I guess getting up in the morning wasn't so bad. Okay, who am I kidding mornings freaking suck! I rubbed my eyes and stumble to the shower. I stretched some more and took a fast shower. Today is the occupational schedule so I would have to war my occupational uniform.

Very carefully I buttoned my blouse and overcoat and I took extra care to keep my clothes unwrinkled. Kailyn walked in to check on me while I was putting my hair in a tight bun.

"You look professional this morning," She gave me a glance.

"I take this seriously," I smoothed my bangs over.

"You take something seriously?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Consider me a completely different person when I put on this uniform," I pulled my bag over my shoulder and doubled checked that my schedule was in my bag.

"Breakfast has already started,"Kailyn informed me.

"Okay, thank you for the warning."

Kailyn was always right about everything. When I walked in everyone had already begun to eat. I briskly walked over to my seat beside Teddy.

"Morning," he said around a mouthful of waffle.

"Good morning and your tie is crooked," I straightened his tie for him.

"Thanks," he continued eating.

I grabbed myself a bagel and took a bite and looked over at the gang. They were all dressed in different uniforms.

"Sam?" Ami waved her hand in front of my face.

I swallowed part of my bagel, "Yes?"

"What is your occupation?"

"What?"

"You know, what you're training for."

"I know what an occupation is. I'm just surprised that you couldn't tell from the uniform."

"Well you and Teddy are the only ones wearing that particular uniform. It's actually a really pretty white color. I wish mine was that good looking. The ambassadors' get stuck with this dull black dress suit."

"Well thank you, I suppose, and Teddy and I are training to be Peace Keepers," I finished my bagel.

"Peace Keepers?" Kiko asked.

"Yes."

"What exactly are Peace Keepers?"

I was a bit stunned that they hadn't heard of my occupation before. I know it was fairly new but I didn't think it was unheard of.

"Attention, everyone, attention," England tapped the side of his tea cup with his spoon, "Today is your second half of your schedule. You will be doing your Occupational course today. These classes are fit to you and your future career, understand?"

Leroy raised his hand," Not really."

England rolled his eyes and sighed," Of course you do, Leroy, of course you do. For those of you who are confused I'll give you an example. If you're a translator or you want to be you would take mostly language classes like Spanish, Italian, German, and or Russian. Does that clarify anything for you, Leroy?"

"Yeah, thanks Mr. Kirkland," he grumbled.

"Your classes will be on the same time schedule as yesterday. Have a pleasant morning and I will see you all again at lunch," he finished.

I pulled out my schedule and glanced at it. If we were on the same schedule as yesterday how could I have five classes? This schedule said that I had a free period, gym, history, technology, and then art.

"Hey, Teddy can I see your schedule real fast?" I asked.

"Sure," he tossed me his school bag.

I sighed and checked the front pocket of his bag, that where he kept anything important. I pulled out a Gameboy, several pokemon cards, and gum wrappers before I found the slip of paper I was looking for.

After a quick comparison I saw that my schedule was screwed up and I handed Teddy back his stuff. I decided to keep some of his pokemon cards for "safe keeping".

"What's up?" Alfred walked up behind me.

"How did you know something was up?" I questioned.

"You had on your 'this is a problem. How do I fix it face?'" he shrugged.

I thought about telling him how stupid he sounded but I should probably ask him about my problem instead.

"You should go to counseling. They are in charge of all the paper work and stuff like that."

"Who do I need to go see in counseling to fix my schedule?"

"I- um forgot his name. Iggy, who runs counseling, again?"

Mr. Kirkland turned and frowned," I don't recall. Did we assign someone to do counseling?"

"I think so?" Mr. Jones shrugged.

Mr. Kirkland grabbed his clipboard and flipped through a few pages," Ah here he is, Mr. Williams is in charge of that area."

"Oh yeah, that's right! He's on the first floor of the main building in the farthest room," Mr. Jones grinned," Hurry up now, so you're not late to your first class."

I nodded and walked to the main building. I walked up and down the hall twice before I saw the room I was looking for. It was a small room at the very end with a crooked, tarnished name plate.

I knocked on the door twice," Hello? Hello is anyone in there?"

I thought I heard a slight noise that could have been"come in" so I opened the door.

The room was even tinier than I thought. File cabinets were lined up on each wall with more stacks of paper piled on top of them. A desk sat in the corner covered in a ton of loose paper. Someone had attempted to make the room less gloomy by painting the walls an ugly yellow color. Behind the desk sat a quiet man with a large, blonde curl and cheap glasses.

