A tiny bit nicer, a tiny bit better
The moment he put his finely shaped boot outside the door, the pitch black leather became covered in pure white snow. A heavy sigh escaped his lips. Perfect. More snow. It just didn't strike the weather gods that maybe, just maybe, they had given this country enough snow by now? It was March, for god's sake. There was no need for snow anymore. In fact, it would be more of a need to have a clear ground to set his feet on when making his way to school. The snowy and icy grounds made everything slippery, and his flat-soled brand boots hardly gave any grip on the ground. So of course, he slipped and almost fell quite a few times.
It was absurd, how the warm greeting of a filthy bus could be such a relief. That was how cold it actually was; Roderich Edelstein, a young man who despised the filthy communal trains and busses, was driven to actually find these disgusting busses a relief due to the insane cold. It made him frown.
However, as he tried to sit as little as possible on the bus seat, he couldn't help but notice something odd about the bus. You see, there were always the same people getting on the bus. They always sat in the same spot, and they always got on at the same station. But this particular morning something was off about the usual composition of people on the bus. It took the sleepy headed teen a while to find what caused the off feeling, and when he found it he almost felt like slapping himself for not seeing it earlier. It was quite obvious. Actually, it was really obvious. Pure white hair, skin as snow, red eyes shadowed by thick white lashes. How could he not have spotted this absurd young man before now?
He let his violet eyes rest on the man at the seat at the other side of the aisle. When did this boy get on the bus? Had it been the same station as Roderich? Or earlier? Maybe later? He had no idea. And he certainly did not wish to find out. Everything about his boy just screamed obnoxious. What was up with the white hair and red eyes, anyway? Did he have some sort of complex that made him bleach his hair and wear lenses, or what? This was Sweden, for god's sake. You didn't just walk around looking like that. And if you did, you were sure to get some ticked off glances.
Suddenly irritated by the mere presence of this obnoxious looking man, he placed a frown on his smooth face and spent the remaining minutes of the bus trip staring at a lady's dog.
As he went off the bus to change to the subway, he couldn't help but notice that the silver haired male was following in his footsteps.
As he stepped outside the underground station, it became painfully obvious that this bizarre teenager were heading in the same direction as Roderich. A worrying thought hit him. Did this boy go to the same school as him? That wasn't possible, were it? After all, Södra Latin only accepted students with extraordinary grades. There could be no possible way that this imbecile could be a fellow student at Södra Latin, now would it?
Oh boy, was he proven wrong. He denied the possibility of the white haired man going to his school all the way up until he stepped inside the school doors and the other boy followed suit.
In all actuality, Roderich couldn't quite grasp why this student's presence bothered him so much. Of course, he looked like the most foolish man he had ever seen, but there were actually quite an amount of people at Södra Latin who looked liked something the cat had dragged in, to be fair.
"Gilbert Beilschmidt?" Roderich jumped at the sudden voice that rose over the constant talking in the hallway.
"Yeah, that's me." The boy with the white hair answered from a few meters behind. Roderich stole a glance over his shoulder. The boy had an accent. He was definitely not from Stockholm. He sounded like he came from somewhere up in the north part of Sweden.
"Good, good! I'm Benny Engman, I'm a teacher from the arts and crafts department, I was told to show you to your first class" Engman stuck his hand out for Gilbert to shake, and Gilbert took it hesitantly, "Right, come with me then!"
Roderich watched them walk past him and disappear into the crowd of students, noticing just then that he had stopped in his tracks to watch the new student and the teacher's exchange of words. He frowned and began walking the road to his locker once again. What a stupid obnoxious boy. White hair, seriously…
"Roderich!" a pair of thin hands slammed down on the table, just barely missing the tray with food and giving Roderich a slight heart attack in a go, "I have something to tell you!" barked the woman who seemed intent of drawing the whole cafeterias attention to the small wooden table Roderich was hosting. He stared at the brunette woman for a few seconds before letting out a small puff of air and gesturing to the chair in front of him.
"Go on, Veta" He said tiredly. The girl quickly threw herself down on the chair and Roderich wondered for a brief moment how this young woman could host so much energy at all times.
"There's a new boy in my class" Elizaveta stared him blank in the eyes as she said this, burning green eyes not faltering for a second, "And he looks absolutely ridiculous" she continued. His friend's serious matter of saying this brought a smile to Roderich's stiff lips and he raised his eyebrows, the truth not yet dawning on him.
"Keep going" He prompted.
"And he has the worst attitude I've ever seen. It's even worse than how you were when you were a child!" Her voice raised an octave with each word until she was almost yelling at the end of the sentence. Roderich furrowed his brows.
"I was a very well behaved and polite child" He said shortly.
"Yeah, maybe at your fancy home you were!" Elizaveta snorted, "But at that damn playground you sure as hell weren't!"
"Just continue with your story about the ridiculous new boy" Roderich muttered, not very amused by the short anecdote. And then it suddenly got to him. New boy, ridiculous, bad attitude.
"Did he have white hair?!" He all but threw himself over the table, smacking his hands on each side of the tray much like Elizaveta had done earlier. Elizaveta looked at him as if he'd gone mad. Roderich retracted himself back into his chair, cleared his throat awkwardly as he tried to compose himself again.
"I, uh, I mean," He scratched his neck, "Did he have white hair?" he repeated in a more calm manner.
"Yeah, in fact, he did" Elizaveta nodded, "How did you know?" Roderich sank deeper into his chair and gave out a sigh.
"He was on my bus this morning. Seemed like a real bastard" he muttered.
"Well, he is quite a bastard", Elizaveta shrugged, "At least if my first impression of him was correct. I've only just met him and I already can't stand him"
"Well, heads up, soldier. You have to live through having him in your class" Roderich reached over the table to put a firm hand on her shoulder and send a gleeful smile her way, "Speak of the devil, the obnoxious male have entered the cafeteria area. Why don't you sit with your new classmate? He is new after all" He exchanged his glee with a stern look.
"Don't you have tuna class or something", Elizaveta shot him a murderous look as she pursed her lips. Roderich took his tray and stood up, smiling once again.
"It's called 'tunes', not 'tuna. That's a fish", he shrugged, "But in fact, I do have tune creation in a few minutes. See you later, Veta, happy lunchtime!" He pat her shoulder once again as he went off with his tray.
"You're such a fucking Lidingö brat, you know that?!" His childhood friend barked after him as he tried to fight away the smile adorning his lips. However, he didn't even need to try to remove the smile when he passed Gilbert Beilschmidt on his way out, and the boy looked him dead in the eye and gave him a lopsided smirk.
And thus, the joy of lunch was replaced with irritation, and the only delight the rest of the day brought him was when he realized that Gilbert didn't take the same bus as him on his way home.
A/N: thanks for reading etc etc! Reviews are always appreciated, cheers!
Important notes about this story:
Lidingö – Lidingö is an expensive place to live in Stockolm and the people who live there have a reputation of being snobby, bratty, rich and to think they're better than everyone else. People often mock the people of Lidingö by saying the infamous phrase "Liiiidingö; a tiiiiny bit nicer, a tiiiiiny bit better!" in the equally infamous Lidingö accent.
Södra Latin – a very prestigious school that have a reputation of being the best school in Stockholm (even though some of its students think otherwise)
About the Swedish school system – We go to ordinary schools until we graduate from 9th grade, and then we apply for high schools and classes with certain subjects. These subjected classes are called "Lines". For example, there's the music line, the nature line, the society and behavior line, etc etc. In this story, Roderich have chosen the Music Line, and Gilbert have chosen the Arts and Crafts Line.