First Chapter Of Shetland Islands
When Brigid Rhiannon Kirkland was eight, a very strange thing happened to her. It actually something only a few people knew about.
In country terms, America's counterpart was ten or so. He didn't really seem to care about the Kirklands then. Only, Oliver did, seeing as how he had already met Rhiannon...or Shetland, as she was more commonly known.
Allen was snickering as Oliver went on about this apparently cute little Kirkland girl he kept going to see. How ridiculous! The young boy couldn't help but laugh, really.
Suddenly, there was a quick knock at the door, which sent Oliver into a panic.
"Oh, if that is her..."
A furious looking Shetland barged in after the door was unlocked, her hair in white ribbons that looked to have been tied everywhere.
"Who the hell does he think he is?"she screamed, obviously upset. Oliver immediately set about de tangling the ribbons and calming her down, which was not easy with Allen absolutely howling with laughter.
"Who are you talking about, my dearest little petal?" he cooed, and Allen stopped laughing when he saw the girl begin to glare.
"He was wearing that stupid hat and called me Bella...like I am anything like Belle! Stupid stupid boy! And he had a stupid friend who helped him tie the ribbons and, and..." The last ribbon was unknotted and she snatched a pair of scissors and began to cut the length of ribbon up decisively. Allen was thinking, before a horrible thought crossed his mind.
"Do you mean Luciano Vargas?"
She frowned. "Of course I mean Luci! That bloody, bloody idiot with the moronic friend and the stupidest hat known to this Earth!"
Oliver twitched, holding the swear jar out under her nose. Forty pence clinked grudgingly into the glass before he smiled.
"It isn't as bad as all that. I read somewhere that tying a girl's hair with ribbon means you are saying that she is yours."
Allen snarled immediately. No way. No way was Luci getting a girlfriend before Al did. He seized the girl's wrist. "You a first player?"
She flipped him over her shoulder so he landed on his back, growling at him like an animal. Oliver nodded and Al grinned, scrambling up. He would get a good bruise from that flip.
"Then I say Luciano can't date ya. You're a Kirkland, which means you're Oliver's sister. By that ruling, you're my sister too. And if he wants to date you he has to get my permission. He'll never get it." He frowned so that he looked serious.
For the second time in as many minutes she knocked him over, but this time she was hugging him.
...
"Hey, Nina, get up! Niiiiiina!" Shetland turfed her twin out of bed, cackling at the yelp he gave. He started to whine incoherently from his position on the floor and she snickered slightly. Orkney always was a bad person to wake up.
"Yeah, fixed time for school. You have to be there...Of course, you could always let your grades drop?"
She raced back to her own room, her braid messed up from sleep, before she got dressed in her uniform. It may have been the male uniform but it suited her very well, she thought. In this, she looked very ungirly.
Her brother skipped around the door, dressed in the female uniform. "How do I look?"
His hair was tied in bunches, which fell very cutely to his shoulders.
"Like a girl..." Shetland muttered, a small smile tugging her lips upwards for a second. Her brother was rushing over to hug her, when she twisted away to release her hair and brush it through. Orkney waited until she had finished to help her tie it into a long braid of sorts with a series of black hair bands.
"Thanks, Nina." The girl hugged her brother, before rushing to the door and running. Orkney shrieked, racing after her before remembering that he needed his school bag.
England was pacing in front of the school, trying not to worry. The twins always turned up eventually, but they were still refusing to wear the correct uniform, swapping when they received it. It wasn't really Orkney he minded, but his sister was the only girl in the family and needed some form of femininity. She didn't appear to have very many female friends, apart from Belarus, who she did actually get on with.
"Ah, hello, Artie!" A hand landed heavily on his shoulder and England shrieked loudly, while Ireland snickered behind him.
"You git, don't sneak up on me!"
Orkney sighed as he walked demurely towards his brothers. "Good morning..."
Shetland was actually already in the building, but she was planning to ditch classes and head over to the woods. However, it should have been noted that she happened to glance out the window in time to see three familiar figures flirting with her brothers. Two out of three were looking terrified, while one was grinning widely. Shetland sighed.
"Mightn't be so bad if they realised Orkney was a girl and Art's never going to stop being standoffish." She slammed the window open.
"HANDS OFF, YE MORONIC EXCUSES FER PERSONIFICATIONS!"
France, Spain and Prussia looked up as one to see a furious face disappear from the window, five minutes before a blur hit them like a bullet, knocking Spain gently to the ground and France and Prussia aggressively off their feet.
"HANDS IN THE AIR!" the figure yelled again. France was prepared to fight before the front of the jacket caught his attention.
"Eh?"
Shetland looked down herself to blush brightly. Damn. Today of all days, and she'd forgotten to...well, bind.
Prussia's eyes quickly followed as soon as France began to nosebleed, while Spain smiled happily, standing up to present Shetland with a flower of some sort.
She raised an eyebrow, before Ireland snatched it from her, handing it back.
"No. No hitting on her." His expression was unusually firm, and he glanced towards Orkney.
"And I have been meanin' ta ask... Ye do know he's my brother, no' ma sister, right?"
Three stunned expressions crossed again, before France began to get a twinkle in his eye.
"Ah, but 'e is beautiful, no?"
"NO." A kick from Shetland sent France to the ground even before England had opened his mouth to protest. Orkney had gone very red, before he found someone had a hold of his arm.
"Poppet, are you okay?" Sugar sweet tones sent fear into the spines of four of the men, while the other two nodded. Oliver Kirkland stood with a face that smiled in a dreadful little way, a way that told of worlds of pain for the man who dared to hit on his siblings if his siblings had said no.
Shetland hugged him swiftly, before walking briskly inside. Oliver then turned to Orkney, offering his arm like a gentleman.
...
"SHETLAND, GET YE SCRAWNY SELF HERE NOW!"
Scotland had a murderous expression, casting his eyes about for his young sister. He had known something was up when she had not bugged him this morning. Now, he had found a little pile of cigarette ash on the window sill of his room, when he had dashed back to pick something up. This probably meant that she had burnt them a short while ago.
This meant that:
1) He had no cigarettes for today.
2) She wasn't in her lessons.
3) She was in a bad mood.
An ice cube bounced off his head and he looked to the top of the lockers to see his dust covered sister throwing them at his head with apparent enjoyment.
"YE LITTLE..." The Scot dragged his sister off the lockers and slung her over one shoulder. She delivered a quick kick before he put her down and a glint sprung into his eyes.
"Run," he said very softly, a smile forming on his face as she did so.