"Hello Mattie- I mean Mr. Williams. I hate not calling you by your first name. It's something I'll have to get used to," I smiled.

The young Canadian smiled a spoke softly," You can call me Mathew if it makes you more comfortable. We're all friends here. Please make a seat if you want to."

"Actually I'm not here for a friendly chat right now. I need to get to my first class but I have a scheduling mess up," I handed him the piece of paper.

"Oh yes, I can see the problem. This happens from time to time." He sat down the paper and fired up his computer.

"I think it would be hard for me to be in two classes at once," I laughed.

"Yes, that would be a problem. Thankfully it can be easily fixed. First, though, I need you to pick a class you want to get rid of."

"Could you tell me what the free period is so I can know if I need to get rid of it? Is it even a class?"

"Yes, it's a class and you can't opt out of this one. This is a mandatory free thinking time that Peace Keepers are assigned. It's a time for you and Teddy to problem solve and keep up on world events."

"Who is our teacher?"

"You don't have a teacher. The subject can't be taught by us countries or it would be taken as bais. Also it is such a new idea and we don't know a lot of things. The Peace Keepers before you didn't have a lot of time…" he drifted off and didn't meet my eyes.

"What do we do in this class," I recovered the conversation.

Mathew looked slightly flustered and answered," W- well you and Teddy can do whatever you want as long as it's related to what your occupation is. It could be anything from reading the headlines to discussing laws. You two could even play board games if you could think of a good way that it would tie in to your field." He continued to type and clicks the mouse.

"Well that doesn't sound too bad. Actually that sounds wonderful," I smiled.

"So have you made your decision?" He prompted me.

I thought about it for a moment. It would be good for me to get the exercise and history would be mandatory. So my choice came down to Art and Technology. Technology would be very useful but Art would be relaxing and it was important not to get too stressed. Plus, Teddy's schedule said he would be taking the Technology course and if I needed any help I'm sure he could help me.

"I'll drop Technology and keep Art," I replied.

"Very well," Canada made a few more clicks and the printer turned on in the corner.

He walked around his desk and expertly avoided boxes and stacks of paper to get to his printer. He re-read the new schedule and handed it to me. "That should be it," He smiled/

"Thank you very much Mattie," I thank him and take the paper.

He smiled and opens his door to let me out. I thank him one more time and leave to go to my first class, finally. After I get down the hallway I realized that I had no idea where my class would be and silently cursed. It took fifteen minutes and running into Russia before I got to where I was going. My first class was in a large conference room with only one other person in there.

"I thought you were skipping the first class on the second day," Teddy put down his Gameboy.

"Well I had to pay a visit to Mattie and get my schedule fixed. I can't go to two classes at once you know. Then I got lost and Russia had to show me where the class was," I sit down in the chair across from him.

"I forgot that he was here, I haven't seen him. What's he do again? Teach Russian, right?"

"That and he's the ground keeper. He makes sure nothing is broken and he likes spending time in the garden."

"Sunflowers," Teddy muttered.

"Yup," I reach across the table for his bag and pull out his laptop.

"Do you know what we're supposed to do in here? I didn't get much of an explanation from England when he shoved me in here," Teddy said.

"We get to pretty much do whatever. We don't have a teacher or guidelines that we need to follow. Canada said that we have to keep up on current events and problems solve real world situations but we could do it anyway we want. We can read newspapers, surf the web, or even play games if we can tie it in to what we're doing."

The whole time I talk I turn on his computer, log in and get on the internet.

"That's awesome! Hey! Isn't that my laptop?" He yelled at me.

"Yes," I didn't look up at him.

"Bring your own!" he went to grab it from me and I smack his hand hard.

"Oh look at the stocks, Teddy," I ignored his grumbling and flash him the web page.

He grudgingly sat next to me and looked at the stocks from around the world. We sat there doing that for the rest of time we were in there.

When the bell rang Teddy and I parted ways and I walked outside and looked around for Russia he would know where the gym would be. He stuck out like a sore thumb among the students. He was so tall and pale compared to everyone and always wore that scarf.

"Russia!" I waved my hands to show him who called.

"Hello, Sam. Do you need to be showed where to go again?"He smiled at me cheerily.

"Yeah, if you wouldn't mind showing me. You do know where the gym is, right?"

