~Alfred~
I woke up this morning like I did any other morning: cold, tired, and not at all wanting to go to school. I groaned and rolled onto my stomach, pulling the blankets tighter around me. I looked at my watch, which said it was 8:00. School started at 8:45.
Whatever. My attendance record was already terrible and one more late wouldn't hurt it. Then I saw the little number beside the time. "14". My eyes widened in realization. February 14. The most important day of the year.
Yesss! I jumped out of bed like it was on fire or something, getting into my uniform in record time. All I could think was "Valentine's Day! Valentine's Day!" I didn't even say a word to my parents as I ran out the door. I think I even skipped all the way to school.
You see, I have this huge crush on a guy who's in most of my classes. His name's Arthur. He's really smart. I wouldn't exactly say charming, but he has this attitude that draws me to him. He's British. And also very, very cute.
Yeah, shut up.
I stopped at a corner store along the way to get a box of chocolates. I figured I really couldn't go wrong with chocolate, and since I had completely forgotten would day it was, it would have to work. I smiled. I'd use the classic approach of hiding it in his locker before class started…then he'd find it…and…and…I don't know. I haven't gotten that far.
Anyways, I got to school fifteen minutes early (again, record time), greeted at the door by Gilbert. He slapped me on the back. "Hey, Jones! What's got you so excited?"
I must have still been smiling stupidly. "Valentine's Day, obviously!"
"Oho. Got a hot date or something?" he raised his eyebrows at me.
Pish. He wouldn't understand. So I just showed him the box of chocolates. "I hope so."
"Lemme guess. It's that freaky-but-hot girl that always wears a bow in her hair, right?"
"Hell no, she's freaking insane." Then I saw Arthur over Gilbert's shoulder, taking his jacket off at his locker. My heart fluttered. "Catch ya later Gil!" I left him with a wave and walked towards the object of my constant daydreams. I heard Gilbert call after me: "So you're gonna leave me hanging?" I ignored him.
"Hey Arthur!" I came up behind him and put a hand on his locker door as he opened it.
He jumped a bit and looked at me. "Oh. Hello Alfred," he said, with that dead sexy accent of his. Then he turned back to his locker and got some stuff out.
Huh. Not exactly welcoming. He was probably tired, it was a Monday. I turned to my own locker, which was right beside his. (His last name's Kirkland. Mine's Jones. J, K. I freaking love alphabetical order.)
"Somebody's on edge today," I said, grinning and starting to get my stuff for morning classes.
He scowled at me, like he always does when he doesn't have an answer. He kept getting stuff from his locker without even glancing once in my direction.
I wanted to keep talking to him, but my mind drew a blank. "Um…we have gym first, right?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.
Arthur sighed. "Yes, we do."
The bell rang, signalling for us to head to our first class and he started to walk away. "And don't forget, it's in the pool today!" he shouted back at me.
"I know, thanks!"
I closed my locker and noticed that Arthur had left his open. That was weird. Arthur's usually really organized, and he doesn't jump like that when you talk to him. Well, everyone has their days. I just used his open locker as an opportunity to slip the chocolate in unnoticed. Then I ran downstairs to the pool.
-
Despite being pretty much the last one to get into the changeroom, I finished dressing first. I enjoy finishing first, because from my vantage point on the bench, I could see everything going on. This pretty much means getting to watch Arthur change.
He pulled his shirt off in one smooth motion, stretching his back muscles as he swung his arms around. I think I sighed seeing that, cause then my brother, Matthew, who was standing beside me, told me I sounded like a pedophile. I said that wasn't possible because we were all the same age. He just rolled his eyes.
Arthur then pulled his dress pants off so he was down to just his boxers. Dress pants. How the hell does he wear those every day?
Arthur pushed down his boxers. I felt my penis twitch and better judgement told me to look away. So I did, knowing it would be real awkward walking into class with an erection showing through my shorts.
Our gym teacher's pretty good, usually. But seeing as he's not a swimming kinda guy, we just ended up swimming lengths the whole time. I swear I must have done at least a hundred by the end of the 76-minute period. At least I was in the same lane as Arthur. And anyone who's gone swimming in a lane in the past should know that when you're going one way and someone else is going the other, you tend to bump into each other or brush by each other. (I would know. I once managed to whack my brother in the balls doing just that.) But yeah, that's what me and him were doing. He kept snapping at me afterwards to swim in a straight line, but I think it was worth it.
