It was after school and Gabriela was making her way to the Irish school. She wanted to join Christian in the promised one to one session where he was meant to help her with working with the new telescope.

She made her way inside the building. She walked up a few flights of stairs to reach the very top floor and then made her way from there to the roof where the small room was placed with all kind of telescopes. She hoped Christian was keeping his end of the bargain. She really liked astronomy and could use all the help she could get. She reached the room on the roof, she opened the door which was not locked. As she entered, she felt relief as she saw Christian.

Christian was looking through the telescope. He heard her enter and turned around "Oh. Hi. Right on time. Come here. Take a seat."

Gabriela said "Hello Christian." She then walked towards the telescope and sat down where Christian had placed a chair and a desk next to his standing form and the telescope. He got right to it. He showed everything about the telescope and helped her understand. He gave Gabriela some notes.

Gabriela looked through the notes "This is great. Thank you Christian."

Christian said "You can try looking through the telescope now. But you won't see much. There is day light. But what you will see is enough for the calculations needed for the task you want to complete."

Gabriela said "I will give it a try. Thanks." She then stood up and looked through the telescope.

Christian slowly walked towards her and then stood right behind her as he spoke "Do you need any more help?"

Gabriela said "No. This is great. Thank you."

Christian said "I am right here if you have any more questions..."

Gabriela said as she was looking at the sky through the telescope "I love star gazing... It is so satisfying ..."

Christian said "I love star gazing too. It definitely is satisfying." He then thought to himself "But not as nearly satisfying as staring into your stunning beautiful eyes. Who needs to gaze at the stars when they have you right in front of them..."

Gabriela said as she was looking through the telescope "I guess we have one thing in common at least Christian... We are both star gazers and appreciate stars when we see them..."

Christian said "No doubt..." He then thought to himself "Oh. I don't know about the stars... But I do appreciate it very much when I look into your eyes... When I look at the stars, my heart certainly does not jump and I do not feel like I want to spend the rest of my life looking at them every morning when I wake up. But I do get that feeling when I meet your eyes..."

After Gabriela was satisfied with what she had seen, she stepped aside. She went back to sit down on the chair and picked up a pen "Let me make some notes in my own note book." She then paused and looked down "Oh. I just remembered something."

Christian watched as Gabriela bent down and took out a large paper bag that was full by the looks of it from her back pack. She handed it to Christian "In the last lesson of the day, I had food studies. I made more cookies than needed... I thought my cookies may not taste so good and I would have to redo them. So here you are. My teacher said they are nice so I brought them for you. I thought if my cookies have turned out nice today, you should have them because I wanted to thank you for offering to help me. They are still warm. Try some and tell me if you like them. Be honest though..."

Christian wanted to say "Please punch me... I must be dreaming." He said "Thank you. Let me try a few and tell you what I think. I will be honest with my judgement. You do not need to worry about that... Trust me..." Christian took the paper bag from her.

Gabriela said "Great. So do that while I make some notes." She then picked up her pen and got on with her work.

Christian pulled up a chair and sat across from Gabriela who was now writing. He opened the bag and took out a cookie. He put one in his mouth. He closed his eyes. This cookie was so delicious. He finished the first cookie and opened his eyes "It's delicious. If there was an Oscar's ceremony for cookie of the year, this would definitely win."

Gabriela said as she was writing "Come on. Really? Do you mean it? Or you are trying to be funny?"

Christian said "I do mean it..."

Gabriela said as she was looking down "Then I cherish your compliment..."

Christian thought to himself "And I cherish these cookies and ... your presence right in front of me... Here is such a great place to be to have such heavenly tasting cookies."

Christian then took another cookie and took a bite. It melted in his mouth. He could not believe a cookie could be this delicious. He took his time eating the cookie and taking in its taste. He said "I hope you don't mind me eating all of this. Don't you want to take them home?"

Gabriela said as she was writing "I told you the last time when you came to our home... I bake often. You can have them all. For your information, today I was going to leave the cookies to my classmates in my food studies class today. Right now at home I have so much baked treats from the day before that I have made. I did not want to let any cookies go to waste... So I was ready to give them away. But then I thought I bring them to you because they turned out alright apparently... The demand was high for some reason for my cookies today in my class. The aroma of the cookies had spread all over the building because I had baked so much today...

Christian thought to himself " The demand was high for your cookies. Was it? I bet it was. Guess what? I am sure by the next lesson, the demand to never demand anything from you will be much higher for some reason..." He said "I am glad you brought me the cookies today. I think during the next lesson, if none of your classmates demand to have anything you have made and you don't want to take it home either, you should donate it to my home room. I will make sure what you make does not go to waste. Just leave the paper bag in my home room with my name on it."

Gabriela still kept looking down while writing "Ok. I will do that..."

