Wow, I cannot believe the feedback the first chapter got. Thank you so much for reviewing, following, and adding this story to your favorites. It means a lot.

Last night was the first Presidential Debate here in America. I don't know about you, but I just can't wait for all of it to be over. In case you're outside of the U.S., election time is very annoying. No matter what side you're on (if you even have a side), you get sick of the political talk around a year before the election. By the way, I'm not trying to start a political argument. I'm just saying that I wish November 6th would get here already.

Enough about politics.

I would have updated sooner, but high school is difficult. I freaking LOVE my English teacher. We're reading Edgar Allen Poe. :)

Enjoy!~


Mr. Jones took a sip from his coffee and smiled. "This morning is already awesome," he said to his brother, Matthew.

Matthew Williams, the school counselor (only a few students and faculty members knew he even existed), looked at his brother and asked, "Why is that?"

"I don't know. The sun is shinning, it's still nice and warm outside, and I'm not dead-tired."

Matthew smiled. Even though Alfred's enthusiasm annoyed him at some points, he did admire his ability to always smile about something. He also appreciated that Alfred always noticed him and never forgot who he was. He noticed that Ms. Spears walked in the Teacher's Lounge. "How are things going with Marissa?" he asked quiet enough so that only Mr. Jones could hear him.

Mr. Jones rolled his eyes. "She tried flirting with me again yesterday," he responded just as lowly, "I'm getting so sick of it. She's been doing this since I came here."

"I know," Mr. Williams said. "I kind of feel bad for her."

"I don't," Mr. Jones responded curtly. "She's so desperate. I've been around four years and I haven't once flirted back. Sheesh, she can't take a hint."

"Have you ever thought about giving her a chance?"

"As if. One, she's full of herself (Much like you, Matthew thought). Two, her laugh is like a goat. Three, I'm not attracted to her."

Alfred trusted Matthew with everything. He was the first person to know about Alfred being gay when they were 11 years-old. Matthew was surprised, to say the least, but he had nothing against it. Alfred had always been so casual about it, so Matthew had been, too.

"Did you ever tell her you….you know?"

"Nah."

"Why not?"

He shrugged. "Never felt the need."

"Maybe you should tell her?"

"I don't wanna cause a scene. She seems like the kind of chick who doesn't take rejection well."

"But she might understand that it's not her that you dislike."

"Bro, I wouldn't date her even if I was straight."

From across the room Ms. Spears waved to Mr. Jones with a smile and pushed her brown hair off her shoulder. Mr. Jones gave a fake smile and waved back at her. Ugh noooo, he thought as she walked over.

"Good morning, Mr. Jones," she said in an overly-sweet voice. "And good morning…um…I'm sorry, I don't remember your name."

"Mr. Williams," Matthew sighed.

"Right." She turned back to Mr. Jones. "So how are you?"

"Fine," he forced the smile to stay on his face. "You?"

"Wonderful," she said with a stupid grin on her face.

"That's nice. I gotta go to my classroom. See ya." He walked out of the room quickly as possible. He could deal with his flirtatious students. He knew that they wouldn't make any real sexual advances, and he joked around with them in return. But he didn't even like Marissa as a person, let alone an ideal partner. With her double D's ready to pop out of her shirt (which in all honesty, Alfred found to look humorous more than sexy), it was a wonder that she had not already gotten in trouble with the principal. Or maybe she only pushed out her chest when he was around. He didn't know. He didn't really care. He just wanted it to stop.


Arthur and the rest of the students were given their official rosters (the day before they were given a temporary roster because their 8th period classes still needed to be decided). Arthur groaned aloud when he saw his 8th period teacher was none other than Mr. Jones.

"What's wrong, Arthur?" Kiku asked.

"I've got this git for two periods a day!" he complained. "This is going to be torture."

"Try to give him a chance," Kiku gave him a small smile. "You may grow to like him over time."

"I doubt it," he huffed. "But I guess there's nothing I can do about it."

