This was totally going against Gilbert's beliefs! He couldn't pull something like this! But than again, he had promised Matilda...He sighed as he followed the other boys into the locker room, waiting for the right moment to snatch the shoes that Matilda so desired.

"I can do this, I can do this...I'm totally awesome! I can just take 'em before Alfred gets out of the changeing stall..."

Why Alfred changed in a stall no one knew. Most of the boys changed infront of eachother; From what Gilbert could tell Alfred was gunshy with changing infront of people. Not "heroic" if you asked anyone that was aware of Alfred's "hero complex". Sitting down on a bench, Gilbert fianally saw Alfred go in a stall with his stuff and proceeded to follow the blond quietly.

"Ok, I can do this! I just gotta take the shoes from under the stall without him noticing...Crap. That's gonna be hard...So not awesome!"

Ah, yes, a minor detail that was left out in the plan. It, with logical thinking, would be rather hard to take shoes from under a stall with a person changing, meaning that they would be looking down constently, meaning that they'd probably notice if their shoes were being snatched. The main question was how it would be pulled off. Idiot or not, Alfred couldn't possibly be so stupid as to watch his shoes being taken infront of him! It's just not possible!

Taking a deep breath, Gilbert creeped over to the stall and cruntched down, ready to take the shoes.

"Ok, here it goes!"

Grabbing them as fast as he could, Gilbert dashed away and threw the shoes into his changing locker before anyone could point fingers at him. Luckliy, no one saw him. That or they couldn't give a crap, but who could tell? Gilbert gave a sigh of relief and smiled at how awesome he was.

"Easier than I thought! Knew I was awesome! I bet Maddie's gonna flip when I hand her these!"

oOo

Matilda certainly did "flip" when Gilbert pulled the shoes out infront of her. She stared wide-eyed at them before grabbing them, giving a huge frown before looking back up at Gilbert.

"These arn't it. Are you positive that they're Alfred's?" Gilbert put his hands infront of himself and started waving them abit.

"I followed him 'n everything! I swear, those are the shoes he was wearing!" Matilda took a closer look at them before letting them fall to the ground.

"Besides, I already have these shoes back at the house." Gilbert rubbed the back of his head and gave a nervous chuckle.

"Maybe he decided that he wasn't gonna wear 'em today?" Matilda gasped, than smacked her fist on the palm of her hand.

"I didn't think about that! Of course, knowing someone like him, he wouldn't wear them everyday! Darn it." She crossed her arms and closed her eyes in thought.

What would her next move be? Obviously she couldn't tell when Alfred was going to wear those shoes, and if she planned a wrong move he might find out. Buying her own pair wasn't an option, seeing as she had checked EVERYWHERE, only to be told that they weren't sold anymore and that they were only sold for a limited time. She herself didn't know how she managed to let THAT slip by her during the whole giveaway time! Tapping her right foot in thought as well, which was wearing a red cowboy boot, she gave a heavy sigh and looked at Gilbert.

"I can't think of anything. It's totally beyond me. What can I do?" Gilbert tried to think himself, than laughed.

"Haha, maybe you could friend 'em and take 'em then!" Matilda shook her head, eyes bright.

"That could work!" Gilbert paled abit as Matilda ran off.

"WAIT! BIRDIE I WAS KIDDING!" But she was already far enough to where she couldn't hear him. Gilbert facepalmed as he mentaly kicked himself.

"Daaamn it. This is SO not awesome..."

oOo

Matilda had thought the whole thing out and even wrote it in a composition book so she wouldn't forget anything:

Step 1:

Friend Alfred.

Step 2:

Get close to Alfred.

Step 3:

Get close enough so he will invite me over to his house.

Step 4:

Take shoes and get out of there.

Step 5:

Maintain friendship with him.

"In just FIVE steps I can get this over with!" Matilda smiled to herself as she put the composition book into her shoulderbag. Alfred at that moment walked past her, looking rather mad about something. She decided to approach him.

"Hey, Alfred, somethin' wrong?" Alfred slid his blue eyes over to her as his eyebrow twitched.

"My shoes were stolen during gym. I have my gym shoes, but those shoes were my favorite and-" He stopped walking and turning to stare at her. "Why am I talking to you? Not trying to be mean or anything, but the other day you tried to rape my feet and-"

"No, no, I didn't! That was just Jessica joking around!" She slid her eyes away for a split second before looking at him again. "Anyway, I'm trying to be friendly. I mean, I just thought I'd try to be your friend..." She adjusted her glasses and smiled sweetly at him. She wasn't COMPLETELY doing that whole thing for his shoes; She needed more friends and Alfred seemed nice.

