Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorite, and followed =D I apologize for the insanely long wait! I have several reasons why it took so long, but I won't bore you with all the details, just promise that it will not happen again. But to make up for it, I give you a nice long chapter!
Chapter 2
The flight to the United States was rather uneventful, aside from a small incident when America saw the Statue of Liberty from the plane and began to talk (yell) about it to Liz so exuberantly that a flight attendant had to ask him to quiet down. Liz's parents, of course, were thoroughly unimpressed, but Liz just rolled her eyes and told them to be nice.
A chauffeur met them at the airport and shuffled them into a long black limo that drove for hours. The atmosphere in the car was tense; even America kept quiet after Hungary shushed him twice. Liz spent most of the ride staring out the window, watching the scenery change from bustling cities to barren country to small towns like the one she grew up in. She texted with Andras and Sebestyen, telling them how different things looked from their home country and how uncomfortable the ride was.
Finally, the limo turned onto a long, paved driveway, at the end of which stood a three-story building made of red bricks. Perfectly manicured lawns spread out on either side of the driveway. Some students were milling around on the sidewalks in front of and to the sides of the building. One boy sprinted across the driveway in front of the car and seemed to intentionally crash into someone on the other side.
"Ridiculous Americans," Liz's mother grumbled under her breath as she watched the boy's friend shove him away.
"Actually, that student is from Australia," Hungary said tersely. "There is only one American student at this school."
"English please?" America whined as the car came to a stop by the front steps of the school. He instantly jumped out, Liz quickly following. "Well, here it is: the International Academy! Pretty cool, huh?"
"It's certainly… big," Liz replied. She looked up the large stone steps to the front doors, which were dark-polished cherry wood with ornate stained glass windows. 'International Academy' was carved into the stone above it. "And fancy."
"Yup! Nothing but the best! Come on, let's go inside," he said and promptly grabbed her wrist and dragged her up the stairs. Liz checked behind her to make sure her parents and Hungary were following as she stumbled up the steps.
At the top, America shoved both doors open and pulled Liz into the front lobby. The walls were painted a warm beige color, and a large crystal chandelier dangled above the golden-railed grand staircase. The window on the back wall stretched from the floor to the ceiling of the second floor, letting in a flood of sunlight. There were two sets of double doors on either side of the lobby, and potted plants spaced between the doors.
"This way, I'll introduce ya to Irina," America said, motioning to the first door on the right. "She's gonna be your tour guide for the day."
"Shouldn't that be you or Hungary?" Liz raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I don't speak Hungarian, so your parents would be lost, and probably more irritated with me than they already are. And me and Hungary don't know as much about the school as a student would."
"But you created it."
"Yeah, but it's not like we live here. Don't worry, Irina's nice; you'll like her," he said as he entered the room.
It was the same beige color as the lobby, with an area rug stretched across the floor and two large windows on the outer wall. Bookshelves lined the wall to the left of the door, and various couches and chairs were scattered in front of the fireplace across from Liz. Several students were lounging on the couches.
"Hey! Irina!" America called.
"Oh?" A girl with short silver hair and a round face turned around. Her blue eyes lit up when she saw the group by the door. "Oh, Mr. America and Miss Hungary. Hello!" She stood and hurried over to them, adjusting her navy blue blouse on the way. Liz couldn't help but notice that for a teenager she was rather, uh… well-endowed. "And you are new student," she switched to Hungarian.
"Yes," Liz blinked, surprised at the sudden language change. "I'm Elizaveta Hedervary, and these are my parents."
"Nice to meet you," the girl replied, shaking each of their hands. "I am Irina Braginskaya. I am showing you around school, da?"
"Well it seems like you guys have this covered. Me and Hungary have to go talk to somebody, so we'll see you later!" America grabbed Hungary's arm and tugged her out of the room.
"So he does that to everyone," Liz mumbled under her breath. Irina laughed.
"Mr. America is strange, but he is kind. We see him often here. Now, we begin." She smiled kindly. "This is lounge room and library."
"Rather small for a school library," Liz's mother commented.
"Is one of three," Irina continued. "This is for older students. Some also go to library in town on weekends. Now this way."
The other rooms on the main floor were similar, with two more libraries and a large study room. Upstairs were ten small rooms, five on either side; each contained a table, four chairs, and a whiteboard. Irina called these the classrooms. When Mrs. Hedervary asked how they could possibly hold class in such small rooms, Irina explained that since the school had so few students they were each given private tutoring with occasional group projects.
