Giulia, Luca, and Alberto had officially made a pact to race in the Portorosso Cup as the Underdogs. "Now we just need money for the entry fee," Giulia said to the boys, "from my dad," she finished her sentence limply as she knew that telling her father about the triathlon would come with a lecture.
Giulia led Luca and Alberto to her house which sat above her father's Pescheria. As the trio made their way upstairs, a deep but faint voice singing along to aria could be heard from one of the rooms. Guilia slowly opened the double door entrance and commanded the boys, "alright, just let me do the talking and act casual, he doesn't do well with fear," she warned. Luca and Alberto crouched behind her as she greeted her father, "hey papa! I brought some friends over for dinner, is there enough for four?" The oversized man turned slightly away from his cutting board to inspect his daughter's friends. The powerful image of the bulky man with a blood-stained cleaver terrified Luca but excited Alberto who let out a soft "Woah." In an attempt to impress him, Alberto started his expert human greeting, "what's wrong with you stu—" but was quickly shut up by Luca's hand that covered his mouth. Luca chuckled sheepishly, remembering the gelato incident earlier with the older women, and started to understand it was not an appropriate catchphrase. Giulia's dad, Massimo, glanced at the boys by slightly raising his thick eyebrow, but said nothing and turned back to his cutting board. Giulia gave the boys the "all clear" signal and directed them to the table as she helped her father finish dinner.
At the table, Luca and Alberto stared at Massimo's harpoons which were proudly displayed above them on a wall. "What do you think he kills with those," Alberto whispered to Luca but was overheard by Massimo who replied, "anything that swims," and decapitated another fish. He showed Giulia a news clip of a sea monster sighting but she scoffed at it and assured her dad it was fake. She placed cups of water on the table and explained to the boys that the town pretends to believe in the creatures before Massimo snatched the paper out of their hands again and said sternly, "well I'm not pretending," as he pinned it with a knife to a board decorated with similar snippets.
Out of terror, Luca spits out the water he was drinking and drenched Alberto's head, activating his scales and paddles.
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