Ludwig Beilschmidt walked hesitantly through the front door of his new high school, looking around as he entered the crowded halls. His steps faltered as he came to a stop, feeling slightly overwhelmed. It was his first day at Gakuen High School after he and his brother had moved in with his grandfather.
"Come on, little bro!" Gilbert Beilschmidt's red eyes gleamed as he ruffled Ludwig's hair. Ludwig backed away from the petting, scowling a bit as he brushed his previously slicked back hair back off his face.
"Don't be so immature, Gilbert, you're a senior. We have to make a good first impression." Ludwig said, looking up at his brother.
"Damn right I'm a senior!" Gilbert laughed, red eyes gleaming out from under white hair. The albino student looked ready to dance around his brother.
"You must be Gilbert and Ludwig Beilschmidt." A sudden voice said, and the two boys looked up to see a tall man with very curly dark hair and amber eyes. "My name is Roma Vargas; I am the principal here at Gakuen High. Welcome to one of the most racially diverse schools in the world. Please come with me to receive your schedules."
Ludwig dragged his brother along after Mr. Vargas, ignoring the albino's protests and wanting to sightsee. They got their schedules quickly, and soon found themselves standing outside the principal's office, each with a map and schedule in hand. Ludwig felt a thrill of nerves in his stomach as he looked up at his brother.
"You'll be alright, Lud~" Gilbert said, flashing his signature cocky grin at his brother before heading off down the hall. "See you later, little bro!"
"J-Ja…" Ludwig said, watching his brother go. Then the blond looked down at his map and schedule, heading uncertainly off down the hall, subtly examining the other students out of the corner of his eye as he went.
He made it to his first class just before the bell rang, and then just kind of froze for a moment, eyes surveying the class before him. It was almost full, and Ludwig had absolutely no idea where he was supposed to sit. The bell rang and, just before the teacher entered, a short, black haired student stood. The student approached Ludwig rather warily, and stopped a few feet away.
"Kunnichiwa." The student said, almond shaped eyes looking up as he gave a small bow. "My name is Kiku Honda. Please follow me; there is an empty seat next to mine."
"Thank you." Ludwig said, following the Japanese student and sitting in the desk beside him. Kiku gave a small nod.
At that moment the teacher, Mr. Hesse, came sweeping into the classroom, closing the door behind him. The teacher took role and leapt quickly into the lesson, thankfully without making Ludwig get up in front of the class and introduce himself. However, the lesson didn't get very far at all before the classroom door opened and a latecomer dashed in.
"Ah." The teacher said dryly as the student came to a halt, panting lightly. "Late again I see, Felicia." He said as the class tittered.
"Mi dispiace, I'm sorry." The student, a girl, said. She straightened, and Ludwig's breath caught in his throat.
She was, to put it simply, very pretty. She had long red hair plaited into two braids and honey colored eyes framed by long eyelashes. Her backpack was clutched to her chest, a strange little curl was free from the braids, hanging by her ear, and her pale skin was flushed pink on her cheeks both from running and embarrassment. Even in the four words she had spoken, her voice was musical, lyrical, and laced with a wonderful Italian accent.
Ludwig shook his breath, tearing his eyes away from the girl. It was not like him to get so caught up over seeing an attractive girl, or to use such words in his head to describe her. Instead, he looked down at the open notebook on his desk.
"Just go sit down." Mr. Hesse said in a vaguely exasperated tone as the class laughed again, and Ludwig could hear the girl's school issued shoes shuffling across the ground as she slunk to her seat, clear in the back corner of the classroom. Only then did Ludwig look back up to the front of the classroom, pen poised over his notebook.
Once class ended, the class spilled out into the hall, and Ludwig took his time packing his stuff, not wanting to fight the throng of students that were filing through the hall.
"Hi! Are you new?" The pretty girl, Felicia, if Ludwig recalled correctly, was suddenly standing in front of him, a bright smile on her face.