Each second that passed was a second closer to Mr. Jones' classroom. Arthur really didn't know why he was dreading that class so much. Sure, Mr. Jones was loud and a bit obnoxious, but he didn't seem like a bad man and certainly not a bad teacher. What was it about Mr. Jones that was just so intolerable? He thought about the matter in his math class.

"Arthur!" the booming voice of his math teacher, Mrs. Alvarez (or more commonly known to the students as The-Planet-Inside-The-Earth for her body shape), called out.

He sat up in his chair. "Yes?"

"What is the answer to problem number five?"

"I, I don't know, Mrs. Alvarez," he felt his face go pink. Why did everyone feel the need to stare?

"That's what I thought. This is only the second day of school, Arthur! We still have one hundred and seventy-eight days to go. Pay attention."

"Yes, Mrs. Alvarez," he mumbled and looked down at his textbook.

She glared at him and continued to write a problem on the chalkboard. Arthur hated math class enough to begin with, but now he had a dull teacher who was practically asking students to drift off and daydream.

5th period came around and Arthur silently walked to history with Kiku and Francis. He sat in a seat near the back of the room next to one of his good friends he had known since 9th grade, Elizaveta.

"Hey, Arthur," she smiled.

"Hello, Elizaveta," he grinned back. "How are you?"

"Alright. Tired as hell. You?"

He shrugged. "Could be worse, I guess."

"Yeah. At least we got math out of the way this morning. I hate when we have it in the afternoon."

"I know. It's even harder to focus after lunch."

"Especially with Mrs. Fat-Ass. She's so boring."

Arthur chuckled. "Mrs. Fat-Ass?"

"She's enormous and you know it."

Mr. Jones noticed Arthur laughing with Elizaveta in the back and he felt a little bit of anger bubble up inside of him. "Starting today," he said loud enough to catch everyone's attention, "you'll all have assigned seats."

Some students groaned and Mr. Jones took out his class list. He hadn't planned to give assigned seats, so he just pointed to random desks when he called names. But he knew exactly where he wanted Arthur to sit.

"Arthur, you're gonna sit right here," he pointed to the desk in the front that he had sat in yesterday.

Arthur felt utterly defeated. Seriously? He went to his assigned seat and crossed his arms. Mr. Jones smirked at him. "That's better," he said to the class, but was looking at Arthur."Now," he crossed his arms and started to walk around the room. "We know that Chris Columbus got lost and wound up here, but he and his crew weren't alone. Who else were here? Hmmm?" He looked at his class full of raised hands. "Uhh….Arthur!"

Arthur refrained from sighing. He didn't even have his hand raised! "The Native Americans," he muttered.

"Correct!" threw his hands up in the air. Some students giggled, but Arthur just huffed.

"So yeah. Some scientists think the Native Americans came from Asia over a land bridge that connected to Alaska. The land bride is called Bering Strait. Technically it's just a theory, but it seems legit to me. Hint, hint: write that down!"

Everyone took out their notebooks and wrote down what they heard. "Okie dokie," he said, "I want you to read pages 13-26 and then we'll discuss it, mkay?"

As he sat at his desk, his eyes wandered around the room until they fell on Arthur. His large eyebrows were furrowed in concentration and his light bangs fell over his forehead. He wondered what his hair would feel like on his fingertips. Mr. Jones looked away uncomfortably as his heart started to beat a little faster. Focus. Get a hold of yourself. Teach. "Okay," he got up and smiled. "Who wants to share a fact about the text?" Students raised their hands and he felt a little calmer.

Arthur listened to Mr. Jones as he walked around the classroom. Despite his best efforts, his attention was drawn to his teacher's lower body. Mr. Jones' hips would sway as he walked around and it would catch the eyes of the female students. The teacher knew this well and would make sure each step had a sway of his hips. When he walked past Arthur's desk, he noticed that the Brit had the same look on his face that the girls had. He smirked slightly and walked to the front of the class right in front of Arthur's desk. "Any questions?" They remained silent. "Good. We have, like, 5 minutes before this period is over so do whatever you want."

