A Year at the World Academy…
A/N: This chapter has been revised twice, and this is the final edit. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Chapter 10:
Well, after my very successful attempts at pairing some certain couples up, I took this opportunity to kick back and relax for a while. However, my peace and quiet was disrupted with a rather awkward situation during the Thanksgiving Day weekend…
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaappy Thanksgiving!," Alfred burst through the door in a pilgrim outfit with a giant, well-cooked bird in his arms.
"UGH…," I groaned and then finally managed to pick myself off of my bed and walked toward the commotion. I remember him rambling on about some American traditions at Thanksgiving, but I just couldn't give a damn, being cranky and sleepy and all. "Well…that's nice…," I nodded occasionally, but then nodded myself into spending that evening with him, finishing that giant freaking turkey. "Say WHAT now?," I finally snapped out of my half-awake, half-asleep mode.
"I bought this for the two of us to finally do something patriotic-NO, AMERICAN together!," Alfred proudly proclaimed.
"WHAT THE HELL AM I GOING TO DO WITH A FREAKING TURKEY?," I retorted.
"What?," I heard Sadiq, otherwise known as Turkey pop his head in through the door.
"Not YOU! Go bother Greece or something…," I snapped back, then turned to Alfred and said, "Fine, but I won't guarantee that I could finish the whole thing with you."
He was quite happy afterwards, though…
But the idea of Alfred and I having dinner together resulted in an explosion of gossip, even among my own friends! But honestly, my dear reader, you honestly don't think that I have a "thing" for the guy? Right? RIGHT?
…
O.K., as I've said before, nothing, absolutely nothing is going to happen between me, Alfred, or any other person at the World Academy. I'm sorry, but I'm just not that type of person that would want something so serious like that to worry about. What can I say? I'm single and I freaking LOVE it.
…
Seriously.
Now putting that commotion to rest, Christmas Break was around the corner as the month of December was coming to a close. Not much had really happened, other than the huge amounts of snow that the World Academy campus had received. Other than that, it was just your usual routine of study, homework, orchestra practice, and the occasional geometry tutoring sessions that Seychelles unfortunately got me into. Honestly, I didn't know that Feliciano was also struggling so much at math…I had to make Ludwig bring in some pasta for him to concentrate! Anyway, now that Christmas Break was approaching, practically everyone was leaving for their homelands, hoping for some slightly warmer climates. I didn't feel like purchasing a ticket to New York, especially during this time of year where JFK International is a freaking madhouse. Of course, with practically everyone leaving me here on campus, I received more hugs than an average person should get in one day. (*cough* Feliciano, Alfred, Elizaveta *cough*)
It was now the first day of break and I woke up to the familiar white blanket of snow that almost completely consumed the whole campus. Stepping out for a walk and a warm breakfast at the cafeteria, I put on a dark blue scarf around my neck, some black gloves that I swiped from my mom, some black snow boots, a hat (that looked quite similar to Sherlock Holmes', except without the ear flapper-thingies), and a long black coat that went down to my knees. Personally, I didn't prefer cold weather, so I made sure to bundle up as much as humanly possible.
Stepping out of the dorms, there wasn't a single soul that was outside, but yet again, who in the right mind would be out here in this weather other than my crazy self? Walking to the cafeteria, all I could hear was the loud, crunching snow beneath my boots. Quite an annoying sound, but I would hum to something if my face wasn't practically frozen.
Gasping for the warm air of the cafeteria, I shut the door behind me, hastily took off my snow gear at a table, and ran for the food. (A/N: Food, glorious food!~)
After almost a good half hour in the cafeteria, I was finally ready to step back into the snow. With my snow gear on, I ran outside to find that the snowing had stopped…for now.
"Yes!," I exclaimed quietly to myself as I skipped in the snow.
Looking at all of the pure, white, untouched snow, I couldn't help but give into the temptation to make a bunch of snow angels. I fell on my back into the thick snow, feeling like a little kid again. Honestly, was I that caught up in high school and all that good stuff to start thinking depressingly while making snow angels? Well, I didn't care for the short time that I was playing around in the snow until a taller figure loomed over me.
