A breeze tumbled through the air, causing tree branches to shudder and dance, the fallen leaves to flutter across the ground, and a certain young man's papers to fly all over the place as soon as he set them down.

"Darn it," he muttered, "not on the first day!"

He quickly dashed about, trying to collect all of the pages before they flew off beyond recapture, ignoring the muffled laughs of the few other students passing by who had also come as early as him. This year was going to be great, he had decided, so why the heck was something as annoying as this happening on the first day of his junior year of high school? Still grumbling to himself, he snatched up the last paper and bounced the stack off his upper leg a couple times to straighten them all out.

As he was heading back to where he had left his backpack and his lunchbox – the school cafeteria didn't start serving the edible food until a good week after school actually started – he collided with a shorter boy who had just stepped out from behind a building while staring in the completely opposite direction.

"What the—" was all the taller boy could say before he fell to the ground along with the other boy.

What was with this day so far?

The shorter boy quickly jumped up and brushed off the couple leaf fragments that had stuck themselves to his clothes when he had collided with the ground. "Terribly sorry, that was very rude of me…" his voice trailed off slightly as he stared at the taller man, only just now actually seeing the person he had just nearly run over.

"No, no, it's cool," said the taller boy swiftly. "It's happened to me before, don't sweat it."

…No response.

"Um, are you ok?" He waved his hand quickly in front of the statue-still boy, who suddenly came back to life with a couple of fast-paced blinks and a massive scarlet blush.

"O-of course I'm alright. We just collided is all, it's not like you ran me over with a bloody steam engine or anything." The boy attempted to scowl through his incessant blush.

Was that a British accent? You didn't see too many Brits around this school. Sure, there were people from pretty much every part of the world – Hetalia Academy was located in America, the mixing pot of the world, after all, and tons of people were still immigrating over – but for some reason, there were few people from Britain around. What's more, he didn't recognize this student at all, though he had come to know almost every person in the school over the two years that he had already attended, and this guy definitely wasn't a freshman. Was this a transfer student, maybe?

"Right, right. Say, are you new here?" he started, but the other boy had already stomped off nearly to the other side of the courtyard that they were in. Geez, what was his problem? This guy was apparently offended way too easily. It was a good thing that he hadn't said anything about those massive eyebrows of his. He must be new; there's no way that this guy could escape his notice for two years while looking like that.

He stood there for a minute more, random thoughts running through his head. Then he checked his watch – it was already 7:30. "Shoot, where is that guy? He was going to meet me here so we could compare our schedules before class!" he groused about his friend.

Then – "Alfred-san!" a quiet voice called from behind him.

The boy in question turned to see with bright blue eyes his Japanese friend jogging towards him. "Hey, Kiku! Where were you?"

The boy's face was slightly flushed, as if he had just been running hard. "My apologies, I was running a bit late."

"Hey, no biggie. Here, lemme grab my bag so we can go over our schedules!" Alfred ran back to his backpack, quickly putting that strange blond British kid out of his mind.

"I can't believe that we don't have any classes together this year!" Alfred groaned as first bell rang and he and Kiku prepared to go to their period one classes that were on the opposite ends of the school campus. "I mean, last year we had like half our classes together, but now we don't even have lunch together? This sucks!"

"I-it's fine, Alfred-san," Kiku said, looking downwards, slightly embarrassed as always by his overly loud best friend. "We will still be able to see each other during breaks, as well as before and after school."

"Ah, dude, that's not the point though!" Alfred tilted his head up and looked up at the sky. "I promised myself that this year would be awesome, and so far it's turning out to be a real bummer. I mean, first, my papers fly everywhere in the wind, then I run into this crazy looking guy, now this?"

Kiku looked at Alfred, slightly startled. "A crazy looking person? Was it somebody you know?" Alfred was pretty much the best friend of everybody on the campus, so it was rare for him to run into anybody he didn't know.

"Nah, it was some newbie. He's probably a transfer student." He paused, then cackled suddenly. "I think I would have recognized that kind of appearance before!"

Before Kiku could ask Alfred what he meant, he rushed off to class, and Kiku figured that if he didn't want to be late, he'd better do the same.

Alfred's schedule said that he had Spanish first period, so he headed for room 46 in Swift Hall.

