Andrea's pov

Me and Valentina went our separate ways after second period. Third period, I have Chemistry with Marcel. Valentina's next class is next door to my Chemistry class. So we walked together. We bid our goodbyes though and promised to meet at lunch.

As soon as I walk into Chemistry, I find Marcel who's seated with who I assume are his friends, which consists of two other boys.

The first one has platinum blond hair and vibrant blue eyes. And the other one has chestnut hair the color of a tropical squirrel. His hair is more spiked than his blond friend, whose hair is more curly. His eyes are so dark they look almost black.

Like my soul.

Marcels turns to the doorway and sees me standing there. He beckons me over. So I walk towards him and his friends, who look at me curiously.

"Oh is this the sister you were talking about?" Blond hair asks my brother. "No, she's my new turtle. Of course she's my sister. Look, we have the same eyes." Marcel pulls me towards him so his friends can compare us. I roll my eyes, slightly amused.

"You bought a turtle?" Blondie asks. Chestnut hair sighs and pats his friend on the back.

"Of course he didn't. If he did, the poor thing would be dead in less than a week." Marcel scowls and flips him off. Chestnut hair just smiles at him with a pointed look. "What? The last time you had a pet, it died because you didn't feed it."

"I was too worried about feeding myself, okay! And besides, my last pet was a goldfish. And those things always die anyway. It was a greedy little brat to be honest. I forgot to feed it once and then he killed himself." Marcel says like it's no big deal his fish killed himself.

"How do you know it was a he? What if it was a her?" Marcel shrugs.

"The thing was dramatic, greedy, and entitled. It had to be male." His friends tilt their head and nod in agreement. "True." Chestnut hair mumbles.

His friends turn their attention back to me and smile. I give them a small smile back.

"Soooo how's your first day going? Meet any friends? Anyone ask you out or give you any trouble?" Marcel asks, talking really fast I barely understand him. I laugh. I thought I wasn't supposed to date? Hmm must only be Roman who's over protective.

"Yes I met some friends, I think. Honestly not that sure if we're considered friends. They invited me to sit with them, that's good right? And no, no one asked me out. Who the fuck acts that quick?" Marcel shrugs.

"A lot of people. And yes, that's like the beginning of a friendship. You never had a friend before?" I sheepishly look at Marcel. His friends look at us amused.

"Not really good at that." I admit. He smiles softly.

"I'm sure you'll make some." Chestnut hair says. Marcel's friends seem nice enough.

The teacher still hasn't arrived for Chemistry. "He's always late." Blondie explains. "There hasn't been a day so far where he hasn't been late to class."

Marcel practically drags me into the empty seat across from him and next to chestnut hair. "I'm Edwin." Chestnut hair introduces himself. He points to blondie. "That's Luka."

Luka waves and grins widely with his straight white teeth on full display. He sticks his hand out. "Nice to meet you Andrea. Marcel told us about you when he heard about you moving here." I shake his hand and also smile softly.

"It's nice to meet you both." I say pulling my hand away from Luka's.

