Time: 05:02 PM

Place: My house.

"Bruder," Ludwig said that night. "What are you doing?"

I glanced away from the mirror. "Dude, this is facepaint. Isn't it awesome?"

Ludwig sighed. "At this point I really don't care."

School that day had pretty much been a joyride. We did nothing at all in class, except chill and listen to our iPods and text, and then at the end of the day, we were all ushered out into the stadium area to buy food from the random booths that clubs had set up and watched the parades. I loved how they made such a big deal out of some random shit.

Ludwig didn't have soccer that day, so he'd gotten home rather early to see me with my face streaked with green and white paint. I was also wearing a T-shirt that said 'Atlas Eagles' in blocky letters across the front.

Ludwig, on the other hand, was just wearing a boring green jacket.

"You never have any fun, bro," I complained, drawing another streak on my face.

"No, I just don't want myself to look like an idiot."

"This isn't idiotic! This is awesome!"

Ludwig rubbed his forehead. "Whatever. Antonio is picking us up in ten minutes, so be ready to leave by then."

"Ten minutes? More like fifteen. He probably forgot and left late or something."

And sure enough, fifteen minutes later, Antonio's SUV pulled up in front of our house. He must've had some fun yesterday, since it was all decked out and spray painted with green and white, our school colors.

"I see you pimped your ride, Tony," I remarked as I crawled over Arthur to get to my seat.

"Thanks, Gilbo," he chirped.

"Ugh, your butt's in my face," Arthur said.

"Sorry man," I said, grinning evilly. "But I know you liked it, right? Cuz let's face it, my ass is awesome."

"Git," he muttered.

Francis (who was sitting shotgun) and I burst out laughing. Arthur gave us a funny look. "What?" he demanded.

"British expressions," Francis chortled.

"Queen's English," I snorted.

"You both are gits, the lot of you!" he yelled, which only made us laugh even harder.

"Um, where do I sit?" asked Luddy hesitantly, still standing on the curb.

"Veh! Ludwig, I saved a seat in the back for you!" Feliciano leaned forward and waved.

"Not the potato bastard, dammit!" grumbled another voice from the back, and I mentally groaned. Oh, God, no. Not Lovino.

Lovino Vargas was probably one of the most annoying kids to walk the face of the earth. I mean, sure, he was definitely a cute kid, with slightly chubby cheeks and round hazel eyes (cuteness must run in the family) but for the love of God, couldn't he just do the world a favor and shut up for a little bit? We all knew he had an extensive vocab of swear words, there was no need for him to flaunt it every single fucking day! The boy could turn Mother Theresa into an axe murderer!

After Ludwig climbed into the back, Antonio started driving towards the school.

"You guys didn't drink at all today, right?" I asked them when we pulled up to the parking lot. We could already hear the music and smell the food.

"Nope!" chirped Antonio. "I am totally and completely sober!"

"Good." I glanced sideways at Arthur. "And no alcohol for you."

"Why not?" he asked me.

"Because you're a horrible drunk!" Francis snickered.

"I am not!"

"Yeah," I snorted. "And your scones are the best things I've ever tasted."

"Shut up! Those things are a staple in England!"

"I hate English food!" Feliciano wailed from the back.

"They better fucking have pizza there, or I'm not eating shit," muttered Lovino.

Somehow everything always turned into a food argument.

Tony hit the brakes. "Well, we're here," he said into the rearview mirror. "Everyone have their cash?"

xx

Time: 5:42 PM

Place: AHS Stadium parking lot

Every year, before the Homcoming game, Atlas High School always has a huge tailgate party. Over the years, they've dubbed it the Hot Dog Dance. Yes, you can get hot dogs there, but they also serve cheese pizza for vegetarians. And you can get popcorn, too, for some reason. There's always a band playing (albeit this year a relatively crappy one—no band at AHS would ever be as awesome as us) and random games to play.

But in reality? It's essentially a huge water fight.

That's why, even though we'd only been there for twenty minutes, me, Francis, and Antonio were all dripping wet and soaked to the bone.

"Yeah!" I yelled at them, lobbing another water balloon at Sadik. "Bring it on, ya dick!"

Francis and Antonio were behind me, laughing hysterically.

"Dude," I said, once I'd gotten hit in the face with another water balloon. "Where's Arthur? I wanna make fun of this band with him, and nobody snarks like that Brit."

They blinked. "Where is Arthur?" Francis echoed thoughtfully.

We glanced around until we saw a certain blond Brit chatting up a certain blond cousin of Francis's.

Francis was the first to start laughing. "Mon Dieu, he's hitting on Bella!"

It was true. He was totally hitting on her. It was hilarious. We were all laughing within a matter of seconds. "Okay, guys," I told them. "We have to mess it up somehow."

"Yes! Cockblocking!" Antonio pumped a fist. (And quite frankly, I was surprised he knew what that meant.)

"But what to do?" Francis mused.

"I have an idea," I said, and motioned for them to huddle.

xx

Time: 5:51 PM

"Four older siblings," said Bella, eyes wide open. "Wow, that really sucks."

"Yes, quite. Especially since I have to deal with Ian every day." Arthur's eyes flicked over to his brother, who was grinding with a bunch of girls. Not awkward at all.

"Oh, hon hon hon," Francis chuckled in my ear. "Playing the sympathy card. Yes, I've played that many times myself."

"On who? I'm not sure anyone would think that you would have an innocent face," I snarked back.

"Shhh!" said Antonio. "I can't hear them."