As the girl began to lead them outside, Liz hung back and spoke quietly to her mother.
"You can be a little nicer to her; she's just giving us a tour."
"I'm only asking questions; how is that being rude?" She then hurried to walk beside her husband again. Liz huffed and pushed ahead of her parents to follow their guide out the back door.
"So Irina," she said, purposely switching to English, "what do you do for fun around here?"
"Elizaveta, Hungarian please," her father chimed in.
"I'm only speaking in the language Irina is clearly more comfortable with; how is that being rude?" Liz finished with a pointed look at her mother, who frowned. "Anyways, Irina?"
"Oh, well I mostly hang out with my friends, the people you saw in the first library. There's a gym connected to the cafeteria, that's that building over there, so you can use that if you wish. I also participate as a Big Sister."
"What's that?" Liz was listening to her guide, but her eyes were wandering over the vast grounds behind the main building. Well-kept flowerbeds lined all the pathways, and a large willow tree provided shade to a few students over between the cafeteria building and the two-story building to which the group was headed.
"The Sister-Brother program pairs older students with younger ones as mentors of sorts. We help the little ones with their adjustment to a new country and with their schoolwork and such. It is quite fun."
"You have little kids here? I thought it was a high school."
"No, we run daycare through 12th grade. Our youngest student is 4."
"Interesting," Liz said, watching a boy by the willow tree lean over and kiss another boy on the cheek. She glanced back to make sure her parents hadn't seen that; they would not be pleased.
"I'm sorry, do your parents speak English?" Irina looked to Liz with a frown. "I was told they did not."
"Did I start to speak English on accident?" Liz laughed. "I apologize. No, they do not."
"Oh." Irina smiled again. "Now, this is dorm house." They followed her up the stone steps to a simple wooden door.
"It's very different from the other buildings," Liz said as they walked into a simple foyer that had absolutely no gold, chandeliers, or perfectly polished hardwood.
"Da, idea was to make it look, what is word? Homey? To make students feel more comfortable. There is activity room." She motioned to the left, where a tall archway led to a long room that was filled with a few TVs, video game systems, computers, art supplies, a bucket of small instruments, and other random things. A few kids were playing some racing game on a TV. "And some bedrooms are on right."
Each door had signs displaying the names of whoever lived in them, along with pictures and posters and other such things. Liz noticed a theme of flags on the doors. Irina then took them upstairs where the majority of the rooms were.
"Bedrooms are given by chance, so you may have roommate or may not. I will show my room." She stopped and knocked on a door with the names 'Irina' and 'Michelle' written across them in colorful paper letters. Liz recognized the Ukrainian flag by Irina's name, but Michelle's flag was unfamiliar. "Michelle?"
"Come in!" A light voice responded.
Irina pushed open the door to reveal a room about as big as Liz's back home. It fit a dresser, a bunk bed, and two small desks. There was a closet on the far wall to the right, one half of which appeared to only contain sundresses. The entire room had been decorated with a nautical theme, fake fish and water everywhere, except the wall next to the bottom bunk, where a few pictures were sticky-tacked. Resting across the top bed was a girl with waist-length brown pigtails, tied with red bows. She wore a blue sundress (Liz now knew which side of the closet was hers) and was lying against a giant fish pillow (Liz now also knew who'd decorated the room).
"Hi Irina!" Michelle said, smiling brightly. She sat up on the bed, just barely brushing the ceiling with her head. "Who are the new people?"
"This is Elizaveta and her parents. She may be our new student from Hungary. One second, I'll need to translate." She turned back to the Hedervary's. "She is my roommate, Michelle. This is what normal room looks like, but less fish in yours, I think."
Liz laughed, and was surprised that even her father cracked a smile.
Michelle slid off of her bed, bypassing using the ladder, and skipped over to them. She was tall, nearly the same height as Liz, but in a gangly sort of way, like she hadn't really grown into her limbs yet. Liz decided she was probably no older than 13 or 14.
"Hello," she said with a wave. "You can call me Chelly."
"I'm Elizaveta." Liz smiled back.
"How do you like the school?" Michelle leaned forward a bit, as if to hear her better.
"It looks cool so far," Liz replied.
