteo answers, still using Sandro who's sandwiched between them to protect him
"What the fuck? No, I didn't!" Seb defends himself. What are they talking about?
"Guys stop now" Sandro says, tired of their fighting. Seb takes a few steps back but his angry expression doesn't move from his face
Sandro gently pushes Matteo a little so he isn't behind him anymore and returns to his seat next to me on the couch.
Matteo squishes himself between Sandro and me on the couch and I giggle. He acts like such a little kid.
"Where are my car keys, Matteo?" Seb asks seriously. "Why do you even need them? You have so many different cars-" Teo starts but Seb interrupts. "Where. are. they."
He huffs "You stole mine first though, why should I tell you where they are?"
Seb pinches his nose, "I didn't steal yours, I was getting your car checked for it's annual MOT". Matteo goes quiet as I burst out laughing. Even Alessandro looks like he's biting back a smile
"Oh, oopsies. Your car keys are in the fridge then" Teo says. "Fridge?" Seb, Sandro and I all ask at the same time but Teo shrugs, "No one would've looked there for car keys"
Seb walks out of the room, probably going to the fridge to collect his keys whilst I giggle a little more. Matteo leans his head on Sandro's shoulder since he's practically sitting on Sandro and I. "What ya' doing big bro?" he asks but Sandro pushes his head away playfully
He sighs and turns to me, "you hungry, baby sis?". "I'm not a baby" I reply
"Ok, baby sis... you hungry?". I sigh and give up on trying to stop him from calling me that. "Not really"
He dramatically sighs and I fight the urge to roll my eyes, "what?"
"I'm bored and if you were hungry, I could've made you food but you're not and it's nearly dinnertime anyways so now I need to find something to do to preoccupy myself from thinking about how bored I am" he says in one breath. I just stare blankly at him even though I kinda relate to what he's saying
Sandro replies "Why don't you get a hobby?". "I don't have time for a hobby. I go to school 6 hours a week and like training or going to the gym but I also want to be social with friends and family but also wanting free time for myself. Plus, counting the hours I need for sleep each night." Good point, Matt.
Sandro doesn't say anything in reply and continues to scroll on his phone. "Want to play rock paper scissors?" I ask him
"Do I? DO I? Of course I do." He starts raising and lowering his fist whilst counting to 3. On 3, we both choose either rock, paper, or scissors.
I won all 3 rounds.
"Oh, Sandro, can I hang out with my friend tomorrow after school?" I ask
"Are you sure you're ready, considering after..." he trails off. Normally, he gets past things like this and just outright says it but today he didn't
"Yeah I'm fine."
"Well then it's alright. Can they come here?" he says. Well, that was easy.
I nod. I'm sure Destiny won't mind coming over here since we never agreed whose house we would go to
"Girl or boy?" Matt asks. "What?". "Is your friend a girl or boy?"
"Ohhh, girl" I answer. "Oh" he replies, looking down. He really though it would be a boy...
—-
Jayson's POV:
I smirked on my way walking home. That little stunt I pulled in English class had to be one of my favourite moments with Gabriella so far. I loved that protective feeling of my hand on her thigh, the way her breath stopped, the flush of her cheeks. I loved it all!
Opening my front door and walking inside, I'm a little disappointed to hear the silence. Tee doesn't leave school for another half an hour so I'm just going to chill for a while before I go pick her up.
Scrolling on my contacts list, I tap on mom's. I send her a quick text telling her that I will pick up Katie so she doesn't have to but I'm a little mad to see her reply.
"Knew you would anyways, honey" From Mom
So, she wasn't even going to pick up her daughter anyways? It was a coincidence that I offered to do it today,
Scrolling through the rest of my unread messages, mostly girls asking for quick hookups which I declined, I notice how fast time had past. Standing up and walking straight out the door (since I didn't take my shoes off), I walk down to her school
I love seeing her bright smile EVERYTIME I pick her up. "Lou Lou!" She grins excitedly, running at me. I'm crouched down with my arms out, expecting her hug which she delivers. Wrapping my arms tightly around her, I smile "I missed you, Tee"
"I missed you more" she smiles, as I let go of her from our hug
I stand up to my full height and put my hand out for her to hold. She grabs it with her small hand and we start walking home. "How was your day today, little Tee?" I ask, the nickname I know to gain protests
"I'm not little!" She protests adamantly. "Ok, ok, you're not little... you're tiny" I emphasise and she giggles. I love hearing her laugh at my jokes. She's genuinely the cutest.