Almost instantly the room filled with chatter. Arthur reached into his schoolbag and pulled out the book he was reading, Lord of the Flies. Reality was starting to fade away and take form of the book's setting when a pair of hands slammed down on his desk. Arthur jumped in his chair and looked up with wide eyes. Mr. Jones was leaning on his desk, making their faces mere inches away.

"Whatcha readin'?" he asked loudly.

Arthur sunk in his chair a little and just showed him the cover of the book, not being able to form any words.

"Ooo, awesome. Like it so far?"

"Yeah," he answered quietly, very uncomfortable about how close they were. The bell rang and Arthur nearly jumped from his desk and grabbed his bag. He dashed out of the room and to his next class.


"Arthur, why is your face so red?" Kiku asked.

Arthur didn't answer and just buried his face in his book.

"Ohonhonhon~" Francis put his arm around Arthur's shoulder. "I think it's because of the way Mr. Jones almost kissed him."

Cheeks ablaze, Arthur smacked Francis upside the head with his book. "Idiot! Don't say such a thing!"

"Is this true?" Kiku's coffee eyes were wide.

"No!"

"Oui!" Francis cried while rubbing his head. "Come on, Artie-"

"Don't call me that," he growled.

"Fine, whatever. If you were to pucker your lips they would have touched his!"

"They would have not, Frog!"

Elizaveta came up and tapped Kiku's shoulder. "What are they fighting about now?"

"Francis said that Arthur and Mr. Jones nearly kissed."

"Oh. Totally." She had always had a certain….fondness…for gay relationships, and when she found Arthur was gay, she vowed to one day find him a suitable boyfriend. She really did want to see her friend happy, but she also wanted pictures of Arthur and his boyfriend together…

Anyway.

Francis laughed and Arthur looked horrified. "Eliza, don't tell me you believe Pepé Le Pew, as well?"

"I do. But that's because I saw it myself. He slammed his hands on your desk and you looked like you were about to pass out."

Francis laughed again and Kiku was somehow able to maintain a controlled expression on his face.

"I was not," he protested weakly.

"Veh, why do you look so sad, Arthur?" an Italian boy named Feliciano skipped over to them.

"Please go away," Arthur said desperately.

"Why? I want to know!"

"Feli," the Italian's boyfriend, Ludwig, grabbed his arm. "It's impolite to go up to someone and pester them about their personal problems."

"Thank you," Arthur sighed. This was going to be a very long day.


At lunchtime, Arthur heard girls in his class (including Eliza) talking about Mr. Jones.

"His hips were rocking like a freaking boat," a girl named Juliana said loudly.

"They always do!" another yelled.

Arthur sighed as he sat down at a table with Francis, Kiku, Feliciano, and Ludwig.

"They are so crass," he muttered.

"It's the first week of school. They'll stop the nonsense after a while," Ludwig replied.

"I doubt it. I know for a fact Elizaveta won't quit it."

"Probably not," Feliciano said through bites of ravioli.

"Hey guys," Eliza sat down as if on cue, but she had a few girls around her. "We were just talking about how Mr. Jones flirted with you today," she said to Arthur.

"He was not!" he said hotly.

"He really was!" a girl behind Eliza said.

"How do you call someone asking what someone else is reading flirting?"

"But," Francis interjected, "it was just the way he did it."

"Don't you start talking!"

"Oh," Francis dramatically put his hand over his forehead, "how he slammed his hands onto the desk and then had to restrain himself from admitting his true feelings!"

"It's only the fucking 2nd day of school! What on earth are you going on about?!"

"That's enough!" Ludwig stood up. "All of you stop acting so childish. Francis, shut up. Girls, stop talking about something that isn't true. Arthur, please calm down." He sat back down and everyone kept quiet, knowing not to disobey the German. The girls that came with Elizaveta walked away. Arthur felt a dull pain in his head start to throb. Two days in a row he got a headache from school.