Ah yes, perhaps a bit of school background information is in order. At Hetalia Academy, there were four main halls in the four corners of the campus. Schleiden Hall had the math and science classes; Alitahe Hall had the history, English, and literature classes; Swift Hall had the language and health classes, as well as the classes that didn't really have a category; and Spenser Hall had the Fine Arts classes. Many students called the halls by their proper names, but just as many students simply used Hall One, Hall Two, Hall Three, and Hall Four, respectively. It was just easier that way, sometimes. In the center of campus, where the four halls met, there was a large courtyard, which was where Alfred had been waiting for Kiku, and where he had literally run into that one British kid. But whatever, it was time for class now.

Alfred always looked forward to his Spanish classes. It's not that he particularly loved the language or anything. His main reason for taking the class was that knowing the language would come in handy for him, since he seemed to run into Spanish-speaking people on a regular basis, especially when he was looking for jobs. No, he loved his Spanish classes because –

"We're in the same class AGAIN? The heck IS this?" Alfred heard a loud voice exclaim from the classroom that he was about to enter.

"But Lovi~, aren't you happy that we get to start every day together this year?"

"Like heck I am, you jerk!"

Alfred smiled. It was because of those two, Antonio and Lovino. Their crazy antics made the class fun every day. The three of them had been in the same Spanish class since freshman year. Lovino, who was Italian, had the temperament and grace of a rabid cat that had been dunked in water and had its tail stepped on numerous times. He had a hair-trigger temper, and most of his anger was usually directed at the Spaniard Antonio, who just sucked it all in with his never-fading grin. Alfred kind of thought it was cheating that Antonio took classes for a language he was fluent in, but he knew that it was really just so that he could spend more time with his beloved "Lovi." What the Spaniard saw in that crazy violent psycho, Alfred would never be able to understand.

Alfred made it through the doorway just as the bell was about to ring. Phew, safe, he thought as he slid into his seat. He'd always figured that it didn't really matter what time it was that he made it to class as long as it was before the bell. He hated getting detention with a passion even though he was, ironically, one of the big pranksters of the campus. It was really more the "getting caught" part that irked him.

As Senorita Brown walked into the classroom, Alfred leaned back, relaxed, and prepared for a fun class day.

Alfred certainly wasn't disappointed in his pre-evaluation of his first period class. There had been some new faces – a few people had skipped a level over the summer to get into the Level Three Spanish class – so the teacher had all of the students go through self-introductions in Spanish, giving their name, their grade level, and their hobbies, and in English, their reason for taking the class. When it had gotten to Antonio's turn, he'd stood up and said "Mi nombre es Antonio, estoy en el grado undécimo, y me encanta comer tomates! My reason for taking this class is so that I can be with my dear Lovi!" And as he said so, he leaned across the aisle and gave Lovino a large bear hug. The chaos that ensued from the psycho Italian was impressive, even for him.

Still chuckling, Alfred headed for his next class, Chemistry, in Schleiden Hall. Science, ugh. The smile slowly faded from his face. Physics last year had been a total nightmare. He probably wouldn't have made it through the year sanely if it hadn't been for Kiku. Meeting the Japanese boy had probably been one of the best things that had ever happened to the American. Not only was he a great friend, but he was one of the smartest kids in the school. Not only that, but he was patient, and kind, and nice… He was pretty much the best friend Alfred had ever had, really.

All too soon, there was the Chemistry room. Alfred groaned internally. He really didn't want to go to this class. He may have liked math fine, but for some reason, he was horrible at science, or at least Physics. Regardless of his dreading the class, he went in and sat down at a random desk, and waited for class to start.

Hm. That wasn't too bad, actually.

Alfred was certain that Chemistry wouldn't be his favorite subject of all time, but at least it probably wouldn't be the death trap that he'd been expecting. He'd ended up being in the same class as several of his closer friends, for one thing – Gilbert, Toris and Vash were all in his class. Though he couldn't really call Vash a "close friend," he supposed, because the guy was a freakin' psychopath. Even more so than Lovino, and that was saying something. The guy was smart and all, and a great guy once you got to know him, but man, he was scary at times.