Michelle grinned and clapped her hands. "Yay! I hope you decide to come!"
"That is the end of the tour," Irina cut in. "Next we meet up again with Mr. America and Miss Hungary. Do you have any questions for me or Michelle before we go?"
She translated for Liz's parents, and all three Hedervarys agreed that no, they did not have any questions for the girls. Irina promptly led them back across the grounds to the main building. When they got there, they found America and Hungary bickering in their gibberish language by the staircase.
"Are they always like this?" Liz whispered to Irina.
"Not that I've seen," Irina whispered back. "Of course, Miss Hungary hardly visits here so I can't say for certain."
"Elizaveta! Irina!" They both turned at the call to see America waving for their attention. "Hey, how'd the tour go?" he said as he ran over to them. Hungary followed, a smile replacing the irritated expression on her face.
"I believe it went well," Irina replied.
"Great! So you're gonna go to school here, Elizaveta?"
Liz froze, uncertain. America, Hungary and Irina were all staring at her, expectantly waiting for her answer. She turned back to her parents, who looked confused, not having understood the question.
"What do you think?" She asked them. "You haven't spoken in a while; what are you thinking?"
"The school seems nice," her mother said slowly, "but I'm not sure. I'm still not comfortable with you coming to school so far away."
"It seems like a good opportunity," her father put in, "however, I don't know if you're old enough just yet. Not thinking about your mother and I's opinions, do you believe you're ready for something like this?"
Liz didn't answer right away. She looked to her mom, who gave a tight nod which meant she agreed with her husband, but wasn't happy about it. Then Liz turned to the people behind her: Irina had said she was 17, and that she'd attended the school for six years. She seemed well-adjusted and happy with her living arrangement. Michelle had seemed fine too. And Liz only had about two and a half years left of school.
"I believe I am," she finally said, facing her parents once more. "It could be an interesting experience."
"Very well, dear," her father said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "If you really want to, we can talk particulars with America and Hungary, and see if we can work something out."
"Wonderful!" Hungary chimed. "We can go to the main office and discuss paperwork and tuition and such. Irina, why don't you take Elizaveta to meet some of your friends? We'll come get her when we're finished."
"Sure," Irina said, "come on, Elizaveta." She gestured toward the back door.
"Call me Liz," the Hungarian girl replied. She was rewarded with the brightest smile Irina had worn since she met her.
"Of course! Come on, Liz." She said as she ushered her outside.
"Irishka! Irishka!" A little girl suddenly came barreling down the path. She had long silver-blond hair with a white bow perched on top. Her dark blue dress flapped around her legs as she ran. When she reached them, she grabbed Irina's pant leg and glared up at her, lips pursed and eyes narrowed. "Where have you been? I was looking for you."
"I'm sorry, Natashka," Irina said, crouching down to the girl's level. "I was helping show my new friend around the school. Can you say hello?"
The girl turned to Liz and looked her up and down. "Hello."
"Hello, I'm Elizaveta. What's your name?" Liz replied, also crouching down.
"Natalya," she said shortly, eyes still narrowed.
"It's nice to meet you, Natalya. I like your bow."
"Thank you," Natalya said, glare turning to more of a frown. Liz took that as a good sign.
"I believe I told you earlier about the Sister-Brother program, da?" Irina said. "Natalya is my Little Sister. I have a Little Brother as well."
"Vanushka," Natalya said. "He's doing homework with Tino right now. He said he couldn't play, so I came to find you."
"Well, I was about to go introduce Elizaveta to some of the older kids. Why don't you go see what Maelys is doing, hm? I'll come and play with you in a little bit."
"Fine," Natalya crossed her arms and huffed. "I'm coming to get you if you take too long."
"Alright, dear," Irina smiled and hugged the girl, then gave her a light push toward the dorm house.
"Is she your real sister?" Liz asked as Natalya ran off.
"No, just for the program. Why do you ask?"
"Just that she looks a lot like you, and you have the same accent."
"Natalya is Miss Belarus's Copy, and I am Miss Ukraine's. The two of them are sisters, and look very alike, so it makes sense that Natalya and I would look similar, but no, we are not related. Come this way, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend." She stood up and left the sidewalk. As Liz followed, she realized they were heading toward the big willow tree she'd seen earlier. The same few kids from before were hanging around it.