"Da, follow me," he lead me out of the crowd of students and to a building surrounded by a field and track.

"Thank you. I should have figured out that this would be the gym," I puffed. I had to walk much faster to keep up with him.

"No problem, I'm glad to help you," He smiled and ruffled my hair," you remind me so much of your mother every day."

"Really?" I asked

"Da, now hurry to class. You wouldn't want Germany make you run laps on your first day." He waved and retreated back to the school.

I pushed my bangs behind my ear and walked into the huge building. Ivan was actually pretty nice or at least he was always good to Teddy and me. I could understand how people could be scared of him when he had is Soviet aura going on but I don't think he would ever hurt me.

The gym only had a few people in it so far and Germany was across the room giving a last minute inspection to the equipment. I stood near the door and thought about what Ivan had said. I wasn't a big fan of my mother but I would be a fool not to see how great she was. She was widely respected and beautiful and intelligent. Sometimes I really did-

"Sam! Thank God you're here," Ami tackle hugged me.

"Hello, Ami-" she crushed the breath out of me.

"I thought I was going to be all alone in this class with a bunch of strangers! I hate gym even though I'm great at cheering or that's what mom tells me but she's my mom you know. And that German man scares the bajeezus out of me! Oh no I think he heard me!" she hid behind my back.

"Ami I think everyone heard you," I tried to wiggle out of her death grip.

"Really," she said in a small voice.

"I wouldn't lie to you Ami. Could you let go of me. I'm having trouble breathing and you're messing up my uniform," I gasped.

"Uniforms! Oh do we have to run in these and get them dirty! That would be awful, I mean they're so expensive and I would be all smelly and yucky for the rest of the day!" She started to yell again.

"Ehem, would you mind quieting down while I take role. I can be very scary if you don't quiet down," Germany walked up to us.

"Sorry," Ami whispered and didn't look up from the floor.

Germany called the role and began his long lecture,"Welcome to Physical Education. I am Mr. Ludwig you will refer to me as Mr. Ludwig or sir," his eyes rested on me before moving on," You will be here every other day to train your bodies and minds. I will put you through exercises you never even thought of and more. You will be fit and in top condition when this class is over. If you set your mind to it you can even be in top conditions of soldiers out on the front lines. In my classroom you will learn to exercise as well as to eat right. There will be no back talking or you will run laps. You have to dress out or there will be pushups. You will do everything you have been told to do or you will be forced to do that and more. You will respect the equipment or you will spend your whole afternoon cleaning the gym and fixing the equipment until it is done. Have I made myself clear?"

There were a few mumbled yeses to answer him back

"Let me repeat myself, have I made myself clear?" He barked.

"Yes!" we answered back.

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good. Today you are not required to dress out but expect to next time. Today I will go through my procedures and show you the gym and all it has to offer, follow me." He didn't wait to see if we were following him as he made is way over to one of the various weight rooms. When the bell finally rang for lunch Ami grabbed my hand and sprinted to the café.

"He hates me I know he does," Ami whimpered.

"He doesn't hate you," I comforted her.

"Well why don't you go talk to Lucky and see what he thinks while I go get some lunch."

She nodded and sat next to Lucky. Soon those two were having a deep conversation about teachers and how they felt about them. I sighed and sat down next to Teddy. I was glad to have some peace and quiet to think. Classes weren't so bad and this whole school thing wasn't too bad either. Being around these people was actually fun. I smile to myself and take a bite of my food. My eyes travel over the people and tables. I wondered about the past students here. Did they like it, did they have these problems I was facing. Did they make friends?

"Yo, Earth to Sam! Anyone there," Leroy waved his hand in front of my face.

"Hmm what is it," I shook my head slightly to clear it.

"Oh it's nothing really, we've just been trying to get your attention since forever," He grumbled.

"Well ask what you want to ask while you have my full attention," I snapped at him.

"Whoa Sam, sorry if we bothered you," Kiko amended," We were just wanting to know more about Peacekeepers. You didn't get to finish explaining it earlier.

"Well Peacekeepers do exactly what the name implies, we keep the peace. We go to world conferences and keep the countries from becoming too upset. We work out solutions among them and try to put them at ease. We also fight for the main interest of the people of the world. They are our first priority. Peacekeepers are supposed to make sure that nothing happens that would endanger the lives of many and make sure that the majority is kept safe. The bottom line of it is that we have to keep the countries in line and make sure that the people are kept safe," I finished and took a drink of my water.

