Disclaimer: Do not own hetalia!
Note: Have fun with this chapter... ;)
As soon as the door bell rang, Maria got out of her seat and answered the door to find Alfred standing there, on time just like he promised, holding a large piece of poster paper and a bottle of glue. After taking the poster board, she showed him inside the house cordially, and laid the poster on the table next to the computer.
"Alright, let's do this," Alfred said, putting enthusiasm into his voice. For some reason, he felt as if he had to prove to Maria that he could be an awesome partner as well, since he was sure she assumed he was a freeloader.
"I think we should divide the poster into four different sections," Maria suggested helpfully, "Causes of World War II, major battles, how it ended, and lasting effects."
"Sounds good," Alfred nodded, knowing he probably couldn't have come up with better categories himself. Maria brought out her laptop and began to research the details of the war while Alfred took notes from websites he looked up on his iPhone. After forty-five of this, Alfred, was having a hard time keeping his attention span together, and Maria noticed his fidgeting. Honestly, she was just glad he had been quiet and focused for more than ten minutes in a row.
"How about we take a break," she offered, smiling to herself. She could tell Alfred was trying extremely hard to keep his act together, and knew that he could hold out for only so long before his boredom took over.
"Yes, thank you!" Alfred burst out in relief, unable to help himself. He relaxed his shoulders and sat back on the cushiony sofa.
"Thirsty?" Maria asked, "Because I am. I'm going to get a glass of juice, you want anything? We have soda cans."
"Cool, soda please," he grinned, maintaining polite attitude and trying to mimic Kiku's personality. Maria nodded and disappeared into the pantry. Meanwhile, Alfred's phone buzzed in his pocket, and when he pulled it out, there was a text message from his brother.
"Al! Katyusha's totally crying in the bathroom right now and I don't know what to do!" it read.
"What? You don't treat your girlfriend right? Did you make her cry?" Alfred texted back. A second later, his phone vibrated again.
"No, it wasn't my fault. Ivan got called to the principal's office today and he told him that if he gets into another fight at school he'll be expelled." Matthew's message said.
"Oh. Why are you telling me this, again?" After a brief moment, Matthew's next text came in.
"Because I wanted your advice...but actually I think I'll ask Kiku or Arthur, so never mind. Even Francis might have better advice than you." When Alfred read the text he frowned and was about to send his brother an offended message back, but then Maria came back, holding the drinks in her hands. And Alfred, taking the opportunity of being a good guest, hopped off the couch enthusiastically.
"Here, let me help you!" he grinned, coming up to her.
"Okay-" Maria started to say, but then, to her utter embarrassment, she managed to trip over her own two feet. Letting out a high-pitched squeal as she fell, she crashed into Alfred, who attempted to catch her, but his legs buckled under the sudden impact of her weight. The next thing she knew, she was on top of him, staring into his blue eyes in surprise.
At first, he just blinked, but then a small smirk appeared on his lips. "Oh, hey there," he chuckled.
Blushing furiously, Maria quickly sat up and got off of him. When he sat up as well, she realized that his bomber jacket and T-shirt was drenched with the juice she had been carrying, and that the glass had shattered when it hit the floor. "Oh!" she exclaimed, mortified, "I am so sorry about that! Your shirt..."
"Don't worry about it," Alfred brushed off as he got to his feet.
"Here, give it to me and I'll put in the washing machine right now, to make sure the juice doesn't stain it," she told him, holding out her hand.
"Oh, alright, thanks!" he nodded good-naturedly. He removed his bomber jacket and handed it over. Maria was about to head upstairs to her laundry room, but then she realized that Alfred wasn't done yet. And she couldn't help but blush even harder when the jock peeled off his shirt and placed it in her arms as well. For a moment, Maria found that she couldn't help but stare at his...gorgeous six-pack...and his hot abs and muscular arms...
Alfred caught her staring, and winked coquettishly, "See something you like?"
She snapped out of her trance and giggled nervously before rushing up the stairs to avoid further mortification. After starting the spin cycle of the washing machine with his clothes inside, she came back down stairs taking a deep breath. He was still there, still shirtless, picking up his soda can from the floor. "Wait, don't open that-" Maria warned, but it was too late. He popped open the can, and the carbonated, fizzy soda shot up in his face like a geyser, soaking his hair. When the fizz died down, Alfred took off his glasses and rubbed his forehead, trying to dry his face.
And again, Maria couldn't help herself; she cracked up, bursting into laughter at the sight of him. Alfred laughed too, knowing how stupid he must have looked. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the door bell rang, and Maria was still giggling as she went to go answer the door.
But when she opened it, her smile faded in an instant. "Antonio?"
"Hey, Maria," he smiled sheepishly. The Spaniard didn't look so good; he was a bit pale and fidgety, probably from nervousness.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded bitterly, remembering that thong.
"I-I just wanted to talk things out! Please, just hear me out. I didn't cheat, I swear!" he tried.
