Clara De Luca is the sweetest girl you will ever meet. kind, smart, caring and beautiful she is the De Luca family's pride and joy.
but what happens when this pride and joy is stripped away from them only to be returned 10 years later?
Clara is not...
"Holy crap so they are in the mafia?!" Keenan said his eyes wide as Clara slapped her hands over his mouth.
"Yeah go ahead and announce it to the world." She hissed her eyes looking around at a few people giving them strange looks. Keenan put his hands up in surrender as Clara slowly removed her hands from his mouth. "I don't know what to do Keenan." She whispered making him let out a breath.
He thought for a moment before crinkling his nose. "I mean. It's bad. Obviously it's bad they kill people. But... they don't seem like bad guys." He said looking up at Clara as she spread her feet out in front of her leaning back on her hands.
She looked up at the rest of the class playing dodgeball. She had gotten herself out in the first two seconds and Keenan had quickly followed suit.
"No. They don't. But they are." She huffed out a breath before pausing. "Keenan. I don't think my Dad died in a car accident," she muttered making him look at her.
"Well did you ask?"
"No I got nervous and wanted to leave." She muttered sheepishly as she simmered down.
Amelia ran over to them a scowl on her face. "Bruno's a little try hard" she grunted rubbing the now bright red mark on her arm.
The group looked over at Bruno who had his nose scrunched up mockingly making Amelia stick her tongue out at him. Clara laughed slightly before shifting again so now she was sitting cross legged.
Amelia looked back over at Clara with question in her eyes before giving Keenan a slight side glance.
"I told him" Clara said making Amelia's eyes widen.
"You did..? Oh." She looked away a slight frown on her face before looking back at the two. "I didn't realise you guys were that close." She said making Keenan snort.
"How? We're together like all the time." He really did believe it was common knowledge that Clara was probably his best friend.
He really hoped it was.
Amelia shrugged. "I don't know I just didn't really pay attention to that." That was partly true.
Her, Clara and Carolina called themselves a trio but really it was Carolina, Amelia. And Clara.
But Clara never really cared much. She preferred spending her time with Keenan anyways.
The two girls had way more in common than she did with them. She just found it a bit hard to talk to them sometimes. They spoke so grown up at times it left her sat there thinking, you're twelve for gods sake!
"Anyways" Amelia said leaning in her eyes wide with anticipation . "Did he admit it? Is Lorenzo in the mafia" she asked as if it was a piece of hot new gossip, not something that could possibly ruin her supposed best friends life.
Clara opened her mouth to reply before stopping. She thought for a second before shaking her head. "No. He's not in the mafia he just has connections in it. But he's got nothing to do with it" she lied straight through her teeth. She didn't even know she was that good of a liar.
Amelia seemed disappointed by that reply. "Oh. That's good I guess." She muttered leaning back.
Keenan gave Clara a slight look but didn't say anything. He wasn't the biggest fan of Amelia. He liked Bruno and Lucio but Amelia always rubbed him the wrong way.
She seemed to have this special talent of making every single conversation about herself. Clara looked away looking back on the court her eyebrows furrowed in thought.
Grief was weird. She hadn't really thought about her mother in a while. But today it seemed like her death had only happened a few days ago.
Maybe it was the weight of her brother's secrets that had triggered it but all she knew was that she missed her mom.
And she wanted nothing more than to just talk to her.
__________________
Clara sat next to Keenan leaning back againt the wall near the back of the school. The two had decided to ditch the group and take a walk.
"You know.. maybe you should just ask Lorenzo about your dad." Keenan said but Clara just shook her head.
"I can't even look at him..." she muttered wringing her fingers together.
Keenan let out a breath before settling down next to her. "Clara.. I mean... it's bad. It's really bad. But at the end of the day it's still Lorenzo.."
Clara looked at Keenan with an unreadable expression. "They've killed innocent people Keenan."
"Yeah but it's not like they're just walking around shooting people. Those people were just in the wrong-"
"Yeah that's exactly what Lorenzo said. Wrong place, wrong time. That doesn't make it ok Keenan." Clara said before letting out a scoff. "Why are you trying to defend him? So He's a murderer." Clara said her voice filled with an unfamiliar emotion.
"I'm not defending him Clara. But he's still your brother. And you have to stay with him until tik you're 18. So you need to find a way to be ok with it..."
Clara just shook her head. "I don't need to be ok with anything." The sentence in itself was liberating. Because she knew she had the choice of whether or not she could forgive them.
Keenan looked at his friend before he looked up at the sky.
"I don't know if it makes him a bad person... but he's done very bad things." Clara whispered. "And I can't just.. be ok with that." She said looking at Keenan who slowly turned his gaze back to her. "Yeah he's still my brother. They're all still my brothers. But he was so... casual about it Keenan. Like he was talking about lunch, not killing someone." She whispered. "This changes everything Keenan. Everything I thought I knew about them is just gone."
Keenan's face softened. "I know Clara" he bummed wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her into him. Clara rested her head on his shoulder letting out a heavy breath.
Keenan didn't say anything for a while before looking at Clara. "Clara?"
Clara hummed in response.
"You know.. you're my best friend right? And I better be yours." He said trying to lighten the mood. Clara let out a small laugh before leaning back slightly to look up at him.
"You're my best friend too Keenan."
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Don't be a silent reader Xoxo
Bit of a filler chapter. Sorry it's been so long but university applications are ruining my life