"You don't need to," I said. "Arthur's in the middle of a long-winded rant about his life. I think it's time to execute the plan."

"I wanna do it!" said Tony.

"No way! I'm the one who thought of it! You guys just enjoy the show."

"Oh, believe me." Francis held up his phone. "I will."

Creeper.

"—Then he gave me the bloody thing for Christmas and Mum got so mad at him—" Arthur was still ranting when I casually walked up behind him. Then, ever so subtly, I knocked his elbow from behind with mine, causing the drink in his hand to spill. Right onto Bella's shirt. On her chest.

It couldn't have turned out any better.

"Aw, shit!" he explaimed. "Here, let me clean that—" He dabbed a random handkerchief (Can you believe it? He really wants to be a gentleman) at her chest, but she slapped his hand away.

"I'll handle it myself, thanks," she snapped, and walked away.

He looked a little hurt, until he caught sight of us laughing maniacally from the sidelines.

Oh, man. Ruining Arthur's life was great.

xx

Time: 8:02 PM

Place: AHS Stadium

"TOUCHDOWN FOR THE EAGLES!" Antonio screamed, and everyone in the stands went crazy as Alfred, in his green-and-white jersey, hurtled towards the end zone.

"YEAHHHH! GO AL!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

He reached the last strip of grass, threw the football down, and did cartwheels all along the zone.

Needless to say, the crowd went wild.

All of us were sitting in a small section of bleachers, cheering Alfred on. He was running back on the football team and he'd just gotten switched on, so it was pretty major.

And of course, it was Homecoming. So we sort of had to go.

The cheers died down slightly, and my eyes randomly caught sight of a familiar brunette.

A very familiar brunette.

Lizzie. Along with a bunch of her friends, like Mei and Bella. And Lucy.

What? She wasn't with Roderich? That was odd. They definitely went together last year. And I wondered why Roddy didn't come at all. I mean, I would have thought, since it was homecoming that he would go.

Luddy was sitting in front of me, so I leaned forward to talk to him.

"Hey, Luddy," I yelled in his ear so he could hear me over all the noise.

"What?"

"Where's Roddy?"

"Roderich? He's at home. He didn't want to go."

"What?" I was seriously confused now. "He didn't even go with Lizzie?"

"No. They broke up."

Wait, what? I must've misheard him. He didn't say that. He definitely didn't say that. They would never break up. That was just… weird. No, it was the noise of the crowd.

"What?" I yelled again. "What'd you say?"

"They broke up!" he yelled back.

"Who, Roderich and Elizaveta?" Francis tuned in to our conversation. "Yes. They're finished. Lizzie finally ended it, and Roddy's probably playing some funeral marches on his piano now."

The world suddenly seemed a little bit brighter. But there was no way I could go out with Lizzie now. It wouldn't feel right.

Feliciano turned and smiled at me. "Vehh!" he said brightly. "Don't worry Gilbo. It'll be all right."

Francis nudged me and winked, and Antonio patted my back encouragingly.

Did everyone know about this already? Shit.

"Mon ami. Go for it," Francis whispered in my ear.

I glanced at Lizzie again, sitting a couple rows ahead of us.

She was so beautiful.

xx

Time: 11:02 PM

Place: My house. [That's right. Again.]

So there I was. In my house. With my phone.

No fucking idea what to do.

So, fine. Lizzie had broken up with Roderich.

Nope. My mind was about to explode. The fact was just too much to process. Yes, I had liked her for a long time now, and yes, she had gone out with him during the said time that I liked her, and yes, I'd pretty much gotten used to that. It wasn't like I'd given up or anything, it's just… I would feel bad if I'd broken them up. Especially if it was me.

I mean, yeah. Even if it was Roddy. He was my cousin, after all. I'd still feel bad for him.

It was still a lot to process. They were always together. Always.

"I feel like we're growing apart."

I didn't know where that came from, but it echoed in my head randomly, and the memory of us lying on the grass, gazing up at the stars. It suddenly struck me how romantic that was, what we were doing yesterday. Whose idea was that? Oh, right. Hers.

She couldn't possibly like me like that. We were best friends. That was it.

I glanced at my phone. Only one way to find out.

I picked it up and texted her.

Gilbert: hey, i heard abt Roddy. R u ok?

Her reply was quick.

Elizaveta: I'm fine, thx :)

Nothing definitive, then.

I sat down on my bed.

Now, I don't know whether it was the whiskey that we all had at Arthur's house after the game, or whether it was the memory of her kissing me that one Saturday night, but I took my phone and typed another message.

Gilbert: U going w n e one to homecoming?

Elizaveta: haha yeah. bella's my date, lol

So she was going with her friends.

Elizaveta: Didnt antonio tell u? evryones going together :)

Seriously? A group date? I didn't have much to say to that. I did kind of want to go with her, but... hm. I guess Roderich wouldn't go to Homecoming if he didn't go with Lizzie. It wasn't like I was jealous or anything. It was just…

Gott. I didn't even know anymore.


Author's Note ~

Haha sorry for that disappointment of a chapter... I am determined to torture Gilbo romantically as long as possible. Bwahahahahahahahaha. One chapter left to write for the main storyline, although I was thinking about maybe writing an omake/bonus chapter. So if you want one REVIEW AND TELL ME OKAY? :D

*The Hot Dog Dance is totally a Homecoming tradition at my school. Although I'm not quite sure they actually have a water-balloon fight then. ^_^;