Gilbert, on the other hand, was also somewhat crazy, but a good kind of crazy, in Alfred's opinion. He definitely had a bit of an ego (that being a huge understatement) which probably stemmed from his uniqueness of being an albino, but he was a great guy to hang out with. That said, he was probably the school's biggest troublemaker, though he often seemed to get out of punishment somehow. He claimed it was due to his "awesomeness," though it was probably more because his younger brother, Ludwig, would all the time be cleaning up after Gilbert.

Since it was the first day of classes, they hadn't really done much, mostly just went over the syllabus that the teacher, Ms. Vann, handed out. The topics they would cover that year seemed a lot more interesting that Physics, and they'd be doing a lot of labs. Ms. Vann decided to give everyone their lab partner assignments too, and Alfred hoped he'd be paired with Gilbert, but instead he ended up with the shy Toris. Well, at least Toris was good at science, Alfred reasoned. Gilbert, on the other hand, had ended up getting paired with Vash. The teacher had undoubtedly heard of the albino's troublemaking behavior and paired him with Vash so that they would actually get some work done. Vash would also probably help to keep Gilbert from blowing up the school during the labs.

Alfred checked his schedule again. He had break now, that he knew, but after break was…English. Alright, that he could handle. The American was actually fairly good at writing essays and such, so he always got good grades in that class. Plus, he'd heard that Mr. Volen, the teacher that he'd ended up with, was crazy fun.

He had planned to meet Kiku in the courtyard during break, but first he really had to go to his locker and dump some of these books. He had brought all of his books with him since it was the first day, and he had planned of putting them in his locker before school, but then Kiku had been late, and he didn't really get a chance. So he'd been lugging his massive amount of textbooks around all day. It's a good thing his backpack was big.

His locker was #492, in Swift Hall. Come to think of it, he probably should have just dropped off his stuff during the passing period between Spanish and Chemistry, since Spanish had been in this hall. Oh well, he though, shrugging it off. Too late now. Standing now in front of his locker, he turned the dial (7-4-21, an easy combination to remember since the first two digits were his birthday) and opened his locker. He didn't have a locker partner this year, unlike the last two years, so he had plenty of room to put all of his stuff. He dumped all of his books besides what he needed for English class, because it was his only other class before lunch. He had Lunch 1, so he ate between period 3 and period 4. Kiku had Lunch 2, it so wasn't fair. Oh, lunch. He should probably put his lunch box into his backpack instead of his locker. He was used to having second lunch.

After closing his locker back up and making sure it was locked, he jogged down the hallway toward the courtyard. He saw Kiku waiting next to the large fountain in the center, reading a manga. "Hey, Kiku! So how were your first couple classes?" he asked, going next to him and casually leaning on the edge of the fountain and setting his backpack down next to it.

Kiku looked up, slightly startled. He had been so engrossed in his book that he hadn't even noticed the American coming up to him, and that was saying something. "Ah, Alfred-san," he said in his soft voice. "They went well, I suppose."

Alfred made a "psh" sort of noise. "I bet your teachers are all excited to have the brainy kid in their classes. Makes 'em look better."

"I-I don't quite think that is the case," Kiku replied, faintly blushing at the praise.

"Eh, whatever. Meet anyone new?" While Alfred may have been one of the most popular and well-known kids on campus, Kiku was nearly the opposite, choosing to keep to himself most of the time. As a result, Alfred was nearly his only friend.

"Yes, actually. There was a new transfer student in my first period class. The teacher introduced him at the beginning. He was in my second period class as well, surprisingly."

"Really? What was he like?"

"Well, he was very quiet. He mostly scowled and looked like he did not want to be here. However, he is my lab partner for Biology, so I hope we can get along."

"He sounds annoying," Alfred said bluntly.

"I'm sure that he is just still adjusting to a new school. He seemed shy. He did not seem to want to make eye contact with anybody." Especially me, it seems, he thought, frowning very slightly. When the boy had been introduced in front of the class during Biology, he seemed to want to look anywhere besides at Kiku. Even when the teacher announced them to be lab partners, he had refused to look at Kiku, faintly blushing as he stared intently down at his desk instead.

"Hm. What's he look like? And what's his name? I'll look out for him in my other classes." If only to avoid him, he thought.

"Ah, well… His name is Arthur Kirkland. He is a small amount taller than me, though not as tall as you. He has blond hair, green eyes, and….um…rather…large eyebrows," Kiku said, cheeks flaring up scarlet in embarrassment.

