This is, of course, the sequel to The Good, the Bad, and the Italian. If you haven't read that story, please do so here before reading this one:

/s/8716111/1/The-Good-the-Bad-and-the-Italian

And now that you've done that, back to this story! We're continuing the story with junior year, so we've got new classes and new relationships :) I've got some stuff planned for this year, and it looks to be an interesting one! A few backstories, a few situations . . . it's gonna be fun!

Before you even say it - yes, I am creative when it comes to chapter titles. Hold your applause, please.

"Feli . . . Feli, wake up!"

I turned over on my side, opened my eyes, and said, "What's going on, Eliza?"

She appeared a little bit blurry, so I blinked until my vision focused. She smiled and said, "Feli, you've got to go to school today. First day, remember?"

I sat up, suddenly wide awake. "I forgot!" I gasped, flinging back the covers. "Am I late?"

"No, don't worry, you've got—" she looked at my clock. "—about a half hour before you have to go."

"Oh, okay," I said, relieved. I lay back down, pulled the covers over my head, and shut my eyes.

"Feli!" Eliza said with a laugh. "Don't you want time for breakfast?"

"Okay," I mumbled, sitting up again. "I'll get my uniform on . . ."

"Make sure that you have all your things, too."

When I came downstairs, Eliza was cooking at the stove and stepfather was reading the paper at the table. "Good morning, Feliciano," he said, briefly glancing up. "Did you sleep well?"

"Morning, stepfather!" I said, sitting down. "Yeah, I slept great!"

Eliza brought two plates of scrambled eggs and bacon to the table.

"Thanks, stepmother!" I said happily.

"Thank you, Elizabeth," stepfather said, not looking up from his paper.

By the time I finished eating, it was time to go, so I grabbed my backpack, said goodbye to Eliza and stepfather, and went out the door.

It was a lot shorter getting to school than I thought it was. I arrived and looked at the schedule I had gotten in the mail a few days ago. My first class was Algebra, so I went to find it.

I reached the classroom, went in, and saw Al looking around at the desks. He looked up when he saw me and grinned.

"Hey, Feli!" he yelled. He was next to me before I noticed that he had moved and gave me a hug. "How was your summer, dude?"

"It was good!" I said. "How was yours?"

"It was super," he said, letting go and looking me up and down. "Is it just me, or did you get a little tan?"

"Yeah!" I said. "You got tan too!"

He laughed. "Yep! Me and my family went to the beach and Mattie and I swam a bunch!"

"Did you go on dates with Mei?" I asked, remembering that they were going out.

"Yeah!" he said, brightening suddenly. "She says that her dad really wants to meet me, so I gotta go over there for dinner real soon! Gil actually came over and met our parents, and they liked him, so Mattie's happy about that. And Mattie went over to Gil's house for dinner, and Gil's dad likes him, so Gil's happy about that too!"

He said all of this very fast. "That sounds cool!" I said. "Lovi and Toni have been really busy this summer, so I haven't seen them a bunch, but we'll have lunch together so we'll see them then!"

"Oh yeah, Artie and his bros came over for dinner once," Al remembered. "Colin and James—they put something in Artie's food and he had to drink like five glasses of water." He grinned. "I like those guys."

"His brothers?" I asked. "What about his parents?"

"Oh," Al said, his smile fading a bit. "Well, Artie's mom—my dad's sis—she died when Artie was young. I think Mattie and me were six. And his dad got hit by a car while Aunt Lily was carrying Artie, so . . . yeah. Anyway, a bunch of stuff happened, and now Artie's oldest stepbro is taking care of the whole family."

"Oh, that's sad," I said quietly. "Poor Artie."

"Yeah," Al agreed. "But hey, the family's doing good, so I guess everything's fine with him! Have you seen Ludwig at all this summer?"

"Not really," I admitted.

"Oh, good god, I'm stuck with you."

We turned to see Francis coming through the door.

"Hey!" Al yelled. "Whaddya mean 'stuck with you'? What's wrong with Feli?"

"What?" I said. "Y-You don't like me?"