"Well...That'd be ok I guess..." Alfred stratched the back of his head and shrugged before smiling back at her. "I don't see a problem with it!" Just as he stretched his hand out to her for her to shake it Jessica interrupted the whole scene with a scrowl on her face.

"Alfred, I wouldn't touch her if I were you! She probably has some weird disease or something! Besides," Jessica stepped inbetween the two and contiuned, "I heard your shoes went missing right?" Alfred nodded his head with a rised eyebrow.

"Yeahh.."

"She probably stole them! Or got a friend to!" Matilda stratched her nose and fidgeted abit. Why did Jessica have to know so much about how she thought? Damn her for making friends with her in 2nd grade!

"Well, ah..." Alfred gently moved Jessica aside and walked closer to Matilda.

"Did you take my shoes? If you did, please give 'em back! They're my favorite pair, and-" Before he could finish Matilda pulled his pair of shoes out of her bag and held them out infront of him.

"I found them outside...and I figured you'd want them back, so I held on to them for you. That was another reason I was trying to find you..." Ok, so that wasn't the full truth and she knew it, but if she told him what really happened she knew that he'd think even less of her and avoid her! It was just a little white lie...

Alfred blinked before taking the pair of shoes infront of him, than smiled back at the Canadian once more.

"Thanks. That was pretty nice of you."

"Maybe she isnt' so bad after all! I mean, she's shoe crazy but she wouldn't steal my shoes." Alfred couldn't help but think this opinion, unaware that it was true.

Jessica glared at Matilda before crossing her arms.

"I bet you actually took them! Probably got your weird German friend to get them or something!" Matilda's eye twitched.

"He's Prussian. Not German." She knew that Prussia technically wasn't around anymore, but if Gilbert wanted to believe he was Prussian she was ready to defend him! Jessica simply tossed her hair back before turning to Alfred, who during heir conversation had put his favorite shoes back on.

"There ya go little buddies, back where you belong." Alfred petted his shoes before standing up again. Matilda blushed abit at the sight while Jessica had her eyebrows raised.

"I knew he took good care of his shoes!"

"Anyway, let's go to lunch Alfred!" Jessica grabbed his arm in an attempt to get him away from Matilda, but failed as Alfred refused to move.

"Hey, why don't you sit down with us? The guys won't mind! I promise!" Alfred strugged Jessica off and once again offered his hand to Matilda, who took it gently with a smile on her face.

"Oh , and Jessica," Alfred flashed her a bright smile, "You can sit with your girlfriends today. See ya sweet cheeks!" Alfred ran off, Matilda closely following behind, leaving a pissed off Jessica to stand in the hallway.

Running outside, Alfred and Matilda slowed down as they approached the lunchtable, which was packed with jocks. Matilda felt her legs about to give out under her as they got closer and closer; Those guys could easily beat the shit outta her! But if she didn't go with him...

Leading Matilda over to an open spot on the lunch table, which was on the lunch table, they both began to eat. While Matilda had brought her own lunch and kept it in her bag Alfred was begging for food from his friends, who gave him some. Matilda couldn't help but feel slightly scared as the jocks eyed her over.

"Hey Al, why's Shoe Girl over here?" Alfred blinked as he shoved a brownie into his mouth.

"I just thought she'd like to eat with us? Got a problem with it Joey?" Joey shook his head and got back to his lunch; the jocks were actually scared of Alfred in general. He was WAAY stronger than he looked and could pretty much beat their asses if he wanted to. Matilda smiled abit before biting into her ham sandwich. Alfred's eyes trailed over to her skirt, than to her red cowboy boots. Since they were sitting on the table Matilda had to find a position inwhich she wasn't flashing anyone, which had lead her to sitting crisscoss, still blocking the view to her underwear.

"Nice boots. Where ya get 'em?" Maybe Alfred could get a brown pair of them. Sure, Halloween wasn't in a few months, but no one said he couldn't get them early! Blushing Matilda adjusted her glasses, a rather proud look spreading across her face; After all, she was proud of her shoes.

"Well, I got them at Shoe Carnival for half price! 'Course, I had to haggle abit, but I got'em really cheap. I even managed to go back there and get the other colors they had."

