San Marino

First day, walking through the doors, frick. I don't know what to do. My fratelli left me here alone while they go to find a parking spot. I'm the middle child you know, the one who's always confused on firs days and stuff. I'm San Marino, yes, San Marino, that tiny country in Italy. My brothers, Feliciano and Romano, are the northern and southern parts of Italy. Fortunately, I'm not the youngest. Feli's 20, I'm also 20 but was born in the same year, and Romano's 22.

I'm about to open the doors when someone else opens the doors, knocking me to the ground.

"Hey! Watch it id-"

I look up to see a blond haired male with glasses gazing down at me.

"Whoa! I'm sorry! I didn't see ya there!" he exclaims.

I point to the solid white door.

"Of course you didn't. There's a door there." I point out smartly with a smirk on my face.

He holds his hand out and I take it. Pulling me up, I catch a good look at his eyes. They're a bright sky blue.

"I'm Alfred by the way. Personification of America and –of course- the hero!" he introduces arrogantly.

"Oh, I've heard of you. You're the annoying, boastful, cheeseburger- loving American who never seems to shut the hell up." I remark.

His eyes widen into saucers.

"I am not!"

"Well my brother Romano said so."

"R-Romano?"

And just on cue, Feli and Romano walk up.

"Yeah, that's-a me. What do you-a want?" Romano says rudely.

"How dare you say those things about me! I'm nothing like that!"

"Nothing like what Alfred?" a small, quiet voice speaks.

Alfred turns behind him and I peek over his shoulder to see a short, dirty- blond haired girl wearing a bright pink skirt.

"Not now Al."

"Who's that?" I ask.

"My… sister." He says, his face flushed a light red.

"Since-a when did you-a have a sorella Alfred?" Feli pipes up.

"Since forever. She's a year younger than me though."

He turns and walks back inside the building, the girl following behind him. I turn to face Romano, whose face looked of concern.

"Did he-a touch you sorella?" he asks, touching my face gingerly.

"Only when I fell and he helped me up." I reply.

He frowns and returns his hand to his side.

"Fine. Let's go." He says, pushing me lightly inside.

Somehow, Romano seemed extra protective today.

I sit nervously in my seat while I wait for all the seats to be filled. A Greek man sits next to me snoring away while the seat on my right remains unfilled. Getting slightly annoyed by the Greek's snoring, I nudge him hard enough to wake him up and then look back down at the table.

I hear strange snake-like laughter and look up curiously to find a pale skinned, silver haired man with red eyes sitting across from me. My eyes become fixated with the man, eyeing him closely. I hear the strange laugh again and realize that it's the red-eyed man's laughter.

I feel a tap at my shoulder and quickly turn around, glaring daggers at whoever ruined my daze. It was just Romano.

"Hey sorella, watch-a out for-a him and his-a potato eating brother." He points to the red-eyed man.

"Why? I like him. He's… different." I confess.

"W-WHAT?"

His scream is loud enough so that everyone turns and looks at us. My face burns a bright red. I've always hated public humiliation. Everyone laughs at Romano's little outburst and my face gets redder, if it was possible. I give a hard yank to Romano's curl to humiliate him more and run off into the lobby. I sit on one of the cushiony red seats and bury my face into my hands.

"H-hey." A small voice sounds.

I look up and around the room and see a boy hiding behind one of the plants.

"Hey," I say back. "What are you doing over there?"

He stands up and I get a better view of him. He looks like Alfred, except he's got a curly curl on the top of his head.

"I was hiding from the other countries. They always seem to get rowdy at conferences. Who are you and what are you doing out here? I'm Canada, but you can call me Matthew."

His voice was almost whisper- like.

"I'm San Marino, Cameo. My brother just humiliated me. That's why I'm out here."

"Romano?'

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Because I know Feliciano would never do it, and I've heard of you from your brothers-well-when they notice me." He says sadly. "My brother is loud and obnoxious, everyone notices him. And my sister is the real girl. She's popular. Sometimes I don't know how I fit in with my family."

"And I don't know how I fit in with mine, I mean, I love them both, but at one time or another… they just seem to move on without me."

"I feel you."

I look up and I could tell that Matthew was going to be my first real friend here.