- S a n d e o R u s s o -
Shit.
That was the only thing I thought of when Salvestro stopped my stupid mouth. My mouth who just loved to spill secrets. Secrets that Amara shouldn't even know we have but know now thanks to my stupid, running mouth who has a mind of its own.
"Sandeo." Salvatore's voice boomed into the dining hall, and I shivered in fear.
No, I was not afraid of Salvatore abusing me, but I was afraid of the consequences for my actions... Well, words I guess. Salvatore had a sadistic streak in him, something he tried to hide when he was around us, but couldn't when he was out in the field.
I may be family, but that didn't mean that I would be exempt from a few consequences for spilling secrets. The consequences just won't be as... Harsh as it should be. If I weren't family, I'm sure I would be dead by now. No doubt about it.
"Yeah?" I answered nervously, but still managed to put a cheeky grin on my face.
"Do you want to talk in my office with me?" Salvatore asked me politely, and I shrugged.
"No, I don't want to." I replied, and when his nostrils flared ever so slightly, I knew I screwed up and dug myself a deeper hole than the one I was already in.. "Right, right. I'll go." I muttered, and Salvatore nodded, satisfied as he stood up from his seat and walked away.
"You better catch up to him." Salvestro murmured to me, and I nodded my head, walking away just as I heard Amara finally raising her voice.
"What do you think they're going to talk about?" Amara asked quietly, and the snickers of Santino and Salvino had me quietly seething. Those two want me to die, and I'm not even joking.
- A m a r a R u s s o -
"What do you think they're going to talk about?" I asked curiously, and all of them gave knowing glances to each other before Salvestro turned to me.
"Just about his behaviour. Nothing much." Salvestro replied, and I nodded my head.
"Oh ok." I muttered, and while the twins continued to laugh quietly behind their hands, I picked at my mouth, losing my non-existent appetite.
"May I be excused?" I murmured, and even though Salvestro gave me a disapproving look, he nodded, letting me out of my seat as I sprinted out of the kitchen back into my room.
I got into my room, taking out my phone as I downloaded Youtube, an app where I could watch videos for free.
I spent the next hour on my phone, entertaining myself with videos of pranks where this girl acted drunk in front of her boyfriend right when there were about to catch a flight. It was amusing, to say the least.
A knock on the door had me pausing the next video, and I opened the door to see the face of Salvestro smiling down on me.
"It's time for bed, Amara. You have to wake up at six tomorrow, and it's already nine." Salvestro said gently, and I nodded my head.
"M'kay. I'll just go take a shower and brush my teeth." I said quietly, and Salvestro dipped his head before leaving, closing the door softly behind him as I walked into my bathroom.
"Oh right! Amara?" Salvestro's voice came into the bathroom, and I peeked my head out of the door to see him at my door again.
"Yeah?"
"We have a session tomorrow. Don't forget about it!" he told me and skipped away, leaving me with my stomach churning. Damnit. I totally forgot about those.
'Because you aren't supposed to remember those.' an annoying voice came into my head, and I forced it out, knowing to not listen to it.
'You can block us out all you want, Amara, but we will always be behind you. We will be watching you, even if it's from the shadows.' it hissed, before leaving as I gave it another push out of my head.
I am definitely not going to be telling Salvestro about this. No way in hell as he'll just send me to a real therapist.
~~~
I woke up to feel the sun shining in my eyes. Groaning out loud in annoyance, I pushed the covers over my head, stopping the light from flashing into my eyes.
"It's time to wake up, Amara!" Sandeo's cheerful voice interrupted my sleep, and grumbling my annoyance, I walked out of bed.
It took about half an hour to get my hair done with a bit of help from Salvestro, and by the time I was done, I only had ten minutes to eat before I had to be on my way.
"What do you want for breakfast, Bambina?" Salvestro asked me when we both came down.
The twins both had two huge bowls of cereal in front of them as they stared into their phones, scrolling through whatever they were scrolling through as Sandeo devoured the food on his plate.
