Reconstructing Amelia (unedited)

Chapter 5

October 2nd, 2019

"Hey, Mia!" Neo called to me as I entered psychology class. He jogged over and put a hand on my shoulder, looking down into my eyes. I suddenly felt very small against his towering frame. Neo was easily five foot eleven, with a hard cut pompadour hairstyle with his messy brown hair. His eyes were a deep brown, and his skin was tanned, which complemented his lean, toned physique.

"I wanted to apologise for yesterday. I stepped out of my place," he said quietly. I was almost shocked. Everyone else knew him as the brooding gang boy, yet here he was apologising to me. I wasn't quite sure what to say. "I won't stop you from being friends with him, but I'm warning you," I nodded.

"Grazie," I mumbled shyly.

"Mia!" Alan appeared behind me, putting his arm around me and moving me a step back from Neo, who instantly glared.

"Since when are you so friendly?" Neo sneered.

"Since when are you?" Alan shot back. Their eyes were locked in a glare. They didn't budge until I uncomfortably shied away from Alan and went to sit in my seat.

It felt very strange to have two boys fighting over me, especially when I wasn't in any position to be making friends.

Alan slowly sunk into his chair beside me, giving me a pleading look, but I pretended not to see and turned away.

They can't know. We can't be friends.

***

"Hey," Alan said brightly, jogging up beside me. I smiled shyly.

"Ciao," I replied.

"Are you ready to go?" I nodded. We started walking away from the school when I heard a few boys shouting for Alan. We both turned to see a tall, curly-haired blond kid rushing over, followed by three very similar looking boys, all younger. I figured these were some of Alan's brothers.

"Al, where you going?" The blond one asked, twirling a cigarette between his fingers. "And who's the chick?" Alan shifted closer to me as I shuddered at the familiar smokey smell.

"This is Mia. We're doing a project together," One of the younger three scoffed.

"Yeah, right. Alan doing homework? You must be joking,"

"We're psychology partners," I explained quietly, my anxiety making my accent slip through.

"So you're the new girl everyone's talking about. From Italy," I felt my cheeks heat up as I nodded. Alan just rolled his eyes.

"Mia, this is Eli, and the triplets, Calvin, Colton, and Cayden," They all waved, flashing me a cheeky grin. "They're my younger brothers," I nodded.

"Nice to meet you," I replied with a small smile.

"Well we'll be going now, we'll be home in a bit," They shrugged and headed off in the other direction.

"Sorry about them," Alan said, running a hand through his hair. I shrugged.

"It's okay. They seem nice," I said politely, but also a bit honestly. Alan scoffed.

"Right, yeah. Okay then, let's go,"

***

"Everything okay?" Alan asked me. I pulled myself out of my thoughts as we walked.

"Oh, er, yes," I answered quietly. Alan had offered to walk with me to get Javi and then walk together to his house to do the project.

"You sure?" he asked again. I nodded. I wasn't quite sure how I was feeling about him now. He had hated me when he first met me, and then once he saw me he suddenly liked me. He followed me around and was now somewhat protective. He was a gang boy, he was dangerous. And Neo, he'd liked me instantly. He was sweet and caring, but he had a reputation to upkeep. One that didn't involve me.