five,

episode three ~ ghosts

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"Today was a fantastic day," Ludo started telling the girls, as the three of them sat outside on the bleachers.

Gianna has decided to come to school today, just because she didn't want to be interrogated by her father about what's wrong.

"I got an eight. That hasn't happened since elementary school," she said.

"How did you do that? Chiara asked.

"I copied," Ludo shrugged.

"And here I thought you actually studied," Gianna teased, exhaling smoke from the joint she was smoking.

"Seems like you don't know me at all," Ludo joked back, the girls laughing. Turning to look at Chiara who stayed quiet Ludo asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Chiara answered, obvious something was wrong, but neither Ludo or Gianna asked her again, respecting she didn't want to talk about it.

"Anyway I heard back from the politician," she said.

"Hold on, a politician?" Gianna exclaimed with wide eyes.

Chiara chuckled at her reaction, "He wants to see you tonight," she told Ludo. "Should I cancel?"

Ludo shook her head, furrowing her eyebrows, "No. Why?"

"Yes!" Gia exclaimed, making Ludo turn her head at her. The two girls narrowing their eyes at each other.

Before they could argue about it, Chiara started, "there's the party," Chiara reminded Ludo.

"Who gives a shit?" Ludo shrugged.

"You're not coming?" Gianna asked at the same time Chiara asked, "you're not coming with us?"

"No, no way in hell. I hate those parties," Ludo told them.

Gianna frowned, "shame. We would have fun," she gave Ludo a look, hoping she'd change her mind. Ludo only shook her head at her pathetic attempt.

"He also said he wants to take you to Marge," Chiara admitted. "I tried to change venue, but he said no. You risk running into Fiore."

"See? A reason why you should cancel and enjoy the party with us," she tried again, bumping her with her shoulder.

Ludo shook her head, "Accept. So what if I see him, he can't say anything," she shrugged. "Besides, aren't you two besties, now?" She bitterly asked Chiara.

Chiara looked at her with a disappointed look.

Gia looked between them, "am I missing something?"

Ludo shook her head, "nothing important."

———

Walking with Chiara down the hall, they noticed a crowd in front of the girl's bathroom.

"What's going on?" Gia wondered out loud, looking at Chiara, who gave her a confused look.

"I don't know, let's see," taking Gia's hand, she pulled her towards where people stood in a crowd.

Walking throught the crows, the girls came face to face to Niccolo, Brando and their two friends, who held Fabio tightly, to make sure he couldn't move as Vitto painted his lips with lipstick.

"Hey!" Gianna yelled at the same time as Chiara, both immedietly coming over to them, trying to pull them away from Fabio.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Chiara yelled, grabbing Fabio, pulling him away from them.

Gianna stood in front of them, shielded them from Niccolo and his friends, looking at him with disgust. "What the fuck?"

"Mind your own bussiness," Niccolo told the girls, his jaw tighly clenched.

"You're fucking disgusting!" Gia yelled at him. "Get the fuck out of here!"

"We were just messing around," one of Niccolo's friends said.

Gia shook her head, looking at Nicco with disgust. "Get out!" She yelled again, none of them moving. "Get the fuck out, don't you understand?" She yelled again, shoving Niccolo away from them.

"Whatever, let's go," Niccolo said, still looking at Gianna, but turning around and walking away. "Let's go, come on!" He yelled at his friends when they didn't start to leave like he did.

"You coming too, Cami?" One of Niccolo's friends asked. Gianna turned to look at Camilla, who she just noticed stood behind Chiara and Fabio in the bathroom, obviously witnessing the whole scene.

"Fabio, are you okay?" Chiara asked him, looking at him with concern in her eyes, her voice sad.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you," Gia told him, squeezing his shoulder in affection, her eyebrows furrowed in empathy. "Fucking bastards."

———

Gianna and Chiara walked hand in hand into the party, both wearing their matching costumes that they had agreed on.

Chiara wore black outfit with black angel wings, Gianna wore the exact opposite. White silk dress and white angel wings.

While Chiara didn't look as thrilled to be here, Gia looked very excited. The fact that there was going to be alcohol and she could get stupid drunk was probably the only reason she was so enthuastic about this.

Looking around, Chiara noticed Cami standing in a group with Niccolo's friends, Vitto was forcing her to chug drinks, even though she didn't look like she was enjoying it as much as he did.

Unlinking her arm from Gia's, Chiara made her way towards Camilla, Gia automatically followed her, not wanting to separate and risk losing each other as there was hundreds of people.

"Leave her alone, asshole," she told Vitto, trying to grab the bottle from his hands. Both of them must have let go of the bottle at one point, because it fell down onto the ground, shattering beneath their feet.

"Mind your own fucking bussiness!" Camilla yelled at Chiara, anger evident on her face.

"You heard her Chiara. Fuck off!" Vitto told her, glaring at her.

Gia grabbed Chiara's arm, pulling her away, not before turning to Cami, "next time a simple 'thank you for saving me from choking' is enough," she remarked. Looking away from her, her gaze landed on Niccolo.