We emerged from the pool tired and sweaty, not really wanting to go to drama for next period. But I had already skipped too many of those classes and was bound to fail if I didn't go.
Our drama teacher is this old lady who looks like she'd be terrible and boring, but is actually not so bad. I think so, at least. Anyways, today she told us to do some improv stuff. "We kind of have to!" she said. "We haven't done any this year, and – this is not my decision – but you're not going to pass this course without it. Now, seeing as it's Valentine's Day, which is cool, and it would be funny to see you guys taking a shot at acting romantic, that's what the improv is going to be based on."
Well, I was glad someone shared my love of February 14.
"You guys will be but into pairs, by order of…"
Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on…
"…first name." Aww, shit.
"The first group is Alfred and Antonio."
"Madame!" someone called from the back of the room. It was Francis. "Antonio isn't here today!"
"Oh? Okay, then." She wrote something on her clipboard. "Alfred and Arthur."
YES! This day was turning out to be the best. I felt like getting out of my seat and doing a happy dance right there. I got to do improv with Arthur. No wait – edit – I got to do romantic improv with Arthur. Arthur wordlessly moved from his seat to sit beside me. I smiled at him. He didn't look too happy though as he played with the collar of his shirt. I coulda sworn he was blushing, though.
I sighed and fiddled with a pencil. I was lost in daydream-land for the rest of the time that it took her to name all the groups. Arthur elbowed me out of it, after a while.
"Yeah?" I whispered.
"Did you even hear what she told us to do?" he hissed.
"Er…yes…?"
Arthur scoffed at me. "Must I explain everything to you?"
Well, he was right. He did often have to explain stuff to me, because of my frequent zone-outs that always seemed to fall in the middle of something important. "Sorry. What are we doing?" I said.
"She's assigning each group a love song to improvise around," he said. "We listen to it once and the second time we'll be onstage. With the song in the background."
"Sounds sweet," I said. The prof came round with this hat full of little bits of paper. She held it in front of me and I took a bit of paper out. It had "If I had a million dollars" written on it.
"I love that song!" she said to us. "Remember, you're getting marked on the improv and the" – she looked at both of us with a grin – "onstage chemistry and coordination." She handed us an iPod with earbuds. "You have the duration of the song to figure stuff out between you." With that she moved on.
I didn't want to admit it to her, but I loved the song too. I knew every freaking word. I turned to Arthur. "You know it?" I asked.
"Yes, as a matter of fact I do." He was smiling. "I know every word."
I felt my heart flutter a little. "Dude, me too!" I said, holding my hand up for a high-five, which Arthur delivered. I turned on the iPod and got to the song, plugging an earbud into my ear and handing the other earbud to Arthur, who put it in his. I played the song. "So what're we gonna do for it?" I asked.
"Hmm." Arthur seemed to be deep in thought, with that subtle smile still on his face. Did I mention how cute he was? "It seems to me as if there's one man who's desperate to get a certain girl, and he's singing the song to her."
I nodded in agreement, just as the guy was saying "I'd buy you love" for the first time.
"But the girl doesn't like this guy, because he doesn't actually have a million dollars. Or something," I said. "But the guy won't give up."
He nodded. "So we'll have one of us as the girl and one as the guy."
"You're the girl." I jabbed a finger at him, grinning.
"Hey! That's…just...no!" he said.
"Come on, you know you fit the role better than I do. And I'm taller."
Arthur winced, probably at the height comment. Then he stopped and smiled. "But," he said, "isn't acting about being out of character?"
Shit, he was right. I couldn't think of anything to say to it, so I just made a pouty face and said "fine". More because I can't say no to him than because of the acting thing.
He looked at me and snickered. Was that a blush on his face? I sure hoped so.
The song came to a close, and with incredible timing, the old lady called "Alfred and Arthur! Start!"
"Shit! Where are we when this happens?" I asked him, unhooking the iPod and getting out of my seat.
"I'll act drunk. I'll lead, you'll know what to do." He gave me a grin that was real taunting. "Good luck."
"You too." I get a feeling that drama is Arthur's favourite class besides English. I don't blame him, he's incredible at it.
Then again, Arthur's incredible at everything in my eyes.
We mounted on stage and Arthur grabbed two chairs, setting them beside each other. He gestured for me to sit down on one and he sat down in the other. "It's supposed to be a couch," he muttered to me as the intro to the song was starting.