"Yeah, Francis, what the hell!"

"Oh, for—I meant you, Alfred!" Francis snapped. He smiled at me. "Hi, Feli."

"Oh, you meant him," I said. "Hi!"

"Okay, what the hell!" Al yelled. "What's wrong with me?"

"You're annoying!" Francis exclaimed. "You move and speak much too quickly!"

"What? I just move like I always do!"

"That's exactly the problem!"

The bell rang and we all went to sit down.

For second period I had world history and Herc and Kiku were in my class. They had had a good summer too. In third, English, I met with Lovi, who shoved me off when I tried to hug him.

Finally it was lunchtime. I had bought my lunch and was looking around for my friends. I eventually saw Ludwig at a table and went over to join him.

"Hi, Ludwig!" I said, hugging him when I reached him. "Did you have a good summer?"

He hugged me back. "Hello, Feliciano—I had a good summer, yes. How was yours?"

"It was great!"

"There you guys are!" I looked up to see Gil dragging Matt over to the table. "Hey, Feli!"

"Hi!" I said. "Did you guys have a good summer? Al told me that you both went over to each others' houses for dinner!"

"Yeah, that was cool," Gil said, sitting down with Matt. "Mattie's parents are awesome, and Vati likes Mattie, so everything's awesome."

"Hi, Feli," Matt said quietly. "How was your summer?"

"It was great!"

"Well," said Artie, sitting next to Al, "judging by your tans, you all had a fun summer."

"Hi, Artie!" I said. "Yeah, it was good!"

"Ah, our resident bookworm," Francis said with a smile. "I hardly saw you at all this summer, Arthur."

"Your point?" Artie said in a bored voice. "Besides, I've been rather busy."

"With what?"

"Oh . . . research."

Toni and Lovi found us and sat down. "Hi, everyone!" Toni exclaimed. "Lovi and I had a great summer! How was yours?"

"Yeah, if you can call lifting boxes great," Lovi grumbled.

"Hi, Toni!" I said.

"Does anyone mind if I sit here?"

We all looked up to see Mei Wang standing next to the table with a lunch tray.

"Mei!" Al yelled. He stood and grabbed her in a hug. "How was your summer, beautiful?"

"It was good," she said. "I'm glad I got to see you!"

She sat next to him, taking his enthusiasm as an invitation.

"Where are Hercules and Kiku?" Artie asked, looking around. "I haven't seen them today."

"They're here," I said. "I saw them in history."

"Oh, there they are," Toni said, looking towards the cafeteria doors, where Kiku and Herc were coming in. They came over to our table and sat down.

"Hello, everyone," Kiku said. "I'm sorry that we're late. Hercules fell asleep at the end of the third class, so I waited with him until he woke up."

"Yeah . . . it's my fault," Herc said sleepily. "Sorry."

"It's okay, dude!" Al said.

"How was—were your summers?" Kiku asked.

"Great," Al said. "Kiku, your English has gotten better!"

"Ah, thank you, Alfred-kun."

"Anyway, Lovi and I had a great summer," Toni repeated, putting an arm around Lovi and kissing him on the cheek.

Everyone stared at them.

"You two are—?" Matt said in surprise.

"About time!" Gil yelled. "Congrats!"

"Shut up," Lovi snapped.

"Wait, are you two dating?" I asked.

"Yeah," Lovi muttered. "It just kinda happened."

"Ah," Francis said, suddenly smirking. "You two are an item now—and you only have one bed in your apartment, correct?"

Lovi turned red. "Oh my god, you fucking pervert!" he yelled. "Don't imply things like that!"

"He's just teasing, Lovi," Toni said reassuringly.

I suddenly understood what they were talking about. "Oh!" I exclaimed. "You think they're having sex!"

Al choked on his milk and Gil cracked up.

"Feliciano," Lovi growled. "You are not helping anything."

"Sorry . . ."

"Congratulations," Mei said softly. Toni smiled at her and Lovi looked away.

We all happily ate our lunches and chatted until the bell rang for fourth period.

Translations:

Vati = Dad