As expected, Guatemala attended her Musical Arts "class" every other day. It was sort of irritating listening to Norway teach, with that (beautiful) monotone voice of his, yet there was no denying that he was rather talented at what he was doing. In fact, Guatemala even suggested that he should be a fulltime teacher after he graduated; the comment caused a light blush to sweep across his cheeks.
Lessons went by rather quickly, with Norway's gift of getting points across and the amateur level of the topic (plus Guatemala could already identify most of the musical notes he was introducing her to); as a result, the two often found themselves with quite some free time at the end of the period. Sometimes they would get work for the next day done, but other times Guatemala would awkwardly or indirectly spark a conversation. As their encounters increased, Norway opened up bit by bit to the point that they were no longer just teacher and student: they were companions.
However, as that relationship built up, an even more significant one crashed to the ground.
"Hey, Hawaii… Do you… happen to know a Romano?" Guatemala inquired one day at breakfast. It was the first time in days- maybe weeks- that Hawaii wasn't sitting with her boyfriend; Switzerland apparently had morning detention with Mr. Austria, so Hawaii sat with her friends for once.
Hawaii gulped down her tropical smoothie, suddenly perking up. "Romano? Why d'you ask?"
Good question. Guatemala had plenty of opportunities to ask about the ill-tempered Italian, yet he'd never come up in conversation. Now, though, as the group of friends sat eating their food in an abnormal silence, Guatemala's thoughts trailed to her first encounter with Romano as they often did when she was spacing out. "Well, I ran into him a while back, and my papa has always wanted me to date him…" she explained hesitantly, glancing down at her breakfast. "I think he used to babysit him," she added.
To the alarm of everyone nearby, Hawaii burst into sudden, brief laughter. "He used to babysit Roma? That's just too cute!" Shaking her head amusedly, Hawaii reduced the volume of her chuckles. "Yeah, yeah, I know Romano. He's Italy's twin brother and polar opposite."
Spoonful of ice cream hanging in his mouth, Cuba made a sound that was like a combination of a grunt and a hum. "You turned him down, right?"
"Technically, no, because I don't think Romano has any clue of Papa's little plan. He didn't ask me out or anything."
Cuba set down his spoon on his tray, glancing over at Guatemala. "But I mean, did you listen to your old man's suggestion?" Guatemala raised an eyebrow skeptically with a partial tilt to her head. Wasn't the answer obvious?
"Of course I didn't."
"Good," Cuba said perhaps a little too quickly. The slightest of slight blushes swept across his cheeks; the only person who noticed at all was Jamaica, and she smirked down at the table upon the observation. "I hear he's a real douche. You shouldn't date a jackass like that."
Maybe there was something slipped into her smoothie. Maybe she was still loopy with happiness about her new boyfriend. Or maybe she was just an airheaded Hawaiian with her mind floating up in a palm tree somewhere. No matter the reason, what Hawaii said next could quite possibly be held against her by Guatemala for the rest of her life (keep in mind that nations do not ever die). "Too late, she's already dating a jackass!" she practically sang.
Guatemala snapped her gaze around to stare in alarm at the girl sitting beside her, cocoa-colored eyes widened to the extreme and body stiffened to the point that her heart may have stopped beating. Even Jamaica gave Hawaii a look that clearly said "You should NOT have gone there, mon." Oblivious as ever, Hawaii just kept on smiling until their gazes finally penetrated her and her grin faltered. "…What?"
Now, Hawaii never got along with Cuba. She was used to seeing him scowl, because that was actually the only expression she could ever picture him having. Nonetheless, the fiery murder with the slightest dash of confusion blazing in his face was enough to catch her off guard and maybe even frighten her a bit. "Guatemala… What is she talking about…?" the Cuban asked in a slow, dangerous, I-dare-you-to-prove-me-wrong type of tone.
"I… Well, see… I kind of have a boyfriend…" Guatemala muttered quickly, fiddling with the hem of her skirt and staring nervously down at her hands. It wasn't that she was scared… She had just hoped that this conversation would never occur.