Christian smiled to himself. He decided to stop eating the rest of the cookies and leave some for later. He put the bag of cookies in his back pack and just sat there watching Gabriela. The taste of her cookies alone were out of this world. The taste of spending a life time with her could only be left to his imagination. She was just so perfect. Everything about her was just

Gabriela said as she was writing "I am almost done. Then I will be taking my leave... I am sure you have other plans for this afternoon. You must have places to be and things to do after this session..."

Christian said "Take your time... There is no rush at all..." He then thought to himself "All I am thinking about right now is you, all I want to do is make you fall in love with me and the only place I want to be is with you..."

Gabriela closed her notebook and looked at her watch "I finished with time to spare. You are a very efficient tutor." She looked up at Christian "You are so reliable..."

Christian said "Oh. I know..." He then thought to himself "You can always rely on me.... Maybe you should start relying on me as your man..."

Gabriela stood up "I should go." She then started collecting her belongings and put them in her back pack.

Christian walked towards and watched her as she put her back pack on. He said "Come back anytime if you ever need anything ... As you said... I am reliable."

Gabriela said "Be careful what you offer Christian... I may accept your offer... You know, the only other boy I have ever relied on for help with my studies is Luigi."

Christian's expression hardened as he was now standing close to her "Is it? Really? I did not know that... I would have thought the only other boy you ask help from is your brother. He is in the year above you like Luigi and I..."

Gabriela said "Well... I do go to Gianluca alot for help with my studies actually but he does not take all the subjects that I take... So sometimes I used to go to Luigi..."

Christian said "You used to? So you don't go anymore?" He asked hopefully.

Gabriela said "He is busy with Ed... I mean his new friends..." She said quickly "These days he is busy with some new friends of his... So I don't bother him much ..."

Christian knew she meant to say "Eden". Obviously Gabriela felt that he was a threat to Eden. No one associated her with Luigi. Ethan Carter was Luigi's friend who was respected by him. Eden happened to be Ethan's sister. For now, no one suspected Eden to be special to Luigi. But there was no way Luigi was agreeing to partner up with a girl who was not his girl in projects and certainly was never going to gift a personalised Alessandrini pen to a friend's sister. He knew who Eden was to Luigi. Gabriela did not trust Christian to let him know who Luigi was busy with. Eden had signed up as Luigi's dance partner for the home coming dance but that strictly said that they were not dating. Anyone could be a dance partner in the home coming event, even someone's sibling. So there was no suspicion there.

Christian decided to push Gabriela abit. He said "You know... These friends of his... Is any of them happen to be a girl perhaps who he is interested in?"

Gabriela said as she tried to hide the panic in her voice "Huh? A girl he likes? Well. You can ask him Christian. The next time you see him." She looked at her watch "See you later Christian." She then walked towards the door.

Christian smiled. She did not want to lie to him. So she had just ran away instead and had avoided his question to protect one of the closest allies of the Belaggios. Any enemy of the Alessandrini family may have jumped on the chance to destroy Luigi by using his girl to hurt him by different means before she was claimed. There were many ways. She was not from a crime family by the sound of it. So it was not hard to turn her against Luigi and set her up to create distance between her and Luigi.

The possibilities were endless for hurting Luigi through his girl if someone had a well thought plan to execute. But of course, Christian wanted Eden and Luigi's relationship to work unlike anything anyone would have guessed. All because of Gabriela. He only saw Luigi as a rival in winning Gabriela's heart. If Eden turned Luigi down, he was sure Luigi would have tried to get close the only other girl he ever paid any positive attention to. Gabriela... His Gabriela. The thought did not sit well with him of any man being close to having Gabriela. She was his girl and only his.

Gabriela opened the door and heard Christian say "Goodbye Gabriela. See you later."

Gabriela said "Goodbye". She then closed the door. She said to herself "That was close. I almost said Eden's name. What was I thinking? Almost revealing her name to an Irish of all the god damn people?" She shook her head and then walked away. She made her way down the steps to make her way out of the building.

Gabriela was wary of Christian. He was Gianluca's best friend but he was also happened to be a Kavannagh. The Belaggios were immune to the Kavannaghs, but the rest of the world weren't.

Gabriela had no idea what went on in the mind of Christian. She could never figure him out. Christian was mostly an observer than someone who expressed what he thought and felt. But when Christian did open up and gave glimpse of his thoughts, it did pull her in for some reason. Something about Christian had always intrigued her. She did not know what it was. Something told her there was more to Christian than being her brother's best friend. Something always told her Christian was worth knowing. She was always curious about him but she never had gotten this close to him before. And recently when he gave her his full attention and looked into her eyes it stirred up feelings inside her. She did not know what those feelings were. Her instinct told her to get to know Christian and it was worth it. She was wary of him but somehow she felt safe with him. She always had felt safe with him.

****

It was after school and Eden made her way to attend the first science club session. She entered the science building and looked for the room. When she located the room, she found it empty. She was baffled. What was happening? She looked at her schedule. She took out the piece of paper that showed the schedule. She checked the room number and it was correct. She made her way to the science secretary's office. She showed her schedule and said "I am looking for the science club. It is not where it is supposed to be."