Alfred's own (perfectly normal-sized) eyebrows flew up in surprise. "No way! That must be the guy who ran into me this morning!"

"Really? Is he the person you were talking about earlier, then?"

"Yeah! That jerk!" Alfred pouted, crossing his arms.

Kiku rolled his eyes a little. "Alfred, I'm sure that it was a complete accident. Did he apologize?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"He was probably just in a hurry."

Alfred could see that he would get no sense out his friend. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," he said, sighing.

The bell rang, signaling the end of break. "Shoot!" Alfred exclaimed, scrambling to get his stuff. "I'll see you after school then? Let's go over to McDonald's or something!"

"I suppose. I will see you later then."

Alfred set off for his English class. He may have been willingly to be a slight daredevil when getting to his first period class, but he wasn't risking anything during passing periods when the halls were flooded and you had to fight your way to get anywhere. He would've liked to have talked to Kiku a bit more, but it was time for English class. He didn't really want to be late to this class, anyways. He was looking forward to the class.

Scratch that. Alfred really, really, really wasn't looking forward to English anymore. He rushed from the classroom as fast as his long legs could bring him without running. Oh, the class was fine. They were starting off the year by reading Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a book that Alfred had read many times since he was younger. The teacher was great, already as fun seeming as the rumors had said. No, the problem lied with the other students. Not even with all of them, really. Just one.

Ivan freakin' Braginski was in his class.

Alfred had managed to avoid the tall frightening Russian for his entire high school career, so far, so why were they in the same class now, darn it? He shivered. He may have been friends with practically the whole school, but Ivan was one person he tried to avoid at all cost. In fact, most of the students tried to avoid him. He wasn't a person you wanted to get on the bad side of. Or the good side; the students who he treated as his lackeys could attest to that.

Alfred was starting to worry that all of his classes would have psychopaths in them.

Not only was that Russian freak in his class, though, but Alfred didn't have any close friends in it. This was going to suck. At least he didn't have to sit next to Ivan. As soon as he'd walked though the classroom door seen the Russian sitting with a peaceful smile on his face (Alfred was sure he was hiding something), he'd quickly taken a seat as far away from him as possible in the back. He didn't want that creep to be stared down his back all through the period.

So. So far, Alfred only had one class that he actually liked, Spanish. Chemistry didn't seem like it would be as bad as he had feared, but that didn't mean that he was looking forward to it. English had the freaky Russian creep. He skimmed his schedule for about the tenth time that day (Shut up, he was bad at memorizing stuff, ok?). He still had math, history, and drama ahead of him. But first was lunch. His stomach gurgled, as if to exemplify that fact.

The cafeteria was located at the southern end of campus, between Schleiden Hall and Alitahe Hall, so it was a very short walk from Alfred's English class. Finally, a stroke of luck from the evil schedule of doom that he had gotten this year. Maybe he'd have some friends to share this lunch with, too.

Apparently, his luck was perking up. "Oi, Gilbert!" Alfred called, spotting his albino friend already sitting down at a nearby table.

"Alfred! Kesesese, you have this lunch too?" Gilbert said, laughing in his own weird way. "C'mere, join the party!" He pulled out a chair for the American.

Not only did he share lunch period with Gilbert, but apparently Gilbert's brother Ludwig too, as well as their friend Elizabeta. They all had a third period class that was even closer to the lunchroom than Alfred, which was how they had gotten their own table so fast. The three of them sat at a round lunch table together, and they all had brought their own lunches too, probably for the same reason as Alfred. I'm not sure why the cafeteria even bothers selling any food at all before they get the good tasting stuff, he thought as he sat down in the offered chair and took out his own lunchbox, dumping the contents onto the table.

"Alfred, can you physically eat anything besides junk food?" Elizabeta asked, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"Hey, this totally isn't junk food!" Alfred complained. His lunch was composed of two cold cheesy hot dogs (which he planned to heat up in the one of the microwaves that the cafeteria had scattered around the room for students), a bag of chips, and a bottle of soda. Totally healthy, right? It had every food group besides fruits, anyways. Maybe next time he'd bring an apple or something. If he remembered.

Elizabeta gave a small sound of disgust.

