A group of older boys was gathered behind Valentino. They were more than eager to help him.

"We just had a disagreement it's nothing. Please, don't" Sofia said desperately.

"That doesn't mean he can yell at you. Don't stand in my way" Valentino was angry. "Sofia, move or-. Wait. Don't move. Why are you wearing PE uniform? Why is your hair wet?" He asked touching the strand of her hair to make sure. His anger shifted into concern.

"I spilled coffee on myself, it was a mess" Sofia mumbled her lame excuse.

"Are you hurt somewhere?" He asked, worried that she burned herself.

"No, I'm fine. Everything is fine" she said in a calming manner "And Bruno was yelling because I yelled first, we're not angry at each other we just had a disagreement you can't just beat up my friend Valentino"

"It's not just between you and him when he's yelling at you," Valentino said with his arms crossed, Sofia could see he calmed down a bit but it was still dangerous for Bruno to be nearby. He wasn't exactly sold on the idea of letting it slide.

"We were both angry but we're past that right Bruno?" Sofia asked carefully.

"No," Bruno said, stubbornly. Sofia froze because she knew what he's about to do. He's about to tell.

"Do you want to get slapped?" Valentino asked incredulously after Bruno's blunt response.

"That is not a preferable outcome, no" Bruno responded dryly.

"Are you going to apologize to her or do you need your nose broken first?" Valentino gracefully decided to give him an option.

"I'm sorry," Bruno said flatly.

"I'm- Sofia wanted to say she's sorry too.

Valentino stopped her. "Don't apologize to him," he said with contempt and then directed his attention once again to Bruno "I'm keeping an eye on you Neri one wrong move and I'm sending you to the hospital. This is your last warning" Valentino said dangerously pointing a finger at him.

Then Bruno turned away from her and started walking in opposite direction.

"Bruno wait!" Sofia said, she wanted to run after him but she Valentino pulled her by the collar of her shirt.

"No, no, no. You wait. You're sitting with me and we're going to have a chat" Valentino said and took her to his table.

"I thought it's a secret that I'm your sister" Sofia mumbled sitting at the table with the rest of Valentino's friends.

"It's only a secret if no guy yells at you. Thank your questionable friend later" Valentino responded after stuffing himself with pasta. The food in the cafeteria was amazing.

"He's not questionable" Sofia grumbled out.

"Really keep it going Sofia. I'm one step away from telling Alessandro about what happened today" Valentino threatened.

"You're a very mean person you know that?" Sofia asked.

Valentino shook his head as if he was disappointed with her words.

"Ah, insults. That's a bad strategy to insult someone if you want them to cooperate with you, I think" he said in a mock-hurt voice.

"Don't tell him" Sofia tried again.

"Seems like someone has a favor to ask for" he responded, his eyes glimmered with mischievousness.

Is "favor" a currency in this school? What the hell is wrong with them all!?

"You owe me more than one favor actually since I listened to your request and didn't slap the shit out of that loser" Valentino added. He ate so fast he almost dropped pasta on his forest green hoodie. It would be well deserved.

"Now I owe you for not beating people up?" Sofia raised her eyebrows. "What if I tell Alessandro that you were about to beat someone up?" Sofia tried to make her voice threatening.

For some reason, the whole table burst in laugher, including Valentino.

"Oh shiver my timbers what if Alessandro finds out I wanted to beat up the guy who disrespected you. If anything he would be mad that I decided to listen to you" Valentino responded.

Truly, what a family. Sofia shook her head.

Seeing that Sofia is not saying anything Valentino asked "So how are you going to pay for my silence?" He asked with curiosity.

"What do you want?" Sofia asked resigned. She was looking at her plate with disgust. She really didn't feel like eating right now. She started playing with her nails, they were painted in pastel pink color.

"Right now let's just agree that you owe me," Valentino said.

She quickly looked at him with an annoyed expression.

"Oh, so I have to agree to do something for you without even knowing what it is? Great, just awesome" she said sarcastically.

"Life is brutal, right?" he grinned.

"Stop smiling, you look like a devil-face emoji" Sofia responded not impressed with his behavior.

"I will stop if you start eating. You haven't touched your food" he pointed out completely changing the topic.

Sofia looked at her plate with absolute disgust. The food here was amazing, like in a good restaurant. It was after all a school for the rich kids. But despite all that, she was staring at the pasta with tomato sauce and aubergine unable to eat it.

"You didn't take even a bite. What is going on, you don't like it?" Valentino asked.

"Nothing," Sofia said and stuffed her mouth with food hoping this will stop him from asking her questions. One bite, second, third, fourth. She felt like she's about to puke but she continued eating until her stomach started to hurt. "Look, classes are about to begin" Sofia pretended to be surprised as she checked what time it is.

She quickly waved Valentino goodbye and evacuated herself from his table. Valentino's eyes were shining with worry as she went towards the corridor in opposite direction to where he had classes.

He made a mental note to talk with Alessandro about Sofia. He stopped giving a shit about the favor the moment he saw Sofia leaving the cafeteria with blank eyes.

Something was very wrong.

Author's note:

I love to read how you guess what's going to happen next ❤️