"And you expect me to believe that?" Maria spat, angry. "I told you, it's over."
"But if we could still fix-" Antonio began helplessly, before Alfred popped up next to Maria.
"Who's here- Oh, hey Antonio," he greeted nicely.
Antonio's mouth fell open. He looked from Alfred, who had yet to put a shirt on, to Maria back to Alfred. And Maria, confused at his shock for a second, realized what he was thinking. "Oh, Antonio, it's not what it looks like," she said quickly.
"No, no," Antonio sputtered out, voice cracking, "I-I get it. You've moved on already, so it really is over." He turned to Alfred. "Congratulations," he said hoarsely, making Alfred raise his eyebrows since he couldn't read the atmosphere. Then Antonio glanced back at Maria, who didn't know what to say or how to explain what was actually going on. "Sorry for wasting your time," he added before rapidly turning on his heels and heading towards his car.
After he drove off, Alfred asked, "What was that all about?"
"I think he thought we were having a date..." Maria whispered.
"Why would he think that?"
Maria just looked at him. "You're shirtless and your hair is wet, like you were just sweating..."
Finally it clicked in his head. "Oh, right."
"Yeah," Maria could only nod. Honestly, she was still in the process of registering what just happened. Stupid coincidences...Antonio just had to drop by today of all days. "But then again," she pondered aloud, "Maybe it's a good thing he got the wrong idea. Now he won't bother trying to get back together with me and now he'll stop trying to feed me those dumb lies."
"You still think he cheated on you? That didn't look like the face of a liar," Alfred pointed out thoughtfully.
"He's already proven he's a good liar. There's no way I'm falling for another one of his acts so soon," Maria crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly. Alfred wanted to say more in Antonio's defense, but he could see that Maria wouldn't hear of it. "Anyway," she continued, "I'll go get you a shirt...maybe you'll fit into one of my dad's old T-shirts."
"Okay, cool, because I'm starting to get a little chilly," he chortled lightly.
Maria snuck in another glance at his too-good-to-be-true muscles. Seriously...how could he not be airbrushed or something? "I swear, with all of the food you eat, it's impossible for you to look so good," Maria admitted.
"They can call me a typical, fat American all they want," Alfred laughed, "But you and I know how true that is!"
"You must have a really good work out," Maria tilted her head to the side as she shut the door.
"Football," Alfred nodded. "Don't ever ask Francis what his work out is," he added, "You don't want to know."
Maria giggled as she made her way up the stairs again to retrieve him a T-shirt, "I'm sure I can guess ."
Kim was just finishing up her chemistry homework when her phone beeped next to her on the table. Putting down her pencil, she checked it to find a text message from Mei. "Hey Kim! Tao says he knows three people who have a thing for you." She ended her message with a tongue face.
Her curiosity peaked, Kim typed back, "Rly? Who?"
She didn't have to wait long for a reply. Her Taiwanese friend reported, "Tao won't tell me. :( He says he's sworn to secrecy, sorry."
"Can I at least have a hint or something?" Kim answered hopefully.
A few moments later, her phone beeped again, reading, "He says they're some of his closer friends."
Kim thought about this for a moment. Who did Tao hang out with most of the time? Besides Mei that is. Tao was really good friends with Yao, Jaidee, Yong Soo...could those be the three? Jaidee and Yong Soo did seem come up to her on Friday during the party. But she had no idea about Yao, though she did have casual conversations with her Chinese classmate every so often. To be honest, she wouldn't mind getting to know Yao better. He seemed to have a really dynamic personality, an intelligent mind, and a good taste in food. Of course, at this point, she was only guessing it was Yao that Tao was talking about.
Then again, wasn't there a time when Tao and Arthur were good friends too? She vaguely remembered the two walking around town together when they were in middle school, but she wasn't sure if they were still close, or rather, if Tao was close enough to Arthur to know who he was crushing on. She thought about how Arthur have given her a ride home earlier, and while it could have been just a sweet gesture, Kim had to admit to herself that she did enjoy it...almost too much.
But Kim shook her head, internally scolding herself. Wasn't it vain to assume someone liked you that way? Sighing, she changed the subject of her and Mei's conversation to move away from her boy troubles. In all honesty, Kim was a little jealous of Mei at this point; she and Tao were happily together, while Kim, Michelle, and Maria were having to work a little harder to find themselves the right guys.
Michelle had been watching videos on YouTube when her phone rang from inside her backpack. Stretching as she hopped off the chair, and quickly unzipped her front pocket to her backpack and pulled out her phone. "Incoming Call from Francis," it read. Michelle frowned. What was he calling her for already? Didn't he just get her number today in class, and didn't she already tell him that she was busy tonight?
Deciding it was rude to ignore the call when it could actually be important, she pressed the green button and put it to her ear. "Hello?"
"Hey, Michelle! I was just calling to let you know that I'm going to your house to return your notebook. You left it in history class earlier," he explained merrily.
