Paige was sitting in History when she remembered the note. Trying not to attract Alice's attention, she pulled it out of her pocket and unfolded it.

Paige

I don't know how you took our conversation yesterday, but I don't think you understood me the way I had hoped. Please meet me outside the school at lunch. Where

you were saved by a cat. I'll be waiting for you.

Heracles

Paige glared at the note, but sighed. I do need to talk to him. She told herself. And she'd told Ravis that she wouldn't be running from her fears anymore. She crumpled the note and put it in her pencil case.

After class, Jackie joined her and they went to Accounting, like nothing had happened the past few days.

"I thought for sure it was real." Jackie was telling her about Lovino's stunt the day before. "I thought he was going to be crushed. But then he just opens the door and steps out, glares that everyone watching, and Antonio's yelling cut. I was so scared."

"Try being behind the statue, not aware." Paige laughed. She then told Jackie what had happened two days ago.

"You were saved by a cat?" Jackie laughed. "Wow. So much for a dull school life, huh?"

"Yeah." Paige wasn't really paying attention. They'd reached accounting and were taking their seats.

Mr. Väinämöinen was sitting at his desk, working on his laptop. As Paige watched, he started blushing and coughed. She figured it was a message from Berwald.

The bell rang and he closed his computer. "Alright, today we'll be continuing with—"

He was cut off by a scream in the hall. Half the class jumped to their feet and ran to the door, Paige being one of them. In the hall, a girl was standing over someone lying on the ground.

The girl looked up at the class. "I don't know what happened!" She gasped, horrified. "He just collapsed!"

"Someone call 911!" Students started yelling at each other. "Go get the principal!" "Where's Liz? We should tell her."

Paige was only half listening. She ran over and knelt beside the boy. His eyes were closed and his white hair was drenched in sweat. She reached out and felt for a pulse.

When her hand made contact with the boy's skin, something shot through her. She felt disconnected, but at the same time still a part of something. She saw a war flash before her eyes, and a girl standing over the boy looking triumphant. Then another scene, with the same girl, only they looked happy together. Paige recognized the girl as Elizaveta.

What's going on? She thought, pulling her hand away. She looked around, but no one had noticed anything strange. They were all still yelling at one another, waiting for someone else to do something.

"Everyone quiet!" She shouted. There was silence as they turned to look at her. "You." She pointed to a boy near the front. "Go get the principal. Tell him it's important." The boy ran down the hall.

"You!" She snapped her fingers at a girl who was texting her friends. "Instead of texting, use that piece of technology and call for help!" She started dialing. "Jackie, go find Elizaveta. Everyone's been mentioning her name."

"On it." She said before running down the hall.

Paige looked over at the girl who'd screamed. "Someone get her a chair." She called. "She might pass out from shock. Everyone, back into the class. Give him some space."

At once, the hall was emptied. Someone led the girl into the class were they sat her down. Mr. Väinämöinen produced a blanket from a cupboard and draped it around her shoulders. The door was closed to stop people from trying to get closer.

Paige leaned over the boy. "If you can hear me, I want you to know it'll be alright. We're getting help right now." Chimes went off over the PA system. "They're putting the school in lockdown." She told him, remembering what she'd been told on her first day. "Help will get here as soon as possible."

"Gilbert!" Elizaveta cried behind them. She flopped to the ground on the boy's other side. "What happened?!"

"He just collapsed. Where's Jackie?"

"In the office for the lockdown." She stroked the boy's hair away from his eyes. "They let me come because it was Gilbert."

"He doesn't seem to be having trouble breathing." Paige reported. "I think he just fainted."

"Is this like what happened to Yao last week?" Elizaveta asked.

Paige had never thought about that. Could this boy be a country? It would explain what happened when I touched him. She thought.

Paige stayed watching the boy, with Elizaveta watching her, until people showed up to take proper care of the situation. Once he was taken away on a stretcher, Elizaveta turned to Paige.

"Jackie told me how you took control of the situation. Thanks."

"No problem." Paige watched the boy being wheeled away. "Hey, why was everyone mentioning you? I only told Jackie to find you after I'd heard your name three times."

"Oh, I guess you wouldn't know." She looked a bit embarrassed. "We've been friends ever since we were little. Back then, we sort of had this rivalry. We stopped talking when I started dating Roderich. After a while, he confronted me about it and we became friends again."

Paige nodded. "From the way you reacted when you saw him, I thought you were dating him. But I guess childhood friends would act that way too."

Elizaveta blushed. "Oh, well, we aren't dating…" She trailed off and Paige understood. She was still dating Roderich, but she had feelings for Gilbert.

It was so High School Drama, Paige momentarily forgot that at least two of them were countries.

Paige was held back for questioning even after the lunch bell rang. She told the authorities what had happened and how no one was actually doing anything, so she'd taken action. Eventually, they ran out of questions and she was allowed to leave.

She hurried to the front door with her lunch, wondering if Henry had heard about the incident and had waited. When she got outside, she noticed the destroyed statue and wondered how she'd missed it that morning.

Looking around, she assessed that Henry wasn't there. Her heart sank and she let out a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding.

Why would he stay? She thought to herself. Even if he heard about Gilbert, there's no way he'd have known I was involved.

She turned to go back inside, but stopped when she came foot to face with the tabby cat from before. It mewed and walked behind the statue.

The note had said 'where you were saved by a cat'. Paige slapped her forehead. She'd been behind the statue, out of sight, when she'd heard the car.

She followed the cat around and saw Henry lying on the ground. The cat walked up to him and he stroked its fur.

"Sorry." Paige gasped. "I forgot where I was two days ago." She went and sat beside Henry.

"That sounds dumb." He commented. "I heard you come outside. I understand."

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"You didn't understand what I said last night, did you?"

Paige scowled. "You told me to keep your secret. In return, you paid for my dinner. You told me to pretend I knew nothing about it. Well, that's what I've been doing."

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?!" Paige huffed.

"You asked so many questions, I wanted to make sure you weren't writing an article for the city paper." Henry sat up and looked at her. "In return for answering your questions, you were to keep the secret. That included pretending that there was no secret." He touched her hand. "Dinner was just me being nice."

Paige nodded. "So, I don't have to keep it a secret that I know the secret? I mean, to the others? Like Ravis?"

He shook his head. "That's okay. I just mean don't tell your friends. I don't trust Jackie to keep her mouth shut."

That made Paige laugh, which lifted the mood. "After her exclamation in the cafeteria Monday, I don't think I trust her either." She was glad they'd cleared up the misunderstanding.

"Now, I have a question for you, Paige."

"What is it?"

Henry made sure she was facing him before he continued. "Can a human love a country?"

Paige didn't understand what he meant. People loved their countries all the time. They were called patriots. But she understood when he leaned over and kissed her.

Romance! Not my best genre! I hope it wasn't too painful to read.

On the plus side: Prussia!

Comments are always welcome.