"I'm a big girl, Lou" she states and I nod, trying to bite back my laugh. "How was your day though?" I ask again since I accidentally got her off topic
"So so so good!" She exclaims jumping which causes my arm holding her to move too. "We had math class and I completed the times tables grid the quickest out of everyyyyyboddddyyyyy" she drags out the last word to show how impressive it was. "And! We were drawing dinosaurs when Miss said mine was really good and then held it up so everyone could see" she grins
"Woah! That's amazing, Tee. I'm so proud of you" I say honestly, ruffling her hair a little. "I think your great work deserves a prize" I add
She jumps a few more times, "What prize?"
"Anything you want" I reply
We walk inside our house and I kick off my shoes whilst helping her untie hers. "Hmm, hot chocolate?" She asks
That girl is so obsessed with hot chocolate.
"Of course, want me to make it or should I get a takeaway from Costa/Starbucks?" I ask
She runs to sit on the living room couch, "You make it, please!" I nod
I'm a little surprised she didn't ask for some sort of toy she could play with but it's expected that she would want hot chocolate soon. It's heart warming to see how much she really loves it.
—-
Gabriella's POV:
"Noooo!" Destiny covers her face wither hands giggling. It's the next day and we're hanging out in my room.
"Pleaseee tell me" I put my hands in a praying stance and playfully beg her
"Fine... remember this was a few years ago and I didn't know what to do!" she defends before she tells me her first period story.
I nod for her to continue despite many thinking this is probably a TMI topic but neither of us care, "Ugh well I was talking to this guy..."
I raise my eyebrows but by the roll of her eyes I can tell that's a story for another time "... and we were so caught up in our conversation that I didn't realize I was late for my next class. Of course I rushed for my things and practically ran to my class but as I checked the time on the way, I realized I could just take my time since I was so late
I made a quick stop to the bathroom and noticed my white pants had now turned red, I started sobbing in the bathroom stall because 13year old me didn't know what to do. But suddenly, someone knocked on my door and I recognized by their voice that it was the same guy from earlier
I was too embarrased to tell him what happened but he seemed to have figured it out. Instead of being awkward or uncomfortable, he clamed me down still through the door. It was actually quite sweet of him if I wasn't so traumatized at the time!
Anyways, he ran to the medical office/nurse and got me a pad. He gave it to me under the door and sat outside the whole time even though he was probably so late for his class. Long story short is he helped me and once I dealt with everything, we both skipped class and hung out" She explains
I coo half-jokingly at her story, "Awww. Who was the mystery guy?"
"His name was Akio but he left the school " she shrugs but I can tell it probably bothered her more than she let out. She sighed but we continued talking about anything and everything. I really missed out on girl-talk!
A knock interrupted us a while later, "What's all this giggling about, girls?" Leo playfully laughed as he opened my ajar door and stepped in. Destiny and I made eye contact before breaking into another laugh.
Leo seemed to understand we weren't going to tell him but his face was mainly coated in amusement at out silliness. "Dinner's ready! Destiny, you're welcome to stay" he smiled
She checks the time on her phone before making an apologetic face, "I'm really sorry but I best be going now. Thank you though!"
Leo nods understandingly, "how are you getting home? Would you like me to drive you?" He offers kindly
"My mom will drive me home, she says she'll be here in a few minutes" she mentions as she reads a text message who I assume to be from her mom. Leo nods and excuses himself whilst Destiny and I chat for a little longer until she needs to go.
I'm so glad we've built this close friendship in such a short amount of time, it really means so much to me. Yes, I have friends from my 'old life' but they were never as genuine as Destiny. My other friends would hang out with me because "I was pretty" or "got invited to parties" but all I wanted was a real friend...
After Destiny left, I ate dinner with my brothers. Conversations flowed one after another and I found myself so engaged with them- my new life. I miss being a Johnson but I have to remember the hard times. All things aside, I really love everything as it is now and being born a Romano was one of the greatest things I could've asked for.