"Sounds like a tough job for just the two of you," Kiko commented.

"Yeah, well our job is still in the experimental stages. There has only been one more set before us and they didn't get to finish the job," Teddy cut in.

Leroy shook his head and said," So like they kicked the bucket,"

"Yeah, Leroy they kicked the bucket," I picked up my plate and placed it in the pile to be washed. I wasn't interested in the conversation anymore. If they wanted to know more about it they could ask Teddy or even one of the teachers.

Outside was much less crowded by people; in fact there wasn't a soul in sight. I slipped my hand into my pocket and pull out my pocket watch. I had about twenty minutes until lunch ended. Maybe I could go check out the library or the gardens. There was still so much to see here honestly. I walked along an old stone path around to a garden in the back. There were bunches of flowers growing and tall oak trees. I leaned down to sniff a few roses when a glimmer caught my eye. A little ways away there was an old fountain surrounded by a few stone benches. It was a picture perfect scene, the way the sun hit the water and the birds that hopped on the rim. I smiled and sat down on one of the benches. I didn't want to leave the little scene quite yet, it seemed to make me forget about some of my worries.

The bell brought me out of my reveries and I hurried out of the garden to find my class. This time I couldn't find Russia among the students so I had to seek out another person that could help me find my class.

"Lithuania?" I tapped the young man's shoulder.

"Oh hello, Sam," He turned," Do you need help finding a class?"

"Yes could you tell me where History is with Greece?"

"Oh yes. That would be in the main building. As soon as you enter take the middle double doors and go all the way to the back. His room should be on the right side of the hall."

"Thank you very much," I waved and follow is directions to my next class.

Greece's room was down the main hall at the very back. His room was easily one of the most comfortable I had been in yet. It wasn't even set up like a regular classroom. There were desks but they were pushed to the back and longue chairs sat in the middle of the floor. It seemed that I was the last person to get there. Greece lifted his head off of his desk and sleepily called roll. When he was finished he sat up slightly straighter and rubbed some sleep out of his eyes.

"Welcome to History. You will learn everything you need to know. The way my class works is that you get to set your own pace and learn how you want to as long as you get what I assigned done by the end of the week. There are text books along these two walls and a computer or two. If you need me I'll be at my desk." He yawned and scratched his head and put his head back on his desk.

All of the students looked at each other for a few minutes trying to figure out if this was a joke or not and finally gave up on waiting for Greece to get up and teach us. I grabbed a large book off of one of the bookcases and sat down and began to read. The assignment on the board was to write a report about the very first people, the hunters and gathers and move on to the Mesopotamians. I quickly read up on all the hunters and gathers and how about they're movements across the country and shut the book. I lazily began my paper and chatted with a girl, her name was Molly or something. The perks to having a photographic memory were that I didn't have to keep looking up in the book to reference my work, everything was crystal clear in my head. I worked through the class and had half of my assignment done.

The bell rang and Mr. Karpusi didn't even lift his head.

Surprising I found my way to art. I had stopped in a room to tie my shoe and saw Italy standing in front of me.

"Sam!" He hugged me tightly," I was beginning to think no one would show!"

"Don't you have other students?" I asked him. He tilted his head and gave me a clueless look.

"Bring me your role sheet," I sighed.

"Okay~" He hands me a single sheet of paper.

It appeared that Italy only taught two classes, one Italian class and one art class. There were only two other students in his art class excluding myself. I thought it was odd to only have three students in his class.

"It says here that you only have three students in this period," I return the role to him.

He looked a little crestfallen at the fact that he only has three students but after a moment his curl gets more bounce in it and he was rushing around the room gathering art supplies.

"With less students that means we get to do more stuff! We can do more projects and paint more!" He smiled and set up a table.

I grinned and took a seat at the table and waited for the other students to show up. Only one other person arrived, it was a small boy with soft brown hair and large, thick glasses. He stared at both Italy and I and looked very shy.

"Is this art class?"

"Yes it is~ Take a seat and we can begin with our first project~" Mr. Vargas smiled.

The boy took a seat at the furthest end of the table. He didn't make eye contact with me or Italy.

"What's your name?" I try to start up a conversation with him.

"I'm Shawn," He whispered.

"Hi, Shawn, I'm Sam," I held out my hand to him. He hesitated before he gave my hand a gentle shake.

