Author's note: I do not own Hetalia or any songs in here. A thank you to my wonderful and heroic beta, OreAmerika. She gets extra pancake loves for putting up with me. :3

Chapter 8: Mean

After school you walked down the empty hallway. Or at least, you thought it was empty. As you turned a corner you saw Ivan Braginski, a football player in 11th grade, holding Arthur Kirkland, the junior class president, against a locker by his shirt collar. Ivan's friends Yao Wang and Lars Vandyk stood by laughing. You stopped abruptly as you saw Ivan slam Arthur's head against the locker and say sweetly "give me the homework, da? Otherwise, we might have to hurt you."

You winced and ran down the hallway to them, "HEY" you shouted. "Let go of him!"

Ivan turned his head to look at you and smiled. "Now you have a girl fighting for you, Artie?" he sneered.

Arthur cringed. "I don't know her." To you, he said "get out of here! You'll get hurt!"

You nodded, and started to turn on your heel to find someone to help. Before you could run off, you felt a hand on each of your shoulders. The hands (belonging to Lars and Yao, who were now on either side of you) spun you around to face Ivan again.

Ivan laughed. "you think I'd let her out of here to go get a teacher?"

"Leave her out of this!" Arthur said angrily, earning him a punch to the stomach.

You moved your arms to try and get free, but the two burly juniors only gripped you tighter. You felt a breath on your ear as Lars said "aw, Ivan, can we keep this one? She's pretty cute." You glared at the boy holding your left arm behind your back.

"OH, get a life, jerk" you snapped at him.

Lars clicked his tongue at you. "Someone needs to be taught a lesson" he said darkly, bringing his hand up to your face and tracing you lips with his fingers. Seeing an opportunity, you brought your head forward and bit down on his hand….hard.

"OW" he screeched. "You little brat!" He raised his hand to hit you but was stopped by a voice behind you.

"LET. THEM. GO." You swiveled your head around to see the captain of the football team, Alfred Jones, glaring at Ivan, Yao, and Lars. Almost immediately, the two boys let go of you, and Ivan dropped Arthur on the ground. "What are you doing, Ivan?" Alfred demanded angrily.

Anger passed through Ivan's creepy perpetual smile. "Absolutely nothing, why do you ask?"

"Because if you're hassling these two, coach will kick all of you off the team" he said triumphantly. The boys paled and Ivan scowled. Alfred smirked. "Now get out of here before I decide not to get coach and take matters into my own hands." Ivan nodded and trudged down the hallway with Yao and Lars in tow.

Alfred looked at you, eyes full of concern. "Are you okay?" he asked.

You nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I don't think he is though" you motioned towards Arthur who sat slumped against the wall.

Arthur put a hand up tiredly. "I'm fine" he muttered.

Alfred pulled Arthur up from the floor. "Come on, lets get you to the nurse" he said softly. Arthur nodded weakly. Alfred flashed a smile at you. "Hey, nice job biting Lars back there. He deserved it."

You smiled a bit. "Well, he was being obnoxious, I had to do something."

Alfred nodded and turned to bring Arthur to the nurse. "Try not to get into any more trouble, okay?" he said to you over his shoulder. "It'd be a shame if someone hurt you."

You nodded and watched him walk down the hall. Once he was out of sight, you turned in the opposite direction to go home.

"I think it's time for a conference call with Mattie and Chelles" you thought as you walked through the doors to the building and started on the way to your house.

Author's note: and so America and Russia are introduced to the plot. Lars Vandyk is The Netherlands. Reviews are pancakes!