"Aside from the teasing," Elizaveta said after a minute, "What do you guys think of Mr. Jones so far?"

"He seems cool!" Feli said with a smile. "He has spiffy glasses, too!"

"He seems like a good teacher," Ludwig said. "I just wish he would calm down a bit."

"He's got a gorgeous figure," Francis said with a sigh.

Arthur grimaced at Francis' comment. "I agree with Ludwig. He seems like he drinks fifteen cups of coffee."

"But other than that, do you like him?" Eliza asked.

Arthur shrugged his shoulders. "He's okay, I guess."


For the rest of the week, Arthur's history classes became more and more unsettling. Ludwig was right about the girls stopping their nonsense and teasing, but Arthur wasn't concerned about them. It seemed like as each day passed, he would notice Mr. Jones' body more and more. Now that the girls had mentioned it, he noticed that Mr. Jones' hips did sway. A lot. He would also whip his hair dramatically (not as dramatic as Francis, however). He wrote prompts on the chalkboard and told his students to use their textbooks for help. When a girl would raise her hand for help, he would crouch down beside her and rest his chin on the surface of her desk. Never failing, the girl would blush and ask her question in a flustered voice. In the Brit's opinion, there was absolutely no need to act so sexual in a room full of teenagers. A minor thing he found extremely annoying was his laugh. It was way too obnoxious. But he found that if he focused on Mr. Jones' words and not his appearance, the class was much more enjoyable. Until one day at the beginning of the second week when Arthur didn't understand a question in the textbook. He read the question over and over, but something just wasn't clicking. He reluctantly raised his hand for Mr. Jones' help. Mr. Jones spotted his hand and smiled. He strode over to his desk and leaned on the front so, once again, his and Arthur's faces were too close for comfort.

"I…" Arthur cleared his throat when he got a whiff of his teacher's cologne. "I don't understand what this question is asking."

"Hmm," Mr. Jones took a second to read it over. "Okay bro," he smiled again. "Here's the deal. All it's asking is how Native Americans were cleaner than the Europeans. Got it?"

Arthur nodded. "Oh, okay. Thank you."

"No problem!" he stood up straight. "A hero always helps his damsel in distress!"

The class laughed and Arthur blush brilliantly. "Damsel in distress?" he repeated. "I'm not a damsel!"

"But I'm still the hero," Mr. Jones winked.

Arthur shook his head and prayed that his face wasn't too red. Why the hell am I getting so embarrassed? There is nothing appealing about him. Stop being such a fool.

That Friday afternoon, Arthur locked himself in his room and collapsed on his bed. 7 days down. 173 to go.

Alfred sighed deeply as he sat down on his couch. He took a sip of his Pepsi and a bite of his McDonald's double cheese burger.

"What's wrong?" Matthew asked from across the room.

"Nothing, I guess."

Matthew was now concerned. His brother's usual response to that question was always something like, "Are you kidding me? I feel awesome!" or "Dude, I'm totally cool!"

"Tell me," Matthew sat down next to him. "I am a counselor…although no one knows it."

Mr. Jones grinned. "Yeah. Have you had any students come to you for help?"

"Not one," he looked down sadly. "But it's okay. Someone will notice me eventually. But I asked about you."

He frowned again. "Right…" He didn't say anything for a moment. "I think I'm falling for someone. I can't stop staring at him and, ugh, I think I'm doing everything wrong. I think I'm scaring him."

Mr. Williams smiled brightly. "That's no reason to be sad, Al! Just try to keep your cool around him and don't be so loud."

"But there's a big problem with the dude I'm into," he rubbed the back of his neck.

Mr. Williams looked confused. "What is it?"

Mr. Jones exhaled. "He's one of my students."


Durr, what a shock. And yes, I'm implying some GerIta. You think I wouldn't?

I'm actually basing America's mannerisms on my school's 11-12th grade history teacher (I have him for 8th period on Wednesdays). He is so freaking sexy. No joke.

Please review!~