A/N: More chapter? Ho ho! I finished this too quickly. ._.
I wanted to get more of the other bad friends in this chapter, so sorry for the lack of Lovino. He'll be back soon, I promise!
Thank you to everyone who has favourite this story… It gives me the motivation to keep writing! Thank you!
Don't forget to review! ~

ESCUELA DE TOMATE

Chapter 3

"I don't know what I did wrong!" Antonio complained as he, Gilbert and Francis sat down in McDonalds. It wasn't their favourite place in the world to eat, but they were low on money and it was sort of a good place to talk.

"You can never tell with Lovino, mon cher." Francis reassured him. "I've known him and his brother pretty much since they came to this country and, as much as you can figure out their personalities just like that, figuring out their thoughts is something nobody has ever mastered."

"I'd say give up, Tony." Gilbert said after taking a huge bite from his burger. "The awesome me always give awesome advice, right? Right. So, I say give up on him. He's not worth it."

"What do you mean? I can be friends with him if I want," Antonio was confused now; did Francis and Gilbert know something he didn't?

Francis sighed. "It seems blatantly obvious to everyone but you and Lovino that there is some sort of romance budding."

"But it's only been two days, and I don't think of him in that way!" Antonio protested, determined to believe it wasn't true.

"Maybe amour at first sight applies here." Francis replied. "Time doesn't matter, Antonio. You should know that by now."

"Besides," Gilbert interrupted, "This Lovino guy is obviously into you. All the signs point to it."

"And how does that make me into him?" Antonio tried to ignore the slight feeling of bliss as he heard the small fact.

"It's obvious!" Gilbert argued, looking determined. "You follow the poor guy around everywhere, and put up with him despite his awful personality!"

"It's just because I'm nice…" Antonio bit his lip. "Isn't it?"

"Have you not noticed it yourself?" Francis chuckled. "You have much to learn."

Antonio opened his mouth to protest again, but Gilbert had shoved a chicken nugget into his mouth. "Just stop trying to deny it, Tony." He warned, a victorious grin on his face as Antonio sat back in his chair, ate the nugget and pouted, no longer trying to further his argument.

After a moment of silence, Gilbert spoke up again. "Well, it's not like you stand much of a chance now. He obviously doesn't like you after today."

"What?" Antonio's expression was priceless - a mix of "OH NOES!" and "what is this I don't even"

"He was obviously upset that you had said that you called many people cute, mon cher." Francis pointed out.

"But I do…" Antonio bit his lip again, wondering what that had to do with anything.

"He obviously wants to be the only one you compliment like that," Gilbert sighed, glaring at Antonio as if it was obvious. "He totally has the hots for you and you're the only one who doesn't see it."

"…Oh." Antonio was at a loss for words at that point, so instead of responding, he finally went back to eating his (now cold) meal.

An awkward silence had fallen over the trio when a loud voice burst into their ear drums. "Hey you guys!" a loud and obnoxious American accent had yelled at them - of course, it could have been anyone since they did live in New York, but it was a familiar voice nonetheless.

"What is it, Alfred?" Francis said, resting his chin on his hand.

"Why do you assume I want something?" said American retorted, practically leaping over to where they were sitting. "I just need something to do; Matt disappeared and left me alone!"

"Matthieu is still there, Alfred."

"He is..? I couldn't see him." Came the reply.

"I don't see anyone at Alfred's table," Antonio commented, wondering how helpful his statement would be. Obviously not very, since it earned him a happy look from Alfred and angry glares from Gilbert and Francis.

"I'll go talk to him, then!" Gilbert grinned. "I'm sure he'd be happy to be graced with the presence of the awesome me."

"Non, Gilbert. Antonio is having a crisis with amour and we need to help him." Gilbert pouted in response, but stood up anyway.

"Can't we do it later?"

"Fine, but you're helping tomorrow." Gilbert grinned in response and bounced over to where Alfred's twin, Matthew, was sitting. The Canadian boy had a polar bear plush in his arms, which he seemed to grip slightly tighter when Gilbert started spurting nonsense which contained a lot of "awesome"'s and "me"'s.

"I wonder why he always brings that bear everywhere," Antonio commented after finally spotting the shy blonde. "I mean I know I used to bring my stuffed tomato to school for the first year but I don't any more, and even then I never took it out…~"

"You have it with you now and I know it." Francis patted his friend on the head, and Alfred started to laugh.

