Viggo was sitting at the back row of his class next to Stefano listening to the lecturer going through some sample exam questions that could come up in tomorrow's geography exam. He was taking notes as he could see the children sitting close to the window whispering. His heart jumped as he heard the students mention a name he hasn't heard in a while.

The teacher sighed " Silence class. Why have you lost focus suddenly? Azurine, what is it?" She was looking at the students who were whispering.

Azurine spoke in a reluctant tone " Sorry Mrs O'Leary. It's just that we saw ... Angelia Ardovini. She just got off a car..."

The lecturer's expression softened " Of course, her mother seems to be doing better in hospital now so we expected her to be back after weeks of absence. Help her catch up with the work all of you." She then carried on teaching. .

Viggo was feeling relieved that Angelia was back. Without her, he had been feeling quite lonely in his lessons. It was quite sad that he couldn't chat with her but still her closeness was enough.

As the teacher started handing out text books for the next task, Stefano turned to Viggo " How are you holding up? Your forbidden love is coming back."

Luckily the class was noisy and students were now busy chatting staring the next task as they were taking out their maps and dictionaries to answer the text book questions in their exercise books. Also the tables around Stefano and Viggo were empty since some students were doing their Spanish oral exams in a different classroom. So no one heard Stefano and Viggo was glad.

Viggo turned to Stefano " Keep it down. Do you want me to get into trouble? Do you want a war to break out?"

Stefano sighed " I can't believe no one knows. Haven't you ever tried telling your father? He may understand. You are his son. If another Rosario did that then they may get into trouble. But this is you."

Viggo shook his head "My father wont understand. He wont have it. Her father is an Andovini and her mother is a Gustavo. Not a good combination."

Stefano spoke "Everyone thinks you will end up with Azurine. Her family are not allies with us, Rosarios but they are not our enemies either. But Angelia is the last person on anyone's mind when they think of who you will ask to the end of year prom. Their nemesis with our family is way too deep. So who will you be asking to the end of year prom then if you wont do anything about Angelia?"

Viggo spoke " No one I guess. I will go alone. I don't want to go with anyone else but her. Who are you asking out?"

Stefano spoke "Daniella Pierreli. It is so easy to hang out with her. We are just friends though..... You know if you ask your father he may say yes. Don't give up."

Viggo looked around as he spoke " I can't do that. My father would punish me for even asking. I am sure. This is serious..... I am not meant to make friends with her."

Stefano sighed " If you ask her out then all those girls that chase you will leave you alone and would stop flirting with you. If you ask Angelia out, then your father may say yes. He wont kill you for asking. You never know. He may say yes and then may sign a peace treaty one day between Rosarios and Andovinis as well as Gustavos."

Viggo spoke "You are too optimistic. Just because your parents got together against all odds, does not mean everyone else would get together if there are problems."

Stefano spoke " Look. I just think you must do something. You have waited long enough. It's been two years now since the start of junior year when you were 12 and you fell for her. You told no one but me and I watched you struggle all this time. Before you know it high school would be over. She may leave this place when she turns 15. You know how this college operates. It's 12-15 in one building with general subjects and then it's 16-18 in in another building where people learn specialised subjects. But some people may not want to specialise here at 16. What if she decides to go to Europe. Some of her friends are filling in application forms for a transfer next year to go to a specialist high school in a particular depending on what they want to study in college. What if she fills in an application for transfer too next year. You don't have long left."

Viggo sighed "I know I don't have long...... You don't know how much tension there is in the air."

Stefano spoke "I know there is tension. Vincenzo is not helping your case by challenging her every chance he gets. She can handle him though. Her gang of followers are quite strong. She was voted Head Girl for a reason. Her deputies are those kick boxer girls. What's their gang called? ... Haha, the Killer Angel Gang. They are following her everywhere so Vincenzo cant do much taunting that would force you to blow your cover and jump to her defense. Also her boyfriend watches out for her too..."

Viggo gritted his teeth " Trent is not her boyfriend."

Stefano sighed " He is as good as. If you are waiting for her to go with him to the end of year prom then be my guest and pretend they are not getting together. Trent is man enough to make it official."

Viggo spoke " Trent's family is not enemies with hers. There is a difference here. I am dealing with a family feud and a nemesis...."

Stefano chuckled "I know all about family feuds and forbidden relationships. My father nearly couldn't marry my mother. There were obstacles because he waited long enough. I think waiting too long can not help your case Viggo. Take risks."

Viggo ran his hand in his curly blind hair and sighed " It's easier said than done.."

Viggo didn't get to finish his sentence. He gulped as he looked up when the sound of the door opening startled him. He saw the stunningly beautiful Angelia enter with her usual confidence speaking loud and clear. " Sorry I am late to this lesson. I just returned to school after my absence."

The teacher smiled warmly at her and spoke " There is no need to say sorry. Please take a seat and your classmates would help you catch up."

