Trusting My Brothers

Chapter 21

"The business is the Mafia." Shit.

I don't say anything for a few minutes, lost in my thoughts. Why did my first friend, that was a girl, have to be in the mafia. Literally, is there anyone in this town who isn't involved with gangs. First, I find out that Michael is involved, then Cole, and now Val. If my brothers find out about Val, then they won't let me be friends with her. They already banned me from hanging out with Cole, though that I don't mind.

"I knew you wouldn't want to be friends with me after I told you. Ugh, why did I have to ruin everything?" said a frantic Val.

"Calm down, Val. I still want to be your friend Besides, it is your parents that chose to join, not you." I say reassuringly.

"How are you not freaking out right now? I just told you that my family are basically criminals."

I say, "Trust me. I have heard worse things. Plus I believe you would never do anything bad." 

She gives me a huge hug after hearing me say that. I flinch a little before relaxing into the hug. Val pulled away and looked at me in worry.

"Are you okay? I saw you flinch." She asked sincerely.

"I'm fine. I was just shocked. If I am being honest, I rarely receive hugs. " I said, telling the half-truth. She accepts that answer and we go back to talking. I decide to ask her a little bit about the gang her parents are involved in.

"So do you mind if I ask you some questions? I'm a little curious." I ask.

"Of course. Honestly, it's nice to have someone to talk to about it."

"Who is the Capo?"

"I'm surprised that you even know what that is but his name is Marcelo Rivera." 

I froze when I heard her say that name. "Rivera, as in Cole Rivera."

"Yeah, Marcelo is his dad. I didn't know that day he sat with us at lunch, but now I do and we should probably stay away from him."

"I would like nothing more than to stay away from him, but I have him as a partner for my English assignment. And I have to figure out a way to tell my brothers this since they absolutely despise him."

She snorts. "Good luck with that. Do you have anymore questions?"

"Umm, do you know who your gang rival is?"

"Their name is Diavoli Travestiti(Disguised Devils). Why do you ask?"

Shit. What will happen when she finds out that that is my brothers gang? Do I trust her enough to tell her the truth? All Val has done since we met was be honest.

"Do you promise not to tell anyone what I am about to say? I don't know if Cole knows or not, so you can't say anything."

"Of course. You can trust me." Val said.

"My eldest brother is Diavoli Travestiti's Capo."

Shock is evident on her face. "Wait, but that doesn't make us enemies, right?" she asked.

"Of course not. I'm not a part of their gang and we were friends before we even knew."

She exhales in relief. "Good. By the way, I realized that I don't have your number."

I say, "Oh, I'm actually grounded so I don't have my phone. You can write your down and when I get it back, I can put it in."

Val writes down her number and hands it to me. I look down at my watch and see that we still have about twenty minutes before the bell rings. 

We continued talking and five minutes later, I heard footsteps walking in our direction. Looking to the side, I saw Matteo, Fabiano, and Luca making their way towards us. They are probably going to yell about how I shouldn't be skipping class and that I am going to be in trouble when I get home.

"Liliana, what do you think you are doing?! You should be in class right now, not skipping and talking to your friend." said Luca.

"Don't worry, we have a sub in Math today so she allowed us to leave." I said.

"Well you could have found something productive to do in the classroom. I can't wait to tell Lorenzo about this when we get home." Matteo says, smirking.

"What the hell is your problem?" said Val.

He turns to her and says, "This is none of your business so butt out."

"Hey! Don't talk to her like that. Besides what are you three doing here? I highly doubt that all of you were given permission to be out of class." I said.

The boys actually looked scared for a moment. "Listen here, if you don't tell Lorenzo, then we won't either."

I pretend to think for a moment. "Hmm, let me think. I mean I wasn't technically doing anything wrong, unlike you so maybe..."

Cutting me off, Luca says, "Just don't tell him. We could get in serious trouble."

Since I am such a nice person, I agree and we all make our way back to class. The rest of the day went by like usual. Liam and his friends sat with us at lunch and Cole wouldn't stop annoying me. 

It was finally the end of the day and I forgot that I had to meet with Cole for our project. Finding Liam, I asked him if I could use his phone for a second. Luckily, I remembered Lorenzo's phone number so I quickly input it and wait for him to answer.

He answers after four rings. "Hello?" 

"Hey Lorenzo, it's Liliana."

"Who's phone are you calling from?" he asked.

"Oh, just Liam's. I needed to ask you if it's okay if I go to Starbucks. I have a project, so me and my partner decided that we would work on it there. I was going to ask them if they could take me and drop me off." 

"Who is your partner?"

Damn, I was hoping he would ask that. "It is..umm, Cole."

"What?!" he yelled into the phone. "There is no way you are going with him by yourself."

"Well we need to work on the project. What if Liam comes? I know you aren't too fond of him but he is better than nothing."

There was a moment of silence before he said, "Fine, but let me talk to Liam."

I give the phone to him and wait while they talk. I have no idea what the conversation is, but based on the expression on Liam's face, Lorenzo seems to be threatening him. After talking for about five minutes, he tells me that we were good to go. We walk to his car and wait for Cole to arrive.

"So what is the project?" he asked.

"Well basically we have to ask each other question and then write an essay on what we learned about the other person. By the way, if I lie on some of the questions, don't make it so obvious that I am not telling the truth." He nods in understanding and a couple minutes later, Cole arrives and we make our way to the coffee shop.

A/N: So I was experiencing some writers block, so this chapter may not have been the best. Anyways, please let me know if there is anything I can do to improve my writing. Thank you!!