Just how big is this school? Alfred had to wonder, being led to and from studio after office after bathroom in this seemingly endless tour. And this was only the main building. The concrete, stainless steel, and Plexiglass complex was positively immense! There was no way he was going to remember all of this, even though Miss Hedervay was doing all she could to pound it into his head.

"And I guess we'll stop here for now," Miss Hedervay, thankfully, concluded, gesturing to the glass doors, "This leads to the main courtyard. The sign-in desk is out there, and so are most of the new boys. Who've arrived, anyway," Miss Hedervay added, "It's still a little early."

"Thanks, Miss Hedervay," Alfred said, "I can handle it from here."

With that, the teacher bid him adieu, and he started through the courtyard, which was sandwiched between the main building and several others. But he didn't make it that far, thanks to the fact that he almost instantly bumped into someone, nearly falling over and dropping his bag.

"Watch where you're going, you pillock!" the voice of his victim chided. Alfred turned to look at him, only managing to catch a blond head of hair and the biggest frakking eyebrows he had ever seen when his attention was averted by a brazen battle cry.

"BOMBS AWAY!"

The American teen whipped his head around to the source of the noise, finding three boys on the main building balcony, one floor up; a tanned brunet, a tall blond, and an albino chucking a red water balloon straight at him. Or, more specifically, to his victim.

Oh, shit.

Now, Alfred, being the hero he was, knew he had to do something. If this were a movie or something, he would stand directly in front of the shorter boy, taking the impact directly to the chest. It would probably also happen in dramatic slow-mo so Alfred would have enough time to get fully in front of him.

But it wasn't a movie; it was reality. And, in reality, he didn't have the superhuman speed or agility required to get his whole body in front of this heavily eyebrowed guy in time. Really, he only managed to get his wrist in the trajectory, so most of it kind of exploded on Eyebrows' face.

The three boys on the balcony burst out laughing, the explosion of water attracting a crowd. Eyebrows just wiped the water from his eyes and glared up at them, face starting to go red, greatly contrasting his deep green eyes.

Alfred tried to apologize. "I'm so sor-."

"Now, now, sourcils," the blond one tutted, still chuckling, "Using your boyfriend as protection? That's just cheating."

"Shut up, Francis!" Eyebrows spat back, "At least I don't need to pull childish pranks to get my bloody kicks, you manky frog!"

Before any more insults could be spewed, however, an authoritative voice rang out. "What on Earth is going on here?"

When the boys saw the source of this voice, the crowd immediately dispersed, making way for the tall and extremely muscular man with gravity-defying blond hair making his way through the crowd.

"Nothing, Mister Maes," the brunet said, still chuckling.

"Don't you think for one second I'll believe you, Carriedo Fernandez," Mister Maes replied, looking more cross with every passing second, "Report to my office immediately. Bonnefoy, Beilschmidt, you, too." Although there was much grumbling from the roof, the trio left the scene via the main building, Mister Maes following close behind to make sure they didn't try anything.

Once they were alone, Eyebrows, still a delicate shade of crimson, rounded on Alfred. "What the hell was that?"

"Whaddya-," Alfred started, but was cut off by the shorter.

"Do you think I'm some bloody damsel in distress? I don't need your goddamned help!"

Eyebrows stormed off, leaving Alfred angry, humiliated, and slightly baffled by this unprecedented turn of events.

After that incident, Alfred managed to get his welcome package from two very amused-looking upperclassmen, before storming off to his dorm. Still burning with rage and embarrassment, he didn't really bother looking around after violently swinging his dorm door open, and took all his vexation out by chucking his bag onto the nearby bed as vigorously as he possibly could. He didn't even notice the presence in the room with him until it let out a strangled cry of surprise. Confused, he turned, only to find that his ridiculously monstrous bag was squashing his apparent roommate.

"Oh, geez!" Alfred ran to remove the duffel, sparing the fair and gentle-looking boy underneath, the book he had inevitably been reading smashed into his face from the harsh contact. "I'm super sorry! I didn't see you there!"

"No problem," he said in the airy, passive voice of someone who was used to this. He tenderly detached the book from his face, revealing soft features, violet eyes, long-ish blond hair, and glasses, which he carefully removed to make sure they were still intact.

When Alfred slammed his suitcase onto the opposite bed, the boy twitched a bit at the noise. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Alfred lied, not wanting to annoy his new roommate. However, after a few moments, he couldn't help it. The boy listened patiently to his rant as Alfred unpacked.

"-and I was just trying to help! I mean, I didn't really do much. The balloon still hit his face, but at least I did something! You should have seen those guys; they were laughing like total douchebags! And then he just goes and yells at me! It's like, thanks a lot, man! I stand up for you and you act like I did something wrong! And he called me a pillock! What the hell does that even mean?"

"It doesn't sound too nice," the boy muttered, burying his face in his stuffed polar bear. One of many, it seemed; he had several teddy bears already on his bed.

Alfred huffed, shoving the last of his shirts into the dresser, before realising they hadn't introduced themselves. "I'm Alfred. Alfred F. Jones. What's your name?"

"I'm Matthew Williams," the boy said, "And this is Kuma… Kuma…" He flipped the polar bear over, checking the tag sticking out of its backside. "Kumajiro. I'll remember his name one day, I swear."

"That's a weird name," Alfred commented.

"My mom named him; it's an Inuit* name," Matthew claimed, "My mom loves Aboriginal culture."

"Inuit?" Alfred asked, not recognizing the word.**

"Northern Native Americans," he clarified, "I'm from Canada, so…"

"Cool!" Alfred said, "I'm born-and-raised American, myself. He, is it true that the second you cross the Canadian border, it gets ten degrees colder?"***

"Wha- Uh, no," Matthew muttered, "Never mind."

Alfred shrugged, surprised to find himself feeling slightly happier. Even if his first encounter at this school wasn't exactly a positive one, he felt as though he had finally found a friend in… Matthew; that was his name, right?

*I'd say it's an Inuit name, judging by the fact that Matthew is, well, Canadian. I don't know for sure, though.

**Most American's I've met have no clue what Inuits are. If you're American and you do, I apologize. It's just my personal experience.

***An actual stereotype I have encountered. Alfred seems dumb enough to believe it :P

****Just wanted to add another. I've never had this many citations in a row before.

Anyway, sorry this chapter took forever. I'd say it's because school has become a bitch lately, but that would be making excuses. I'm just seriously procrastinating. I hope it's good.

Secondly, I'd like to give a shout-out to all of the apparent Finnish people who read my fic. Seriously; half of the people who read this story are Finnish. So forgive my Google Translate, but kiitos!

Also, I'd like to thank Anon and A-Mermaids-Tear1398 for reviewing, and A-Mermaids-Tear1398, Lilly927, and Moonlit dark for following this story. Follows, favourites, and especially reviews make an author's day and motivate me, too. So, please, review if you can, and favourite/follow of you really like it. Thank you, and I'll try to get the new chapter up as soon as possible.