Baton Rouge.

Chapter 28 - Fox 2 News.

At dinner, Rodrigo couldn't help but to stare at Jionni and Melissa while they sat down. They got their plates, but Melissa informed Jionni not to eat yet. Though he knew that the two weren't paying attention to him, he wanted to let them know that him and Maria were watching the two. As Jionni placed his napkin on his lap and prepared to eat, Rodrigo felt the need to butt in.

"Excuse me young man, but we say GRACE before we eat." Rodrigo said, giving Jionni a sharp look.

Jionni gazed up at Rodrigo, turning to everyone as he grabbed Melissa and Louis's hand.

"Right." Jionni said, putting on a fake smile.

Everyone bowed their heads to listen to Maria's prayer.

"Dear God, we want to thank you for letting us love another year. We'd like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to have such a great meal and giving us the opportunity to eat in general since there are so many people who can't have a meal or celebrate with their relatives." Maria said. "And we hope that you'll be able to keep us save in order for us to celebrate another Christmas. Amen."

"Amen." Everyone said.

As plates of food was being passed around the large family, one of Melissa's uncles decided to ask him a question.

"So Melissa, who's your friend here?"

"Oh, this is Jionni." Melissa smiled. "My BEST friend from my school."

"Oh, he's a handsome young fellow!" Melissa's grandmother smiled, coughing and looking around. "I had 5 sons with big heads for children. Heh."

The table was surrounded with a majority of Rodrigo's family. The only people who were at the table from Maria's side were her parents. Both of her sisters were out of town with their husbands, but they still kept in touch.

"So how long have you two known each other?" Another one of Rodrigo's uncles asked. "Melissa's never brought a guest around-"

"Since the beginning of the year, but you know high school friendships never last that long." Maria chuckled as her parents laughed.

Jionni and Melissa's face went blank as Maria wiped a little of the alfredo sauce off of her mouth. This was now the time that Rodrigo felt that he needed to butt in.

"So how do your grades look, Jionni?" Rodrigo asked.

"Dad, can you not do this now?" Melissa mumbled through her teeth.

"Melissa, grades are important. And I want to know what his look like." Rodrigo interrupted as he scooped some spinach onto his plate.

"I got 4 B's N' 2 C's." Jionni answered.

"Mmm."

"But y'all should've seen mah' grades befo'hand. I had straight F's!" Jionni smiled as a few of Rodrigo's family laughed. "I had ta' work dat shi-"

Jionni paused, trying his hardest not to use profanity.

"I had to work dem' grades out.." Jionni said, fixing his statement. "Hah."

"Well, there's nothing wrong with a little improvement." Maria's father nodded.

"Well, C's don't fly in this house." Rodrigo said as he placed some food in his mouth. "Melissa knows that."

"And C's won't pay the bills either." Maria scoffed lowly as she placed a biscuit onto her plate.

Melissa turned to Jionni, mumbling to him.

"Ignore them, please." Melissa whispered.

"Lissa, it's cool." Jionni whispered back. "Don't sweat it."