"You too luv." Edwin says. Marcel claps his hands. "Alright! So tell me all about your day so far, starting from when me and Roman left you and Armani."

~~~

Lunch couldn't have come fast enough. I was starving and was about to fall over onto the floor dead from starvation. I grab all my things and don't even wait for Marcel as I zoom past everyone. I come face to face with the busy hallway.

Someone tried to touch my shoulder from behind and as a reflex, I spinned around and grabbed their hand midair. Valentina's shocked face comes into view. Shit. Please don't say I just ruined my only chance of having friends. Instead of yelling or bitching at me though, Val's mouth forms into the widest smile I've ever seen.

"Wow, good reflexes girl. Like really good. Can you let my wrist go though? It's starting to hurt." I snap out of it and let go of her wrist. She rubs the now slightly red spot.

"Sorry." I apologize meekly. She shakes her head. "Don't be." She puts an arm around my shoulder as she steers me towards, what I assume, is the cafeteria. "Genesis and Angelo are meeting us there, along with everyone else in the group." She tells me. I nod.

We make it to the cafeteria where other students are filing in. She walks towards the lunch line and tilts her head towards me. "Are you buying lunch?"

"Yeah." I responded. She smiles. "Well you're lucky. You got here on lasagna day." We pick out our food. I grabbed a slice of lasagna, a container of Caesar salad, a can of diet coke, and a vine of grapes. This is way better than the cps system lunch food. Actually, I think this is better than any school in the U.S.

School lunch around the world is honestly better than the ones in the U.S. At least from what I saw in pictures. Seeing it in front of me, I can strongly say that's true.

I follow Valentina to a table in the far right side of the cafeteria, where a lot of other people are already seated. As I get closer to the table, I notice a familiar face that's talking with a short haired brunette girl next to him.

"Armani?" I said surprised. He stops talking midway into the conversation he was having and turns towards me, equally surprised. Valentina and everyone else at the table is looking between the two of us in realization.

"Do you guys know each other?" Angelo asks. Genesis sighs, not looking up from her book.

"Come on Angel. They're clearly twins. They look alike and rode together this morning." She states, giving him a side glance. He looks between me and Armani and slaps his forehead.

"Duh, how did I not notice?" Genesis shrugs. There are three people I do not know at the table.

The brunette girl with the pale blue eyes that Armani was talking to. An older looking black haired boy that has emerald colored eyes. His eyes hold a mischievous glint that is similar to the one me and my twin always have. And the person who I don't know yet, is the blond with the thin chocolate brown eyes. He scans his surroundings every so often and his eyes sharpen like a cat's.

Valentina ushers me over to sit, to which I do. I'm seated across from my twin, Angelo, the brunette girl, and the blond guy who I don't know as well. Genesis, Valentina, and the older looking black hair boy are on my side of the table. The blond-haired boy who sits next to my twin introduces himself first.

"Well I'm Micah. It's lovely to meet you." I smile at him. "You too. I'm Andrea."

"Hi, my name's Jazleen. I'm from California but moved here last year." The brunette girl across from me says. She's really pretty and is that blush I see on her cheeks? And oh my Jiminy Cricket, Armani is blushing too. Oooo I smell love at first sight.

"Lorenzo, everyone just calls me Enzo though. Lorenzo is too long." The older looking boy next to me complains. Armani introduces himself to Valentina. After all the introductions and stuff, we all start talking and getting to know each other.

So Genesis and Enzo are both Juniors while everyone else is in sophomore year with Armani and I.

And apparently Micah was also an exchange student and moved to Sicily when he was 7 and met Enzo. And then Enzo introduced him to Valentina, Angelo, and Genesis. And they've been friends ever since.

"I'm really sorry about your mom dying. Armani told us earlier why you guys moved here?" Jazleen tells me, pity in her eyes.

I softly smile. "It's really fine. I wasn't that close with her, and neither was Armani really." I said bluntly. It's not like I can tell them that Dominique was a crazy woman who abused her own kids and even went as far as killing someone because they were friends with them.

"What's Chicago like anyway?" Enzo asks me. I turn towards him while everyone else has their side conversations with each other.

"Bipolar." He raises an eyebrow.

"How?" I rest my chin on my palm and drum my other hand along the wood table.

"Well... say the weather for example. One day it could be sunny and 72 degrees Fahrenheit. And the next it could be cloudy, windy, and 42 degrees." I explain as he listens intently. "And sometimes really hot summer temperatures don't usually start until around July, at least in recent years. Oh and don't even get me started on snow." I say exasperated.

"Yeah, snow's a bitch." Armani inputs. He stopped talking with Micah and instead was listening to me and Enzo.

"You don't like snow?" Jazleen asks, giggling. He shakes his head, tossing her a smirk.

"I wish mother nature would just stick to the warm stuff. Snow makes everything harder. It makes walking around harder, carrying groceries harder, and just ruins everything. I hate the cold." He explains. I shake my head.

"He just hates the ice that forms after the snow mixes with the rain." He looks at me, faking offense.

"Not true! I could deal with ice. I can't deal with snow." A smile plays onto my lips.