The rest of their lunch consisted of, besides eating, mostly lewd jokes between Alfred and Gilbert that made Ludwig incredibly embarrassed to have such a crazy older brother and that made Elizabeta smack Gilbert on the side of his head a few times. A bit more than a few times, really, but he deserved it, really.

All too soon, the bell rang, and it was time for Alfred's next class. Shoot – he really needed to book it, he'd totally forgotten to leave a couple minutes early to go to his locker and get the books he needed for the last three classes of his day.

Hm, Precalculus wasn't that bad, Alfred supposed. Yes, Precalculus. Don't act so surprised, he was smarter than a lot of people gave him credit for. But he was a little miffed to find that Ludwig was in the same class as him, even though he was a year younger. Though Alfred was very aware that he was nowhere near being the best at any subject, he did kinda get a bit peeved when people did so much better than him. He felt it was unfair, in a way, though a part of him actually understood how irrational that was. It probably stemmed from when he was in middle school, when he actually had been near the top of his class. But since then, he had taken his smarts for granted and hadn't bothered to put as much work into what he did. As a result, the other students had passed by him, leaving him behind to wonder just what had happened.

But whatever. He was back on track now, and he got decent grades in his classes, so it didn't really matter what he was like back then, did it? Besides, he ought to be worrying about his classes right now instead of what happened years ago. And right now, he had to get to his History class. Alfred grinned. Eleventh grade meant U.S. History classes for all of the students at Hetalia Academy. Awesome, he thought. He was very patriotic (GO AMERICA!), so he loved learning about his country's heritage. World History was no fun, because America hadn't been around back in the time period that the class covered.

Alfred glanced at his watch. Shoot. He needed to walk faster or he wouldn't make it to class on time. Stupid schedule, making him go all half-way across campus to go between any two of his classes. Last year, they had been much more conveniently spread. Besides that, why did they only have four minute passing periods when the halls were all so far apart? Geez, this school made no sense sometimes. He upped his pace anyway. More than his other classes, this was one he was sure that his didn't want to be late for.

His History class was in room 26, which was luckily right at the end of the hallway. He rounded the corner quickly, planning on making a quick "U-turn" into the classroom when –

SMACK.

The heck? What was with him and crashing into people today?

The person he had run into stood up, and Alfred groaned internally as he stood up himself. Had he seriously just run into the exact same person as this morning? It had to be, there was no way that there were multiple people running around with eyebrows that size.

What had Kiku said his name was? Arthur something? Arthur Kirkland, that was it. Alfred may have had a bad memory for schedules, but he had always been good at remembering names. He sighed. This British kid seemed obnoxious to him, from what Kiku had said about him, but he supposed that since it was the guy's first day, he ought to at least be civil to him to start with. He reached out his hand to the boy.

"Ah, whoops!" he said with a bright grin. "Two times in one day, we must have bad luck, huh? I'm Alfred Jones, by the way. Welcome to Hetalia Academy."

But the Brit just ignored him and coolly slid his way past him into the classroom before Alfred had even finished talking. Well. He didn't know what Kiku was talking about, this guy really was just plain rude. Was he trying to annoy everyone in the school on his first day?

Alfred followed the obnoxious boy into the room, luckily getting in right before the bell. He sat down at a random seat, like he had for all of his other classes, but then the teacher, Ms. Amherst, announced that they would all be getting assigned seats for this class. Shoot. He hoped he got a good seat in the back. Alfred hated getting assigned seats because they all too often meant he was stuck in the very front. Luckily, though, he ended up close to the back instead. Unluckily, he was sitting right next to that British jerk. Seriously, what was with this wacko day he was having?

He didn't even bother trying to make conversation with the boy. The jerk could stay lonely if he wanted.

History class passed by without anything special happening and next on Alfred's schedule was Drama. Which was great, because this way it looked like he'd only be having one class with the British weirdo. He doubted that the boy would take up Drama as an elective, seeing how quiet he was already. And how rude.

So why was the guy following him down the hallway?

Alfred sped up a little. Ok, so first the Brit ran into him and then walked away when Alfred tried to talk to him, and now he was stalking him to his classes? This was more than a little weird.

Alfred spun around to face the other boy, much to the latter's surprise. "What are you following me for?" he asked, annoyed.

