A few days after Matthew's home, then he was cleared to go to school.
Matthew had successfully avoided Alfred for days by staying in his room, reading and re-reading his journal. From what he had read, Alfred and a few other kids actually noticed him. Most everyone else ignored him, or mistook him for Alfred.
Just another reason Matthew questioned his sanity when he agreed to go out with the noisy American.
Matthew had slowly started remembering Francis, now comfortable with calling him 'Papa' again. He was still having trouble remembering much about Arthur and Alfred, and no one else had been allowed to see him in that time.
By the first day he was allowed back to school, he knew four kids might say hi to him. Alfred drove him, and stayed by his side as they entered school grounds.
In the halls, three kids walked up to Matthew, all smiling.
"It's good to see you back here, Matvy!" Matthew heard a voice said, thick with a Russian accent.
"Uhm….hi. Ivan, right?" Matthew mumbled, guessing.
The tall man nodded.
"Da," Ivan said, nodding.
Alfred got even closer to Matt, if that was possible, and glared at Ivan as another person spoke up.
"We heard you couldn't remember much. Is it any better?" a dark-skinned person asked.
"Uh…kinda. I can't remember…too much," Matthew said, looking down.
"It's alright," the man said, chuckling. "I'm Carlos."
Matthew smiled and nodded at him.
"Well, it's good to know you're at least starting to remember stuff, Birdie," a loud albino added, chuckling.
"Yeah…uh-"
"Gilbert," the loud mouth added, chuckling.
"Well, we should probably get going," Alfred said, wrapping an arm around Matthew as he walked away.
Matthew sighed, pulling away from him as they walked to their first class period, which they shared.
Looking around the halls were littered with glittery signs and posters, reminding everyone of a 'summer dance'.
Kids all around were talking about it, girls in short skirts and low tops were giggling to boys in muscle shirts. All the girls were batting their eyes, flirting. Trying to get a date. A few happy looking couples were walking, glues to each other's sides.
'Today's going to be a long day," Matthew thought, Alfred still at his side.
.:~:.
At lunch, Alfred pulled Matthew along, glued to his side, like he had been all day.
After getting lunch, Alfred sat them at a full table.
There was an energetic brunette, sitting between a serious looking blond with slicked back hair and a angry looking kid, also brunette, but also looking like he had a bit of red in his hair.
"This is Lovino and Feliciano Vargas, and Ludwig," Alfred said, pointing at each respectively.
The blond looked up at him for only a moment, nodding in greeting.
The one with red-brown hair, Lovino, didn't even look up, arguing with an older looking brunette next to him.
Feliciano smiled at him, before going back to pester Ludwig.
After a few nameless faces walked by, the loud mouth albino, Gilbert, walked up to their table, taking a seat next to Ludwig.
"What're ya doing, West?" he questioned, looking over at him.
"Nothing, Gilbert," Ludwig replied in an irritated tone.
Gilbert only laughed though.
"West?" Matthew asked, looking at Gilbert questioningly.
"Unfortunately, Gilbert is my neighbor," Ludwig said, answering the question. "He's been calling me 'West' since I moved in that house in 4th grade."
Now that the blond had spoken more than two words, Matthew easily caught on to a slight German accent.
Lunch passed relatively quickly then, Lovino and the other –Antonio, Matthew found he was called- arguing, the occasional 'tomato bastard' thrown in rather loudly. Feliciano kept talking to Ludwig, turning and talking very shortly to his brother now and then. Matthew would generally ignore any efforts Alfred made at talking to him. Gilbert kept talking to Ludwig, mostly about politics and news. When History class was brought up though, the table exploded in conversation, every talking. Apparently, they were covering WWII.
Everything seemed to die down as the tall Russian from earlier, Ivan, walked up to the table, very nearly avoiding sitting on Matthew on the long bench.
As conversation started up again, and Ivan and Alfred had a long glaring battle, the bell finally rang.
Alfred walked flush next to Matthew as they put away their trays and started to next class.
On their way there, a girl in a skimpy outfit walked up to them, giving them a cheerleader smile.
"So, will you two be attending the Summer Dance?" she asked Matthew and Alfred in a fake-cheery voice.
"No," Matthew said bluntly, his soft voice actually sounding unnaturally loud.
He ignored the passing students who had stopped to stare, just looking at the girl in front of him.
"Oh. I just…though, since you two are dating and all," the girl replied, the smile of hers slipping for only a moment.
Alfred looked over at Matthew, flustered.
"I know we were," Matthew said, ignoring Alfred's panic looked and putting extra emphasis on the 'were'. "I just don't know what was going through my mind when I agreed to that."
With that, he walked off, a hallway of students looking at him, Alfred not bothering to follow.
'What…what just happened?" Alfred though, shocked.