six,

episode four ~ truth or dare

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"Why did you leave the party so early?" Ludo said as she and Gianna walked up to Chiara, who was leaning against a railing, looking at the field. "We sent you like million texts."

"What's wrong?" Gianna asked, seeing a look on Chiara's face.

Grabbing both their hands, she oulled them over to the bleacher, sitting down, making them sit down too.

"I fucked up," she said, looking at them with dead serious look in her eyes.

"Talk to us, Chia. What's wrong?" Gia asked, putting a hand over her shoulder. Her eyebrows furrowed in concern for her friend.

"I went to Marge," she admitted, looking at Ludo then Gia. "After I left the party, I didn't go home. I went to Marge to meet up with the politician instead of Ludo."

"What? Why would you do that?" Gia asked confused. "I thought you weren't doing it anymore, Chiara."

"Yeah, well she is," Ludo started, pissed off, looking at Gia. "The comment about her being besties with Fiore I made? Chiara made a deal with him that she will be meeting with his clients under a condition that he will leave me and Damiano out of his bussiness," Ludo explained, looking at Gianna.

"What? Why did you not tell me?" She asked, looking at Chiara who kept her gaze on the ground. She couldn't help, but feel a little bit hurt by being left out of this information.

"I don't know. But that doesn't matter right now," she looked at Gianna. But Gia had a feeling she knew why. She's been very transparent about her opinion on this thing, the girls have been doing since the beginning. 

"Brando was there," Chiara started explaining, her gaze switching between her friends and her hands. "He has a video of me and the politician," Chiara said, making both Gia and Ludo look at her with wide eyes.

"Chiara, if he posts it somewhere.." Gia trailed off, her heart beating loudly in her chest.

"I'm fucked. We're fucked," she looked at Ludo. "I know."

"I don't get why you went in my place," Ludo finally spoke up, not looking at Chiara.

"I wanted to help you pay him back, okay?" Chiara said in angry tone, pulling out cash from her jacket. "And also because I'd rather go, than stay at that crappy party."

Gia stopped nervously biting her thumb nail and focused on Chia. "I was there," she said. "We could've had fun, Chia," she kept her tone light, not wanting Chiara to think she was trying to pick a fight with her.

"What the hell is your problem, Chiara?" Ludo unexpectedly turned around and exclaimed angrily, looking at Chiara. "I'm sorry don't you see the mess we're in? Why can't you be happy with Damiano?"

"Again with Damiano? Fucking stay out of it!" Chiara raised her voice at Ludo.

Ludo stood up, making Gianna stand up too.

"Guys, don't fight right now, please," she tried to calm her friends down, biting her bottom lip in a nervous habit. "This is not the time where we should argue, about something that has already happen."

Ludo ignored her, "this smells like Fiore."

"I can make my own decisions. I'm not a goddamned child!" Chiara argued.

"Guys, we'll come up with solution," Gianna tried again, not really knowing what the solution would be.

"How, Gianna?" Ludo asked, looking at her.

"Yeah, how Gianna?" Chiara snapped at her, turning her attention from Ludo. "It's easy for you to be so optimistic about all of this all the time, when you're not the one involved in this mess. It's always 'we'll come up with a solution.' 'It will be fine'" she mocked. "Well guess what, we're fucked."

Gianna stared at her, her eyes turning glassy at her harsh words. She opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again, not really knowing what to say.

She guesses Chiara isn't completely wrong about what she said, but then again she warned both girls many times to get out while they could, and not once have they listened to her. Now the only thing she can do for them, is try to help them out of this mess somehow and to comfort them.

"You've got some shitty decision making!" Ludo turned to face Chiara and yelled at her. "Don't you see this situation is really bad?"

"Yeah, I know," Chiara looked on the ground again.

"No, you don't know! Remember Tommaso, the cultured guy? He's my professor now," Ludo admitted.

"Are you serious?" Gia asked, surprised. "You should've told us."

"See, you don't tell us things either," Chiara got up, grabbing Ludo's arm, preventing her from leaving. "Why keep it a secret?"

"Because I didn't want you to worry," Ludo told them.

"Ludo your problems are ours too. You should never struggle alone," Gia told her, concern on her face.

"Sure you didn't," Chiara told her, not believing her.

"No, cause I don't enjoy dragging people into my messes!" She yelled at Chiara.

"Maybe you didn't tell us because you're pulling another Fiore."

"Chiara!" Gia looked at her with shock written all over her face.

"No!" Chiara exclaimed, shrugging off Gia's arm on her shoulder. "I hope you fucking see the irony. You like guys who exploit you, but somehow I'm the one who gets blamed for your craziness," Chiara yelled, looking at Ludo.

"Chiara, stop," Gia said in small voice, her eyes watering seeing her best friends fight.

"You're the one who's always acting like a fucking child!"

Ludo shoved her, sobbing, "Sorry I'm not perfect like you! Sorry I don't have a perfect family. Sorry if I don't have a perfect boyfriend! But at least I don't destroy everything," she shoved her one last time, now just staring at her with tears in her eyes.

"I've helped you with everything. Everything. But for once when I need you, you're gonna turn your back on me?"

"No one is turning back in anyone!" Gianna yelled, but got ignored from both of them.

"You turned your back on me," Ludo said. Sitting back down, she started sobbing. Gia automatically sat down beside her, holding her while she cried as she tried her best to keep it together for Ludo.

Chiara took a look at the two of them on the floor, before she left.

"You're not gonna go with the perfect best friend?" Ludo bitterly asked Gia, raising her head to look at her.

"Ludo," Gia started, shaking her head. "Don't be like this. I don't want to choose between you two. You're both my best friends." She said. "And just because you're not perfect, doesn't mean I like you less than Chiara. None of us is perfect."

After a while, both of the girls have calmed down and Ludo pulled away. "I have to go."

Gia looked at her, "where are you going?"

"To pay back Fiore," she waved the envelope in front of Gia.

"You want me to come with?" She asked.

"No, I got it," Ludo got up and left, leaving Gia all alone on the bleachers.

Gia put her head into her hands, sighing. She sat like that for probably ten minutes, when she heard someone come down the bleachers. She kept her head down, not bothering to look at who it was.

"What happened?" She heard Niccolo's voice ask from beside her.

Letting out a little chuckle, she raised her head and looked at him with moist eyes from crying. "I thought I told you to leave me alone," she told him.

Nicco shook his head, "sorry, but I can't do that. Especially not when I can see that you're not okay," he explained. "So what happened?" He asked again.

Shaking her head, she averted her eyes from his, "just when I thought nothing could get worse, it did."

"How can I help?" He asked.

"You can't," she looked at him, giving him a small sad smile, his eyes remained trained on her, not once leaving her face. "Do you have weed?" She asked, her knees bouncing up and down.

Nicco nodded and reached for his backpack, "yeah. Here."

Sighing, she lit up the joint with his lighter, passing it back to him.

"I'm an asshole, I know," he started, Gia silently watched him and listened. "I can't stop thinking about it," he admitted and he actually meant it.

"Good," inhaling the smoke, she offered the joint to him, "smoke with me?"

Nicco smiled at her, taking the weed from her.

"Chiara, Ludo and I got into a fight," Gianna admitted after a while, taking the joint back from Nicco.

"Well, you're going to resolve it, right?" He asked, not having the slightest idea, that the fight was not just silly little fight girls their age normally fight about.

Taking a deep breath she pressed her lips together, "I'm not so sure," she said, putting her head onto his shoulder, not even thinking for a second about it. Nicco put his arm around her, pulling her closer to him.

It was like the old times.

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end of episode four

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