Michelle almost dropped her phone out of alarm. "W-what? No, you don't have to do that!"
"Oh, it's no problem," Francis continued in that carefree voice of his. "I'm already on my way."
"W-what? How did you get my address?" Michelle stuttered.
"Your friend Mei gave it to me! She said you probably wouldn't mind," he told her.
"..." Michelle didn't respond, silently promising herself that she would kill Mei for this later.
"Well, I'm driving now, so I should probably go. See you in a minute, mon cher."
Damn. This was not good. Michelle had carefully avoided inviting anybody to her house for the past month, and she had been successful until now. What would Francis think when he saw her lawn? Then Michelle had an idea. Maybe she could stand in front of her neighbor's house and pretend that that was hers instead. Congratulating herself for being such a genius, she ran out the front door, only to find Francis's shiny blue two-door Cadillac pulling up to the sidewalk in front of her house. So he really had been only a minute away.
As her French classmate got out of his car, Michelle's hopeful expression was wiped away completely. However, to at least seem appreciative of his attempt to do something nice for her, she plastered a fake smile on her face as he handed her the notebook. Giving her a sideways glance, he asked, "Are you okay, mon cher?"
"Of-of course," Michelle answered, much too quickly.
"Your smile isn't real," Francis chuckled, "Your cheeks look really strained."
Michelle sighed, giving up. "Was I that obvious?"
"I'm just really good at reading body language," Francis winked playfully.
"I...just didn't want you to see my house," she finally admitted, shoulders slumping.
Francis took an instinctive look behind her. The house's faded paint job was beginning to chip, the windows were dusty, and the lawn was full of dead, yellow grass. "Ugly, isn't it?" Michelle frowned sadly, "You're the only one who's seen it in a while, besides my family and neighbors of course."
"Oh, um..." Francis didn't know what to say, without evidently lying to cheer her up.
"It's okay, I know how bad it looks. The bank...has foreclosed our house...I've been picking up extra shifts at work to try to make up for the debts, but obviously it wasn't enough."
"What happened?" Francis ventured tentatively.
"My parents got a divorce last year. My dad walked out on us, and going from a two paycheck family to a one paycheck family didn't really work out so well," Michelle explained weakly.
"I'm sorry," Francis said awkwardly, "If you ever need any cash, you can always ask me."
Now Michelle looked at him dubiously. "You would just lend me cash? No, I'm not going to ask for your money, no matter who you are. I may be a lot of things, but I'm not a beggar."
"Begging isn't the same as asking for help, mon cher," he said sincerely. "But it's your choice. Do your friends ever know?"
"...Not exactly," Michelle said, meaning they didn't know at all. "Anyway, I have to get ready for work soon, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then."
"Oh, alright," Francis nodded, a bit disappointed at her abrupt departure. "Until tomorrow, mon cher."
Michelle watched him drive away in that cool blue car, then finally turned away and went back inside, cursing her stupid, expensive house.
Since Kim had finished all her homework earlier than usual, she decided to go online and surf the Internet for a little bit. First, she logged on to Facebook to see if anyone had anything interesting to post. However, as soon as she signed on, there was a little pop-up message in the lower right hand corner, indicating an instant message from Alice, her chemistry partner. "So is it true? About Maria?" it read, with an open-mouthed smiley face.
Was what true? Kim, confused, typed back, "What about Maria?"
Two seconds later, Alice replied, "The rumor! I heard she had sex with Alfred earlier today, like after school!"
Kim's eyes widened as she read over the message twice in disbelief. "WHAT?" she typed in all caps.
"Yeah! Didn't you know? Isn't Maria your best friend?" Alice sent back.
"Yeah, she's my friend, and no, I didn't hear that at all," was Kim's next reply. "But I really don't think that's true! She wouldn't do that, trust me."
A moment later, Alice's next message read, "Well, you never know, Alfred can be irresistible sometimes."
That was it. Kim whipped out her phone and immediately sent an urgent text to her Filipina friend. After Kim sent the message to Maria, she went back to her computer and replied to Alice, "Where did you hear that from?"
"Lovino Vargas told me. But he heard it from Antonio. Of course, the story is hard to believe, since Antonio's probably just trying to get back at his ex girlfriend, but then again, why would he say that? Doesn't that just make him look bad?"
"It does...I don't know," Kim answered, puzzled, glancing at her phone, waiting for Maria's reply.
"But whatever's the case," Alice typed back, "Word's going around that Maria de la Cruz is a slut."
From the Author: I apologize for any errors I may have missed. Anyways, what did you guys think? Reactions? Opinions? I'd love to hear them! Any predictions even?
A special thanks to: Firihon and USUK FTW, ChocoKoko, animefan106, itgirl18, Guest, Louise0, NinjaRoll, and luvpeace4evez! Your reviews are very much appreciated!
Thanks again for reading! Please review! Until next chapter!