"I didn't know you had a stuffed tomato!" the American commented, sitting down in the seat that was once occupied by Gilbert.

"Don't spread it arroounndd…" Antonio whined, looking up at Alfred with pleading eyes.

"It's cool!" Alfred grinned. "Artie brings his stuffed unicorn to school and thinks there are flying bunnies of assorted colours everywhere, so it's not like I find it weird."

"Arthur?" Francis smirked. "He's always been like that, oui… Even when he and I were dating."

"Woah, woah, hold up!" Alfred looked shocked. "I always knew Artie was, you know, gay, but he went out with you? I thought you hated eachother!"

"We do." Francis replied. "But last year we went out for a bit."

Alfred looked a little sad. "Oh, okay. That's cool."

Francis scoffed, not bothering to reply. Antonio said nothing, simply poking at his burger with one finger, no longer wanting to eat it. Alfred, being terrible at reading the situation, broke the silence. "So, anyway, I can't find Matt and I'm alone. Talk to me about something interesting."

"We're a little busy, Alfred. Amour issues."

"I don't have issues!" Antonio whined, no longer wanting to talk about it. Why can't he leave me alone, he mused.

"Oh! Love problems?" Alfred tapped his chin. "…Nope, I don't know anything about that. Sorry. Let's talk about something else."

"Go talk to Arthur." Francis piped in.

"As if he'd come to McDonalds, Francis. In fact, as if you'd come to McDonalds! What are you guys doing here?"

"We don't have much money." Antonio grumbled sadly. "I need a part-time job or something. Maybe Gil's girlfriend will pay me to let me drive her and her weird minions about on their stalking adventures?"

"She'll let you drive but I doubt she'll pay." Francis informed him.

"Yeah, that's probably true."

"I didn't know Gilbert had a girlfriend!" Alfred interrupted. "That's so annoying! I'm so much more awesome and heroic than he is, how come he gets a girlfriend and I don't?"

"Go talk to Arthur." Francis repeated. "If you don't know where he is, go find him. We're in the middle of an important conversation.

Alfred pouted, then finally gave in. "Fine, fine! But I'm sure you enjoyed my company anyway!" Without waiting for a reply or a goodbye, he was off, and out of the doors.

"I wonder if he payed for his and Matthew's dinner…" Antonio wondered, keen to stay off of the subject of Lovino.

"If he hasn't, we can pay for dear Matthieu." Francis responded. "Now, as much as I'd love to stay and give you advice on love, I have to go soon."

Antonio felt almost relieved. "That's okay!~"

Antonio grumbled into his pillow. He was from Spain, the country of passion, yet he hadn't figured out his own feelings, or noticed Lovino's? I'm an idiot, he thought. And it's only been two days! Why are these feelings there?

He argued mentally with himself for a long time until he finally came to the conclusion that he'd ignore it and let things go their own way. He was about to get up and get something to eat when his phone rang. Once again, Gilbert was calling him.

"Hey, Tony? I have to look after my lil' bro at the weekend 'cause my parents are out, but I don't want to be alone 'cause he's bringing his friends from school over, so I'm bringing mine!" Gilbert's voice came through the speaker. "I already spoke to Francis and he said he couldn't come 'cause he was off in the pursuit of 'l'amour' or something so I need you! Please, Tony! You wouldn't want to kill the awesome by not coming!"

"Okay!" Antonio laughed. "Sure, I'm not doing anything this weekend! I'll be there!"

"Thanks, Tony! This is awesome!" Antonio could practically hear Gilbert grinning. "Come over at about lunchtime Saturday. You can go home whenever, okay? Awesome! Bye!" and then he hung up.

Antonio simply threw his phone onto his pillow, and walked up to his calendar, writing in the details for the following Saturday. Maybe hanging at one of his best friends' houses would help him get his mind off the Lovino crisis.

He only had to go to school on Friday after that - since the first day was on Wednesday, it was only a three day long week. Not much happened on Friday - he managed to apologize to Lovino, who gruffly said it was okay and then wouldn't speak to him again. Antonio decided he wouldn't bother the Italian at lunch (as much as he wanted to) and hung around with Francis and Gilbert. The rest of his day was average and he didn't do much different as to what he would usually do.