"Hello!"
"Eep!," I screamed as I jumped up. "Oh, hi Ivan!"
Ivan probably didn't mind the snow as much as everyone else, being so used to it and all. But, it was pretty creepy just sneaking up like that. I mean, I didn't even hear him…
"So…you didn't leave with your sisters?," I asked.
"No, I thought that I would spend the holidays here, for once…," he replied.
Immediately, I knew that this was to get away from Natalia for a while, since she really scared him. (Heck, she even scares me…)
"But wouldn't you get lonely? I mean, almost nobody stayed behind…"
"Well, you stayed, right?," he said.
Hm…he did have a point… But now, he was just creeping me out, I don't know, but it was probably that weird aura that was starting to surround him…
"Ivan, I'd like to stay, but, I have something to return in my dorm first. Maybe we could talk later?," I asked.
"Um, sure-"
"Well, O.K., later!," I trotted off to the dorms and up the stairs.
Closing the door behind me, I wondered if it was right to lie to him like that… I did have a library book to return today, but I was saving that for later, so maybe it wasn't completely lying? I felt guilty, so I went out again, acting like I was in a rush to get to the library in the main building. I finally realized that running out into the snow without looking was a bad idea when some jerk practically crashed into me.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!," my fists rose up in anger.
Turns out the jerk that I ran into was one of the guys that that guy Denmark was hanging out with, what's his name?... Oh yeah, Iceland…
"Whoops, I'm sorry…," I immediately apologized. I mean, the guy never did anything to me.
"It's fine.," Iceland replied, brushing off some snow.
Just as I was about to leave, he asked me, "Excuse me, Miss, but is this yours?"
Whoops, I almost forgot the freaking book! Although I was embarrassed, I still thanked him.
"Hm…," he started to scan the book's title.
"Yeah, I like reading, got a problem with that?," I retorted, clutching the book to my chest.
"No.," whoops, he took that literally.
"Sorry, I just get really edgy when people start talking about books. Most people would expect the only literature that I've ever read to be that crappy series known as "Twilight" (A/N: This is intentional "Twilight" bashing, sorry.), being an American teenage girl and all…," I said.
"It's fine.," Iceland said again as he left.
Well, it seems that Iceland's a nation of very few words, but I guess that's O.K., not everyone can be as talkative as Alfred or Feliciano.
I had finally made it to the school library in the main building. After dropping the book into the return slot, I decided to walk around campus before returning to my dorm. Hopefully Ivan won't be around this time. …What? He's a seemingly nice person and all, but he even creeps me out…
Outside, I was humming to some VOCALOID song… AGAIN, when I saw a small group of people coming my way. Shit, it was Denmark in addition to Iceland, Norway, Tino/Finland, and Berwald/Sweden and pretty much all of Nordic Europe again, ever since the sleepover thing, I've dodged them for the past month or so. REEEALLY embarrassing, if you ask me… I tried covering my mouth with my scarf and my eyes with my hat as I passed them by, hoping they won't recognize me. Holding my breath as I passed them, they, thankfully, didn't notice me and I thought I was in the clear…
"Hey!"
…but I spoke too soon.
"Hey! You!"
I started walking faster after I heard someone called out to me, acting like I didn't hear them.
"Wait up!"
Gotta walk faster, gotta walk faster-
"I said wait up, you!"
Screw it, I'm running! Panting through the snow, I didn't even look back to see who was following me, but I just didn't want to face any of those Nordic guys after the awkward sleepover affair. Luckily, I ran down a conveniently placed alley and made a sharp turn. Looking over my shoulder, it seems that I had lost him, whoever it was. Once again, it seemed like things had turned out for the best when I fell into a huge snow ditch… Whoops.
