Hours later, I woke up confused and dizzy. The pain had subsided somewhat, and I was able to slowly drag myself into a sitting position. Barely.

Groggily, I peered around the infirmary to try to gain an understanding of where I was and how I had gotten. The room was lit by three glaringly bright florescent bulbs. Everything around me seemed sterile and precise. After a few moments of muddled thought, I remembered that I was, in fact, in the school infirmary. With another glance around the room, I saw that the nurse was no where in sight, nor were there any other ill students.

Deciding I was ready to go back to class, I quickly stood back up, and then promptly fell back down due to my protesting skull. Gently, I probed the back of my head, searching for the source.

Yes, just what I thought, a bloody huge bump. This is all that stupid git's fault...

My thoughts trailed off at the thought of the tall boy. Remembering the way he had carried me all the way here and promised to get my schoolwork, I realized that I hadn't had a chance to properly thank him, yet. Of course, it was the least he could do, considering he was the cause of the whole situation. None the less, he did seem truly apologetic of his mistake.

After a few moments of thinking about this 'Alfred' boy, I realized that simply thinking was only making my head throb even more. Minutes later, I fell back to a dead sleep, too exhausted by the pain to even attempt to get back to class.

I awoke to the sound of the end of school bell later in the day. A few minutes later, as I tried to pull myself together to return home, none other than Alfred came bursting through the door. Bloody hell, this boy is an endless source of energy.

"Hey Artie!" the American exuberantly called, even though I was a mere six feet away from his place at the door, "I brought you all of your school work and the notes your teachers had today! How are you feelin'?"

I cringed slightly from his loud voice and fast words, still in the process of recovering from the splitting headache pervading me.

"Thank you very much, Alfred." I said stiffly, "I appreciate your efforts to help me after your mistake with the ball out on the school grounds."

Apparently oblivious to my none-too-subtle criticism of his obvious fault, the boy flashed me a large grin, "No problem, Arthur, it's the least I can do!"

I attempted to keep the scoff I was feeling internally as it was, most certainly, the least he could do after what I had endured.

"Yes, well, I must be going. I have much work to do to catch up with my classes, now. Thank you again." I said somewhat hastily, ready to get out of the company of this overly-enthusiastic boy and complete my work.

With great effort, though I tried to hide it from the keen blue eyes carefully watching in case I were to fall again, I managed to gather my things and the papers from Alfred as I made my way to the door. The whole way to the school gates, the tall American followed closely behind, his face still concerned.

As we walked, or rather, I walked and he followed, the other boy attempted to make casual conversation. And failed rather spectacularly.

"So.. You're a freshman, right?" he attempted.

"Yes, I am." I replied icily, in no mood to chat.

"That's cool... so am I!"

"I see."

My short responses, however, seemed to have no effect on his insultingly permanent cheerful mood. He just kept going as if I my obviously cold responses were instead warm and inviting.

"It's weird though, I've never seen you around school! I mean, we don't have any classes together, but you'd would've thought that we'd have at least seen each other around..."

"Well, I usually spend most of my time in the library. As I've never seen you in there, I assume you spend most of your time out on the football field yourself, yes? That is the one place I tend to avoid most of all."

Alfred laughed, though I failed to see what was funny in my statement.

"Yeah, you're right. I guess that's why we've never seen each other around!" he spoke as if this thought had cleared up some big, life mystery for him.

By that time, we had reached the school gates. I glanced behind myself for a moment to admire the school building. It was a large, expensive charter school in the center of town. The building was large and immaculate, as Duketon Preparatory Academy was one of the most prestigious academies in all of the United States. It was one of the few schools in the area as the surrounding neighborhoods were all large homes that held a vast majority of the wealthiest families in the state.

Due to the exorbitant tuition fees, the school was filled with the sons and daughters of the elite. Most everyone was competitive and studious. Although most students needn't worry about jobs in the future, as most families had very secure businesses filled with economic stability, we all received pressure from parents to excel. Reasons for this pressure varied, though. Some sought to make sure that the heir to their company was well educated and ready for the job ahead while others simply wanted their family name at the top of the boards, to show that their family was better than the rest, and worthy of business.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye, Arthur." Alfred said, looking down at me with a smile.

"Yes, goodbye, Alfred." I said, humoring the boy with a small, businesslike smile that I had learned from my father.

As I started to walk away, he called after me.

"Wait, Arthur!" he called. I stopped and turned.

"Just... let me know if you need anything, ok? Here's my number!" He said, handing me a small slip of paper with some numbers scrawled sloppily on it. "Maybe we could, you know, hangout some time?" he asked hopefully.

I shrugged noncommittally, but put the slip of paper in my wallet, anyway. I smilled at the boy once more and gave him a small wave before I set off for home.

AN: Wow... this has been a long time! I have to be honest, I thought that NO ONE had read this story, so I basically quit! My fanfic stats were all messed up, and I never got any e-mails from people adding this story, so I just got discouraged (too soon, I know) and basically gave up.

BUT a few days ago I found out what was screwy with my stats chart and found e-mails about people adding to favorites and watches and there were a LOT more that I expected, so I started writing again, and I'm glad I did! I remembered where I was going with this story, I started planning in January and then finally posted the first chapter in April, then gave up until just yesterday... OTL

Oh well! I'm finally on track of doing this story, and I have a lot of really great ideas! Of course, I welcome any suggestions!

Thanks so much for reading!