She glared at him, hoping the hatred she felt towards him was easy to read. She pulled Chiara away from his group and towards the drinks that she was excited to get.

While Gianna was distracted, looking at the drinks and deciding which one she'll drink, Chiara tapped her shoulder, "Ludo's calling, I'll be over there," she pointed towards a little less crowded space, Gia gave her a nod and then turned back around.

"This one is disgusting," Nicco said as he  came to stand next to her, pointing to one of the drinks. "This one is my favorite."

Not turning to look at him, she only looked at him from the corner of her eye, hoping he wouldn't notice. "I don't really care," she bitterly told him. "I'll take this one," she told the bartender, pointing to the drink he said was disgusting, just to spite him.

"Gia," he stared at her, wanting her to look at him, but she didn't give in. "Please talk to me."

"What is there to talk about?" She angrily asked, hating herself for turning her head towards him and looking at him and talking to him, even though it was not anything nice.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking at her with sad eyes.

"There you go," the bartender interrupted the two. Gia gave him a quick smile and took a sip of the alcohol. She tried to not show the disgust on her face, as she swallowed.

Niccolo was right, this was disgusting.

"I'm not the one you need to be apologizing to," she glared at him. "You're fucking disgusting and you should be ashamed of yourself," she said, her words cutting him straight through his heart.

She didn't care how much her words hurt him. "Fuck off and leave me alone."

Walking away from him, she made her way towards where Chiara stood.

"I think I'm gonna head out," Chiara told her.

"What? Why?" She yelled over the music.

"I'm just not enjoying it here. You can stay here, or go home," Chiara shrugged. "Sorry," before Gianna could say anything else, Chiara passed by her, walking away from her.

Sighing, Gianna stood where Chiara stood a second ago, taking a chug from her drink and watched poeple around her enjoying themselves with their friends, making her feel like a loser.

Leaving was an option, sure, but the thought of explaining why she's home so early to her parents and spending the rest of the evening with them did not excite her.

Ignoring the embarrasment, she sighed again and ignored everyone, trying to enjoy her drink that tasted like shit.

———

Standing at the bar again, waiting for another drink, different than what she had before, she heard someone call her name from behind her, turning around she came face to face with Fabio.

"Fabio!" She happily exclaimed, jumping into his arms, hugging him tightly, the alcohol making her not care it might be weird. "Hey."

"Hey," Fabio chuckled, returning her hug. "Where is Chiara?"

Gia tried to think back to their conversation, trying to remember what exactly she said. "I can't remember," she told him with furrowed eyebrows.

Fabio laughed, "how many drinks have you had?"

Scratching the top of her head, "I can't remember!" She bursted out laughing.

"Maybe it's time you took a break with the drinking," he told her, looking somewhere over her shoulder. "Sorry, excuse me," he said, leaving her.

Gianna sighed, sad that she was alone again.

"Hey. Ludo is somewhere around here, looking for Chiara," he let her know before he completely disappeared from her view.

Gia's face brigtened, "great, thanks," she gave him a smile, grabbing her drink she walked away from the bar, on a mission to find her friend.

———

"Damiano!" Gianna yelled, hoping he'd hear her over the loud music.

Thankfully he did hear her and turned around from the bar to look at her.

"Thank god, you're here, but why aren't you wearing a costume?" She furrowed her eyebrows, not noticing the black haired girl standing next to him.

"Hey. Um, I don't k-" he started answering her.

Gia cut him off, finally noticing Ludo standing next to him. "Ludo!" She exclaimed, running around Damiano, pulling Ludo into a hug. "I didn't recognize you!" She told her, pulling her away from her to look at her costume. "I love your costume! You look so pretty!"

Ludo laughed, "thank you, Gia."

"Shall we dance?" She asked both of them, grabbing their hands, pulling them to the dance floor without waiting for their answer.

"I'm so happy you're here, Ludo!" She told her friend, holding her hands as she jumped around, counting it as dancing. "You too, Damiano, of course," she told him, in less entuasthic voice.

To be completely honest, she didn't really care if he was here, she just didn't want him to feel left out.

"I see now why you don't party," she started saying to Damiano.

"Yeah?" He laughed at her obvious drunkness. "And why is that?"

"You can't dance for shit!" She exclaimed, laughing.

"Gia!" Ludo scolded her, trying to hide her laugh. "You can't say that," a laugh she was holding back finally broke out of her.

"It's true, I'm sorry," she told Damiano, who snorted, nodding his head at her.

"It's fine. You're right," he said, taking both Ludo and Gianna's hand, spinning them around.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, the trio held onto each other, laughing as they walked towards the empty seeting area all three of them falling onto the couch.

"My head is spinning," Damiano said with a laugh.

"Mine too," Ludo agreed.

While Ludo and Damiano chatted, Gia lay on the couch, not saying anything, her lids closed and she quickly passed out.

—————

end of episode three

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