"Soooo you slipping and cursing at the ice every winter is your other identical twin I don't know about?" Armani glares at me. "I don't slip." He mumbles annoyed.

"You're right, you fall." I correct. He sneakily shows me the middle finger and I smirk. Oh how much I love riling him up. Damn, I'm lowkey toxic.

Don't you know that you're toxic?

And I love what you do

Don't you know that you're toxic?

Don't you know that you're toxic?

Alright inner voice, I love Britney. But now is not the time. Later for sure though.

Jazleen smiles softly at Armani. "Well I'm good on the ice. Maybe we can go ice skating in a few months and I can teach you how to... not fall." She giggles. Okay... you go girl.

Armani stops glaring at me and pink blush coats his cheeks. Aww he has a crush. Ha it's been like 4 hours of school and he already has a potential love life. Smooth.

And he said he doesn't have time for dating.

"Chicago's famous for it's deep dish pizza, right?" Valentina asks curiously. Armani and I turned to her like she grew two heads.

"It is?" We said at the same time. Angel nods slowly. "Yeah... at least according to google." He laughs.

Armani turns to me confused. 'Have you ever had deep dish?' He mouths. I shake my head.

"Yeah... no. We've never had deep dish. And everyone we knew back home, who had tried it, hated it. That's mostly just a rumor. It's not really the heart of Chicago. Well unless we're talking about the 1900's." Armani clarifies.

I've never had a deep dish. But Rio and Chris have once, and only once. They hated it and explained how it was. It was super saucy and cheesy. Like way too much of each ingredient. And when you pulled the slices off the plate or tray, the cheese would be really stretchy and long.

And according to other people we went to school with, they also said that it's overrated.

"Italy for sure has the superior pizza." I declare, pointing my fork that has a piece of lasagna on it before stuffing it in my mouth. Augh this food is so good. And this is why I want to marry food instead of an actual human being.

You're such a fat ass.

And proud of it.

We all continue getting to know each other. They tell me and Armani about all the good spots in Italy. They asked us lots of questions about Chicago, to which we answered, clearing up some stereotypes they wondered about. We also exchanged numbers.

Just as I finished putting my number into Genesis's phone, the cafeteria doors swung open. Everyone's attention turns towards the front doors where a group of people walk in. And in the front of that group are both my brothers and some other people, including Luka and Edwin.

Murmurs fill up the cafeteria. Some girls look at them flirtatiously with lust, while others roll their eyes and turn away to go back to their food, phones, or conversations. Boys do the same, looking lustfully at the group. I don't know whether it's from the girls or the boys in the group, but either way they find someone attractive.

And others just clench their jaws and roll their eyes in annoyance, looking at them with hate. Huh so it seems that our brothers and their friends are either hated or loved.

"Roman and Marcel are your brothers right?" Micah asks us. Armani and I nod and turn away from the doors. Angel looks at the table and cracks his knuckles, not sparing a glance at the door. He lets out a shaky breath and looks at me.

"What's it like... living with them I mean?" I shrug. Why is he so nervous?

"Fine I guess. I barely speak to them to be honest, besides dinner of course and occasional conversations here and there." I laugh. He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Huh, not what I was expecting." He says under his breath. Angelo goes back to his food but instead of eating it, he just plays around with it. There's still a lot on his plate and I'm a little concerned on how he can turn down such good food.

"Why? What were you expecting?" Armani skeptically asks. Angel doesn't get a chance to answer though because a voice behind us speaks before he can.

"Hello children."

Turning around, I come face to face with Roman, Marcel, and another guy who I don't know. He's built and tall like Roman and Marcel though. And he looks like a senior as well. From the corner of my eye, I see Angelo turn still with his eyes trained on his food. The guy I don't know looks toward my new auburn haired friend.

They look really similar now that I'm looking at it.

Roman looks back and forth between Armani and I. "How has your day been? Need me to help you kick someone's ass? Help of course. You guys can get the majority of the punches in." Armani and I laugh slightly.

"We've been good, obviously." I eye my new group of friends who are watching this all amused. Enzo and Micah pale a bit though when Roman glares at them.

The guy who I don't know, walks up behind Angelo and puts his fisted hand on top of his head. Angel jumps up surprised before relaxing. He clenches his jaw and doesn't look up and instead continues picking at his food.

"Hey lil bro." Ohhh they're brothers. Of course. How did I not grasp that sooner?

Cause you're clearly blind.

Oh honey you are me, so technically you're blind too.

Angelo doesn't look up but he does mumble a "hey" back. Angel's brother turns towards me and my twin.

He nods his head in greeting. "Hey, I'm Dante."

"Armani." He gestures towards me. "That's my twin, Andrea."

"Yeah I know, you're Roman's little siblings. Nice to meet you." Then he turns back to his brother with a smirk. "Soooo what grade did you get for that homework assignment for... third period?" He muses. Angelo scowls.

"You know what grade I got you ass." He says through his gritted teeth. Dante puts on a fake confused face. "What do you mean?"