In all honesty, I was not in any way hungry, but I don't think I'd be able to get away without eating.
"Uh, I'll just have a glass of orange juice." I said, and Salvestro pinned me with a look that screamed, 'you better stop bullshitting me'.
"Ok, fine. I'll have toast with strawberry jam." I muttered, not wanting it but knowing that it was better than cereal. Is it even possible to like cereal? It's literally just pieces of crispy bread!
"Alright. I'll make it right now and you can eat it in the car." he told me, "Go get your bag and get in the car. I'll be there shortly."
"Alright."
"By the way, Sandeo, you're taking your own motorcycle, am I right?" Salvestro suddenly asked as Sandeo looked up from his food to look at his older brother.
"Yeah, I have try-outs in the afternoon."
"Alright. What about the twins?"
"We have try-outs for basket-ball." Salvino answered for him and his twin.
"Alright then. Amara? I'm going to have you wait for the twins to finish their try-outs before I pick you up, if that's alright? You can do your homework while waiting for them." Salvestro turned to me, and I internally winced.
Salvestro wanted me to wait for the two people who disliked me the most in the family. He must really want me to die.
"Why can't you just pick her up?" Santino butted in, eyes flashing with a look I couldn't decipher.
"Because it'll save gas." Salvestro replied as if the answer was obvious.
"You have enough money to last you three lifetimes. It doesn't matter how much gas you use." Santino continued to huff.
"So? Doesn't mean we still shouldn't save up." he retorted.
"Yeah, you should follow Salvestro's steps and save up twins." Sandeo agreed, a smug smirk on his face as two pairs of cold steel blue eyes turned to him.
"We are talking to Salvestro. Not you, Sandeo." Salvino spat vehemently.
"So?"
"So you shouldn't interrupt our conversation, a conversation that doesn't concern you." Santino rolled his eyes.
I slowly inched away, knowing exactly what was about to happen. From the looks of Salvestro's face, I knew that he already knew what was going to happen as well.
"Why can't I butt in?" Sandeo retorted, eyes flaring up.
"Because it is none of your business!"
"Says the one who always interrupts my conversations with Salvatore or my friends!" Sandeo yelled back.
"That's different!"
"Oh yeah? How?"
I literally sprinted into the garage as if my ass was on fire as I didn't wait for either of them, hopping into the back seat of the car. Waiting patiently for them, I can already hear the yelling and screaming coming from both parties.
Finally, all four of them came out of door to the garage, Santino and Salvino both with a red cheek as Sandeo's arm sported a limp.
What in the world did they do to each other? They are brothers!
"Are you guys done fighting like cats?" Salvestro's voice penetrated my thoughts, and the three nods of reluctance were seen.
"Good. Sandeo, go get your bike and go to school. I'll drive the twins and Amara. Salvino, you'll sit in the front." Salvestro ordered, and they all scrambled to follow orders as the garage door opened.
"Thanks to you guys again, I wasn't able to give Amara her breakfast." Savestro said halfway through the drive.
I had already forgotten about it, and truthfully, I wasn't saddened by not eating breakfast. I've had much worse. My hopes were lifted for a moment, until Salvestro's mouth opened again.
"So, I'm giving you two," He said, looking at the twins. "The responsibility to make sure that Amara eats at least half of a burger and for her to drink the soup provided at the school."
My heart dropped to my stomach at that.
~
"Girl! You were almost late for class!" Elena whisper-yelled at me when I rushed into the class, the teacher following in right behind me.
"I know, I know." I murmured back, dropping my things onto my desk as I prepared for our first math lesson. "Don't remind me."
Before Elena could reply, the teacher spoke.
"Good morning class."
"Good morning Miss Allistaire." the whole class echoed.
"How are all of you feeling today?" she asked, and we all replied in a synchronized, "Good."
"It looks as if we have a new student this year." she continued, and her brown eyes turned to me. "May you please stand up and introduce yourself to the class. I'm sure they want to know all about you."
