Screech. A red low rider car drove across a long, graveled driveway, coming to a halt at a sort of parking lot (it was more of a drop-off area). A brown haired, green eyed Spaniard man turned off the ignition. He opened his door simultaneous to the girl in the passenger seat doing the same. She quickly stepped onto the rocky drive, careful not to catch the hem of her floral patterned dress on the car step. She gazed up at the grand school in front of her, drawing in an awestruck gasp. If she took the 10 largest buildings in her entire country and mashed them together, they still wouldn't be as large as this.

"Here you go, mi chica," the Spaniard crooned, heaving one of the girl's suitcases out of the trunk of the car. The girl rolled her eyes with a timid grin as she removed the rest of her baggage.

"'Mi chica'? I'm 16, Papa, you can stop talking to me like I'm a little girl," she sighed. She narrowed her cocoa brown eyes as Spain wrapped his arms around her, using one hand to stroke the top of her long, jet black hair.

"Aw, but you'll ALWAYS be my little girl!" he squealed. Smiling slightly, the tan girl slipped out of his grasp and retrieved her bags. A gentle grin appeared on Spain's face. "You remember what that boy I told you about looks like, right? You know, Romano, South Italy, Lovino…"

"Si, si, I know exactly who you're talking about… I'm not dating that jackass, Papa."

Spain shrugged. "A man can dream. But, if you feel that way, then stay away from boys! They're nothing but trouble."

"We'll see, Papa." The girl smirked teasingly.

"I mean it!" Spain insisted with a laugh. "Now, put schoolwork first…"

"Si, Papa."

"Be respectful of your teachers…"

"Of course, Papa."

"Make friends, but approach others with caution."

The girl chuckled. "Adios, Papa."

"Oh, and did you pack extra underwear?"

The pleasant smile slipped off the girl's mouth, and her face burned abruptly red. "Go home, Papa!" she shrieked.

"Okay, okay…" All joking faded out of Spain's face, and he kissed the girl on the forehead. "Make me proud, si?"

She nodded, giving the country she thought of as a dad a tight hug. "Si. I'll try." She set down one of her bags so she could wave to Spain as he climbed into the car, shouting last minute reminders and "good luck"s to her with tears in his emerald colored eyes. He was soon out of view, leaving the girl free to turn back to her bags.

"Need help with that?" The girl shrieked, slapping a pocket in her dress for a weapon that she didn't have on her. Immediately, she loosened up, seeing as she hadn't been approached by anyone threatening. This new, widely grinning girl looked to be in her later teens. She was relatively tan, although compared to the other girl she looked pale. A lovely hibiscus flower was situated on the right side of her shoulder-length, slightly thick brown hair which was the same color as her bright eyes. A long, thin scar was on her right cheek, though it didn't seem to be paining her. She wore a blue spaghetti strapped shirt with a matching floral sarong, and a pair of silver flip-flops.

What a strange person.

"Er, no, I'm fine… …Okay, maybe you could grab one, por favor," the other girl muttered. Flashing her a quick salute, the new arrival picked up one of the medium sized suitcases.

"We might as well get introductions out of the way immediately. I'm Hawaii, a nation off the west coast of America. I'm a state, technically, but I'm also an island…" She shook her head, brightening her smile even more (if possible). "So who are you?"

"I'm Guatemala…" the other girl murmured, feeling as if the life had been sucked out of her. Hawaii chuckled lightly, softening her expression.

"Sorry, I… Sorry. I can be sane when I want, I'm just super excited to meet someone new, y'know? So, anyway, we should head inside, si?" She nodded toward the colossal double doors. Guatemala tilted her head.

"You speak a bit of Spanish?"

Hawaii giggled. "You could say that. I also know- Okay, not important! Come on, I'll show you to the dorms."

The inside of the building was even more impressive than the out. It wasn't the architecture that caught Guatemala's immediate attention, though: it was the students. This place was truly a melting pot of cultures. There were people so pale that they could be vampires, to people so dark they were almost literally the color black; there were tall, short, and regular heighted people; there were people in bland, official clothing, and people in exotic, almost mismatched ensembles. That was only the beginning of it, too.

"Here we are, the dorms!" Hawaii sang after dragging Guatemala down many halls and passageways. They had climbed a spiral staircase up into what looked like a living room, with a fireplace in one wall and a sofa in the middle. It led to walls covered in doorways, all of them with flags plastered on them. Hawaii led her to a door with three flags on it: one with horizontal red, white, and blue stripes with a British flag in the top left corner; a flag with a yellow X over 2 green triangles going vertically and 2 black triangles going horizontally; an all-too-familiar flag with sky blue, vertical rectangles on either side of a white rectangle with a seal displaying a scroll and a Resplendent Quetzal in the middle.

