Author Notes: Second chapter is from Gilbert. Once again, reminder that this is NaNoWriMo so events may take place a little faster than the somewhat slower pace I tend to prefer when it comes to set up. The plot of the story is meant to be the romance, but there's several things going on here and quite a lot left open for me to explore and play with, which makes NaNo fun in the first place. Hope you can follow and enjoy delving into this high school AU as much as I enjoy writing it. I'm really not taking it as seriously as I could because it's more about the word count and I'm using it as break material, so really it's just a fun escape.
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Incomplete
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Chapter 2: Gilbert
Today certainly proved to be an interesting first day of school. Normally, I hated school days, especially when Francis wanted to pay attention or Antonio was dazing out way too much to be entertaining. Most of the time we weren't lucky enough to be in the same class at all and I had to find ways to pass the time on my own.
Boy did I find a way this time.
The new chick turned out to be someone from my past. I know people talk about crazy coincidences all the time, but this was beyond crazy. A little bit awesome, too. She was still as rough around the edges as I remembered. Still threatening to beat me up, making it funny when she claimed I was the bully here. The glares she kept throwing my way in our first class, yep, still the same. I guess she really was a girl. I never expected to see her wearing a dress and being upset over a little mud, though. That part came out of nowhere.
I wanted to find out why she was here. This random nowhere town in America. The odds of finding her here had to be astronomically difficult – and if I had a good relationship with the math teachers, I'd probably ask them the odds myself just to prove my point. Although she did return the note a few more times throughout the lecture, eventually she did stop sending it back to me, and I had to be content with not receiving all the answers I wanted. Keh. She didn't even answer if she was a virgin or not.
What a bitch. I was just curious.
Of course, when Lizzy started ignoring me, I had to find other ways to entertain myself. Paying attention to the math professor certainly wasn't going to be one of them. I hated algebra and had no need to waste time learning any more than what I already managed to figure out. So, since all my options had run out, I decided to kick back in my seat and attempt to balance a pencil on my top lip. I caught an annoyed glance from the professor, but everyone in this town had already learned how little I cared about class and how pointless it would be to berate me in front of other students.
If I cared what the rest of the student body thought about my grades, I would have been my brother Ludwig. Eh. Okay, maybe that wasn't fair. Ludwig was just a perfect little child who did everything an adult told him. I was the troublemaker getting out performed by my brother at a young age. Not that it bothered me or anything – just that this fact seemed to get thrown in my face a lot more than I could handle. Did they really have to mention how awesome Ludwig was every time I made a mistake or came home with failing grades? My brother was my brother.
I was an entirely different person.
"Mr. Beilschmidt!"
Blinking into reality, I let my chair fall to all four legs and caught the pencil as it dropped from my lip. "What?"
"Can you not pay attention for once in your life?"
I rolled my eyes and started to kick my chair back on two legs again, holding onto the desk with one hand to keep my balance as the entire class turned their eyes to me. Yay. Attention. I lived for attention. So when the professor, chalk in hand, stared back at me in all seriousness, I decided to grace her with a serious answer. After all, she asked.
"Nope," I said, earning a few giggles interspersed throughout the classroom. "Didn't ever care to learn math."
With a sigh, the teacher shifted her feet and waved a small sheet of paper in the air. "We all know that much, Mr. Beilschmidt. You're a lost cause."
I'd heard that so many times in my life by now all I could do in response was grin wide and agree. "Yep!"
Which earned me more laughter. Definitely a good day. "Be that as it may, you've been summoned to the office. Let them deal with your attitude."
Letting my chair crash to all fours – and glad to see the teacher wince as it scraped against the floor – I kicked my feet out to climb out of the constricting desk. "First day and you're already sending me to the office. I didn't realize not-paying-attention was a rule I could break."
"It's not," Professor said, crossing her arms. "I'm not sending you to the office. You've been called."
I blinked, holding back the shock and bad feelings that hit my stomach at the clarification. Something must have happened elsewhere. They couldn't be calling me up to the office for any reason other than – shit, what had my alcoholic dad done now?
For the sake of keeping my worthless reputation, though, I grinned and swiped the sheet of paper from the teacher's hand on my way out the door. "Well, guess that means I get a free pass on the first day of school. Lucky me, right?"
Without a backward glance – okay maybe one to check out Lizzy's reaction, only to be disappointed by the raised eyebrow of feigned curiosity – I left the chains of the classroom and met the freedom of the school hallways. As soon as I was alone, the thoughts started to swarm in. The worry as I read the notice from the office and let my feet take me there by autopilot. Something about my brother. And my dad. Two names I never wanted to see on the same slip of paper, yet there they were. Shit.
My first step into the school's office was the worst. The second was almost as bad, but the pure relief in my brother's eyes was enough to calm my racing heartbeat. He looked okay. Sure, he was in middle school, not exactly an innocent little kid but damn it I was the big brother and anytime he was hurt I felt responsible. So thank god he looked okay. A little shaken, though.
"What happened?" I asked Ludwig immediately, setting a hand on his shoulder. "You didn't beat someone up, did you?"