"J-Ja." Ludwig said loudly, and then blushed a bit when he saw her flinch. "Sorry…" he muttered, and then extended a hand to her. "I'm Ludwig Beilschmidt."
She took his hand delicately with her own small one and smiled sweetly up at him. "I'm Felicia." She said, before pulling her hand away and skipping out the door.
Ludwig shook his head; feeling slightly dazed, and then hefted his backpack and headed to his next class.
The rest of the day passed rather quickly and, though Ludwig kept his eyes open, he did not see the redheaded Felicia again. It almost felt like the Italian had disappeared. At lunch, however, he did see Gilbert, sitting at a table with a wavy haired blonde Frenchman and a dark curly headed Spanish woman. The three were laughing hysterically, and Ludwig smiled. At least his brother had made some friends.
At the end of the school day, as Ludwig was making his way towards the front of the school, the sound of students jeering and a high, panicked voice made him turn. Three students had someone, a girl by the sound of it, backed into a corner. Ludwig frowned, heading towards the source of the commotion, when a hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"I know what you're thinking, Lud." Gilbert said in a low voice. "That's Natalya, Sadiq, and Ivan. Francis and Isabel told me that those three aren't people you want as your enemies. Apparently they can make your life hell."
Ludwig turned and looked at his brother. "Gil, they might be hurting a girl…" he said in an equally low voice.
Gilbert shook his head. "It isn't worth it, Ludwig." He said quietly.
The girl, Natalya, shifted slightly to one side, just enough for Ludwig to see their unfortunate victim. He caught a glimpse of red hair and honey eyes that were wide in fear, and his stomach dropped. "That's Felicia!" he said, and pulled away from Gilbert's hand, heading towards the commotion with angry strides.
Before he could reach it, however, there was suddenly someone barging through the people watching and jumping protectively in front of Felicia. He had dark red hair and blazing green eyes, and was obviously Felicia's brother. The boy yelled angrily at the Sadiq, Natalya, and Ivan, his face going red in rage and a litany of Italian falling from his lips. The three tormentors only laughed and stepped closer, jeering voices rising and forcing Felicia's brother against the wall beside his sister.
"That's enough!" Ludwig yelled as he headed over. His voice held enough authority that the three looked around in nervousness for a moment before realizing that it had not been a teacher, only a fellow student. Then Ivan, the tallest of them all, stepped forward, tugging his scarf into place and a sinister grin appearing on his face.
"You must be new, da?" Ivan smirked, stepping even closer to Ludwig, who stood his ground despite the strong urge to run away. "Obviously you don't know how things work here."
"I don't need to." Ludwig retorted.
Peeking around Ivan, Ludwig could see Felicia's brother pull her to her feet, practically dragging her out of the school without a backwards glance, although Felicia twisted around, her wide, confused honey eyes meeting Ludwig's for a split second before the front door closed.
A sudden hard shove and collision with a wall made Ludwig's attention snap back to the scarf wearing Russian in front of him. The student's violet eyes were narrowed in distaste, lip pulled up in a sneer.
Ludwig refused to rise to the bait, knowing that doing so would only get him in trouble, so he merely turned his back on Ivan and walked away. He swore that he could feel the anger rolling off of the Russian boy, and an involuntary shudder raced down his spine. A pair of rough hands grabbed his shoulders and spun his around, putting him literally nose to nose with Ivan, who looked ready to kill someone.
"Bad move, newbie." Ivan hissed. "Now you have me as an enemy. You're dead now." And with that, Ivan released him, turning on his heel and stalking off. Natalya clung to his arm, sticking her tongue out at Ludwig, and Sadiq merely shook his head, laughing, as he followed the other two off.
Ludwig swore he could feel his heart pounding in his toes, that's how fast it was going. Gilbert put a hand on Ludwig's shoulder, pulling him towards the front of the school.
"What did I tell you, Lud?" Gilbert sighed. "Now those bastards are going to make your life hell, you know that? Especially Ivan. He is one seriously creepy dude."