What felt like hours later, the last thing that I remembered was the snow almost completely consuming all visible daylight. Perhaps my fall caused some of the snow to cave into the hole as well. Trying to pry myself out, I had one hand outstretched, hoping that somebody might find me. Opening my eyes, I woke up in what looked like a dorm room…that wasn't mine…
"Hey, she's awake!," Tino's smiling face gleamed as I sat up.
I scanned the room and then realized that someone had taken my coat and other snow stuff off…
"What the-?," I threw off the covers of the bed I was on to reveal the dark blue turtleneck sweater and denim miniskirt I had on.
O.K., before you jump to conclusions, I only came across owning a miniskirt when I had to attend this "Decades Dance" that my school had last year. I went as someone from the 80s and basically came in looking like an Asian Madonna. Scary, no?
"Is there something wrong?," Tino asked me.
"Um, other than the fact that I'm in someone else's dorm room, everything's just fine…," I retorted.
"Su-san, I think she still has a headache from when we found her in the snow.," he called to Berwald, coming in from the other room.
"By the way, just curious, just who's dorm room am I in?," I asked the two of them. God, Tino just read my mind…this throbbing pain in the back of my head was killing me.
"Hey, I heard someone yelling, is that bitch finally awake?-"
"WHAT THE FUCK?"
God damn it.
God freaking damn it! It just had to be that freaking guy's dorm!
"What the bloody hell are you doing here?," I grabbed the covers to hide myself (mainly the miniskirt).
"Um, this is my room?," Denmark glared at me. "It was Norway's idea for you to crash here until you woke up."
"No one else wanted her, you idiot-," Norway interrupted.
"Yeah, sure.," Denmark retorted.
"You're just mad because you didn't call it first-"
"Excuse me, but where's my coat…and my other stuff?," I looked around.
"We sent Iceland to clean them, they were soaking wet from all of the melting snow when we found you.," Norway explained.
"Well, that's nice of you.," I thanked him. "Say, how did you guys know it was me?"
Honestly, I didn't expect them to recognize me after close to over a month and I was just curious.
"Oh, that's easy! We-," Tino tried to explain.
"Hell, anyone would recognize that pancake-flat ass of yours-," that jerk replied.
I gave Denmark the freaking greatest ancestors of death-glares, gathered my stuff, and left with whatever little of my dignity I had left… Until I finally made it back to my dorm room on the third floor, I slammed the door shut and just collapsed on my bed. God, why was this guy such a fucking idiot? HONESTLY, you'd think that they'd be selective in choosing students for this kind of school. The only class that Denmark would be acing would be Idiocy 101. My face felt like it was turning red as it was getting warm from my inner-ranting, so I did what I do when I usually meet an idiot: scream into my pillow.
Ah, that felt better. I then turned on my back and faced the ceiling, my chest still heaving from my muffled screaming. Usually when you get to scream or hurt something when you're mad usually cools you down, really, it does. Too bad I couldn't scream my head off at the actual person.
Damn it.
"Hey! You forgot these!"
Well, there's my chance! The idiot himself has saved me the trouble of finding him! I scrambled to the door, ready to scream loud enough for people in freaking Australia to hear when-
"Here. Norway made me do this, so don't think that I've gone soft on you or anything.," he said, almost practically shoving my coat and other stuff in my face.
"O.K. Tell Norway I said thank you.," I said, slamming the door in his face. (on purpose of course, why would I act in a dignified manner to the person that said I had a pancake-flat ass?)
"Wait! He also sent me to say something to you!," I heard Denmark say from behind the door.
Hmph, like I was going to open my door again to that jerk. Glancing at my stuff, I noticed that it was also neatly folded, with the hangers neatly placed on top of them. Hmm…probably Iceland or Norway or Tino or even Berwald did that. I'll have to send them a card or something later-
"I'm sorry."
I swore that I could've heard that jerk Denmark say he's sorry.
