Oh my. I have never really actually cared for this pairing. In fact, I used to hate it. (For preference of Alfred, of course.)

And now, after falling in love with AmeRuss, I can't help but think "Even Arthur needs someone…"

Got the idea for this after reading "Catch Me I'm Falling, Faster Than Anyone Should" *dies of happiness* Best story EVER! (This story will be nothing at all like CMIFFTAS, of course. But the joy and elation I had from reading it helped create this lovely little thing~)

Sum.: Arthuretta Kirkland has always been a little bit of a rebel. And Francis Bonnefoy has always been the clear image of what she loathed. But after a rumor goes around that Francis is more bad than he appears, Arthuretta's eyes are opened to the fact that maybe, just maybe, Francis might not be such a goody-two-shoes after all.

Genre: Romance (of course)

Warnings: Hmm. It's rated T, and my idea of T is a little off-set from what everyone else would normally judge. So there's warning numbero uno. Another one would be, haha, I rather like keeping Romano's potty mouth and Francis' French nature. Warning two. And, of course, I'd like to let all of you know that I tend to gender-flip characters in my writing. (But you all have seen that England is flipped, because of the summary. LOL) Also, as a completely-non-warning, Arthuretta is in fact an actual name. So, don't think I've gone cheesy and lazy and simply added "-etta" to the name. XD

Read and review, my lovelies~ And enjoy!

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Chapter 1

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I glared at the bowl placed in front of me. After taking a hesitant bite of the oatmeal, I turned to Aunt Victorious.

"It'd taste better if I had cooked it."

My cousin, Alfred, laughed loudly, the sound obnoxious to my ears. "How could you be so cruel, Arty?"

I ground my teeth at the nickname. "My name is not Arty, you git! And my cooking is just fine, thank you!"

He rolled his eyes and continued stuffing his face.

Aunt Tori and my other cousin, Matthew, share a look of exasperation. They had long since noticed how Alfred's and my personalities clashed violently.

"Oh, it's time to get to school, kiddies!" Aunt Tori declared after sneaking a look at Al's watch.

Al huffed but took the very last bite of his food. Matthew quickly took both his and Al's empty bowls and placed them in the sink.

Matthew and Aunt Tori both hid their worried looks as they noticed my yet again full bowl.

I sneered at them when they turned away, and quickly pulled on my ratty gray flannel.

Aunt Tori placed kisses on top of her sons' heads, Matthew smiling lovingly at his mother and Al rubbing at the spot, as if he still believed in cooties.

Aunt Tori moved to kiss me as well, but I ducked out of her embrace and stepped out the door. "C'mon, you bloody gits, we're gonna be late!"

Aunt Tori sighed sadly but waved as Matthew started the car.

I rolled my eyes and didn't pretend to have not seen her.

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I quickly stuffed my bookbag in my locker. The only reason I even let the house with the damned thing was because Aunt Tori would scold me if she realized I didn't even care about my grades.

And that would be time well wasted, because the words would fall on deaf ears. When will she realize that, when I have my headphones on over my ears and my iPod is on, I am most certainly not listening?

I slammed the locker shut, earning a glare from the students around me, and ducked into the girl's bathroom, sitting absentmindedly in an empty corner.

I didn't miss the looks those preppy girls gave me as they sprayed obnoxious hairspray fumes in their hair and lined their eyes with eyeliner. I didn't move as they hurriedly left when first bell rang. And I didn't reveal the hurt I held in my heart.

It was only when the caring voice spoke that I realized I wasn't alone in the bathroom.

"Are you okay?" I looked up and was met with gold-brown eyes, worry written all over the girl's face. She wasn't as bad as the other girls when it came to make-up—she only wore a thin layer of lip gloss on her lips. She was what you would call a natural beauty. Her lips were a nice, soft shade of pink, her cheeks already had a faint red tint, her eyelashes were long and plentiful, and her skin was absolutely flawless.

Her hair was silky red-brown, and she wore it in a simple ponytail, her hair naturally curling.

Oh, lord, I couldn't help but wonder how many boys took advantage of her beauty and her obviously kind nature.

"Why do you care?" I retorted harshly, immediately regretting it. I mean, this is the first time a girl has said something nice to me since, I dunno, about three months ago, when I started coming to this school?

Her lip trembled, but she didn't dare cry. "I-I just noticed th-that you were crying, and—"

"Crying?" I shrieked, my hands reaching up to my eyes. Sure enough, warm clear wetness met my fingertips.