"This is where we'll be sleeping!" Hawaii exclaimed. "Our roomie should be in here…" Sure enough, when she swung open the door, there was a girl already in there. She lay upside-down on her bed, which had sheets, covers, and pillow cases all some shade of purple. Her dark skin made Guatemala second guess calling herself tan. This girl's short black hair hung toward the ground, worn in some sort of dreadlocks that looked more like multiple very thin braids. Her dark brown eyes were closed, and her foot, propped up against the wall, tapped in time with the exotic music playing on her iPod. Hawaii kneeled down and plucked the headphone bud out of her ear. "C'mon Jamaica, we've got company!"

Stretching, the dark skinned girl- Jamaica- clicked off her music device and sat upright with a yawn. "Hey there. You're, uh…?"

"Guatemala."

"Guatemala, you're Guatemala. I'm Jamaica, as this maniac," she shook her hand at Hawaii, "said already. And she calls ME the crackhead…" She chuckled under her breath. Oh, lord… These are the people I have to share a room with until I graduate in 5 years? Guatemala thought dreadfully, tightening her grip on her suitcase.

Hawaii clapped her hands together twice. "Okay, you two have met and everything… Guatemala, hun, you can put your stuff away later, for now, I've got to show you around!" Without waiting for a reply, Hawaii grabbed Guatemala by the wrist and trotted out of the room. Smiling airily, Jamaica clicked her iPod on to some form of metal music.

The entire way down the halls, Hawaii chatted away eagerly. So much for being sane… "There's a beautiful garden here, you'll love it I'm sure, the rest of the building is really pretty too, I hope you're good with directions 'cause otherwise you'll get lost," she was explaining. "So China is really super cute, he's gonna marry me one day and we're gonna have 20 adorable little babies, well I mean I've never spoken with him but I foresee it happening… Stay away from this tall purple-eyed guy named Russia, Jamaica has dibs on him, not that I think you'd want him anyway, he's WOOHOO if you know what I mean… France is a total pervert even though he's so good looking, don' fall for him!" France… Guatemala knew him- he was close friends with Papa Spain! Funny how countries' ages worked out so that Spain was just barely too old to be a student, yet perfectly old enough to be considered a father…

Guatemala zoned back in on Hawaii's speech only half-heartedly, her eyes closed. "England is totally cute but kinda creepy, Switzerland is wicked adorable I think I'll ask him out…" Hawaii drew in a deep breath. "Hey, that's him! I GOTTA go talk to him!" Guatemala blinked open her eyes, for Hawaii had finally stopped talking. However, she felt anything but relief when she saw that her new companion was nowhere to be seen.

This particular corridor seemed quite abandoned, except for one boy leaning against a partially opened window. The very sight of him would make anyone, who hadn't been through all the rough situations that Guatemala had, flinch. He had a large build, brown hairs zig-zagging up his muscular, dark tan forearm. His dark brown dreadlocks were pulled into a high ponytail, his brown eyes seemed to be calmly staring at nothing, and he had a cigar pressed to his lips. He wore denim shorts, flip-flops, and an open red shirt covered with yellow flowers. "Hola," Guatemala called to him, making her way over. Instead of a brave face, she decided it best to look more nonchalant.

The boy flicked some of his cigar ashes out the window, smirking very slightly as they landed in the hair of an American. "Hola." His voice was a bit deep, fitting with his appearance.

"Si, hola. I'm new here, and I sort of misplaced the girl that was showing me around… Have you seen her? Scar on her cheek, pretty red flower in her hair, low cut shirt…" Guatemala wondered why she didn't sound as casual as she was intending.

"Misplaced, huh?" the boy chuckled. "Yeah, I saw her run by. She went that way." He nodded to his left. However, Guatemala wasn't particularly eager to find her at this point…

"Gracias. Er, if you're not busy… May I?" She motioned at the windowsill in which the boy sat. Smiling, he scooted over, although he needn't make room with Guatemala's slight build.

"Be my guest." Nodding, Guatemala delicately sat herself beside him. "I'm Cuba, by the way."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Guatemala." She put her hand out for Cuba to shake it, chuckling when she saw how his hand seemed to swallow hers whole.