I leaned on my side of the door and slid to the floor, my knees almost to my chest. I let another awkward silence pass, testing whether if he still stayed. No response came. Typical, he came to apologize and then just ran off. Oh, well…
Picking myself off of the floor, I hung up my coat and other outer garments and then realized that I had forgotten to get some more ice for the frozen food I had in the refrigerator. (*cough* microwaveable pasta and meat *cough*) Slipping on my boots again, I headed out the door…
For the next few days, I was like freaking Santa Clause trying to get everyone I knew a gift. YES, that even included the Nordics and Ivan, I couldn't be rude and NOT get them something! I mean, we're all the only students left on campus, might as well make the best of it.
FIRST STOP…MACY*S.
Yep, you read the above statement correctly: MACY*S… Now, let me explain…did I mention that Seychelles was behind this whole Secret Santa thing in our grade? (or at least among everyone she knew) Guess what?... I got Iggy Eyebrow-face himself! Yeah, I know what you're thinking: 'AW, she's going to get him an adorable, thoughtful gift and-' …NO. If you thought that, you're DEAD WRONG!
Running down a flight of stairs, I finally came upon the giant display of purple unicorn PillowPets. Yes, PURPLE. UNICORN. PILLOWPETS. Getting Arthur one of those would be just perfect! (and hysterical) They were on sale, too. 9.99 plus tax. Roderich would commend me on my frugalness.
Next, I decided to go get the Baltics' (and Felicks') presents. Raivis seemed to enjoy this one book series that I caught him reading once and a while, so I got him the next one in the series. Before its actual release date, mind you. Just how did I do it? Well, let's just say it involved a bribe with an order of 20 McNuggets and a cashier named Bob and leave it at that… Toris' present would be next, and I got him some other book that he was talking about. Literature is among our common interests, so being a fellow bookworm, I knew what I had to do. Eduard was a huge techie, so at first, I didn't know what to get him. But then I saw some really hardcore book on international affairs and got that since it sounded smart…-ish. And boring- but don't tell him I said that.
Alfred, Matthew, and the rest excluding Ivan and the Nordics were pretty easy to get after that. However, I would have to freeze Alfred's BicMac in my freezer until her got back… -But that's beside the point. I hardly knew or ever talked to Ivan and the Nordics, so it was going to be hard looking for their presents. First up: Ivan.
Hm…how about vodka? No…illegal. A new pipe? No…I don't want to break my sink. …I got it! Sunflowers! Well, I heard that he likes them, but I wasn't about to run to the nearest gas station and get a 7.99 bouquet. No, I was going to make a whole bunch of them out of origami once I got back. It'll be perfect: flowers that never wilt or die. (and I save a good 7.99)
Now with that out of the way, I ran over to another store on the top floor near the food court. Since I really didn't know the Nordics that well, I decided to get them the next best thing (at least it was in my mind…) : CHOCOLATE! (A/N: To all of my friends reading this: DID SOMEBODY SAY…CHOCOLATE?) It was quite a hassle, though. When I asked the cashier for some Scandinavian brands, he looked at me like I had grown a pair of wings and some elephant ears. I had to explain to him where the general area of Scandinavia is, which is in Europe, and it took a while, actually. In the end, I asked him if he had anything Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, or Icelandic. After a good fifteen minutes, I walked out of the store with about five different boxes of stuff.
It was a few days when I ran into Ivan again while walking outside in the snow and I haven't seen nor heard of the Nordics.
"Hi!," Ivan came up from behind me from, like, out of nowhere. (God, I'm starting to talk like Feliks, aren't I?)
"Um, hey, what's up?," I nervously greeted him. "So how's your vacation?"
"It is very quiet around here, but it's nice to have someone here to talk to.," he continued.
"Hm, yeah, I guess…,"this conversation sounded like it was going nowhere.
"Say, before break, weren't you 'hanging out' with Alfred?," Ivan asked.
"I guess, once he figured out that I was American, he wouldn't stop bugging me: talking about freaking nothing but burgers…," I grumbled, remembering those first few days- no, weeks of him blabbing about trying to get me to see how many burgers he can fit in his mouth (you don't want to know…)
"Ah, his is quite a… nuisance… But, he's done this before…," he vaguely said.
"Done what?," I asked.