The Brit stared at him like he was an idiot. No, wait, he was staring to the side of Alfred. Serious, what the heck was with this guy? He didn't even want to look at other people?

Wait, he was saying something. "Our next classes are probably near each other, you idiot," the Brit muttered.

Oh. OH. Oh.

Well, he felt kind of stupid now.

Blushing a bit in embarrassment, Alfred spun back around and continued walking to Drama, missing the small, stifled laugh that came from behind him.

To heck with "near each other." They'd had the same class. Again.

Who know the British kid liked theatre so much? Or that he'd apparently completely memorized some of Shakespeare's plays? (The teacher, Ms. Morgan, had made them all introduce themselves and give an interesting fact about them relating to theatre.)

Anyway, Alfred was annoyed that this British kid kept popping up near him, only to be rude and try and get away from him. He was so weird.

Oh well, at least school was over now, at last, and he was free to meet up with Kiku. Alfred really wanted to talk about something other than school-related stuff. He pulled out his cell phone, took it off of silent (psh, he didn't really need to turn it all the way off during school), and punched in the Japanese boy's phone number. No answer, of course. He'd forgotten that Kiku actually did turn his phone off during school, and probably hadn't turned it back on yet.

Oh well, he could wait. Oh yeah, and probably go to his locker, too…

"I'll have two double hamburgers, a large thing of fries, and a large Coca Cola, please!" Alfred ordered, back in his usual chipper personality now that school was over and he was at his favorite eating establishment in the world. "Kiku, you want anything?" he asked, turning to his friend.

"Ah, no thank you, Alfred-san, but thank you for the offer."

Alfred shrugged. "Alright, suit yourself." Though he couldn't see why anybody would turn down such amazing food. This stuff was like heaven for the taste buds.

When Alfred had gotten his food, he and Kiku grabbed a corner table near the back of the restaurant.

"So besides that British jerk being in a couple of your classes, how'd your day go, Kiku?" Alfred asked, unwrapping one of his burgers and smearing ketchup on the top half of the bun.

"Alfred-san, I think you are being too brash with your judgment of Arthur-san."

"Aw, c'mon. He runs into me twice and ignores both of us when we talk and talk to him? That's pretty darn rude."

Kiku frowned. "He ran into you twice?"

"Yeah! The jerk's in my history class, and he freaking ran into me right as I was about to go into the classroom! And then I tried to be all nice to him, and he just ignored me and pushed past me into the classroom!" Alfred complained in between mouthfuls of burger and slurps of his soda.

"Are you sure that it wasn't just an accident? You do tend not to look where you are going," Kiku remarked bluntly.

"What, you're going to take that jerk's side?" Alfred gaped at his friend.

"No, I am simply saying that it was not necessarily his fault."

"That's totally taking his side," the American whined.

"There is the possibility that both times it was a complete accident, and neither your fault nor his," Kiku signed. "And I am not surprised that he decided to ignore you with the attitude that you are giving off about him."

Alfred, on the other hand did seem surprised. "But I was trying to be nice to him! I introduced myself and everything!"

"Did you apologize?"

"…for what?"

Kiku was growing slightly exasperated at his friend's obvious lack of ability to read the atmosphere. "You said that Arthur-san apologized the first time that you two collided, right? Did you apologize the second time at all"

"Why would I do that? It definitely wasn't my fault, so what would I apologize for?"

Kiku rubbed his temples. "Alfred-san, it is only polite in circumstances such as those to make yourself modest and take the blame, even if it is not your fault."

"I don't get it." It was a good thing the Japanese boy was patient, anyone else would have broken Alfred's neck already.

"What I am trying to say is, you were in the wrong."

"Bu— That's not—" Alfred spluttered.

"I am only saying what I see. It is but my own opinion. You are free to take the situation either way. I am simply attempting to give advice."

Sigh. Darn it, sometimes Kiku was really convincing. And as loath as he was to admit it, he might have a point. "Fine, fine. But the guy's still a jerk, you're not getting me out of thinking that one."

"I would not dream of it, Alfred-san," Kiku replied. He knew he was lucky that he had managed to convince the American of anything other than the boy's own opinion.

