I won't waist your time here, yet. But I really hope you like it!

I own Hetalia about as much as I own the world. Which, in case you were wondering, is not at all. (Yet)

Chapter 1

The first day of school was never easy. Even worse was having a first day of school in the middle of your first year of middle school. And that is exactly what the unfortunate Alexandria Knight had to go though.

By the time she transferred to Heta Middle School, two months into the school year, all the seats had been picked, all the clicks had been made, and all the awkwardness passed. It was the worst possible situation for the shy ten year old girl; being ten because she had been entered into school early. Not that she would ever admit to being shy. Even more problematic, however, was how distant, practically cold, she had become since her mother passed away.

In truth, it was for that reason that her father had transferred her in the first place. Her grades had begun to drop, she hardly ever spoke or showed emotion, and had distanced herself from her friends. In short, she was in a state of depression. Her father couldn't stand seeing her like that, especially since she had once been so energetic and lively. He hoped that a change in scenery and new people would help her get over her depression. Little did he know just how hard the switch would really be.

Alex, which is what Alexandria usually told everyone to call her, had glided through her first for classes with barely a thought. She got those dreaded introductions, those "We have a new student with us today, class"'s, in her first two classes, beginner's French and Mathematics, and was graciously spared in her third and fourth, World Geography and English. As all the other seats were taken by now and she could hear the whispered rumors about "that new girl" whenever she was spotted, she had sat in the back of the classrooms, alone, thus far. Science, her next and fifth class, was no different.

The entire classroom was set up in pairs. There were three rows set of with three high, black topped tables in each row. Each table had two stools, two textbooks, totaling in eighteen places, and two students at each. All, that is, except the very back table on the right side of the room when facing away from the teacher's desk at the front. It was the table closest to the large, floor to ceiling, crystal clear windows which looked out upon the beautiful green court yard. The seat closest to the window seemed like the perfect place to sit. Not to mention the fact that it was one of the only two seats left, both being at the same table.

After taking her seat, Alex buried her nose into her text book, trying to make sue she was on the same page as the rest of the class, so to speak. She knew just as well as her father did that her grades were one of the reasons she was transferred. Contrary to what she had once thought, her father wasn't completely oblivious; of course he would have noticed her drop in grade average.

As she was completely absorbed in her reading, or at least, she appeared to be as she let her mind blank and her eyes unfocus, she took little notice in what was going on around her. It was such a surprise, then, that she gave a startled jump when the legs of the stool to her right screeched against the linoleum floor. When she looked up, there was suddenly a boy in the seat next to her. His hair was blond, a bit on the long side, and wavy. He didn't seem extremely tall, and he just seemed a bit timid all together. None of this, however, is what caught her attention. No, his violate eyes had done a fine job with that.

Her expression from the boy's sudden appearance and his violate eyes had gone from mild surprise to relative apathy just as quickly as the blonde had appeared.

"May I help you," she asked quietly, not in an unpleasant or unfriendly way.

"N-no," the boy muttered in a small voice with a quick shake of his head. "I-I… This is j-just my seat. I-I hope you d-don't mind…"

With a small shake of her head to say that she didn't mind at all, she turned back to her textbook.

"Ummm…. A-are you alright," the blond asked hesitantly, a confused tone in his voice.

"I'm fine," she returned in a quick, snappish way, glancing at him with a dull, annoyed fire in her eyes. But she calmed quickly; there was no way this poor boy could know what she had gone through these past couple of months, or how many times she had been asked if she was okay. Giving a light say, "Why do you ask?"

"N-no reason…" he stated, seemingly a bit afraid of her snappishness. "It j-just… You spoke to me. N-no one here even notices me, most of the time."

"Not notice you?" she scoffed. "You would think that someone with purple eyes would attract a bit more attention than that, wouldn't you?

The blonde blushed furiously at the mention of his eyes, he had always been self-conscious of them, but Alex didn't notice, as their teacher called their attention to the front of the class as he assigned a project. This always saved the blonde from the rather awkward conversation of his eyes. Well, awkward for him, at least.

"My name's Matthew, by the way," he whispered as their teacher began to pass out the project rubric. "Matthew Williams."

"Alexandria Knight," she replied with an almost-smile. He was the first person to talk to her since the funeral without a look of concern in their eyes, or a worried tone in their voice, or the ever present comfort smile. It almost made her feel a little better, but not quite.

Her final two classes weren't nearly as bad as the first four. She had Art and then Home Economics. They weren't really bad at all; there weren't even any awkward introductions from the teachers.

For the next week, that was how her days played out. She would wade sluggishly as best she could through her first four classes, chat a bit with Matthew through Science, and float relatively easily through her last two classes. It went this simply until the Tuesday of the next week. It was November second, her late mother's birthday.

She trudged through French, Math, Geography, and English, her mind not fully with her. She kept her head low in the hallways, stuck her nose into any book that she could readily at hand; any textbook, any novel, any none-fiction, anything that she could read, or at least pretend to read, and she wouldn't speak more than a word to anyone who spoke to her. She had isolated herself once again.

Matthew recognized something was wrong straight away, and stopped Alex outside the classroom just before she entered, and as everyone was already taking their seats.

"Alexandria…" he began quietly, using her full name in the seriousness of the situation. "What happened?"

"I'm fine," she snapped fiercely, so used to the hated questions of 'are you okay,' or 'what's wrong' that she had been receiving all day. She was so sick of it! "Nothing is wrong."

"That… that's not what I asked," he stated.

Alex's eyes, which were staring intently at the floor at this point, widened at the news, and her eyes began to well with tears. No one had ever, as far as she could remember, actually asked her what had happened. They always acted like they already knew, and just asking if she was going to be alright would make everything better.

"It… It would have been my mom's thirty second birthday, today," she answered, more calmly, almost lifelessly, now. When she felt a wetness on her checks, she lifted a hand to her cheek in astonishment, simply to feel the tears. It was the first time since her mother's death that she had actually cried.

That was enough for Matthew, he understood perfectly. Without a word, he stepped up to her and pulled her into a tight embrace, letting her cry into his shoulder. Her long, dark brown hear fell around her face and the whites around her dark, tunnel-like eyes reddened as she wept. There was no needless apology from Matthew or foraged empathy or an assurance that everything would be okay. He simply let her cry on his shoulder, which was just what she needed at the moment.

The teacher came out to look for his students when he called roll. It wasn't like either Matthew or Alex to be late. When he saw their tragic embrace, however, he simply reentered the classroom. The two were good enough students to join the class when they could.

So, yeah... This is the first chapter of 525,600, everyone! I really hope you like it, and all. It's kind of short, this first chapter, but they should be getting longer. Oh, and sorry for any missed spelling/grammar mistakes, no one's perfect, right? (Please don't hate me!)

Yes, Alex is an OC of mind, and I'm kind of partial to her. I've used her in one other fic, "Who the Heck" if you want to check it out. (Though, I doubt you'll be as fond of her as I am. She's my character, after all ^^")

Anyway, I'm hoping to have a new chapter up about every week, or so. But I make no promises. School just started and I have a TON of work that I'm having to do already. (Mostly for APUSH; it's killer, but fun ^^) I'm really going to try though. It'll probably happen on weekends, when it does, so keep your eyes open! (Or, you know, you could just alert the story! :D)

Buuuuuut... I think that's it for now! Reviews are love, just sayin'. They never fail to make my day. :) And.. I really hope you like the story and keep with it, 'cause I am! ^^

Love you all~!

(P.S special brownie points to anyone who can message me the correct answer to this question: "Why is the fic titled '525,600'?")