Angelo finally looks up at his brother with a glare. "You know what I'm talking about, you homework destroyer!" Dante chuckles. "Ohhh that. Well why didn't you just tell her that the dog ate your homework?" Angelo shuts his eyes in frustration.

"Because that's the stupidest excuse anyone has ever heard. And Bella wouldn't have destroyed it, if you didn't give it to her with meat grease smeared on it." He shoves his finger in Dante's chest. Dante just shrugs though.

"Well next time hide it better."

"Era nella mia stanza, pezzo di merda!" Oh shit. You know it's serious when someone starts cursing in their first language. (T: It was in my room, you piece of shit!)

"Well... you should still hide it better. It was just sitting on your desk, practically calling for me. I just had to take it. Then Bella came and I thought she should have a little snack." He simply argues. They don't seem to get along.

"I hate you." Angelo sulks, putting his cheek on his fisted hand. Dante smirks, amusement clearly shown on his face.

"Love you too, Nemo." He coos before walking back towards Roman and Marcel who shake their heads at their friend's teasing towards his brother.

"You're riding with me today. Also stop playing with your food, it'll get cold the longer you let it sit." He tells Angelo who sighs.

"Yeah yeah I know."

"Well we should go before Clara and Mia start cursing at us from across the cafeteria." Roman jokes. Marcel does a mocking salute gesture towards me and Armani then walks away with Roman and Dante, who waved a silent goodbye.

They sit down at their own table in the middle of the cafeteria where Luka, Edwin, and a few other boys sit, along with some girls.

I turned to Angelo who had gone back to eating his food. "So your brother is friends with mine?" I ask for clarification. He nods. "They've been best friends since they were eight."

Armani furrows his eyebrows. "Why didn't you mention this before?" He shrugs.

"Me and Dante don't really get along. He makes my life more annoying than it is. He just loves to make everything miserable for me. And he knows it too. Oh and don't even get me started on the pranks he's pulled with Roman on me. Bastards used to test their pranks on me. They don't anymore, but still. He's also the reason I almost failed Algebra I last year!" Angelo rants annoyed. He turns to us. "Sorry, like no offense to your brother or anything. It's mostly Dante who's a piece of fucking crap."

"He doesn't hate you though. At least he's better than my brother. Mine's an idiot." Micah puts in, trying to be positive. Angelo gives him a pointed look.

"He hates me." Angel states. Micah only shakes his head in denial.

"Nah. Remember when you were getting bullied by Daniel Esposito? What did Dante do when he found out?"

"He fucked up Daniel's face and ribs, got himself arrested, and then got himself scolded and grounded by our parents after they had to bail him out." He mutters.

"Damn that's some love right there." Armani chides.

Enzo nods. "Yeah, what they said. You know Dante, it's just his personality to act like he does with you and pretty much everyone else. You know he cares though, in his own weird way."

Angelo bites his lip. "Ya think?" He whispers. Genesis looks up from her book. "Of course Angel. They're right, it's just the way he acts. And hey! He even gets you birthday gifts. My sisters can't even remember my birthday, except Esperanza. But she's the oldest and the oldest are always like that."

"Alright, you guys are right. Maybe that's just how all half siblings act." They aren't full siblings? I wasn't expecting that. They look too alike to not have the same parent.

"Half siblings? I didn't even know that." Jazleen voices her thoughts. Angelo shrugs.

"Not something I really talk about. We have the same dad, but different moms. I moved in with them when I was three after..." He stops and clears his throat. "After something happened I was put under my dad's guardianship. I guess Dante didn't like having his half brother living with him." I don't comment on what exactly this "something" was. It's honestly none of my business. And it looks to be a sore topic for him.

"What happened?" Jazleen asks, completely oblivious. Girl, read the room.

Angelo doesn't get a chance to respond though because the bell rings signaling the end of lunch. Angel, clearly relieved, gets up and puts a fake smile on his face. "Looks like it's the end of lunch. You guys have Ancient Greek, right?" He asks me and my twin. We both nod at the same time. Armani grabbed his backpack and put it on his shoulder, standing next to me after.

"Cool, me and Enzo have that class too. You ready to go?"

"Yeah sure." And all four of us throw away our trash and walk out, waving goodbye to the rest of our friends who are grabbing their things too.

We follow Angelo and Enzo, considering me and Armani have no idea where Ancient Greek is. Enzo keeps sending Angelo worried looks. Armani and I are completely oblivious but don't question it.

"Sooo what's your guy's zodiac signs?"

Leonardo's pov

I suppress a yawn as I listen to Jonathan Miller talk on and on about why we should consider partnering with him. I don't understand why Padre even wanted to meet with him in the first place. All our legal businesses are family owned. We run almost all of our different businesses, and the ones we can't watch over due to location, we leave to trusting employees who've been around for years or are like close friends of ours.

He wants to partner with Bianchi Co. though. Which is a location in Sicily, where we have full access to. We don't need any help running it and we don't even know the man. I don't trust him and I don't understand why anyone would. Considering his file says he was arrested for embezzlement.

And yet me and padre have been stuck in this meeting room since seven in the morning because Miller insists we agree to this deal.