He pretended he was chugging from a bottle, swaying slightly and smiling stupidly. He really did look like he was drunk.
When the lyrics came on, he turned to me and started mouthing them, leaning over to my face. Surprisingly, I knew what he wanted: for me to push him away.
Let me tell you, it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.
Anyways, I did eventually end up shoving him gently aside and making him sit upright again on his chair. He just leaned on me again. I pushed him off again. We kept going like this for a while, until I figured we needed some variation and I stood up, shaking Arthur off for the fourth or fifth time.
He stood up groggily, smiling at me with half-lidded eyes. I backed away from him with my hands out in front of me, trying to act grossed out. I probs just ended up looking nervous. He mouthed the second "I'd buy you love" and lunged at me, looping his arms around my waist. I held rubbed my temples and sighed, trying to act like a bitchy, exasperated girl. I shoved Arthur roughly (but not too roughly) by the head, unlatching him from my legs. He sat on the floor for a while as I walked to the other end of the stage. He was still mouthing the words to me, talking aimlessly about Kraft Dinner and Dijon Ketchup.
I rolled my eyes and took my phone out of my pocket, pretending to call someone while eyeing Arthur disgustedly. The last chorus came, with Arthur pretending to shout at me "If I had a million dollars" a bunch of times. He staggered over and threw his arms around my neck, knocking the phone out of my hand. (Hey, it worked nicely). He pretended to try to kiss me, leaning in and still looking drunk. He's really an incredible actor. Had the circumstances not been as they were, I'd have thought he was serious.
Sensing that the song was coming to a close, I threw him off me one last time and marched, looking annoyed, to the "couch". He sat down beside me, and we mouthed the last line of the song together.
If I had a million do~~oo~~llars…I'd be rich.
Arthur pretended to fall asleep and fell on my lap. I sighed, shook my head and facepalmed, but didn't push him off.
And then the song ended.
And then everyone clapped.
Arthur got up (damn) and smiled at me. "Good enough romance for you?" he said.
I grinned back. "You had me fooled, man." I winked at him, picking up the two chairs and carrying them offstage. Why the hell did I wink at him?
The old lady nodded at us, congratulating us on a job well done. Arthur and I sat back down as she called the next pair – Berwald and Eduard. They were acting to the song "Just the Way You Are."
Let me tell you, it was freaking hilarious. First off, neither of the two are the greatest actors, I don't even know why they took drama. Berwald is this tall Swedish guy would scare the crap out of you if you saw him, but is actually really nice. Eduard's just really independent. And they both look REALLY similar.
So seeing that Swede say Eduard is beautiful while looking like he was going to murder him…it just kind of made my day. And Arthur's, too. I could see he was trying just as hard not to burst out laughing as I was. We shared a glance and I bit my lip trying to prevent the snicker that was just dying to come out.
Finally, the song ended, they got offstage, everyone clapped. Me and Arthur laughed.
"Funniest 5 minutes of my life," I whispered to him.
"Yes. Very much so." Oh God, that accent.
The rest of the class went up and did their thing. Personally, I think mine was the best though. And not because I have ego issues or anything, because Arthur's just that good an actor.
By the way, sorry I keep talking about Arthur so much. He's just what's on my mind 99% of the time, so there's not really any way of avoiding it.
The bell rang at 11:32, meaning it was lunch. Finally. I walked with Arthur exhaustedly to our lockers. "You're an amazing actor," I told him.
"Thank you," he said simply. "You sure knew what you were doing there, too."
I smiled at the compliment, opening my locker to dump my stuff inside.
"Hey…" I heard Arthur say from beside me. I looked over. His locker was open, and he had pulled out the box of chocolates I had slipped in unnoticed earlier.
"Chocolate?" I said, smile spreading across my face. "Someone's got an admirer~"
AGGHHH. I WISHED I HADN'T SAID THAT. SO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
"Sure…" he said, shrugging and putting it in his backpack. He spoke quieter. "But I don't care. It's not from the person I want it to be from."
I felt my heart lurch. Arthur…liked someone?
"How would you know?" I asked, having a hard time keeping my cool.
"Because h-" he stopped himself, blushing. Was he about to say 'he?' "They just don't care about me like that." He avoided my gaze.
I wasn't going to interrogate him about it. It would seem odd. "Come on," I said, starting to walk towards the caf. "Don't be so hard on yourself, you're pretty awesome if you ask me." I smiled at him. I meant that more than he knew. It seemed like too much, though.