Alfred sipped his soda in pure amazement. She really wasn't called Shoe Girl for nothing, was she?

"Do they have them in the color brown?" Matilda nodded as she placed her hands on her knees.

"Of course! I can even come with ya so you can get them for less! I'm really good at haggling and plus there's supposed to be some new shoes coming out that-..." She trailed off, face turning red, as everyone at the table had stopped eating and stared at her.

"I mean...ah...Sorry for, ah, rambling." Matilda looked down and wished that she could just disappear at that moment.

"Gawd, rambling about shoes infront of popular kids? I'm such a dork! Gawwd!"

"Heh, you really do know a whole lot about shoes!" Alfred grinned as he tassled her hair and finished up his soda. Matilda stared back at him with a confused face.

"Huh...?"

Standing up on the table, Alfred crossed his arms and grinned even wider, looking down at her.

"You're not as weird as I thought! I mean, you are sorta weird and I totally think you might need some help with that obession of yours, but I think you're cool enough to sit at my table!" After his little speech he sat back down; Matilda's whole face went red, in anger and embarassment.

"Ahaha..thanks for that, I guess? I'm...ah...honored. Really," Alfred nodded his head, and just as he was about to say something the lunch bell rang. Alfred and the others groaned and began to scatter into the school building.

"Maan, already? Not cool...See ya Maddie! I can call you that, right?" Matilda nodded while smiling.

"Yeah, it's fine! See ya too, Al!"

As soon as everyone had gone inside she let out a scream of anger before calming down and hurrying to class.

oOo

"He had the nerve to think that he could decide if I could sit on a piece of school property! That's ridiculous! It was embarassing! Maybe I wouldn't have minded it as much if he wasn't that loud about it, but there's no helping it now!" Matilda slammed her locker and began to walk outside with Gilbert, who at times, like today, drove her home. Francis would have done so himself, but couldn't because he attended a different school. It was bullshit, really.

"Well Birdie, at least you're kinda friends with him? I mean, that's part of your plan..." Matilda took her glasses off, a habit she had when getting mad, and began to walk atad faster than Gilbert.

"Yeah, it is, but still! I don't want everyone to know! It's bad enough that Jessica is a HUGE gossip, and even ruined my life in 9th grade! I wanted this to just be quiet and normal." She let out a sigh of frustration before putting her glasses back on and rubbing the back of her head. Gilbert put his arm around her as they continued to walk to his yellow sports car.

"Just calm down Birdie. Alfred's really fuckin' loud, so the whole thing being "quiet" probably ain't gonna happen. I mean, just look at him! He's sorta like a big monkey with the IQ of a smelly sock." Matilda laughed abit as she got in the car.

"You could say that Gilbo. At least he's nice, right?"

Alfred, who luckliy hadn't heard anything they had said, had stared at them, and was rather curious when he saw Gilbert put his arm about Matilda. He turned his head to MaryEllen, who was another girl who hung out with Alfred; She wasn't mean like the other girls in general, but she was a pretty heavy gossiper. She knew pretty much everything about everyone at the school, but the only thing that was bad about it was that she got facts wrong or mixed up sometimes. Hey, it would happen now and then if a person knew that much!

"Hey MaryEllen, what's the deal with those two?" He pointed to Matilda and Gilbert before they had gotten in the car. Quickly looking up from her phone she managed to see them before they left. She looked up at the sky for a moment in thought, than looked at Alfred.

"That guy's Gilbert; They're pretty much BFFs, but they've started dating." Wait, maybe that was with Steve and Beth...Same thing, right? Alfred looked at her for a minute before laughing.

"Haha, they sure arn't shy about it than! Cute couple!"

"Those two? Dating? He doesn't seem like her type...Eh, whatever. I'd be surprised if she wasn't taken! . . . Then again, I take that back. I don't think ANYONE could deal with that obession with hers! . . . Except Gilbert. Must be tough."

Alfred waved MaryEllen goodbye before heading to his own car to head home. Matilda Williams was really, purely, weird. When did she even start with that totally unhealthy obession? At least she was going to help him get some cool new boots!

Wait.

He hadn't gotten her number!

"Guess I gotta ask her about it tomorrow..."

oOo!

IT'S FINALLY LONG. FIANNLLLLY. Sorry if this chapter sucks OTL I think about my stories, and what happens in them, but when I get down to writing, must of the time it's pure improve.

/SHOT/