The blue eyes of my younger brother looked at me, then blinked over to the office workers before he shook his head. He didn't say anything but the gesture was enough. Something bad. Something he couldn't explain here. Dad must have really -
"Gilbert, your father's been arrested."
The news came as a bit of a shock. Turning to the principal standing in the office lobby area, I frowned and set myself in between him and my little brother. Okay, so, I guess I should explain something real quick. Our dad is kind of – well – no, wait, I'll explain later.
"So why pull me out of class?" A glance to my brother. "Why pull Ludwig out of school and bring him here?"
The principle sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He didn't like dealing with me. No one liked dealing with me. There was nothing new there. "Because without an authority figure at your house, you currently have no where to go."
I lowered my eyes. "Bullshit. We can take care of ourselves just fine without him."
Not even a flinch from my language. Guy was probably used to it by now. "Sadly, once we are aware that our students are without a parental figure at home, we cannot allow you to return."
"Why the hell not?" I spat again. "I'm old enough. I can take care of the both of us just fine."
Once again, Principal shook his head. "No, Gilbert. With your record, you aren't capable of doing that."
"Bullshit, I -"
My hands clenched but it didn't matter. The principal continued to shoot me down. "We will assign you to another house in the meantime. Our new residents, the Hédervárys, have reported in that they will watch over you both until such time as your father can return to his parental role."
I blinked. That was Lizzy's family. Lizzy and her parents were going to be in charge of -?
"Though they may be new to the area – actually because they are new to the area, they're willing to take you in," Principal continued on. "Don't fight it anymore, Gilbert, or we'll have to call Child Protective Services and that'll just cause even more issues that none of us want to deal with right now."
I could feel the growl growing in my throat. "What do you mean by that? Ludwig hasn't done anything wrong, and I'm in high school. I'm old enough to get a job, drive a car – I should be allowed to provide for-"
"That's the problem, Gilbert. You can't provide. You're on the path to flunking out of school, you have no job experience, and you have a criminal record against you. No one else would volunteer to house you and your brother under the same roof. Ludwig would easily find someone, but you're the one thing holding him back from a better life right now."
If not for Ludwig setting his hand on my wrist, I might have reached out to punched the jerk in his throat. As it was, I managed to contain my ire and suck it up. Fine. If it was my only option, then fine. I'd get back at my dad later. For now, I just needed to remind myself that keeping Ludwig here and with me was worth the sacrifice of living in someone else's house for a while. Even if it meant living with Lizzy...
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Eventually, I was allowed to pull Ludwig aside and get the chance for a whispered conversation in a corner. Whether or not our father had been arrested, it still didn't make sense for them to have pulled my brother out of school, especially if it meant bringing him here. Obviously they were using him to get me to easily agree to the "foster care" of a second house, not that I needed one. I was pretty sure I could live on my own at my age, but this tight-knit small town wasn't going to allow such an awesome thing to happen apparently.
Bunch of assholes.
So, sitting in a second, separated lobby area of the office – more like a little section of hallway where all the different administrator offices split off – I was able to finally get a chance to talk to my brother without interruption or scrutiny.
"All right, bro," I said, leaning my arm against the chair as I looked down on my blond haired little brother. "What happened on your end?"
He flinched at the question, which was definitely not a good sign. "I – Dad came to my school. He was arrested there."
I frowned. More red flags. What the hell was dad doing bothering Ludwig in the middle of the day? Had he just given up on me? Keh. Stupid question. Of course he'd given up on poking me; I'd refused to acknowledge him on several occasions, having a teacher or two actually back me up enough to get Dad to stop coming to school. Don't get me started on why our father showed up to pester us so much. It's too much of a painful subject to explain all at once.
Besides, I had a serious issue to figure out. "Why? What did he do that made them call the cops?"
The blue eyes of my little brother glanced to the side and then down at his feet. "He – uh – had stuff with him."
"Seriously?" I snapped forward, reminding myself to keep calm when I saw Ludwig flinch back; right, even to my brother I could appear scary with my red eyes looking pissed. "Why'd he take his stash with him when he went -" I narrowed my eyes. "Wait. Why the hell was he at your place anyway?"
A shrug. Ludwig knew about as much as I did about why our dad did shit. Probably less, actually.
When my blond-haired blue-eyed innocent brother just shook his head and continued to stare at the floor, I groaned and leaned back in the lobby-hallway-extra-whatever chair. So much for getting information out of my brother. I should have known it wouldn't be that easy. Keh. There had to be a way to figure out what was really going on. Our dad was a big ass most of the time, and he usually only bothered me asking for money – as if I would have money to give him. Funny thing was I actually did have a job of sorts working for a friend's family business, but no one at school knew about it, so the principal wouldn't even believe me if I tried to explain I was more responsible than our current father.
Oh, our dad had a job, too. Just not a stable one. On the outside we looked well off. Not exactly high scale rich, but well off enough to house more successful kids than, heh, me. I mean, no one took the hints of my overused outfits. Dad didn't spend money on new uniforms, after all. Well, not for me. He'd spend his drug money on Ludwig.
That's right. Drug money. Our father was involved in some risky shit, and now that he'd been arrested because he'd been caught carrying his stash around with him on school property like a dumbass...