A tall, skinny boy stood up when he saw the girls coming over. He had platinum blond hair, the left side of which was held out of his face with a silver cross-shaped pin. He wore stressed jeans, and a white button-up shirt with a light blue plaid vest. He smiled softly, navy eyes shining, as he pulled Irina into a hug and kissed her.
Irina laughed and took his hand. "Kohana, this is Elizaveta; she is going to be our new student from Hungary."
"It's nice to meet you, Elizaveta," the boy said, holding out his unoccupied hand.
"Call me Liz," she replied as she shook the offered hand. "It's nice to meet you, too…"
"Lukas," he supplied. "Lukas Bondevik."
"Lukas," she repeated. "So you're Irina's boyfriend?"
Before Lukas could answer, a voice cut in, "Ugh, how could you tell? Was it the annoying PDA they throw in your face every time they see each other?"
Liz saw Lukas roll his eyes and take a deep breath as he turned to the source of the voice; a muscular boy with short blond hair that stuck out at all angles, leaning against the tree, arm casually slung around the shoulders of a slight silver-haired boy who wore a black baseball cap and was incredibly concentrated on a Rubik's cube.
"No worse than you making out with Gilbert for the past half hour," Lukas grumbled.
Ah, so those were the two boys Liz had seen kissing while her and her parents were on their tour. Sure enough, the wild-haired boy leaned over and kissed the silver-haired boy full on the mouth, startling him out of his concentration. Wild-hair put more force behind it, pressing his boyfriend back against the tree while Lukas huffed in irritation.
"Are you done, Matthias?" He asked after a few more seconds.
Matthias wrapped his arms around Gilbert's shoulders and twisted them, pinning Gilbert down onto the grass without breaking the kiss.
Liz's eyes widened; this was starting to look a lot like the drawings she usually made of her friends.
"Either cut it out or get a room," a new voice suddenly snapped. Everyone turned to see an angry-looking blond with chin-length hair and bangs over on the sidewalk. "Not all of us want to watch you two get it on while we're going to dinner."
Matthias, still straddling Gilbert, grinned at him. "Don't be jealous just 'cuz you don't get any, Vash. Besides, Lukas told me to make out with Gilbert." He leaned down again, but Lukas quickly grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him up.
"Now you're just being irritating," Lukas said.
"Oh, lighten up," Matthias said.
As they began to argue, Liz looked to Vash, who was walking away quickly, and then to Irina, who was laughing quietly, and then to Gilbert, who was tossing his Rubik's cube back and forth with an amused expression.
"I'm Gil, by the way," he said to Liz. "You're hot," he added.
Liz opened her mouth to question his bluntness, but he winced then and reached up to his head.
"Frickin' Matt," he grumbled upon realizing his hat had been knocked off. He quickly snatched it from behind him and ducked under the shade of the tree again. "I can't really be in the sun," he explained when he saw Liz's questioning look.
At that comment she noticed that he was incredibly pale, though his face was slightly red. And then she noticed that his eyes were really red.
"But don't mind them," he waved in Matthias and Lukas's direction. "They're roommates; they're always like that. Right, Rina?"
Irina laughed and sat down across from him. "Yes, you get used to it. Would you like to join us, Liz?" she asked, patting the ground next to her.
Liz smiled and sat between them, creating a little triangle. A somewhat awkward silence ensued until she pointed at Gilbert's slightly sunburnt cheeks and said, "Well, looks like you're hot, too."
He blinked, and then busted out laughing. It was a weird sound, not really 'hahaha,' but more like 'kesese.'
"When do you move in!" He practically shouted. Then, "You are going to be awesome; I can tell."
APHAPHAPHAPH
Translations (from limited internet sources and GoogleTranslate, so please correct me if I'm wrong):
Da: Ukrainian for yes
Irishka: diminutive of Irina
Natashka: diminutive of Natalya
Vanushka: diminutive of Ivan
Kohana: Ukrainian term for sweetheart, dear, etc.
New People and their Copy Names:
Irina- Ukraine
Michelle- Seychelles
Natalya- Belarus
Lukas- Norway
Matthias- Denmark
Gilbert- Prussia
Vash- Switzerland
I like using lots of characters, so I'll always be sure to put this in whenever there are new people or people who haven't shown up in a while or anything like that.
Thank you for reading! If you'd like, please leave a review to let me know what you think =)
~Chocochino