"Who is he," Cuba practically growled.
A tense silence that seemed to drown out the surrounding din of the cafeteria occurred. It would be best, Guatemala decided, to get it over with nice and quick, like ripping off a band-aid. She took a deep breath and spluttered amidst a forced cough: "America."
If Cuba was mad before, now he was steaming viciously with absolute rage. He seemed to be holding back a bit, though, like a tightly-coiled spring ready to pounce at any moment. His fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles were turning pale. "That bastard?!"
"Don't yell," Guatemala muttered, glancing around at all the people nearby that paused their conversations or meals to stare in their direction.
"How long?" Cuba spat, ignoring her.
"…Since my second day of school, about…" Guatemala prayed for a fire, or the announcement of a nuclear war, or a spontaneous food fight; anything to prevent this discussion from going down.
"I thought I told you to stay away from him!"
"You're not my father," Guatemala snapped, furrowing her eyebrows together in a frown.
"I never said I was. But I thought I was at least your friend."
Okay, that stung quite a bit. "You are! My BEST friend!" Hawaii and Jamaica silently agreed that this was not the time to chime in with 'what about me?' "I just-"
"Look, Silvia." Forget stinging… The use of her human name absolutely burned. "I don't know, nor do I give a damn, about whatever you see in that blue-eyed moron. But fine, date whoever the hell you want. What's pissing me off is that you didn't trust me enough to tell me!"
"I do trust you!" Guatemala insisted, her voice unintentionally coming out as a plea.
"You couldn't even tell me who your boyfriendwas. I don't think you do." Almost shaking with anger at this point, Cuba pressed his palms against the table for support and stood up.
Guatemala desperately grabbed his wrist with both hands. She stared up at the back of his head, since he had turned to walk away, with a mixture of confusion, irritation, and a bit of weakness shimmering in her eyes. "I just… didn't want to upset you," she murmured. Cuba paused before glancing down at her for just a second and yanking his hand free.
"And how did that work out for you." He swung himself over the bench, grabbed a silent (as always) Canada perhaps too roughly by the shoulder, and dragged him off so they could sit alone at an empty table on the other side of the cafeteria.
Jamaica, Hawaii, and Guatemala sat there in shock, staring after Cuba with the occasional glance at each other. Guatemala slowly lowered herself back onto the bench, not even aware that she had gotten to her feet when Cuba stormed off.
"Hey, man… What was that fat Hispanic's deal?" Guatemala jumped at the sudden intrusion of their quiet, spinning around to see her boyfriend standing there with one hand on his hip. Her immediate instinct was to snap at him for insulting Cuba; however, she realized with a pang of regret that he was apparently no longer her friend, so she could let America say whatever he wanted about him. So, instead of standing up for her now ex-friend, she just shook her head.
"It's nothing," she lied, distracting herself by pulling the tie in her hair closer to her head so as to tighten her ponytail. "…Hey, do you want to start sitting with us?" Guatemala suddenly offered. She felt as surprised as America, Hawaii, and Jamaica all looked. Where did that suggestion even come from? Maybe, in the back of her mind, she knew that the true reason she never particularly wanted America to share a table with her was because Cuba would be completely opposing. So now that he was gone, it would be perfectly fine to sit with her boyfriend. Then again, maybe it was too soon to make such a rash decision…
But it was too late. America was sitting in the seat Cuba had just left, and starting up a conversation with Hawaii about a post he'd seen on Tumblr. Guatemala couldn't help but steal a glimpse in Cuba's direction; their eyes met for just a moment, and the unfamiliar bitter feelings that passed between them were enough to make Guatemala have to swallow back a lump in her throat.
~Author's Note~
Well, now I'm officially going to start putting these at the end of every chapter. :3
Anyway. I'm hoping this fan fiction doesn't turn into a Twilight-love-triangle type of story, but I admit it's kinda seeming like it will, with all the pairings I'm throwing in there. So, beloved readers, I must ask: who do you support Guatemala with the most thus far?
