Alfred F. Jones was in love with a crazy girl. And he did not care.
She clung to her brother, and carried a knife under her dress and in her purse. Her sister was kind and a bit boring, but her brother was absolutely terrifying. He was once bullied, so he had a disturbed and a bit convoluted aura. He was taller than Alfred, and in gym and math/science class they had a sort-of rivalry. This did not help at all with his chances with her. However, she still plagued his thoughts.
How nice would it be for her to be his.
His Natalya. Yes, how nice.
Alfred yawned quietly as he grumpily woke. He heard his brother humming quietly in the kitchen making his famously divine pancakes. Okay, so maybe the pancakes weren't famous, but dammit they tasted like heaven. Alfred could only cook things that included beef (his hamburgers could beat that nice burger place downtown any day), so whenever his brother made breakfast, his family was in for a treat. Alfred rubbed his starry blue eyes and rose from his bed. Today was Monday, which meant that after an unwanted two-day spell, he would be able to see Natalya, the quiet girl that was always on his mind.
Alfred walked into the kitchen and greeted his twin brother. Of the two, Matthew took more after their Canadian mother, in nature and appearance. Alfred, however, had an All-American way about him. "How are you today, Al?", Matthew asked. "I'm doing pretty well, Matt," Alfred answered. Alfred was the only person who called Matthew Matt, however most people addressed Alfred as Al. Except for Natalya, of course. Alfred liked that about her.
He liked everything about her.
Except for her creepy brother.
Matthew nodded to Alfred to tell him that the food was ready, and Alfred muttered his appreciation. Their parents both had to leave for work early, so their mornings were always nice and quiet like this. It was a lovely way to start the day.
Alfred and Matthew both finished breakfast and parted their ways to dress. Alfred decided on a soft light blue T-shirt and dark denim jeans. When he finished tying his black sneakers, he walked into the kitchen to pack a lunch. Matt always packed a lunch at night, after dinner, so Alfred was alone in the kitchen as he packed a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an apple. He also packed a bag of chips to snack on in class, he was a growing teenage boy after all. He would have brought more, but Natalya disliked gluttons. His friend Arthur aked him once why he had such a smaller lunch than normal, but why would Al tell the Brit that his decisions were influenced by a seemingly mentally unstable girl who was hung up over her brother. Al liked her, but he and Arthur both liked each other in middle school and shared a disastrous first kiss in 8th grade.
Whatever. Those were weird memories.
Alfred and Matt grabbed their schoolbags and head out the door. Alfred locked the door behind him.
When Alfred and Matthew got onto the bus, almost all of the seats were taken as usual. Matthew took the seat next to Gilbert, some obnoxious German who claimed to be Prussian, and that left two seats. One where he would have to sit next to Lovino, an angry Italian, who would complain and gripe throughout the entire bus ride, and the other seat in the back, next to Natalya. Where was Ivan, her brother?
Alfred walked by Lovino's spot and into the back.
He made his decision.
He could finally speak to Natalya.
Natalya barely acknowledged Alfred's existence, excluding the fact that she moved her school bag slightly and scooted nearer towards the window. She did not even glance at him; that was a blessing because poor Al was blushing intensely, his heart was pounding, and he sweat crazily. Don't judge him. He was about to sit next to Natalya, a girl who had been dubbed the Ice Queen by that asshole Gilbert and and his perverted friends.
He always hated that nickname.
He could not say that he did not see the reasoning behind them calling her this.
Of course no one called Natalya this to her face; doing so would certainly be a death wish. Everyone knew that Ivan Braginsky's family was not to be messed with, for Ivan was nearly 6 feet tall at the age of 16, Katyusha may have been nice, but she was rather protective of her siblings, and Natalya carried around knives and was called the Ice Queen for crying out loud. This did not bother Al much however, because he had no intention of bothering them.
But Ivan and Katyusha were both protective of Natalya.
And Alfred had a bit of a reputation for breaking hearts.
Whatever. Al could not even break her heart if she never opened up to him.
Anyways, if she was his, he would never break her heart; he did not have it in him to hurt her.
She already knew too much of pain from others.
Throughout the bus ride, Al snuck many glances towards the gorgeous Belarusian, much to her annoyance. Eventually, she was uncomfortable enough to confront him. She spoke quietly with a beautiful eloquence that was forcefully terrifying and elegant at the same time. Her accent was showcased as she spoke, lightly making her words musical to Alfred. He could listen to her forever.
"Jones, I would prefer if you were to not look upon me like that. It is becoming unnerving," she spoke like an angry teacher, the type that never smiled and gave homework everyday. Al did not mind, love was a painfully numbing thing.
Regretfully, Alfred turned away and mumbled an apology. She was just so beautiful, and she never hesitated to use that to her advantage. She often used that Lithuanian pushover whom liked her to get closer to her brother. Ivan had some weird thing for Toris after all.
Even if her beauty could be used as an advantage, it was also an afflictive inconvenience.
Her scars being painful reminders.
The bus came to a halt and Alfred quickly rose to his feet to leave the bus. Natalya picked up her things and briskfully walked off of the bus. Alfred saw her walking to her locker, and stopped to talk to his friends Kiku and Arthur. "'Sup, guys!" Al exclaimed to them, "How were your weekends?" Kiku and Arthur both responded gracefully because both of his best friends were stuffy and cared too much about being classy and polite. It got annoying sometimes, but they were all friends for so long that Alfred was cool with it. He almost prefered it.