Nervously, I stood up, the chair creaking loudly behind me as it scratched the shining floor.
"Uh, hi?" I said unsurely, but cleared my throat. "M- my name is Amara, and I'm thirteen. I like to draw and I suck at math." I introduced, patting myself on my back for only stuttering once.
"Good. Last name?" she continued.
"Williams."
"I don't have a Williams on my class list." She raised a perfectly arched brow.
Furrowing my brows, my face pulled into a frown. Wait a second...
"Oh! My last name is Russo." I amended, and the sharp intakes of breaths had my nerves jumbling together. I knew that my brothers were famous thanks to Elena, but to this extent?
"Great." my teacher continued, unfazed by my last name. I like her. "Do any of you have questions for our dear Amara?" she questioned the class, and arms raised in the air.
Staring at them, I turned to the teacher for help, but she shrugged. "Go on. Pick someone and answer their question."
Such helpful advice. I definitely didn't know that.
"You?" I asked, pointing to a guy with dark brown hair bleached blond.
"Nick. What happened to your hand?" he asked me, pointing to my right hand.
"Oh. It was an accident with fire." I replied, looking at it. The whole thing was healed now, but there was now a permanent scar on my right hand, reminding me about what has happened.
"How?" the boy persisted, and my walls went up.
"It was an accident." I stated firmly, and turned to the next person, the girl from yesterday. Caroline, I think her name was.
I stared at the beautiful looking female, with bright red hair that was pulled into a neat bun and emerald green eyes, she truly was a sight to behold.
"Caroline?" I said tentatively, and she gave me a bright smile.
"Yeah. Um, I don't mean to be rude, but like... Why weren't you here before?" she asked curiously, and everybody leaned forward in their seat.
"I was living with my step-father until he died. I then moved in with the Russo brothers last month." I shrugged nonchalantly.
"You have been together for a month?" someone piped up.
"Yeah."
"But news only came out of a sister two weeks ago." someone said in wonder.
"They probably tried to hide her existence."
"That's enough. You can ask her questions later." Miss Allistaire interrupted, "Now, I want all of you to open up your textbook to page nine, chapter one, lesson one. Copy the table at the front of the page." she ordered, "I'll be handing out your math notebooks in the meantime."
Opening my book, I see the picture of a freaking frequency chart. Don't tell me we are doing graphs.
~
Turns out, we were doing graphs, and we have been doing it for two hours straight.
"Now, at the end of the lesson, who can tell me the difference between the bar graph, line graph, scatter plot, and a histogram?" Miss Allistaire said, and only Elena raised her hand.
"Yes, Elena?"
"A bar graph is used to compare data, a line graph to see trends, a scatter plot to find relationships, and a histogram for intervals." Elena copied from the book, and Miss Allistaire gave a bright smile.
"Perfect! Now who wants to tell me how to find the intervals for histograms?" she said, and when only Elena raised her hand again, she turned to me.
"How about our new student. Amara, why don't you tell the class how we can find the intervals for histograms?" she asked, and feeling self-conscious, I shrugged.
"I guess you look at the range of the numbers to see what number would be the most appropriate. Just make sure that there are at least four intervals."
"Amazing explanation, Amara! You have really lived up to my standards." she said encouragingly, and I almost laughed in response.
She was only saying that because she didn't want to piss off my brothers.
"Now, for homework, I want you to complete all the questions of page thirteen to fourteen." she announced, and I groaned aloud with the rest of my class. Only Elena didn't say anything, and she had a cheerful smile on her face. She even looked eager to have more homework.
When Miss Allistaire didn't continue, Elena frowned and raised her hand.
"Yes?"
"There's no more?" Elena frowned.
"Of course. Unless you guys want more?"
"No!" the whole class protested, glaring daggers at Elena, myself included.
"I was just playing with you guys. It's your first time in my class. I'm not going to give you guys that much homework yet." she giggled, and I almost paled at her words.
