Chapter Text
“Luca! Wake up, bubble! It’s time to get ready for school! You don’t want to be late on your first day!” yelled Luca’s mother, Daniela.
Luca slowly rose from his soft pillow, grumbling while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He stretched and then opened his bedroom curtains. The sun was shining brightly upon the town of Portorosso.
“Alright. A new school year and my first day of high school.” He said to himself with a smile.
Luca loved school. He loved to learn and always got so many good grades. Yes, his peers basically considered him a “nerd” at his old grade school but his best friend, Giulia, was always there to sock it to bullies who dared to pick on him. But going to a new school things had to be different. A clean slate.
Luca got out of bed and got dressed. He got on a tan-coloured sweater vest, a nice white dress shirt underneath, and grey dress pants. Lastly, he put on his glasses and he was set to go.
He reached the bottom of the stairs and entered the kitchen where he saw his mom, dad, and grandma set around the table for breakfast. Luca sat down. Daniela placed a plate of eggs and kelp in front of him. Not exactly your traditional human-food breakfast but Daniela preferred to hang on to her sea monster roots as much as she could. Luca didn’t mind all that much and neither did the rest of the family.
Being a sea creature among a town of humans was somewhat common. But with Portorosso being so small there weren't many sea creature families in the area aside from two old ladies that lived down the street. If there were others they didn't know them. It was dangerous to reveal themselves and/or get wet in public. Sadly, their kind wasn’t completely accepted. So it was best to keep it all a secret just to be safe. Lorenzo even went as far as getting a job at his brother, Ugo's fishery business as a fisherman to throw off people’s suspicions about them at Daniela’s request. Ugo had his own paranoia with humans, even more than Luca's family, that starting a fishery was his idea. After all, their sea creature ancestors would be hunted down, brutally attacked, and killed if humans caught them. That thought sent shivers down Luca’s spine. They knew nowadays that some humans had become more accepting since the mid-’60s but some weren’t, even after all these years. These days since then, a lot of seas creatures had migrated from living in the sea to living on land. They had done so after hearing about how much more convenient living on land was now, hearing stories from other sea creatures about how great it was and that some humans were less hostile.
The only human who knew of their secret was Luca’s best friend, Giulia. She was one of the few humans they knew that was accepting of them. Her finding out was an accident of course. It happened when the two were little kids.
*Flashback*
Luca and Giulia were playing outside. The weather was fine at first. They were so caught up having fun together that they forgot about their surroundings and Daniela, who was watching them, lost track of them. Luca and Giulia got lost when they suddenly heard thunder, which immediately made Luca’s cheerful expression instantly change to pure fear and dread. Luca tried to get away from Giulia before the rain hit him but Giulia grabbed his wrist before he could get away.
“Wait! Don’t leave me!” a panicked Giulia yelled.
Luca looked around and realized his mother was nowhere to be seen. If he left Giulia alone, she could get lost all by herself. So he stayed with her. Luca’s body started to form green scales right before her eyes, his hair turned into loose blue scales and he gained a tail. Little Giulia stood there staring at him. Not in fear but in surprise. Luca was just waiting for her to run off screaming, off to tell everyone what she saw. But no, Giulia did not attempt to run away.
“Luca? Wow, you’re covered with pretty colours!” she said in awe.
This shocked Luca. She wasn’t afraid of him?
“You’re not scared of me?” Luca questioned.
“That’s so cool!!! Why didn’t you tell me you could do this?”
Luca was speechless. Suddenly, Daniela came onto the scene, holding an umbrella over herself. She was still in her human form.
“Luca! Giulia! There you are!” She saw her son completely exposed in his sea creature form and gasped quite audibly. She looked around for other people. Luckily nobody else seemed to be around. She went up to Giulia and bent down at eye level with her. “Giulia…, I need you to promise me that you won’t tell anyone about Luca.”
She looked at Daniela. “Are you one too?”
"Yes, but it isn’t safe for us to be found out. You can’t tell anyone, not even your father. Please. If you do we’ll have to leave this town.”
Giulia nodded profusely. She didn’t want to ever say goodbye to her best friend. “I won’t. I promise!” She crossed her heart.
*Flashback end*
And Giulia did keep her promise. Ever since then, the girl had been the most trusted friend of the family. They all adored her.
Luca had finished his breakfast and was now putting on his white running shoes. “Alright, I’m off! Bye, Mom!”
“Have a good day, Luca!” His mom said back.
He grabbed his backpack and headed out the door. Giulia greeted him as soon as he stepped outside. She and her father lived next door so they did this every day.
“Hey, Luca! Ready for your first day of high school? I know I am!”
Giulia was sporting a teal t-shirt, blue shorts, and yellow runners. She also wore a lighter-coloured blue jacket tied around her waist. She completed her sporty look with her red curls up in a cute bun. She had her green backpack and was ready to go.
Luca smiled at her enthusiasm. It always put him in a good mood along with her. He chuckled. “Well…I am a little nervous. Do you think it will be different than grade school?”
Giulia put her arm around Luca. “It’s gotta be. Our childhood is behind us. It’s time to start anew. No more being bullied by immature lowlifes.”
Luca grinned. “You’re right. This year is gonna be great!”