I furiously swiped at my eyes with my flannel sleeve, blushing bright red. "I am not crying. My eyes just hurt from seeing all those girls putting on mascara and stuff, and—"

She smiled sweetly at me. "It's okay to admit it! I won't tell anyone, if that's what you're embarrassed about, ve~"

I shook my head. "I wasn't crying. I don't cry." At least, not in public.

She sighed, a sad smile gracing her lips. "Okay. You better get to class, though, Arthuretta." She stood to leave, her back already turned to me, when I reached out and grabbed her sleeve.

"You know my name?"

She smiled cluelessly at me. "Why wouldn't I?"

I shrugged. "Because no one blimey likes me?"

She giggled. "Well, if it makes you feel better, I like you! My name's Feliciana Vargas!" Second bell rang, telling her that we had only five minutes to get to class. Her eyes widened.

"Bye, Arthuretta! I'll talk to you at lunch, okay?" she shouted over her shoulder as she ran out of the bathroom.

I blinked. Did I just make a friend?

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I didn't dare stand around waiting at lunch. I'm not a fool. If Feliciana was really going to eat lunch with me, then she would just have to find me.

I took my lunch, just for the sake of taking it, and sat down in a quiet corner of the courtyard. Just as I slid the headphones over my ears and began digging around in my iPod library for a good song, I heard a chirpy, "There you are, ve~!" and saw, out of the corner of my eye, someone sit beside me.

I pulled my headphones off, letting them hang around my neck, and looked at her in shock. "You actually bloody meant it," I stated.

She giggled. "Why would I tell someone I'd eat lunch with them and not mean it?"

Well, considering it's me you told it to, you could've done it to hurt me.

I didn't dare say this aloud, though, because it felt like if I told her that her dream world would shatter.

I simply shrugged.

"Feliciana!" a loud voice yelled loudly. She yelped and jumped a foot off the ground, clutching tightly onto my arm.

I blinked in shock at her as she apologized profusely for grabbing my arm. "I'm sorry, ve, I did it on instinct and please don't hurt me!"

I held back from laughing at her. I probably would've snickered, though, if it wasn't for the towering figure that stood in front of us.

He was made completely of muscle; the type of person you'd assume is a complete bully to everyone. However, he seemed exactly the opposite. He had worry written all over his face as he took in the image that was frightened Feliciana, and his stony blue eyes looked like they held all the love in the world.

"Feliciana, why did you run off?"

Feliciana smiled up at the brawny boy (who I was guessing was a senior.) "I remembered that I told Arthuretta I'd eat lunch with her, ve~!"

And with that, those blue eyes that looked so pretty a second ago turned to me.

I smiled slightly at him, not daring show the fear that was racing through me. "Hello. I don't think we've met before. I'm Arthuretta Kirkland." I politely held out my hand. (Just because I don't show it often, I have not grown out of my British upbringing.)

He eyed me warily. "Ludwig Beilschmidt," was all he said as he turned his attention back to Feliciana. "Since when are you friends with her?"

Feliciana glanced at me, as if searching for approval. I quickly realized that she wanted to know if she could tell Ludwig about the earlier incident. I nodded slightly.

"Well, she was in the bathroom earlier and I saw that she was crying, so I comforted her and told her I'd talk to her at lunch, ve~!"

Ludwig nodded, as if the story made sense, and sat down next to Feliciana.

As soon as Feliciana started talking, I knew not to interrupt her. And somehow, I had the feeling Ludwig knew this too.

Finally, after three entire plastic containers full of pasta later, Feliciana looked at me in confusion. "Why haven't you eaten your lunch, ve~?"

I glanced down at the forgotten paper sack. I shrugged. "I don't really feel like eating…"

"Did you have a big breakfast?"

I blushed slightly. "I didn't exactly eat that either…"

Immediately she felt at my stomach. "You're really skinny, ve~ You should eat more!"

I blushed even worse as I pushed her hands away. "I'm fine, really. It's just part of my daily routine. I skip breakfast and lunch and just eat a light dinner and that's that."

Okay, so maybe a small container of McDonald's French fries don't count as a light dinner. But my stomach wasn't complaining.

"Maybe that's why you're so crabby," she mused, staring up at the sky.

I burned bright red. "I'm not bloody crabby, you git!"

She pouted. "But you are, ve~"

I pouted and crossed my arms over my chest, looking anywhere but at her.

"Oh, hello, big brother Francis!"

And I felt like ditching school right then and there. I angrily looked up as two pairs of shiny black dress shoes stepped in front of me.