"Now pack you bags, write down the homework and you may leave. Class dismissed." our teacher said, and all the students rushed to close their bags as they all filed out of the classroom and into the hall, going to find their lockers.
"What do you have next?" Elena asked me, and I pulled out my schedule.
"Drama."
"Oof. I have Visual Arts so I got to go." She pouted, and waved me goodbye as she skipped away.
"Great. Now I don't know where to go." I mumbled, and a hand tapped my shoulders.
I turned to see Caroline, her red hair shining under the light as her eyes narrowed onto me.
"You have drama, am I right?"
"Yeah." I answered nervously.
"Great. I have it too, so follow me." she ordered, leaving me gaping at her with my jaw hanging open. "Well? Are you coming or not?"
Deciding to disregard everything Elena has told me about Caroline, I speed-walked over to her as we walked side by side. Honestly, I'd rather take Caroline's help even if she was a 'bitch' as Elena had told me, then roam in the corridors like a lost idiot.
"So... Why are you helping me?" I asked her, and she turned to me.
"Why do you think?" she retorted.
Shrugging my shoulders, I replied. "I don't know. You seemed to not like Elena, so I didn't know if you'd dislike me as well."
At my words, Caroline erupted into snickers as she stared at me with amused eyes.
"I don't dislike Elena nor do I dislike you." She waved her hand dismissively. "Elena is the one who dislikes me."
At her words, a wave of protectiveness erupted in myself for my first ever best friend. Caroline better stop right now, she was stepping over the line, lying to me about things that I saw with my own eyes. Caroline won't get in the way of my first friendship, I'd make sure of it.
"Stop lying, Caroline. We all know that you hate Elena because you are jealous of her." I snapped, and when her eyes suddenly became guarded, my guilt spiked.
I didn't mean to be that harsh.
"I- I..." I wanted to scoop everything I just blurted back into my mouth this instant.
"Is that what she told you?" Caroline laughed as if the idea was absurd. "Fine. Believe what you want, but trust me when I tell you that Elena is bad news, which is why everyone stays clear of her."
"I call bullshit." I said bluntly, and Caroline's eyes trained on me.
"It's fine if you don't believe me. Just don't come running back to me when you realize who Elena really is."
She's just a jealous bimbo, trying to break my first ever friendship.
Snorting at her words, I gave her a glare of my own. "Right." I drawled, "I won't ever come running back to you. You didn't make a good first impression."
She scoffed, and gave me a look that screamed: 'Do you think I care?'
We fell into an awkward, but tense silence, the only sounds produced were by our heeled feet hitting the floor every time we stepped. Even then though, we both tried to keep the sound to a minimum.
"We're here." she said monotonously as she motioned to a very... Decorated classroom.
Decorated wasn't even a big enough word for what described the room as it was just a big mess.
Costumes were hung everywhere, and posters of difference acting ways we could do were hanging off the wall in an uneven formation. Some of them were close to falling off, but it didn't even seem like the teacher cared.
Sitting at his desk, the teacher had a round stomach with a small moustache that twirled at the ends. His beard was shaved, and his brown hair with streaks of grey in the middle was split at the side of his head. With brown eyes as well, he looked... Crazy. Not in a bad way of course.
"Good morning mes enfants!" the teacher yelled when the bell rang. "Je m'appelle Monsieur Brodeur, and I'm going to be your drama teacher for the rest of the semester!"
This teacher was clearly French from his accent and he had a crazy glint in his eye as he stared at us like prey, causing me to shrink into myself as I tried to hide from his gaze.
"Today, we are going to go through some... 'Mua' scenes in movies and how they are made." he made kissing noises as his lips puckered together as he kissed the air. "Aujourd'hui sera très intéressante."
I take it back, this teacher was bat shit crazy.
***
Thank you guys so much for more than 8k views and 400 votes! I really appreciate it guys, and please keep it up! By the way, if you don't know yet, Option #1 won, so I will be following that update schedule from now on.
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QotC: Who here can speak a language other than English?
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