After he had finished eating and talking to Kiku, though most of the latter part of the conversation was rather one-sided, Alfred went back home to get started on the homework he had already gotten – not. Hey, why would he waste perfectly good time doing homework when he could be killing zombies on one of his video games? It was an obvious choice.

"Hey Mattie, I'm home! You here?" he called out to his brother as he came through the front to his house. He didn't bother calling for his parents; they were both full-time workers and wouldn't be home until late.

"Hey, bro," Matthew called from the couch where he was casually lounging, a bowl of chips in front of his and a can of Canada Dry Ginger Ale open on the coffee table in front of him.

Alfred grabbed a handful of the chips, ignoring his brother's indignant outcry, eating them as he ran up the stairs to his room. He was so lucky that his parents were away so much, it let him get away with doing whatever he wanted until they got home. And he planned to take full advantage of that right now with a full-out gaming session. He had a small TV in his room and kept a couple of his gaming consoles in there too, so all he had to do was pop in a game as he was on a one-track ride to mindless zombie slaying – his favorite.

He played until it was almost time for him to head to bed – he knew from experience that if he stayed up too late, it was practically impossible for him to wake up in the morning. Besides, his parents would be home before too long. They'd had to work overtime, so Alfred and Mattie just ordered a pizza for dinner. This was a fairly regular occurrence, so they had gotten used to it.

He might as well get some of that homework done. Luckily he didn't have much, but he should still probably do it. It wouldn't take all that long.

By midnight, Alfred's parents were home and his homework was done. He'd already brushed his teeth and taken out his contacts, and now he was lying in bed, unable to sleep. He was surprised by this, usually after an intense gaming session like the one he'd just had, he was plenty ready to conk out as soon as his head hit his pillow. But Alfred was one of those people who got distracted really easily, and the trait had chosen a nasty time to pop up. So even though he kept trying to get himself to go to sleep, Alfred couldn't stop his mind from wandering and keeping him awake. And for whatever reason, his mind kept landing back on that British jerk. It was probably because Alfred was so annoyed by him, he just wanted to think of all kinds of ways to annoy him back, regardless of what Kiku had said.

Ah, who was he kidding. He was interested in the guy.

No, not like that, you creep! He only dated girls, for goodness sake, and only ones he knew well. No, it's just that, well, Alfred was curious by nature, and he really didn't know anything about the Brit, like where he came from, or why he'd transferred to this school. He was a mystery, and Alfred hated mysteries. But he loved to play the detective. Alright, he decided. I'm gonna find out why this guy is avoiding Kiku and me. Well, he got the feeling that the boy was avoiding him because they'd collided twice now, but whatever. He was pointedly avoiding Kiku, and he'd ignored what Alfred was saying twice now. He had to have some kind of reason for being so rude, and Alfred was going to find out what it was.

Of course, Alfred paid no heed to the fact that he was completely contradicting what he had said to Kiku earlier.

Oh my, look at the length of this chapter. If they keep getting longer and longer at this rate, I might have some problems…

Well, this chapter is long for a reason. Think of it as an introduction to my AU which is why it's from Alfred's point of view. Sorry I had so many scene transitions and slight time skips, but I didn't want to make it even longer by describing each of the classes while it happened. I felt like a short summary at the end of each class worked out fine. But hey, if you readers want to see a chapter of a full(ish) class period, drop me a review and I'll see what I can do. I'm not planning to keep cutting them out entirely, because this is a Gakuen AU, so I've got to have some actual class scenes in there somewhere.

And before you ask, yes, my AU!Alfred has contacts. I chose to do this on purpose, and it will become a slightly important plot point later on. Trust me, I'm not just making all this up as I go along. …mostly.

I hope you guys liked this chapter, it was fun writing from Alfred's point of view. He's so crazy sometimes. How many of you were fooled and thought it was still from Arthur's POV at first?

To all the people who reviewed (Luna at Midnight, MelodyOfStarshine, peacemakerwarfreak, Veldargone) thank you so much! Sorry I replied so slowly. And I noticed that I had anonymous reviews disabled, that's been fixed.

Oh yeah, disclaimers! Totally forgot about that in the other chapters! In case you couldn't tell, I do not own Hetalia, it's owned by Hidekaz Himaruya. I don't own Adventures of Huckleberry Finn either, that's owned by Mark Twain and all the companies that publish it.