Letizia was reluctantly putting on her protective overalls. She wore her safety goggles with a sigh and then made her way to the last table in the far corner of the workshop where Vincenzo was standing. As she was walking, he was leaning to the table and looking at her with a smirk. Letizia kept telling herself to not react. She found this situation crazy. She wished he wasn't the star pupil of this class and she didn't have to work with cocky possessive admirer of hers. But of course, the other option was Tristan and she didn't trust him. He first had tried to get his buddies to throw her in an ice bath in the common room pushing for it like bulldozer and then wanted to kill her for slapping him after she had tried to wipe off the blackboard that had some poor kid on a blacklist. He was just too risky to be around for now. Letizia felt the danger of not having as many friends as Tristan had in the school. The boys did out number the girls after all. But she was going to try to make the most out of all she had.
As Letizia reached Vincenzo's table he spoke " You took your sweet time, darling. But I don't complain. I got a good look at the overalls. They make you look so hot."
Letizia spoke sarcastically "Really? Wow. Thank you." She then looked away at the others " We can't waste time. Others are working so hard. What is our project about?"
Vincenzo spoke " Circuits. Like everyone else."
Letizia turned to him and raised an eyebrow " Don't we get individual projects?"
Vincenzo nodded " We do but they are all about circuits this term. Circuits are important for us criminals. If we want to dismantle a bomb, we need the knowledge. If we want to neutralise a security system, we need it. If we need to electrocute someone...."
Letizia put her hand up " Stop.. Stop. I don't want to hear anymore examples. So what are we making exactly?"
Vincenzo spoke " I am glad you asked. It's a fire safety system project. There are various circuit systems we should design. We can make a basic one today easily. Follow me darling.•
As Vincenzo walked towards the equipment cabinet, Letizia caught up to him " What is this interest in calling me darling?"
Vincenzo spoke " You are my girl. I can call you darling. So you prefer other names then?"
Letizia spoke " I prefer no other names...."
Vincenzo spoke " Darling it is then."
Letizia sighed in frustration. Vincenzo grabbed wires and circuit components from the cupboards and handed them to Letizia "Hold this for a minute."
Letizia thought he just wanted to make her carry everything but then saw in surprise he was reaching for more equipment and some looked complicated. She spoke " Do we need all this?"
Vincenzo held the equipment in his arms and spoke " Well, yes. It's a project. It has to be complicated for us to get A+. What we make today may help us just a get a C. We may go up a grade every week for the next 4 weeks that we are doing this until we reach A+. Don't look so worried. I will get you a good grade. I know what I am doing darling in every way." He then walked towards his table.
Letizia followed " I never thought you will be the academic type. You are crazy like Tristan."
Vincenzo turned sharply to her " What about him? Why do you compare me to him? Who is he to you?"
Letizia was looking at Vincenzo with her mouth open " Stop being over dramatic. I just stated a fact. You two are similar."
Vincenzo narrowed his eyes " I don't like you talking about other boys. Neither do I like you to compare me to anyone especially Tristan...."
Letizia spoke " Why not? You and Tristan seem to be good friends."
Vincenzo laughed " We are not. This is a friendship we have just because our fathers are close friends. It didn't use to be like this. We used to fight alot and had two separate basketball teams when we first started. We had fights all the time. Then since the basketball teams were not doing well we had to join up. We had to be not so selective when we had to take in people who were not that good. But when we joined, the teams improved. We made some rules and had a peace treaty."
It was Letizia's turn to laugh " You are talking of peace treaty? This is funny. This is high school. We are teenagers."
Vincenzo shrugged " I don't expect you to understand. Just stop talking about other boys and we have no problem."
As Letizia put the equipment down on their table, she sighed " Fine. If it makes you satisfied... You are my partner in this workshop. I have to get along with you because I want good marks."
Vincenzo put his equipment down " That's my girl. But I am already satisfied. You are right in front of me and I am looking at you so I am content."
Letizia spoke " Stop flirting with me."
Vincenzo spoke " You are already mine either way. I am not flirting technically. I am trying to woe you for us to reach a proper courtship stage in this relationship..."
Letizia almost choked " Are you real? You have an imagination there, that I cant comprehend.... Is this how your mind works? This is a classroom... Why did the teacher have to put me with you?..."
Vincenzo stated "If you don't like it, then tough. I am your only hope of getting an A+ in this class. There is Tristan also. But be my guest if you want to ask him for help. He would probably make sure you get a zero."
Letizia spoke " It's a joint project. We would both get zero."
Vincenzo shook his head " Marks are individual. If he proves you know nothing, he can bring down your mark. But I would never do that to you. Why would I want you to fail? You are my girl."
Letizia sighed "I am not your girl..."
Vincenzo spoke " Every one knows in this school you are mine. Accept it."
Letizia then watched Vincenzo picking some equipment from the table and taking it to the area next to the table on the ground that was labeled by their group number. It seemed like they needed to make whatever they needed on the floor.
Letizia walked to Vincenzo and sat opposite him on the ground as the equipment was between them " Don't we need some instruction sheets or some kind of papers? Others have some papers in their hands."
Vincenzo looked up " We are not others. Are we? I don't need instruction sheets." He then got on with connecting the wires together.
The work was too advanced for Letizia. She was looking at Vincenzo with awe " It looks so complicated. Can you explain it to me?"
Vincenzo spoke without looking up " Sure. Once I finish, I will explain. I just want us to finish before Tristan."