They headed out into the sunshine, and Gilbert pulled off his blazer, settling his pair of sunglasses on his nose and calling out to the blond Frenchman from lunch. "Oi! Francis!" Gilbert yelled, and the blond senior approached.
"Hey there, Gil!" Francis said, smiling. "This must be your little brother, oui?"
"Ja, this is—hey Lud, who are you looking for?" Gilbert asked, watching his brother peer over the heads of the other students.
"No one." Ludwig said, squinting his eyes slightly as he tried to spot Felicia's red hair in the crowd. However, there was not a trace of the Italian girl to be seen. He couldn't even see Felicia's brother either.
"Ohonhon~" Francis laughed, his eyes lighting up as Ludwig gave up and turned his gaze back to his brother. "I think that Ludwig has a crush~"
"I-I do not!" Ludwig denied what the Frenchman said instantly, using his superior height to glare down at Francis. Gilbert laughed loudly, patting his little brother's arm.
"Nah, Lud doesn't have a crush." Gilbert said confidently. "This kid is way to serious for his own good!"
Ludwig sighed, shaking off his brother's arm and starting forward. "Opa will be angry if we miss the bus." He said, pointing to the line of school buses that were loading up with students and preparing to depart.
"I'm going to hang out with Francis and Isabel. Tell Opa I'll be home by dinner, okay? Danke!" Gilbert as he headed away with Francis, meeting up with the girl with the curly hair in the bun.
"Oh, Bruder…" Ludwig sighed, shaking his head and heading off to the bus.
He boarded the bus and sat gingerly in an empty seat, sitting his backpack on the seat beside him. He slid his battered and much abused iPod out of his backpack and slid the headphones on, leaning his head back against the seat. Turning the music up as loud as it would go, Ludwig tried to forget the fact that he hadn't made any friends on the first day, and now he had to go home to his grandfather, to the oppressive house.
It worked, mostly. Time slid by him smoothly and rather quickly, until he realized that they were coming up on the house he now lived in. He got to his feet and stepped quickly off the bus, making his way up to where he could see Opa standing by the door, long white hair tied back. Ludwig approached the man hesitantly, feeling a foreboding aura practically rolling off the man.
"Where is your brother?" Opa snapped in quick German, those steely blue eyes that Ludwig had inherited boring into his own.
"Gilbert made friends. He said that he would be home by dinner." Ludwig answered, making sure to keep his voice quiet but clear, lowering his eyes to his grandfather's shoes and keeping them there.
Opa made a tsking sound and turned to head back in the house, the stench of alcohol rolling through the open door and wafting over Ludwig, making him flinch. He barely kept from wrinkling his nose as he followed Opa into the house, removing his shoes just inside the door. Opa was already camped out in his armchair, blurred eyes trained on the television and basically ignoring Ludwig. Which, personally, what Ludwig liked best, is ignored by Opa. Better than the alternative.
Ludwig crept past his Opa and up the stairs, slipping into the room that he and Gilbert shared and sitting down heavily on his bed. Their boxes from the move were still mostly packed, with half of Gilbert's things spilled across the room from the albino's rush to get ready that morning. Ludwig sat cross legged on the bed, balancing his notebook on his knees and the math book nestled on the comforter.
He tried to study, to do his homework, but his mind kept wandering. That girl, Felicia, she had been so scared when those kids had cornered her, but there had been a sort of weary acceptance in her eyes. And the way her brother had known instantly that she needed him, that had obviously happened many times before. Those three students, the Hasser, as Ludwig was calling them in his mind, seemed to have sort of grudge against the Italian siblings, just like they now had a vendetta against Ludwig himself.
Why, though? Felicia didn't look like she could hurt a fly, let alone do anything bad enough to warrant the Hasser's hatred.
One thing was certain, though. No matter what that Frenchie said, Ludwig did not have feelings for her.