He slept in on Saturday morning, to wake up at 10 a.m. and promptly get out of bed, have a shower, and get dressed. He had a couple of tomatoes as his breakfast, and since he'd done everything in a slow and laid-back manner he was ready to go by 11. Instead of waiting until lunchtime to go, he walked out of his house and began a leisurely stroll to Gilbert's house.

It was only about a half-hour walk, so by 11:30 he was at Gilbert's house. It didn't appear as though any of Gilbert's brothers' friends had arrived yet.

"Hey, Tony! Glad you're here early!" Gilbert grinned. It was weird to see the albino awake at this time of day at a weekend of all things.

"I would've thought you'd sleep in~" Antonio chuckled. "Hi, Ludwig!" he greeted Gilbert's younger brother, who was sitting eating his lunch at the table.

"Guten morgen." The blonde replied, looking up from his plate. It seemed Gilbert was the only one in this family that didn't half-speak German and half-speak English. Antonio remembered him once saying it was because he was "too awesome to speak both and it's more awesome to just speak one".

"So, Ludwig," Gilbert said, creeping up on his younger brother. "When do your friends get here, hm? I have to watch over you scamps all day, so I didn't plan anything awesome to do! You wouldn't want your awesome brother to be bored, hey? That'd be unawesome."

"Any minute now." Ludwig replied. "Feliciano will probably be a bit later. He likes to sleep in."

"Oh, like me! That's awesome!" Gilbert grinned. "Tony likes to sleep in too, right?"

"Si!" Antonio grinned. "Though not for very long; I can always just take a siesta later in the day.~"

The three continued to talk for a little while (thought it was mainly Antonio and Gilbert) until there was a knock at the door, which Ludwig got up to answer.

At the door was an Asian boy, with mysterious eyes and short black hair. "Kon'nichiwa, Ludwig." he said, bowing a little.

"Oh, is it your Japanese friend? Awesome!" Gilbert grinned, ruffling the boy's hair, who seemed to flinch a little at the weird affection.

"Ja, this is Kiku." Ludwig replied, letting Kiku into the house.

"Hola!" Antonio greeted the boy with a smile, who bowed and gave him a small smile back.

"So, you're one of the runts I have to watch over today, hey?" Gilbert laughed. "I'm going to watch over you lot like a hawk."

"I wonder how Feliciano is getting here," Kiku chose to ignore Gilbert's statement. "I don't think he lives close enough to be able to walk on his own."

"I hope his brother doesn't take him." Ludwig shuddered a little. "I know how much he hates me…" Kiku simply nodded. "He goes to your school, bruder. You might know him."

"Maybe I'll know if I see him." Gilbert responded, lazily shaking his hand in a dismissive manner. "Do they look alike? I might recognise him from Feliciano."

"Si!" Antonio decided to pipe in, wanting a say in the conversation. The opposite could be said for Kiku, who quietly stood next to Ludwig, choosing to listen without saying anything.

After 10 minutes of Kiku and Ludwig listening to Antonio and Gilbert ramble on about their school lives, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Ludwig said, and moved to open the door.

"Ludddyyy!" a high-pitched voice squealed, jumping through the door and leaping at Ludwig. "I made it, veh!"

"Guten tag," Ludwig said, almost breathlessly as a small auburn-haired boy hugged the living daylights out of him.

"How did you get here, Feli?" Kiku asked. Antonio assumed that this must be Feliciano, then - though he couldn't really get a good look at the newcomer because he was jumping about so much.

"Fratello took me, veh, but only as far as the gate… He didn't want to come in, but I don't know why!" Antonio could hear an Italian accent in the boys voice. There must be more Italians here than he thought, or maybe… He decided to take a good look at him, since he'd stopped moving about and was now easier to see.

He had smooth auburn hair, and vivid amber eyes. He appeared to be quite young - maybe about 12 or 13? But then, something else caught his eye - he had a curl of hair that strayed off from the right side of his head, very similar to the one Lovino had.

"If you don't mind me asking," Antonio said, looking at the boy curiously. "But what's your brother's name? I think I know him."

"My fratello? His name is Lovino, veh!"

A/N Not a very cliffhanger-ish ending like I was going for, but meh. We get to hear more about Ludwig, Kiku and Feliciano next chapter, and a bit more about Gilbert… I think I rushed this chapter a bit. ;-; I also wanted it to be longer, but I couldn't think of much else to put… Meh.

Your reviews keep me happy ~ I also want to know if I've done something wrong, so don't be afraid to point mistakes out to me. XD