"So, a little friendly advice for a newbie like you: stay away from Americans. They're pathetic excuses for people… They're always picking on the new kids and acting like they own the place," Cuba advised.

"Mm, I've heard they're really obnoxious… I-"

"Guatemala! Hey, sorry I ran off like that, turns out that wasn't even Switzerland, but whoever it was seemed really nice until they started to walk away…" Hawaii smiled apologetically, grabbing her friend by the arm and gently yanking her to her feet. She obviously didn't see the poison in Guatemala's stare as she said, "Come on, I've gotta finish showing you around." She waved at Cuba before continuing on her way.

"What was going on there? Were sparks a'flying?" she questioned as they strode outside.

"I dunno, we had just started talking," Guatemala muttered bitterly. Hawaii furrowed her eyebrows together.

"Oh, crap, I'm sorry… But, well, I might as well finish what I was saying before I got, ah, sidetracked. Mr. Austria is such a stiff but I LOVE his class, his wife Mrs. Hungary is awesome… Oh, and America's really cool and cute, he's like a big brother to me, I'm sure he'll be your friend… Well speak of the devil!" She skidded to a stop outside in a courtyard, where students of all sorts were walking around, hanging out casually, or studying.

A dirty blonde teen wearing a brown bomber jacket and glasses on the rim of his nose sat strumming a cheap electric guitar with his back pressed against a tree, a crowd of cool-looking guys and girls sitting around him. "AMERICA!" Hawaii called over to him. The boy in question glanced up, grinning when he saw the girl he treated like a little sister. He stood and trotted over to her.

"Sup Hawaii!" His smile faded when he caught sight of Guatemala, then returned ten times bigger when he turned his gaze to her. He started strumming stupidly on his guitar and sang: "Hawaii, look what I see! It's a newbie, what's her name?"

Giggling for a moment, Hawaii tilted her head thoughtfully. "I know she represents Guatemala, but I don't believe I learned her human name." She looked at Guatemala.

"My name is Silvia del Rosario Castro," she answered certainly. After an awkward pause, she said, "…I'm Silvia."

America laughed obnoxiously. "You Mexicans always have such long names…" Guatemala froze. She could endure a lot of things… But being called a Mexican was the one thing that, for whatever reason, made her snap.

"Do you have mush for brains, or are you just deaf? I'm Guatemala, not a fricking MEXICAN!" she growled. America giggled.

"Sorry… Little Mexican." You have to admit, he was just asking for it. Blood boiling to the point that her face actually turned red, Guatemala balled up her fist and smashed it right against America's face. Guatemala was a perfect example of the phrase "looks can be deceiving." Despite her frail build and girlish appearance, she probably had the strength of 5 men.

"Damn, girl… You're feisty," America groaned, rubbing his now aching nose and poking at his glasses to see if they were broken. They held together… barely.

"Lo siento, you just… It really, really pisses me off when people think I'm a Mexican," Guatemala muttered, staring at the ground.

"Just like how I hate it when people call me Asian!" Hawaii remarked. Guatemala stared at her skeptically.

"What? Hawaii, you don't look Asian at all." Hawaii beamed, now liking this new companion a lot more.

Guatemala turned back to America, narrowing her eyes dangerously. It actually made him flinch a bit. "And I guess I was compelled to react like that because I was told I should stay away from you."

This simply made America grin. "What? Who told you that BS?"

Ignoring the fact that she didn't know what BS stood for, Guatemala decided to answer honestly: "Cuba." America laughed again- apparently it sounded just as annoying every time he made the sound.

"Aw, that guy hates my guts for like, no reason dude! And he's not exactly a big friendly teddy bear, if you know what I mean."

"He seemed nice enough to me…" Guatemala muttered, a very slight amount of pink tinting her cheeks as she thought about her new friend.

"You know what seems nice to me? You," he slowly reached out toward her, "saying yes," he ran a gloved finger across her tan cheek, "to going on a date," he halted at her chin then cupped it with that finger and his thumb, "with me."

Guatemala stared at him in shock. He was kidding, right? He had to be kidding… Dear god, he wasn't kidding. She forcefully smacked his hand away, taking a few steps back. "I wasn't planning on listening to Papa Spain when he told me to stay away from boys. But if they only guys that end up asking me out are like you… Well, I'll gladly stay single forever, muchas gracias." She flipped her long black hair dramatically, storming back into the building.

America gazed after her back, grinning goofily. His eyes drifted down to Hawaii, whose jaw was hanging slightly agape. "I like that girl."