"I'm Mr. Vargas," Italy spoke up and handed Shawn a paint brush," We're going to do a free paint today. Paint whatever you feel~"

I picked up a brush and began to paint the scene of the fountain that I had seen earlier at lunch. I added a few of my own touches like Teddy, Alfred, Mom and Dad at the fountain. I even added England reading in the shade. While I painted Italy worked on his own painting merrily chatting about the school and his classes Shawn even seemed to relax while the young man talked. I glanced over at Shawn's painting and saw that he was painting an airplane.

"Do you like airplanes?"I asked him.

He looked almost afraid to answer," Yeah, I've always wanted to be a pilot. But dad and mom thought I should go here instead."

"Well if this doesn't work out for you I'm sure you could become a pilot So what made you want to be a pilot?" I said, hoping to get him talking more.

Shawn gave me a small nod and didn't answer my question. I shrugged and continued with my painting.

"That's a nice picture, Sam," Italy glanced over at my painting," Is that the fountain in the garden?"

"Yes, it's very pretty isn't it?"

"Vee~" Italy responded and kept painting.

Time passed to quickly and we had to leave. Italy helped us clean up the mess and waved good bye as Shawn and I left.

I run up to my room and ditch my school stuff and walk around the campus a bit. I don't really do it to learn the layout but more to enjoy how everything looks. Despite the fences that made me feel trapped in the place was gorgeous. I enjoyed walking around in the evening air and was disappointed when the bell rang announcing that it was time for supper.

At the table I ate pasta and listened to Ami talk about her day. Every once in a while Leroy would tease her about something but everyone was in a good mood and it didn't even bother Ami. I thought about how in three days that we all could form a bond like this. It was amazing what humans could do. I glanced up at the teachers and usually they would be bickering but they too seem to be getting along. I wondered if it was just a front for the students to see or if they were actually getting along. Well whichever one it was it sure made my life easier. How long would all of this last? This friendliness, this feeling of being content how long would it last. Don't get me wrong I loved it when everyone got along I just knew better, this couldn't last forever. I guess that's why Teddy and I were here for.

After the teachers finished their meal they got up and walked around talking to students. I watched them for a while just out of curiosity. France was talking to a table of girls, England talked to some nerdy looking kids, and America was talking to some kids nearby. I kept waiting for him to come over and ask me about my day but he never did. He walked to just about all the other tables but didn't stop at mine. Soon we were dismissed from the café and I still hadn't heard a word from Alfred. I was a bit shocked and actually very hurt by that. I understood that he wasn't supposed to be all friendly with me but this felt like he was avoiding me. As I walked out of the building I saw him talking with two girls and it was all I could do not to stop and yell at him.

Outside Teddy quickly grabbed me and pulled me to the side, away from all the other students.

"What are you so pissed about?" He felt annoyed.

"What's with the annoyance?" I snapped back.

"Maybe it's because I was enjoying myself when suddenly I get the overwhelming urge to go and pout in a corner!"

"Well sorry it's not like I asked for you to feel it, now did I?"

"Oh shut up! What the hell is your problem? The sooner we get it figured out the sooner I can go back to flirting with Roze."

"It's nothing!" I turned to walk away.

Teddy stepped in front of me," Can't lie to me sis."

"I'm jealous alright! I'm behaving like a five year old!"

"I got that much. But why? I want to know why."

Heat rose to my cheeks and suddenly I was beyond embarrassed.

"Well?" Teddy prompted.

"I was jealous because Alfred didn't talk to me tonight. He talked with everyone else today and not us."

Teddy sighed," I noticed that but it's not like he's avoiding or abandoning us like you think. Remember the last few days? He's been hanging out with us as much as he can at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In fact he talked to you this morning. Actually I overheard England and him talking this morning and Alfred's getting in a lot of trouble for paying extra attention to us, to you. So give him a break okay. I'm sure the last thing he would want is for you getting all pissed over something that he has not control over."

I hated it when my brother was right but that didn't stop me from taking his advice. I would have to give Alfred some space. He wasn't just mine anymore, I was going to have to share him with everyone else.

Teddy felt that I wasn't going to put up a fight and leaned in and gave me a hug. I rested my chin on his shoulder for a moment and pulled away from him.

"Night," Teddy said.

"Good night," I murmured as I walked back to my dorm.

When I was almost there I heard my name being called. I turned to see Mr. Jones waving at me.

"Good night, Sam," He smiled.

"Good night, Mr. Jones,"I gave him a small wave back.