The secretary took the paper away and said "If you check the bottom of the schedule paper it does say that environmental science sessions of the club happen in the north side's forest area unless it is raining or snowing." She then handed back her piece of paper and also supplied her with the map of school "Here is a school map if you don't one with you."

Eden said "Thank you." She then made her way to the school's north side forest area. She was so annoyed they had a different venue for that day's session and she had not realised it. She was now late. She did not like missing any portions of her lessons.

As Eden spotted a crowd outside the forest area she recognised Luigi who was standing talking to the group of students who were sitting on the grass. He was wearing his club president badge. This was going to be interesting seeing him as the instructor of the lesson. He was bossy so she expected him to be a harsh instructor.

Luigi had asked students to stand up and work in groups. They were asked to get some equipment and to go inside the forest and collect some samples.

As the students were spreading out and collecting equipment from the boxes provided, Luigi suddenly found himself face to face with Eden.

Eden said "Sorry I am late to the first science club session. I had not checked the schedule of this club in good detail. I did not know that environmental science lessons were held here in this area of the school. I am late because I went to the science building first. Can you help me catch up with what I missed please?"

Luigi said "Sure. I can help you with catching up with what you missed today. I will see you in detention in the science club's president's office after this session today."

Eden said "Detention? I have detention today?"

Luigi said "I know. It is a light sanction for being late to my session. But because you did not know where the session was going to be held, I give you detention. If you knew of the venue and was late because you did not come straight here after the bell went, trust me, you could get alot more than detention from me... I will see you in my office after this session. It will be half an hour long. The same length as the homework club you were going to attend after this session. You should do your homework at home instead today.

Eden could not believe he had just given her detention. She was too shocked and he just went on to explain what she needed to do. She was so annoyed with Luigi but she understood it was the rules. Student presidents as instructors of clubs had to enforce rules. She walked to a group and joined them.

After the lengthy session, the students dispersed and left. That left Luigi with Eden.

Luigi said "Let's go."

Eden was following Luigi as she said "I cant believe I earned myself detention in this new school. I am so annoyed."

Luigi said "Relax. It won't go on your report card if that is what you are worried about."

Eden asked "It won't?"

Luigi said "No."

Eden asked "Why not? I mean. I am not complaining... But why isn't it?"

Luigi said "Putting lateness on reports cards is at the discretion of the one running the sessions. I can choose to do so or not. But normally if anyone is late to any club I run, I just kick them out. So there is never any need to report any lateness if the culprits are not going to be in the sessions any more after that..."

Eden asked "What? How can you be so harsh? What if someone was late and could not help it?"

Luigi said "Then in that case they should get a note and bring it to me from the main office explaining the reason they were late and if a teacher made them late then they can also give. a note. You could get a note from the secretary. You forgot. No note to excuse you being late means detention for you."

Eden said "But wouldn't you kick someone out if they did that?"

Luigi said "In theory yes. But you are not just someone. I know you are dedicated. I know you are hardworking so I have no reason to kick you out of the club for being late because I do not think you were late because you did not take the club seriously. This club needs serious students. Not anyone who plays around. We are up against other schools in the competitions. We cant afford to fall behind because someone does not bother to turn up on time and misses work."

Eden said "But I think it is still unfair Luigi. What would the people who you have ever kicked out for being late say if they know you let me off with detention instead of kicking me out for being late..."

Luigi said "They won't be saying anything because they do not exist. Not yet."

Eden said "What do you mean?" She was so confused.

Luigi said "No one has ever been late to any session I have ever ran in my life. Football practice, science club... You name it. People just make sure they check their schedule very carefully when they have me as their instructor. People just know I do not like tardiness. They would not dare test the waters. They know not only I kick them out but there maybe more coming their way too. I do not forgive and forget easily... I do give sanctions if mistakes happen in sessions. They can be dealt with without kicking someone out with other consequences. But being late unless someone could not help it is not a mistake. It is a sin. One where there is no redemption."

Eden was taking in the information. Luigi meant what he was saying. There was meaning behind his words. Why was he so strict? This was a school not the military. Why was he so harsh. And why did people fear being late to his class? Was he that bad when he dealt with people? He said he kicked late comers out and there was more coming their way too. What did he mean? He just could not understand Luigi. He could not imagine what he was talking about. She shook her head "Your words are mind blowing to me... I think you over react Luigi..."

Luigi said "That is your interpretation Eden. But I have not over reacted to you being late. Have I? I have given you detention and I will help you catch up with what you missed at the beginning of the session... Trust me. You will want to hear it."

Eden said "I have no complaints about that. I think you are enforcing the school rules on that... But you have not enforced your own rules..."

Luigi said "But I have enforced my own rules for you... Eden do you actually want to be kicked out of this club for being late when you say it wasn't even your fault? Or you would take the detention?"

Eden said "Is that a trick question? I do not want to be kicked out..."

Luigi said "Good. Detention it is then."

Eden said "But I want to be treated fairly..."