"I think it was around last year, or maybe before that, I can't remember. He started 'hanging out' with Vietnam while she was going through that war with her Northern half, then left her.," Ivan explained.
Nice…MORE historical flashbacks…lovely…-Hey, wait! A couple of years? If this is the Vietnam War, we're talking decades, man! Perhaps in the mindset of the nations, 10 years=1 to them…
"He started trying to get closer to my sister after she and the others left me a while back…now,…I don't know what they're doing…," Ivan continued.
Well, I could understand the guy trying to be friends with nearly every nation.
"Maybe it's best that you…'watch your back' from now on. America has certainly always been the troublemaker in world affairs, you should be able to understand.," he gave another one of his creepy smiles or grins.
"Yeah, it's not like that, we're friends. The only reason he hangs out with me is because I'm American. It's not like I'm going to freak out if he starts dating some other nation or something, but thanks for your concern.," I said to him in a stern tone and started to walk out of the campus gates.
I was a few blocks away from the place when I finally hit the closest supermarket, I was running low on food already, so might as well. Luckily, I saw no familiar faces. Then I won't have to stop and say 'hi' to some nobody from another homeroom! Walking down the aisles, I picked up a couple cans of microwaveable food and the basics: bread, cheese, and butter. Honestly, what trip to the grocery would be complete without those things sitting in the back of your fridge?
Once I had paid for everything, it was already getting late! I couldn't believe the days were already getting that short around here, I mean, I know it is winter and all, but it was still around 4:30 in the afternoon! Running through the piling snow, I made it back to the school campus to find a very unpleasant surprise…
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?," it was the jerk Denmark again, but this time, he dragged his poor friend Norway into this.
"Hey, it's you again!," the two of them were lounging around on my sofa while abusing my poor laptop.
"Just how did you get in here?," I asked.
"These locks are so bad, we just used a bobby pin.," Norway explained.
"OUT. NOW.," I pointed out the door.
"Hey, we were waiting this whole time to ask you if you'd like to spend tomorrow with us!," Denmark said.
"Yeah, spend Christmas Eve with a bunch of lunatics: that's nice.," I crossed my arms.
"Look, at least you'll get to dodge Ivan for a day.," Norway added.
"Well, now that you put it that way, I'm in!," my face lit up.
"Awww, so it's O.K. if Norway asks you out, but you treat me like crap!-"
"You: SHUT. UP.," I retorted.
This year's Christmas Eve at the World Academy couldn't be any better: lot of snow, no people, and peace and quiet filled the campus.
"Hey! Are you guys in there?," I knocked on Norway's door, seeing how we agreed to meet here.
"Hi!," Tino burst out of the door, followed by Berwald, Iceland, Norway, and the Idiot himself.
"So, where are we going?," I asked.
"Well, we're going ice skating!," Tino excitedly replied.
Crap. Ice skating? I knew for a fact that I can't ice skate, unless falling flat on your butt counts. Not wanting to be rude, I smiled and went along with Tino and the other Nordics. Obviously having prior knowledge of the Scandinavian climate, they were all pretty comfortable on the ice. After playing for the cruddy rental skates I got, I hesitantly started to lace them up, whereas Denmark was already out on the ice, doing turns and spins that I probably will never have the patience to do.
"Hey you slowpokes! Aren't you guys ready yet?," he casually called out to the rest of us.
"Um, just a minute!," my clumsy hands fiddled with the laces. "Ugh, not again…"
"Berwald, why don't you help her out?," Tino asked, obviously not realizing that I wasn't anxious to go ice skating.
"Sure.," he quickly replied, then came over, swatted away my fumbling hands, and tightly laced my skates.
I winced a bit from the skates' tight grip, fearing a cut in blood circulation to my legs. Berwald and Tino already left to hit the ice before I could ask him to loosen them. Reluctantly making my way to the rink, I clung onto the railing for dear life. Ugh, ice and I are simply not compatible. Add in the cold air, and I was in hell…well at least in a hell that was frozen over, if that makes any sense…
"Goddamn…," I mumbled to myself as my ass and the ice almost came in contact with each other again.