I missed seeing the twins leave for their first day of school, for this?

How annoying. This is probably the worst part of my job. I prefer the action that comes with being the soon to be capo. But meetings are bothersome. I can even tolerate paperwork. But letting people talk for hours like this, gives me flashbacks to high school and college days.

I finished school, so I figured I wouldn't have to listen to lectures anymore. Guess not.

I fix my cuffs and glance at my father. For the last hour, he's been checking his gold plated watch. The one he got from his padre, my nonno. I think he's starting to regret agreeing to this meeting. I told him this would be a bad idea.

"It would also bring good income for both parties." He adds. I cringe at income. Of course, money. That's the only reason he would want to partner with one of our successful businesses.

Just as Miller is about to switch to the next slide of his presentation, Padre's assistant walks in. Rina nervously looks around the room, her eyes landing on me.

"Mr. Bianchi, an urgent matter has come up that needs your attention." I raise an eyebrow. Regardless though, I stand up and turn apologetically at Jonathan.

"My apologies Mr. Miller. I have to attend to this matter. Please continue without me." I take a look at Padre's face that is practically screaming 'don't you dare leave me here alone or I'll shoot you.'

Jonathan doesn't seem to mind my absence though and bids me a goodbye. I sneakily smirk at my father who's sending me a death glare. It slips off his face though whenever Miller looks at him.

I follow Rina out of the meeting room. Once we're far enough from other lingering ears, I ask her why she called me.

"Your brother, Giovanni, is requesting your presence. He says it's important." I nod and thank her before walking towards Gio's office. I enter his office that's connected to mine and see he's typing away on his keyboard. He looks up when he hears my footsteps.

"Hey, how was that meeting?" He smirks, knowing how much I probably hated it. I roll my eyes.

"Worst thing ever. I left Padre to it. I suppose I should thank you for getting me out of there." He shrugs.

"I guess. I do actually need to show you something." I look at him confused. Giovanni sighs. "It has to do with the twins." Instantly, the hairs on my neck stand up.

"What about them?" They aren't hurt, are they? No...if they were he wouldn't have just called me.

I've known them for less than a week and I already trust them. Which is surprising since I have trust issues.

Blame it on my mother for running away with another man when I was only a preteen. I was never good with new people since, in fear that they would leave like she did.

It would take me at least a few months to trust someone new. But it only took me a few days to trust the twins, it probably has to do with the fact that we're family.

I'm pissed that Dominique not only left us all, but took my unborn little siblings with her. None of us even knew they existed until now.

I wish I could bring her back from the dead and kill her myself. I honestly don't give a flying fuck if she gave birth to me.

It's not like she ever really loved me. She didn't love my brothers either. I can only hope she loved Andrea and Armani. But since she died of an overdose, she was probably a druggie who ruined any relationship she had with them.

I'm hoping that wasn't the case. But having a parent who abused substances and such, probably doesn't do good on your mental health.

"You know how last night, they said that some men were following them?" I nodded my head slowly. "Padre asked me to look into that, hack into street cameras and find out who exactly it was."

"Did you find them?" I asked, eager to get my hands on the bastards who tried hurting our fratellini. (T: Younger/little siblings)

"Of course I did. It wasn't that hard. All I had to do was hack into a bunch of street cameras around the area during the time the twins were out and find a good angle where the men's faces show. Then run a scan of his face to get his address, number, social security, and a bunch of other information about him." He explains. That wasn't hard? Giovanni's a fucking genius when it comes to tech stuff.

"Some of our men already delivered them to the basement a few hours ago. But that's not all fratello." I looked at him puzzled, my eyes narrowed. He sighs. "They told us that it was near an alleyway and a street light, obviously not very helpful but I found a video clip anyway. The three men had dragged them into an alleyway and-" (T: Brother)

"Dragged them?" I bellowed. My hands are itching to throw punches at those stronzos. He huffs irritated. (T: Assholes)

"Yes. Now if you let me finish, you would know that they weren't badly hurt, obviously. But they did lie to us last night." He says. "They said they didn't get into a fight, but they did. Well if you count this a fight. I mean the other men barely got any hits in and pretty much just got knocked out in less than a minute flat.

He turns to me. "I'll play the video for you."

What I watch for the next few minutes both shocks me and leaves me with more unanswered questions about my newly introduced membri della famiglia. (T: family members)

******

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Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed this chapter ❤

 Let me know about any spelling, grammar, or plot mistakes. 

I think the next chapter will mostly be Leonardo's pov, but not exactly sure yet. 

So Angelo's and Dante's relationship is something, huh? Lol we'll be seeing Dante a lot later on. He's Roman's best friend, so he'll be around.

Have an amazing day/night! Stay positive, drink some water, and go eat something ✨

Love you all <3

Words: 4817