"Alright, whatever," he said, following me.
We got to the caf, when I realized I'd forgotten my lunch. "Aw, shit."
"Here, I'll buy you something," Arthur offered.
"Really?"
He looked at me funny. "Yes…it's no problem."
"Thanks." I grinned, going with him to the food line-up.
I was kinda in my own little world the whole time, wondering who it was Arthur was interested in. There weren't too many girls at our school, and most of them were already taken or something. Arthur wasn't the type to like a girl who already had a boyfriend. Earlier, it had sounded like he was gonna say 'he', though. Maybe…no, that's not possible. I decided I'd try and figure it out later.
"Earth to Alfred," Arthur said, waving his hand in front of my face and snapping me out of my thoughts.
"S-sorry…" I said. He pointed at my tray on the counter.
"I took the liberty of assuming you wanted a burger," he said.
I grinned. "Dude, you're awesome." I picked up the tray and walked over to the round table in the middle of the room, where our group of friends have been sitting every lunch since our freshman year. Me and Arthur squeezed in between Kiku and Feliks, on the opposite end of the table from Francis. Hell that guy's annoying.
"Hey, like, your drama thing was sooooo awesome!" Feliks told us.
I swear, sometime in the near future that guy's gonna become a drag queen. I took a huge bite of my burger, effectively finishing off a quarter of it.
"Thanks," I said, with my mouth full. Arthur nodded.
We ate, babbled and laughed like any other day. I felt giddy from being so close to Arthur. (I'm such a sap).
Anyways, so then Feliks had a brainwave.
"Hey, Kiku!" he yelled overtop our heads. "Like, since it's Valentine's Day, which is totally awesome, why don't we play that weird game of yours with the chocolate sticks?"
The Pocky thing? I love that game!
Kiku looked back shyly. "Ah…I guess," he said. He slid a box of Pocky towards him.
"Like, thanks!" He turned his attention to the rest of the table. "Hey, guys, everyone listen!" He waved the box of Pocky in the air. "Let's play this thing! Except, like, juicier!"
A couple people groaned. "Mais, quelle bonne idée!" Francis said. He had a terrible habit of forgetting to speak English.
"Matthew?" I said, sighing.
"He said it's a good idea," Matthew translated.
Thank goodness I have a bilingual brother.
"Right, so I think that we should make the loser, like, the one that turns away, get asked any question or given any order and they, like, totally have to do it or say it!" Feliks went on, not caring about anyone's opinion.
I swear this entire day was like a sudden invasion from elementary school. Seriously, truth or dare?
"NO CHANGING PLACES!" Feliks ordered. "Keep the two people next to you!"
I looked to my left. Kiku was beside me. I don't think he'd be a hard one to beat at the Pocky game. Major upside: I was sitting beside Arthur. If we hadn't been so squished together, I think I would have jumped with joy.
Matthew, across from me, cleared his throat. I looked at him, he grinned at me, holding back a snicker.
He was the only one who knew about my thing for Arthur. I rolled my eyes and blushed. I subtly flipped him the bird.
I guess no one felt like arguing with Feliks. I certainly wasn't gonna, at least.
"Alright, let's start!" someone said, who I soon discovered was Gilbert. Where did he come from?
Feliks handed me a Pocky stick. "You and Kiku first!" he said. "Then Kiku and Gilbert, and so on."
That would mean me and Arthur were last. FML.
Anyways, so me and Kiku grabbed hold of each end of the stick and started eating. I grinned when there was like 2 inches of it left, expecting him to shy away. But he didn't.
What the hell?
When there was an inch left, I pulled away. I had to. I once promised myself that only Arthur could ever get that close to my lips.
The guys at the table were laughing and shouting. I was blushing. I felt Arthur loosen up. Apparently he had been tense.
I swear Kiku's a weird guy. Anyways, so everyone kept forcing him to make me do something. Kiku ignored them. He didn't seem to care much for the interrogation. "Uh…Alfred-san, what's your favourite kind of sushi?" he asked awkwardly.
Ha. How fitting of him. "California," I replied simply.
"MOVING ON NOW!" Feliks shouted, deafening us all, while handing another stick to Kiku and Gilbert.