Angelia nodded and looked around the class. She then walked to a desk sitting with one of her deputy head girls called Tanya O'Brien.

Trent walked from his seat to hers and handed her his exercise book "Here, you can use my geography notes. Tanya was absent last week and doesn't have all the notes. The exam is tomorrow."

Angelia looked up at him with a smile "Thank you. I will copy the notes at lunch time and will hand it back to you by the end of the day..."

Trent leaned closer to Angelia as Viggo was burning with jealousy. He smiled "Oh, keep the book for tonight. I have done all my studying. I can lend you my other exercise books too. They probably would ask you to sit some of the exams you missed next week some time."

Angelia nodded "I don't know what I would have done without you. The daily notes you sent me at hospital helped my tutors teach me everything so fast. I don't think I need that much revision. I owe you one."

Trent spoke "Don't mention it. How about we talk about this in the library. I go through whatever you have missed during personal study time."

Angelia spoke "That would be great. I would like that."

Viggo snapped his pencil in half making Stefano raise an eyebrow "Oh dear. Trent one and Viggo zero. Game on. He has stepped up his game flirting in class. Anyone could have lent her notes but he got there first. Next time get there first."

Viggo had balled his hands into fists looking frustrated with the broken pencil in his hand. Why couldn't he make her smile at him like that? He didnt like that she was going to spend time in library. Trent used to just hang out with her casually but now he was coming onto her much more strongly leaning so close to her. This was raising alarms. Was he going to lose her to Trent just like that?

Stefano whispered " I told you. He is getting closer to getting her to go to the end of year prom, who knows? She may save him a dance at the end of exam party next week at O'Neil mansion. Now either walk up to her and tell her to stay away from Trent and tell her you will help her in the library or just get on with your work. I can't see it in you right now to reveal everything right here right now so here is the map. Lets do this task together.

Viggo discarded his broken pencil in the bin and took out another pencil from his pencil case. He then got on with work as he was pressing his lips from the frustration. Viggo couldn't believe what an opportunist Trent was. He had found an excuse to make Angelia get closer to him. Angelia was not really interested in boys and quite ignorant of all advances towards her from anyone. She was mostly indifferent to any boy unless there was an academic reason to chat with them.

Angelia had no idea how much Viggo admired her and by the looks of it the chances were getting slimmer. She didn't even acknowledge him in that room and didn't spare him a glance. Of course she didn't trust Viggo and saw him as an enemy just like how she saw Vincenzo as an annoying and sarcastic boy who was an enemy. But Viggo didn't want her to hate him. How could he approach her without her thinking he was just messing with her? Even if he succeeded ever to make her realise how much he loved her, there was no way he could tell his family. His father was going to kill him. It was getting harder and harder for him to sit and watch this girl that made his heart jump in his chest with her simple presence in any room. So how could he hide his feelings from his family even if he succeeded in getting her to give him a chance. Life was complicated for sure.

Viggo kept glancing at Angelia's table watching Angelia studying next to Tanya. But then he was alarmed as Angelia stood up and walked to Trent with the book in her hand.

Angelia asked " How did you do this question? Tanya doesn't know."

Trent spoke "That is an A+ question. Tanya only goes for A-. I show you the method to answer it. take a seat."

Viggo was looking defeated now as Angelia sat down next to Trent listening to him. Viggo wanted to know what they were saying but the class was noisy enough tot to hear the middle row speaking. So Viggo cleared his throat and raised his voice " I cant concentrate. Can we keep it down." The class immediately went dead silent. No one refused Viggo anything.

The teacher nodded at him and smiled as she was marking homework papers laid out on desks around the class.

It was dead silent and all was clear. Viggo looked on as Angelia and Trent were talking about the work. But then, the dreaded moment came when Trent popped a tricky question " Would you come to our house next week for end of exam party?"

Angelia shrugged "I don't know yet. I got the invitation in the post. Sorry I haven't responded. My mother is now discharged from hospital and recovering. My father said I can go to this party and so did my mother but I would worry about her. If her health stays stable and keeps getting better, i will come."

Trent smiled "Wonderful. You would not regret coming."

Viggo wanted to challenge Trent right there and then but no one would have believed he would ever fight for Angelia. Their families were enemies. If he made any advances towards her then people would have thought he was trying to get close to her and then hurt her. Vincenzo was quite mean to her and she was mean to Vincenzo. Vienna and Viggo were not getting involved but they knew to keep their distance from her to avoid clashes. He wished he could at least just offer to buy her lunch one day and sit down and talk to her but of course he was a Rosario. She was never going to trust him to have a genuine interest in her and not being after hurting her. But of course it was a two way street. Could he ever trust her ever to like him and not go after hurting his family? Probably never. Trust could never be there unless his father signed a peace treaty and they became allies then they would have become trustworthy allies. He was hoping for that day to come. But for now he had bigger problems. Trent was his number one rival and he was coming on to her at fast pace forcing him to reconsider Stefano's words.