Expensive looking faded black jeans, silky red button-up with the top five buttons undone, scruffy blonde beard, wavy blonde hair pulled into a ponytail with a shiny blue ribbon, and glistening sapphire eyes.

I glared angrily at Francis Bonnefoy.

And to think, I avoided him so well so far that I had thought he wasn't even at school!

Francis smirked down at me. "'ello ma cheri Feliciana," he said sweetly to the girl, his eyes never leaving mine.

Feliciana smiled in delight. "I see you already know big brother Francis, Arthuretta~!"

I looked at Feliciana warily. "Is he really your big brother?" Because if he is, I might just have to call off this friendship.

Feliciana frowned slightly. "No, but he's just like one!"

I held back from sighing in relief, and returned to scowling at Francis. Who seemed to have disappeared.

He blew on my neck and wrapped his arms around my stomach. I simultaneously shivered and attempted to get out of his grip. "Gah! Let go of me, you bloody frog!"

He chuckled smugly. "I agree with Feliciana, you are tres crabby and skinny. I 'ad not realized that you didn't eat much. Per'aps if you would let me take you to dinner—"

"LIK HELL I'LL LET YOU!" I shrieked, just barely prying his fingers off of me.

He smirked as he stepped away, turning his attention instead to the two girls who were just now stepping into the courtyard. "Yo, Francis, you should've told us that you were coming here!" one of them called. She had white hair, cropped short, and, from what I could tell, it wasn't fake. She had deep blood red eyes, rimmed with black eyeliner and thick mascara. A smirk tugged at her lips as she saw who was in here.

"Well if it isn't Bruder and little Feli!" she cackled loudly. Feliciana smiled sweetly at the girl, while Ludwig burned bright red and face-palmed.

"What are you doing here, Gillian?" Ludwig mumbled in disappointment.

A smirk tugged at her lips. "The awesome me and Antonia are here to talk to Francis."

And that was when I looked at the other girl. She had long chocolate brown hair, worn down, the tips brushing at the back hem of her shirt. Her emerald green eyes seemed to dance with laughter, even though she was watching on with a neutral expression.

I glared at all three of them. To the normal stranger, the two girls would appear to be just two more of Francis' fangirls. However, if you really knew who they were, you would immediately revoke that opinion. These three were practically inseparable, which is normal considering the fact that the three of them have been friends since forever. And the only way a stranger could know that the two weren't obsessed with Francis without having to be told? Antonia and Gillian rarely came off as the girly types. Antonia was always wearing loose (stylish looking) clothes, but her beauty was completely natural. Gillian dresses like an absolute tomboy, always jeans, t-shirts, and her combat boots (which you rarely see her without.) Gillian wasn't immediately beautiful to the eye, but if you looked at her long enough you'd see she's discreetly gorgeous.

Gillian glared back at me. "Hello, Arthuretta. I see you're just as scruffy as always."

I snorted. "You're one to talk, Gillian."

She narrowed her eyes at me but said no more, instead switching into teasing nature as she turned her attention to Feliciana.

I don't quite remember when Gillian and I started disliking each other, but it feels absolutely normal to me.

Francis smirked at me. "And 'ow did you become friends with ma petit Feliciana?"

I shrugged, not exactly wanting to tell him.

Feliciana, however, spoke up immediately. "She was crying earlier in the girls' bathroom, before the second bell, so I comforted her, ve~!"

Everyone's eyes were on me. I scowled at everyone in general. "I wasn't bloody crying! I saw all of the girls putting on their make-up, and watching them put mascara and eyeliner near their eyes made my eyes hurt," I said gruffly, crossing my arms and glaring at a wall.

Gillian snickered into her hand, Antonia looked confused, and Francis smiled sweetly at me. "Aw, ma cheri, you can trust moi with the truth!"

I gagged. "Like I would bloody do that."

"So you're admitting that wasn't the truth, oui?"

I glared at him sharply. "If I wanted you to know the truth, I would've told you the blimey truth!"

He chuckled sadly. "Of course you would, Arthuretta."

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Awwwww. :( Poor Arthuretta. Being picked on by the other girls! I know how it feels. *pats her back*

Arthuretta: *glares* I don't need any bloody comfort, thanks.

Francis: Ah, but ma cheri, don't you realize zat you do? You obviously need some if you were crying!

Arthuretta: *slaps him upside the head* SHUT UP, YOU BLOODY WANKER! Nobody asked you.

So, hope you all enjoyed! ^^ Review, please!

(I'd work on the next chapter right now if I could, but I don't have enough time to. So, I'll work on it tomorrow! G'night, you guys!)