A/N/: Hey, Valkerie here! So this fic takes place at a school I made up called Embassy High. Embassy is the high school for the kids of all the important foreigners who come the city where it's located. (I think it's going to be somewhere in New York.) There are a lot of American kids there, too, though.

Also, there are human names used here.

Enjoy, read, review! Flames are just as appreciated as praise. (But if you hate it, please tell me why) ^_^

Thanks much,

Valkerie

"Because," said Alfred as he paid for his burger. "I'm just awesome like that."

Ludwig sighed. Alfred never, ever studied, but he managed to make pretty good grades, anyway. I should probably just stop asking, he thought. The blond boy could be a bit exasperating at times.

"Hey! Kiku's over there, let's go eat with him!" Alfred pointed at their Japanese friend while Ludwig fished in his pocket for a quarter.

Their table was generally called "the smart table" because Alfred, Kiku, Ludwig, and Eduard all took AP classes, and kicked butt in them. Most of them, anyway. Alfred had a low C in Economics. Kiku had the highest grades in the district in Technology and Robotics, and he took his math classes from the University. Eduard was brilliant with mechanics and electricity; he was second to Kiku in Robotics. Ludwig was good in debate and Miiltary History.

Sometimes Roderiech sat with them, too. He was kind of a loner. He was quiet, withdrawn; he always looked dressed for a semi-formal event. Few of the school's students knew that he played piano like a prodigy. The bespectacled Austrian could have won every single school talent show, but he never participated. When he wasn't sitting with "the smart kids," he usually ate alone, but today Ludwig spotted him at the other end of the cafeteria, talking to a girl named Elizabeta, who had long, light brown hair, always wore a dress, and was probably the sweetest girl any one of them had ever met.

Ludwig's attention was severed from Roderiech and Elizabeta when two others joined their group. Toris (everybody called him Liet) and Raivis were Eduard's two best friends. In fact, the three were so close that people often referred to them as brothers. Toris didn't say much. Raivis didn't either. Ludwig got the impression that the small, blond-haired boy was some degree of frightened of all of them. He always seemed to be trembling.

And then there was Ivan. None of them really knew what to think of him. Apparently he was really smart; he took some classes from the University, as well, and he had high scores in all of his classes. He smiled a lot, and seemed completely normal. That is, until you started talking to him. He had this sort of dark... cloud that wrapped itself around him sometimes. Ludwig had once found a discarded paper of Ivan's filled with notes outlining how a nation could take over the world. It was actually kind of scary.

At the moment, Ivan was standing in a corner of the cafeteria, watching the students mill about. He was eating some kind of weird Russian soup, made with boiled beets or something. Ivan always brought his lunch, and this was pretty much the only thing he ever ate. The expression on his face was for once not a smile, but a look of quiet contemplation. Wonder what he's planning now, Ludwig thought.

Ludwig didn't talk much. He watched people. He liked to know who everyone was, where they were, and what they were doing. He wasn't a stalker or anything like that, but being ultra-aware of what was going on made him feel... secure.

Speaking of that... where was Veniciano? His Italian friend was never easy to miss, mostly because he spent all his time jabbering to Ludwig about pasta and artists. Not that Ludwig minded, really. When he'd first met Veni, he'd been out of his mind with irritation, but he realized that the short boy's constant chatter was actually kind of interesting, if you bothered to listen. And while Ludwig didn't talk much himself, he listened. He probably knew more about art now that anybody except Veniciano himself.

"Ve!" Ludwig jumped when a happy voice sounded in his ear. "What?" He said gruffly, to cover up his surprise.

"I have a new friend, Luddy," chirped the smiling boy. "His name is Feliks. We met in art class third hour."

Ludwig turned to see a boy standing beside Veniciano, just a few inches taller than the Italian. The boy had shoulder-length blonde hair, and green eyes. He was dressed all in green: green shirt, green jacket, green pants. His shoes were black.

"Yeah," said the boy. "Like, hi and stuff! I'm Feliks, and I'm totally new here. Veniciano said I could come and like, meet you guys."

Alfred was already out of his seat, sticking his hand out for the new kid to shake. "I'm Alfred Jones. If you wanna find the best burger joints in town, I'm your man!"

Eduard nodded and smiled, Kiku made a little bow, Raivis trembled but said "hi." Toris, Ludwig noticed, said nothing. He thought about this as he stuck out his hand stiffly for Feliks to shake. Maybe Liet wasn't feeling good today; he never said much anyway.

Veniciano and Feliks sat down next to Ludwig, and Veni started talking about the "dynamic and emotive color scheme" of Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night." Kiku and Eduard were soon deep in conversation about recent improvements in silicon microchips. Feliks was talking with Alfred about an allusion to a phoenix in a book both of them had read. Toris still wasn't saying anything. He had completely abandoned his lunch, and had hardly even moved. Maybe I should talk to him after lunch, Ludwig thought to himself. See if he's alright. It bothered the German that he didn't know what was wrong with his friend.

But when the bell rang, Toris left without a word, and Ludwig didn't see him for the rest of the day.