It reminded him of Natalya.
He saw Ivan passing by, and began to wonder about why the scary Russian did not ride the bus when he saw Natalya struggling to catch up to her long-legged brother; it almost made him sad. Such an amazing girl, however she clung to her brother.
Alfred did not know that there was a reason for her behavior.
Mainly because the reason was a secret.
A very dangerous secret.
How nice would it be for her to not have to cling to her brother.
Alfred gathered his books and walked to first hour. He had the class with Ivan, but unfortunately, there was no Natalya. He sat down at his desk and pulled out his science textbook and his pencil pouch. He kept very good grades in math and science, but in English, French, and world history his grades were lacking. With Ivan, it was similar, causing their slight rivalry.
A few minutes later, Ivan walked into the classroom, nodding as a simple greeting to the teacher. The teacher smiled and waved slightly back. Teachers always seemed to like Ivan, not only because he was intelligent but also because he was a victim of bullying. Ever since middle school, the teasing died down because of his crazy-fast growth spurts that caused him to look like a full-grown man. Only one other student was as tall as him, but he was quiet and his Swedish accent was so damn thick, so no one bothered him either. Of course Al's thoughts drifted back to Natalya.
One time, a teacher asked Ivan how much older he was than her because they were in the same grade. He told the teacher that he was only 10 months older than her. He stated that his mother used to joke about them practically being in the womb at the same time.
For some reason, Ivan said that his mother doesn't tell jokes anymore.
Next period, Al had math, his first class with Natalya.
He noticed how Natalya always made sure to hide her chest. She always wore shirts that showed minimal skin near her neck. Even during spring and summer she would wear turtlenecks, despite the heat. Natalya noticed him staring, and raised an eyebrow as a warning. Al turned away, but he could not help but think about why Natalya does these things.
Her breasts were large for a girl of her size, and Alfred knew she was modest so he figured that was the reason for her attire.
Besides, it was a possibility that Natalya's clothes were hand-me-downs from Katyusha.
At lunch, Alfred sat next to Kiku, Matthew, and Arthur. Their square table was next to the one at which Gilbert, Francis, and Antonio sat. Alfred could overhear Antonio trying to get his mean Italian boyfriend to sit with him. Lovino put up a good arguement, saying that his younger brother wanted to eat lunch together that day. However, Lovino's younger brother, Feliciano, told Lovino that it was cool, saying that he could finally eat lunch with Ludwig, without annoying Lovino, much to Lovino's dismay.
Overall, that was the most interesting thing that happened at lunch.
Until Natalya walked in.
Natalya sat down at a table with her siblings and Yao, a senior who Ivan had been hanging out with recently. Alfred noticed almost immediately that Natalya had changed her shirt. The top she was wearing then was lower-cut than something she normally wore and it showed... Was that a scar?
Alfred did not know what to think once he saw.
He could see Natalya speaking to Katyusha, asking for something. Katyusha nodded and handed Natalya her sweater. Natalya looked and saw Alfred staring at her.
Crap.
If looks could kill, Alfred would have suffered a very violent, gruesome death. From the distance, Natalya mouthed at him to stop, meanwhile shooting him with an icy death-glare. That caused Ivan to turn around to see what was going on, so now Alfred was screwed. Ivan asked Natalya if anything was wrong. To that, Natalya replied, "Oh nothing, Brother. Alfred Jones just seems to enjoy staring at me."
"Would you like if I were to take care of it, hmm?" Ivan asked Natalya. "No, Brother I'm fine," Natalya answered, meanwhile Alfred tried to ease the tensison rising up within himself by starting conversation with his friends.
"So, um Kiku, how's art class going?" Alfred asked jumpily, causing slight confusion in Arthur and Kiku. Matthew, however did not care, nor was he paying attention to the coversation. "Art class is going well, but someone spilled a lot of paint and wasted it on a few people," Kiku answered Alfred's question, and the mention of paint spilling caught Al's attention.
"Oh really, who got paint spilled on them?" Arthur listened to this conversation with interest, while wondering why Alfred was acting so skittish. "Feliciano got paint spilled on him, and so did Natalya. As I said Al, quite a few people got paint spilled upon them." Alfred nodded as he listened to Kiku, and he realized that the reason Natalya changed her shirt was because of the paint spill.
But why did she have scars on her chest?
When or how would she get scars on her chest?
School went by quickly, until the final bell rang. Alfred was walking through the halls when Ivan stopped him.
"If you have an agenda that deals with my sister, Jones, I'd like to know about it," he told him creepily. How could a person be so tall? "Sorry, dude," Alfred told him, "I don't know what you're talking about, but even if I did have some sort of plans with your sister, it would be none of your business, right?" Ivan glowered down upon Al and spat at him "Leave my sister alone. She wants nothing to do with you, Alfred." Ivan stalked away quickly to go speak to Yao- apparently he was the one driving Ivan home now- and frankly he was bothered by the fact that Ivan was the one who told Alfred this. Why didn't Natalya tell him if she was bothered by Alfred?
On the bus, the seat at which Alfred sat in the morning was taken by Elizaveta. The only seat left to sit on was next to Berwald, the Swede who dripped with intimidation. Well, at least he wasn't annoying.
Natalya eyed him throughout the bus ride, wondering why Alfred looked at her so often. The thought never occured to her that he might have liked her. She just assumed he was some sort of pervert.
She already knew too much of perversion.
A/N: So this is my first fic, and I lack as much confidence as I do experience, so please, review!