It took a while, but they got the game going again. Kiku and Gilbert (winner = Kiku), Gilbert and Matthew (Gilbert. But to be fair, Mattie pulled away when there was only like a millimetre left), Matthew and Francis (Matthew, because I was glaring at Francis the whole time, ready to pounce if he did anything to Mattie), Francis and Toris (Toris, because Feliks was glaring at Francis in the same way I was), Toris and Raivis (Tie), Raivis and Feliks (Feliks), and finally…
I shot a sideways glance at Arthur. He was chewing his lip thoughtfully.
The Pocky sticks got to Feliks and Arthur.
Now this is the one I was interested in: I knew Feliks would win, meaning Arthur would have to do something. Knowing Feliks, he would make it embarrassing.
So yeah, Feliks did win.
And then this madman shit happened.
Feliks said, "Totally ask the person you like to the dance tonight! Like, now!"
I nearly died of…heart stoppage?
Arthur took a shuddery breath and turned red. He muttered something incomprehensible.
Feliks rolled his eyes. "Dude, like, speak u-"
"I asked Al…Alfred if he would come to the dance with me tonight."
What?
What?
What?
WHAT?
I think I said that out loud, because then Arthur freaked. I felt him shaking. He gritted his teeth. I was afraid this was one of those times he had a real short temper. "I ASKED IF YOU WOULD GO TO THE BLOODY DANCE WITH ME!"
There were tears in his eyes. He stood up and stormed out of the caf. I wanted to go after him. I wanted to so badly.
It still hadn't sunk in. I was still dazed. I felt like I was floating. I was thinking about the events of the day so far. I was trying to put two and two together.
If I had a million dollars.
"Good enough romance for you?" "They just don't care about me like that." "Yes, it's no problem." "Earth to Alfred." "I took the liberty of assuming you wanted a burger."
I must have been sitting there for a while. Matthew stood up from the table and walked towards me. He hissed in my ear. "Don't just sit there and smile stupidly! Go after him!"
So I did. I sprinted down the hall. Around a corner. Around another corner. (Our school is shaped like a box.)
There he was, sitting against his locker with his face in his hands. I walked up to him, shoving my hands into the pockets of my bomber jacket. "Hey," I said quietly. Caringly.
He looked up at me. Then back to his hands. "I'm sorry, Alfred…"
"Look, it's okay," I said. "Just let me get something straight. You…you…" I swallowed. "Like me?"
He bit his lip. "More than just bloody like…" he said quietly, blushing. "I…I didn't want you to find out this way…" he said. "But, well, since you know, here."
I didn't notice earlier, but he had a Ziploc bag of something in his hands. He tossed it up at me. I examined it. It was full of little cinnamon hearts.
My own heart melted with happiness. The entire thing hadn't yet sunk in, though.
"Thank you, Arthur." I said. "And about the dance-"
"You really don't have to," he said.
"-I wish I could, but I'm-" I stopped suddenly.
I was about to say that I was in the band that was supposed to play for the Valentine's Day dance tonight, which is true. I had totally forgotten about the dance…
Anyways, I suddenly started getting this awesome idea in my head. Something I could do for Arthur. Because (ohmyGAWD) he loved me, and I loved him too. But I wasn't about to tell him that.
"I'm busy…" I finished.
"Oh. Okay." He looked up and smiled at me weakly, just as the bell that ended lunch rang.
God, I felt like kissing him.
But no. That could wait.
He left for his last two periods. I left for my last two (different) periods.
I formulated The Plan in my mind. I hoped it would make Arthur happy.
I floated on air all of third period, not paying attention in class, daydreaming about me and Arthur. But now all me daydreams felt like actual possibilities, and it was making me giddy. (The fact that Arthur liked me still had yet to sink in.)
I wrote Arthur a note. I would put it on his desk for his last period class.
After English, I dashed as quickly as I could to what I knew was Arthur's World History class. I put the note on his desk than dashed out as quickly as I could. The whole thing probably took like 20 seconds.
I didn't feel like going to last period, American History. Plus, I already knew so much on that topic that the prof didn't care when I skipped. He knew I'd get 100 on every test anyways.
So I briefly stopped at my locker and got some shit out before heading out the door.
As soon as I was out there and the fresh winter air blew my hair back, it finally hit me. I ran around the front area of the school, shouting joyfully and hugging trees and jumping in the snow and doing absolutely anything you could imagine.
I was so damn happy. I thought I was the luckiest guy on the planet at that moment. I closed my eyes, regaining my cool, and opened them again to look at the small ray of sun shining through all those February clouds.
Arthur was in love with me. There was nothing else in the world that mattered.
TBC.