"Shit," I groaned. "I sure hope he didn't owe anyone something."
I caught Ludwig's flinch again. "I think he did."
With a deeper frown, I turned to my brother. No wonder he'd been flinching back at the mentions of dad and what he'd really been up to. If Ludwig – pure, innocent, perfect little Ludwig – thought our father was in trouble then things may have been a lot worse than anyone in this damn school or the rest of this town would ever know. If the debt was big enough, I could be in trouble, seeing as I was next in line in this "family business."
"Shit," I repeated as Principal guy decided to show himself again.
What was his name again? Johnson? Fuck, like I care about the adult names in this town. Anyway, Principal came out of his office walking down the hallway to the two delinquent brothers, er, delinquent and innocent brother I guess. And another guy came with him, all happy smiles and no doubt someone we were supposed to meet. Great.
"Ludwig, Gilbert," Principal said as the two came close enough to stand in front of our waiting chairs. "This is Vince Héderváry, your temporary foster father."
I narrowed my eyes. "Doesn't temporary and foster mean the same thing?"
"Gilbert," Principal Johnson intoned warningly.
I crossed my arms. "We aren't in the foster care system, you know. You can't just waltz in and take over our lives because you feel like it."
Although Principal looked like steam could start filtering out of his ears at any moment, Lizzy's father just laughed. "I've heard quite a bit about you, Gilbert, in the short time I've lived here with my wife and daughter, but I don't think anyone gives you enough credit."
I was about to open my mouth to snap another smart ass comment when his words resonated in my brain. "Wait. What?"
Only one other adult had ever cared to give me credit for anything, smart comments or not. My history teacher. The only one at the school who cared enough to understand me and the shitty family situation I suffered, how pointless it was for me to attempt anything except somehow I knew enough history now to make it possible for me to enjoy at least one of my classes. Right. Well, this new adult in town had just given me similar respect. Playing me or not, I was caught by surprise when I wasn't outright shot down or berated for my mouth.
And then the brown haired green eyed adult held a hand out to me as if offering to meet on equal terms. "Why don't we just start with what we know of each other and work from there, okay?"
"What's the catch?" I muttered, staring at the hand, knowing if I shook it I'd be agreeing to this arrangement without a fight.
"No catch," the man said, then chuckled when I sent him a disbelieving glare. "Well, I guess I'll have to tell you not to mess with my daughter, but other than that I'll meet you as an equal instead of a child. That's all you want, right? You seem mature enough to me. You're just being held back because you made a bad first impression on the town."
Okay, that was eerily close to the truth. How the fuck could he figure that much out? Whatever. He was starting to make a convincing argument, and I was completely thrown off balance. In fact, my hand reached out to shake his before I realized what was happening. And then my brain caught up.
"I'm only going along with this for Ludwig's sake," I muttered. "I could take care of him myself, but -"
Mr. Héderváry's smile was wide, but his eyes said much more when they caught mine and held tight; with his grip on my hand, he managed to tug me forward a little so he could whisper something between just the two of us, too. "But you don't want to get tangled up in whatever business your father was playing in, right?"
I froze. Hell, a tingling shudder went down my spine. This guy was good. Had he over heard me and Ludwig from earlier? Heck, had we said anything to give away what I was currently dealing with thanks to my dumbass of a dad? I don't think so, but then again...
No, this guy – Lizzy's father – was an important ally. Or at least, he would be better as an ally than an enemy. As sour as I felt about this whole ordeal, I had to make the decision. And it would make a lot more sense to work with someone who understood me than to fight them the whole time over a childish temper tantrum desire to have more control. Fine. I'd cave.
Damn. Living with Lizzy was going to be awkward as hell, though.
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A/N: Yeah, so that was probably confusing. I'm just jumping right into the issue. No setup of meeting the father beforehand, just this awkward moment explaining things happened. Honestly, this whole idea/scene happened without my planning. I really was aiming for something else, but I hadn't pinned down exactly what Gil and Luddy's home life was like besides I wanted major conflict there – between them and their father as well as a somewhat bad reputation of their whole family, something Ludwig tries desperately to over come and something Gilbert just shrugs off and uses as his fuel. My assessment of their hetalia characters, I guess. I don't know how much that makes sense, though. Hah.
Anyway. Shorter than the first chapter and not any interaction with Lizzy, which is upsetting, but I guess I can't get them together every chapter. First chapter was kind of funny because of their interaction and we didn't even get a chance to play on what happened because ugh Gil's family drama. Anyway. We will. I mean, heck, they're gonna be living together now.
Now that I'm no longer in high school and have been out of high school for like almost 10 years (sheesh I feel old lol), I feel like it's actually a struggle to write from the high school student point of view, especially when I can't use my own experiences and have to add in family drama I never personally experienced. Heh. I can empathize with the adults, and yet I have words of Brandon Sanderson in my head "Middle grade novels – the adults are useless; YA novels – the adults are the problem" It's so different from the stuff I normally write, I dunno, I'm having fun at least. No idea if it's coming through, but here's to a crazy NaNo adventure! Kanpai!
~Reda