Letizia spoke " Of course. I almost forgot. You have a rivalry with him.... Tell me. Why do you know so much about engineering. I heard from others that you are good in this subject and teacher said you have won awards. How come you are such an expert in this subject?"
Vincenzo shrugged as he was busy working " I learnt from the best. My father taught me all I know and he of course learnt it from his father. My grandfather studied engineering in college of course and some law course alongside it. A very intelligent man."
Letizia was curious " How do you know this much about your grandfather. My father specifically ordered me not to ever mention your grandfather to any Rosario in any conversation since your father may cancel our alliance somehow..."
Vincenzo started laughing " Is that so? That is hilarious."
Letizia asked " So have you met your grandfather?"
Vincenzo looked at Letizia with a passive expression that gave nothing away. He stated " No... And ... Yes. You work out which answer is true. Read my mind."
The look in his eyes made Letizia admire him. He had the best poker face she had ever seen. She couldn't tell what was the truth.
Letizia spoke " Why are you suddenly defensive as though protecting a secret? Just say yes or no. Why do you talk in riddles?"
Vincenzo stated " Because I can." He still had the passive and indifferent look in his eyes that made it impossible to tell how he felt. He was so good at hiding his true emotions. Letizia wished she could do that.
Vincenzo spoke " I hope you are done with the questioning. We have work to do. We just finished the basic level part of the project. If you weren't my girl, then for trying to transfer out of my our pair, I would have done to you, what I am about to do to those two losers over there."
Letizia turned and saw two boys working on their circuits not very far from them. She didn't remember seeing them elsewhere. They weren't part of the basketball team. She asked " What are you going to do to them?..." Then she gasped as she saw in horror how suddenly the two of them got soaked wet with water falling down on them from pipes above them.
Letizia turned to Vincenzo "How did you do that?"
Vincenzo spoke in a tone as thought it was obvious " I connected the circuit to the water pipe system like how I was supposed to..."
Letizia gasped " What? So the task was to soak two people wet?"
Vincenzo spoke " No. The task was to extinguish a fire on a location of choice in this workshop. Well I chose those two losers to be the imaginary location of fire. Most people just choose the large sinks. Where is the fun in that? We try to save lives with the fire extinguishing mission and what's the point of saving a sink?"
The teacher suddenly came up to Vincenzo " Close the water please. You get your grade for the basic section."
Vincenzo pressed a button in his circuit and the water suddenly stopped.
The teacher asked the two students to go get changed and call the cleaners to clean up the water. Their section had barriers up and water wasn't leaking. All work area sections did have barriers.
This was one unbelievable lesson. She looked at Vincenzo " What kind of school is this? I have never seen a lesson like this before."
Vincenzo was looking into a distance with a smirk " Rosarios 1- O'Neils zero... Just for now. This lesson hasn't even started yet darling. Let's go get more equipment". He then stood up and looked down at her seating form " What are you waiting for?"
As Letizia stood up, she glanced around and looked in direction of Tristan spotting him giving Vincenzo an annoyed look as he was on the floor still making his circuit. She wondered what he was going to do. She followed Vincenzo to get their equipment. She didn't have to wait long to see what Tristan was upto as smoke filled in part of the workshop.
Vincenzo growled as he carried the equipment " I can't believe he managed to do that. We have some catching up to do. The next assignment takes longer as its intermediate."
Letizia raised an eyebrow "Was that really just a basic circuit you just made? I am finding this too hard to believe. What was this smoke for? What kind of assignment does his group have?"
Vincenzo stated " I don't know. Probably a military application of smoke to reduce visibility for the enemy or smoke to halt a street fight between two gangs of criminals. If you don't see, you can't shoot, can you?"
Letizia spoke sarcastically "Of course. Why didn't I guess. A typical school project."
Vincenzo nodded " Exactly."
At that point there was a knock on the door and Stefano entered the workshop. He walked to the teacher and asked " Can I please borrow Tristan and Vincenzo please? Mr Carter asked."
The teacher nodded and instructed " Tristan and Vincenzo, make your way to Mr Carter's sports lesson please."
Tristan and Vincenzo wordlessly left the workshop following Stefano outside. As they followed Stefano, they bumped their shoulders to each other and gave each other looks.
Tristan spoke " You got lucky finishing early."
Vincenzo smirked " Really? Maybe. Maybe not. Better luck for the intermediate task."
Tristan turned to Stefano who was walking in front of them. He grabbed Stefano's shoulder roughly and turned him around making him stop walking. He spoke " What's this about?"
Stefano spoke " We have to hurry. Trent and Viggo are fighting in the gym and not stopping. They are kick boxing but its gone too far. The whole gym is watching them now. They are refusing to stop. Only you two can separate them."
Vincenzo sighed " Seriously? You came to get us for this? Let them throw more punches."
Tristan let go of Stefano " Exactly. Who cares. They can take on each other. Let them fight it out, whatever it is they are fighting over."
Stefano spoke " You don't understand. It's messy..."
Tristan spoke " I am going back. It's not our problem. The teacher can sort it out or he can let them fight until they are tired,"
Vincenzo nodded " Why not? Lets go back. We have some unfinished business in the circuit room."
Stefano spoke " Look, the girls are scared too. The left their trampoline hall that's on the second floor that has glass windows opening into the gym. They were shocked to see the fight. They came down to watch. Clarisa and Vienna are quite disturbed by the sight.. They want them to stop. But they don't listen."
Stefano then found himself left behind as Vincenzo and Tristan walked past him and almost sprinted to the gym.