"Need help?"
My head nearly turned a full one hundred and eighty degrees to find the most unexpected of the Nordics to want to help me. "Hmph, not so cool now, out here on the ice.," Denmark chuckled.
"Ah, shut up.," I retorted. "I was doing just fine before you came along."
"Really? Then let go of the railing.," he said.
Damn. "Fine.," God, am I an idiot or what? The moment I let go of the railing, I had enough trouble standing up. After watching me struggle to stay standing, Denmark took both of my hands in his.
"Say, why don't I help you?"
"No shit, Sherlock.," really, now he gets the idea that I can't ice skate for my life?
"O.K., move your left leg forward first.," Denmark instructed, skating backwards (from his perspective) and dragging me along. "No, your left, but it's my right."
"Fine, fine, I got it.," I couldn't take my eyes off of my stumbling feet.
After a few minutes, I was surprised that I actually got it! "Congratulations, you can ice skate without falling on your ass!"
"Geez, what a subtle way to say it…," I sarcastically replied, rolling my eyes.
"If you're that confident, I'll let go.," Denmark let go of one of my hands, and I obviously panicked.
"No! No! I'm not ready yet!," I protested, almost losing balance, only to be drawn in again by his other arm. "God, you gave me a freakin' heart attack!" I was panting, it was so cold that I could see my breath.
"You're welcome.," he snickered.
"Hm?," Tino glanced at his wristwatch after the ice skating incident. "My, Berwald, would you look at the time!"
"Ah, aren't we going to be late for-"
"Yes! Well, sorry guys, but we kind of forgot that we have this…thing today….," Tino explained before running off with Berwald close behind him, "Bye!" (A/N: No, you dirty little fangirls, it isn't that.)
I sighed, Tino and Berwald were one of the SANE ones here too! Oh, well, at least I've still got-
"Hey, Norway, don't we have to-," Iceland started.
"Let me guess!," I interrupted. "You have a 'thing' to do today that you 'forgot' about, too?"
Norway nodded.
"Well, if it's really that urgent then you can go-"
And just like that, Norway and Iceland ran off to God-knows-where… So I was stuck with this guy…dammit.
"You know what? I'm going to go walk around the place, I'll see you later.," I started walking.
"Hm, would you mind if-"
"Knock yourself out, Romeo, I really don't care.," I retorted, continuing as if he wasn't there.
For a while, we walked in silence through the snow until I had a sudden craving for sugar. Looking at the various stores, I stepped into a Dunkin Donuts to get hyped up on fatty baked pastries. As I had expected, the jerk followed me in too.
"One Bavarian Cream and a bottle of water.," I said to the cashier.
Honestly, does ANYONE speak cashier? Some of them just REALLY talk too fast, so I just gave him a ten dollar bill to make him shut up and give me my change. I took a seat at a vacant table near the window with two chairs, then following all romantic-comedy clichés, the jerk sat right across from me. I decided to just stare out the window, enjoying my Bavarian Cream, when I caught sight of this randomly, conveniently placed park across the street. Once I was finished, I dashed out of the Dunkin Donuts and ran across the street with Denmark not too far behind me. He ran into some traffic because of the honking idiots in their cars while I ran and hid behind a nearby tree. Scooping some snow, I quickly made a snowball, and then sent it flying to his head. Giggling from behind the tree, he began to retaliate with some more snowballs. So it's war, eh? I then began to craft more snowballs as quick as I could.
Suddenly, I noticed that the rain of snowballs had ceased. Stepping out from behind the tree, I saw no sign of Denmark, either. Hm…
"Gotcha!," he came from behind me and tackled the both of us down into the soft snow.
"Hey! What the-!," I exclaimed in surprise as I was giggling uncontrollably.
Well, call me crazy, but I for a moment there, I really didn't mind as the nosy people passing by eyed the two of us rolling around in the snow.
