The cold wind passed by his already numb cheeks and howled in the night. A boy with platinum blonde hair walked along the sidewalk, rubbing his arms to get feeling back in them but to no avail. The whole, "Since I lived in Russia means I can take American cold," thought was blown out the window along with the feeling in his body. He could ask for help but most people turn him down. This was all his father's fault. That good for nothing bastard, abandoning him in this country and he didn't even know the language. Though he could say a few essential words like, "Hello", "Thank you", "Food" and "Water" going into a conversation was something he could not do. The only reason why he was even still alive to this day was because he found shelters here and there, stayed for a while and then continued on. It was getting old and his satisfaction decreased every time. He wasn't a 5 year old kid anymore. He was 15 and the meals they gave weren't cutting it, but it was rude to complain because they did the best they could. The only option he had was to leave; unfortunately, he was now outside in the freezing cold looking for somewhere to sleep. A sigh escaped from his lips and to his dismay his breath was starting to become visible. Not wanting to be outside when the cold gets even worse he started to pick up his pace. He reached the end of the street and in the corner of his eyes he could see light and turned his head in that direction to see an extremely large structure. Lights meant that it was open and maybe they'd let him in for at least enough time to regain the feeling in his face and arms and his now numbing legs. Once he reached the building he took his hand from his arm and it seemed even more cold from the separation. He grabbed the freezing door handle and opened the door. He was hit with a warm blanket of air that lured him in but he stopped. Giving a thorough circumspection of the main area he decided it was ok to walk in because there was no one there.

"P-P-!" Not in Russia anymore, he reminded himself. "I-I mean... H-hello?"

No answer. Were the doors really unlocked with no one in the building? Such a nice building as this should be locked if no one was present, he thought. His gaze wandered around the area and he saw bulletin boards with pictures of kids playing sports and instruments and painting or singing. Was this immense building a school? He'd never seen one so huge in Russia. The building was starting to grab hold of the boy's curiosity and he started walking around. With the warm air he could feel his whole body thawing. He sighed in content, closing his eyes to take in all the warmth.

'thud!'

His eyes shot open and he rubbed the side of his face that collided with something hard. The hard object was some kind of bright machine with a giant picture of a drink on the front and text above it that read, 'Coca-Cola.' It had small buttons on its side with other drinks and even a small button that matched the big picture on the machine. The boy guessed that since it matched the big picture it was the preferred one so he pressed it and jumped a bit when he heard the machine make noise. Did he do something wrong? What was the machine preparing to do? His questions were answered when a 'thud!' came from below. His eyes shifted down to a small door where the thud had come from. There must be something in there. His curiosity overcoming his cautious mind, he bent down and put his hand in the door and felt something cold. When his hand was visible again it was holding a bottle that was like the bottle on the big picture. He'd press the button and that's what he got. He decided to try again and he pressed a different button.

Nothing happened.

This machine seemed more Russian than American, he thought. It worked when it wanted to and that was that. Tough luck if you were around when it didn't want to. The boy sighed and looked back down at the drink in his hand. It was like a drink that Russia had received from America before but it had a different label... It was called..

"Pepsi," the boy said, recalling the name.

"No, stupid. That's a Coke and it's mine."

The boy turned to find a taller, brown-haired boy and he didn't look too happy. The platinum blonde opened his mouth to say something but he was cut off by the angry and booming voice of the taller brunette and he flinched a bit.

"The money I put in there was for that drink and I walked away for a minute so that doesn't mean you can have it!" The taller boy snatched the drink from him and opened it. "At least you have good taste," he said with a grimace and started drinking the drink as he walked away.

OK, so they weren't nice the boy finalized. He just wouldn't say anything and avoid making them mad and he'd be fine. He just wanted to warm up and he'd leav-

His thoughts were interrupted by a rumble from his stomach. Great… Now he was hungry... The empty organ rumbled again to confirm its hunger and the boy hung his head in defeat, but then he looked up when he heard what sounded like a group of people running toward his direction and it turned out that that's exactly what it was except they were all girls. Even with having two sister back at home he never was good at talking to the opposite sex so he turned away, hiding his face that was starting to heat up. He listened as all of them seemed to pass by and he sighed in relief before he turned back around only to take a step back when his gaze met a pair of bright blue eyes. It was a girl and she was shorter than him with blonde or really light brown hair and blue eyes which were just staring at him.

Would she be mean like the guy? She didn't look it. She looked curious, more than he'd ever been. B- Oh, crap! She's leaning closer! This was getting awkward so he backed away and looked down, his face heating up again.

"Hey!"

His head shot up but he quickly looked back down. "P- I-I mean… Hello," he stuttered out.

"My name is Emily. What's yours?" she asked with the brightest smile he'd ever seen.

Name? What was his name in this language? Did names change? Maybe how they sounded he guessed but he didn't know this language enough to convert the sound!

"Well?" she asked.

'Just go for it! It couldn't be that hard for her to figure out!'

He swallowed nervously before he opened his mouth to say, "Иван…"