Luca struggled to keep his balance on a bike. Giulia and I looked confused. "Alright, try jumping onto it." His friend, Alberto suggested. Luca tried jumping on, but he kept falling. "No, no, you gotta show it your the boss!" "He's never rode a bike, has he?" I asked. Luca and Alberto nodded. "Santa Mozzarella!" Giulia groaned. "Eyes up! Looking down is what's making you fall!" After listening to Giulia's advice, Luca looked up, even though his balance was still a bit wobbly. "So, can we be on the team?" Alberto asked. Giulia walks over to Luca. "Can you dodge obstacles, what if an old lady crosses your path?" Giulia asked. "Can you withstand passive-aggressive verbal assaults?" I placed a board on the fountain. "Finally, let's see if you can handle the course's fiendishly difficult terrain?" I questioned. "Silenzio, Bruno." Luca said to himself and he tried riding on the board, but was too focused on the fountain for some reason, which caused him to fall. Alberto helped Luca off the ground. "Stop." Giulia said, pointing to Alberto. "What about you?" "Can you swim, at least?" I asked. "Yeah, I'm amazing..." Alberto replied before Luca nudged his elbow. "...ly bad at swimming." "You can't swim, and you can barely ride a bike, where are you even from?" Giulia asked. "We're not telling you our secrets!" Alberto snapped. "We're runaways." "Runaways?!" Giulia gasped. "I don't know, ragazzi." "Please?" Luca begged. "My family was gonna send me somewhere horrible, away from everything I love, but if we win this race, we'll be free." "My life is great." Alberto added. "I'm just helping him out." "Just give me one more chance." Luca said. "No, you guys want it just as bad as we do, you have the hunger, that's the most important thing." I replied. "I'm definitely hungry." Alberto said. "Perfetto, you eat, you bike, and I'll swim." Giulia explains. "But, what about Chiara?" Luca asked. "Isn't this a triathlon?" "I'll still be training with you guys, but I won't be able to compete unless you, Alberto, or Giulia get hurt." I explained, putting my hand in the center. "Underdogs?" Luca, Alberto, and Giulia put their hands in the middle. "Underdogs!" They shouted. "Now, we just need money for the entry fee, from my dad." Giulia sighed. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind." I said.

Giulia and I brought Luca and Alberto to the house. My uncle was boiling some pasta for dinner. "Alright, just let Giulia do the talking, and act casual." I explained to the boys. "He doesn't do well with fear." "Hey, Papá." Giulia greeted. "Chiara and I brought some friends over for dinner, is there enough for five?" Massimo turned around and looked at Luca and Alberto. "Whoa, what's wrong with you, stup..." Alberto started before Luca covered his mouth. I helped my uncle with dinner. He taught me how to make different types of pasta. "What do you think he kills with those?" Alberto asked, looking at the harpoons on the wall. "Anything that swims." Massimo replied. "Whoa, okay, he doesn't kill anything that swims, my uncle is a fisherman." I explained. "Hai viste il giormale today." Massimo said, handing Giulia a picture from the newspaper. "That photo's a fake, Papá." Giulia groaned, giving the boys glasses of water and the newspaper article. "Everyone in Portorosso pretends to believe in sea monsters." "Well, I'm not pretending." Massimo grunted, taking the picture from Alberto and nailing it to the wall with a knife. All of a sudden, I hear someone spit out some water and a thud under the table. Both boys came back up from under the table. "Slipped." Luca chuckled nervously. We finished making dinner and it was ready to eat. "Dinner's ready." Massimo announced. "Trenette al pesto." We joined the boys at the table to have our dinner. Alberto and Luca looked like they've never had pasta before. They both ate using their hands, which confused me, Massimo, and Giulia. "Where did you boys say you were from?" Massimo asked. "They're Giulia's classmates, from Genova, Luca and Alberto." I lied. "And what brings you to Portorosso?" He asked. "Oh, uh, funny you should ask, they came for the race." Giulia explains. "The race?" He questioned. "Yeah, you know what, don't worry about it." Giulia said, stuffing her mouth with pasta. "Don't worry about it?" Massimo questions. "Giulietta, a word."

After dinner, Massimo had a discussion with Giulia about the race. "I don't want you doing that race again, you get too upset." Massimo said. "Papá, per favore, I have a team now." Giulia begged. "There's also the entry fee, money is tight." Massimo explains. "We'll work double shifts at the pescheria." I said. "Whatever you need, uncle." "I can't sell what I don't have." He replied. "What I need is more fish in my net." "Uh, excuse me." Luca said. "We could help." "You know fish?" My uncle asked. "Oh, we know lots of fish." Alberto replied. "Can this face lose?" Giulia asked. "You want to work, I'll put you to work." Massimo sighed. "Really?" Luca asked. "Oh, grazie, Papá!" Giulia cheered. I noticed that my uncle's cat, Machiavelli, was glaring at Luca, so I grabbed a spray bottle and sprayed him. "Hey, depresso, Machiavelli!" I shouted as Luca backed away from the table. "I'm sorry, sometimes this cat can be a real, PAIN IN THE BUTT!" The water didn't stop him from attacking Luca.

Giulia and I went outside with Luca and Alberto. "Sorry again about the cat." Giulia apologized. "I don't know what got into him." "I do, he's a dumb cat!" I exclaimed. "It's fine, we're gonna head back to, uh..." Luca replied. "Oh, do you guys need a place to stay?" I asked, pointing at Giulia's treehouse. We took them up to the treehouse where they could stay. "Oh, sorry, this is my..." Giulia explains. "Your hideout." Alberto interrupted. "Yeah, well, actually it's our hideout." I replied, starting to head inside. "Buonanotte, boys."