Small clumps of snow piled up on some stray strands of my hair as we snuck back on campus. It was about 8:30 P.M. when I finally made it back to my dorm and we said our good-byes. I sighed as I shut the door behind me, perhaps this guy wasn't as big a jerk as I thought. Well, it's getting late…but yet again, tomorrow is Christmas, and no presents and whatnot would be waiting for me this year…
The next morning, I groggily slipped out of bed to tie up my hair and put on my glasses. Breakfast was silent, eaten alone, as usual. Afterwards, it was about a half an hour after noon when I stepped out again for a walk. Today wasn't going to be such a 'Merry Christmas,' without my friends and family and all. (O.K., I may have the Nordics and Ivan, though.) As expected, the streets were deserted, with the exception of the occasional car slowly driving through the snow-covered road. Having nowhere else to go, I walked over to that park from yesterday, hoping that some other loser would be sitting there to share in my solitude…
And behold, there was one of the most exhausted romantic clichés: the jerk gone good that I've only known for a few days miraculously shows up on a freaking park bench, we're alone…you people are probably expecting from scandalous affair, aren't you? Well, not today, not ever! It may be the holidays, but that doesn't give me a reason to sympathize with anyone.
"Hey.," I waved to him, walking toward the bench.
"Hey, well, I thought that you'd probably turn up here, eventually.," Denmark replied, moving over as I sat down.
"Well…where's Norway?," I asked, surprised that his best friend wasn't here.
"He and Iceland are spending some time together for all that brotherly stuff…," Denmark explained.
"Oh…," I replied. Wait, I didn't know that they're brothers… "I'm going to go walk around, how about you?"
"Seeing how I've got nothing else to do-"
"The more the merrier…"
So here I am, walking in the middle of the snow with him…I'm looking around for any signs of more possible clichés… It was almost minutes later when the snowfall started to speed up, piling up almost an inch now.
"Crap, we should make a run for it, no?," he asked.
"Nah, I can take a little snow…," I replied.
However, I would regret that statement in just a matter of five measly minutes. In addition to the snow, a howling wind almost literally blew me away if it weren't for the 5-6' guy that was with me.
"O.K., you know what? Going inside isn't so bad…," I spoke up, looking around for an open store or something, "We can go in there!" It was that same Dunkin' Donuts, déjà frickin' vu.
The cashier was busily texting when we came in. "OMG, look at all that snow!," she exclaimed, then called her coworker to go outside and start shoveling…the poor guy. Denmark and I sat near the window again, I could tell he was smirking or something at how ironic the situation was.
"So…well, as weird as the past week has been, I think that it's best that we-," I started.
"It wasn't that weird-," he replied.
"O.K., whatever, it's just that…," I continued. "Listen up: I don't want trouble and neither do you, I want to make sure that news of this doesn't get out to anyone. Not to Elizaveta, not Toris, not Alfred-"
"What? I thought you said you didn't like the guy."
"Either way, he's going to FREAK OUT-"
"Who cares?"
DAMN did this guy have a good point for everything.
"But whatever, my lips are sealed. You just look so funny when you're mad.," he said.
"Oh, shut up.," I retorted, but continued the conversation over some stupid stuff: school and whatnot. Surprisingly, it went quite well…I was cracking up from time to time… (with the cashier constantly telling me, "Miss, please quiet down.") Perhaps I had finally found one common thread between us… It felt awkward to me, but whatever, at least this would help keep me from wanting to strangle him every waking moment.
"Say, look outside. Looks like the snow stopped for now."
Well, Denmark was sort-of right, the snow didn't completely stop. It only slowed down and there was still inches upon inches of snow piled up outside. Outside looked like a scene out of some Christmas click flick or calendar, so I couldn't help myself but run on outside again.
"What the hell, Jack?-"
And here we go again… My boots crunched loudly on top of the snow as I ran out of the Dunkin' Donuts like an idiot and into the middle of the road.
"Hey! Jacqueline watch out!," I heard him call out, while I blindly ran in circles, not noticing the approaching SUV.
CRAP!, I thought. That split second in front of that car was probably the 5th time that I've come SOOO close to dying. If it wasn't for that jerk, who pushed me out of the way, I would've made the front page of The Hetalian: DUMB STUDENT DIES IN CAR CRASH, AND in the obituaries of The New York Times. We tumbled out of the way just in time and landed on top of each other in the snow.
"What the HELL was that?," he exclaimed. "You could've been killed back there!"
I didn't respond for a second and then responded, "DAMN, you should see your face just now! I bet even Norway's never seen you this angry!"
"Oh, shut up!"
We kept our mouths shut, finally realizing how compromising the situation was, being this close…
"Yeah…so…I'll make sure no one else hears about this…," he said.
"Well…," I said as we stood up. "…Let's just say that you were my hero tonight, but don't tell Alfred that either."
"Hey, what time is it?," I asked again after a short silence.
"It's…8:30-"
"Oh, shit! Do you know where Tino, Berwald, and the others could be now?-"
"They're at the dorms, calm the frick down."
"O.K., thanks.," I said, dashing in the direction of the World Academy's gates.
"Wait, where're you going?," he asked, closely running behind me.
"You come, too. It's a surprise!," I replied happily, a devious smile coming on my face.
Running into my dorm, almost slamming the door into my lamp, I picked up a couple of bags.
"What're those?," he asked.
"Their dorms are on the floor below us, right?-"
"Yeah-"
"Stay here for a minute or so, 'kay?"
So there I was, running down the stairs with everyone's gifts. Tino, Berwald, Norway, and Iceland were certainly surprised when I crashed in through their doors.
After an awkward silence, "Hey, guys."
"Oh, thanks!"
Seriously, you feel like Jesus when you're giving out presents. Tino was the one that seemed openly happy at first when I burst through the door, so he got his first. Since Berwald seemed to always be with him, I handed his over his gift next.
"Merry Christmas!," I said before moving onto Norway and Iceland next door.
Both of them gave me what looked like a remnant of a smile and a nod as I gave out their gifts. I made my way out the door to run over to Ivan's dorm with the pot of origami sunflowers. These took forever, so the greatest care would be needed to carry them up the stairs.
"Hello-?"
"Merry Christmas, Ivan!," I greeted, happy that I had finally made it up the stairs, and gave him the bouquet.
"Oh, thank you.," he smiled back. A genuine smile, not a creepy one.
"Well, I gotta go finish my round of giving gifts, so-"
"I understand. Later.," he waved good-bye.
"Y-Yeah, see you later too!," and with that, I ran back to my dorm.
"Well, I'm back!," I greeted Denmark waiting back at my dorm. "Phew, running up and down those stairs is some workout!"
"I'm guessing that it went well?," he asked.
"Yep!," I said. "Well, bye."
Looking shocked, he asked, "Wait, what?"
"Just kidding! I didn't forget you.," I replied.
"O.K., where is it?," he jumped out of his seat, probably expecting a huge present.
"Wait for me at the elevator, and then you'll get it.," I said, and he followed suit.
Once he was out the door, I ran into my closet and grabbed a small box. I had a hard time trying to figure out what I could get for this guy that I barely knew (until recently), but then the inspiration came to me…in a VOCALOID song. The song was "The Little Mermaid" by Luka Megurine, and remembering the fact that "The Little Mermaid" is a tale that originated in Denmark, I was able to hunt down some instructions for an origami version of a mermaid. It was hard, but then I had to color it with some spare watercolors among my art supplies. It turned out better than I had expected.
"Hey, you actually waited!," I mockingly said as I came running to the elevator. He just shrugged. "Well, Merry Christmas or whatever holiday you're celebrating as an excuse to get drunk this year."
With that finally said and done, I left him at the elevator. But before I had walked far enough from the elevator, I heard him say, "Thanks." WITH a smile, mind you. Not a jerky smile, not a sarcastic smile, but a real one…boy am I obsessed with smiles this Christmas…
To be continued…