Chapter 3
According to the local weather reporter, this one fine September day was supposed to be perfect. The sun will the be out and the skies will be clear during the entire day. The temperature will drop so that today will not be too hot like the last few days.
Unfortunately, today may not be considered perfect to some ; specifically, to students. Today is the first day back to school, and students dreaded that day...except for Alfred.
Yes, you have to start getting up early and, yes, now you won't have any extra time for yourself because you have homework and projects and studying for the tests. Although, Alfred agrees that he used to not like to go to school for those reasons. He still doesn't. But those weren't the only reason.
He dreaded school time because that would mean he would not be able to see Matthew as often as would during the summer and winter breaks. The two went to two different public schools, so they didn't see each other as often as they would like to. They had to always wait until the weekend in order to be together, which Alfred would have to wait, which he hated to do.
Well, he used to anyway. Now that the two got accepted to the same school, they can now see each other more without certain restrictions that blocked them from seeing each other.
Since they're now going to high school, they can take the public bus more freely than before (Arthur was quite strict when it came to Alfred leaving the house alone, even if he was meeting Matthew).
Speaking of taking the public bus, now the brothers are going to have to take the bus to and from school. But, they would have to wake up earlier than usual just so they can meet at the same bus stop and from there, go straight to the academy.
However, it seems that they may be a bit delayed thanks to Alfred, if it weren't for Matthew calling him that morning. See, he was still sleeping when Matthew had called him to ask if he was ready. Upon realising that he had slept through the time he had set his alarm clock, he quickly scurried to get ready. After putting on his uniform (just a collored T-shirt and black tie, with the standard black pants) he made a quick dash to meet up with Matthew.
"You're so lucky that we caught this bus," Matthew said when Alfred ran all the way up to him as the bus had just pulled up to the stop they were at. "If you were just a second late, we would've had to wait here for hours!"
"That's an exaggeration," Alfred said between pants. He literally ran when he got off the bus he took when he noticed that the bus they had to take was just coming.
"Okay, well, maybe half an hour," Matthew responded once they had entered the bus and they a seat down. "This bus has the worst schedule."
"I ran all the way here man!" Alfred exclaimed. Matthew just chuckled, before replying,
"I can see that. You wouldn't have to if you start waking up early in the morning...And maybe you could have put your tie on properly." His brother leaned forward and started to unfastened Alfred's badly tied up tie, before starting to lace it properly.
"You're just like Dad, you know that?" Alfred mumbled, embarrassed that Matthew would be doing this in public, but they were in the back of the bus, and there weren't many people who were there. Those who were didn't pay much attention to them. "What, are you going to ask me if I ate a good breakfast?"
"I think the question should be, 'did you even eat breakfast?'" Matthew replied. Before Alfred could begin to respond, his stomach let out a long, low growl. He had completely forgotten about eating until the question was brought up. And now that he was thinking about breakfast, he could feel the hunger inside him.
"Ahaha...Well..." Alfred started nervously, before Matthew let out a sigh as he let go of his tie.
"I knew that you wouldn't have time to eat since you were rushing," Matthew said, reaching for his bag and pulling out a plastic food container out, along with a plastic fork. "So I brought this for you."
"Thanks Mattie" Alfred exclaimed, accepting the container. He opened it to find a few pancakes inside. "Sweet! Pancakes! You made these for me?"
"Actually, they were for myself," Matthew said as Alfred started to eat the food. "But, I had extras. And besides, I had a feeling when I called you that you weren't going to eat anything. Might as well make you food rather than let you starve until lunch."
Alfred just nodded as he continued to eat the pancakes. Matthew said stared at him as he ate, before asking, "What am I going to do with you, Al?"
"Love me?" Alfred said. "Cherish me? Wake me up every morning and make me pancakes?"
"Yeah, right," Matthew retorted. "I hope I won't have to do the last part everyday."
"Okay, not the waking up part dude," Alfred said. "But, I would love to have pancakes every morning..."
"No way am I doing that."
"Oh c'mon dude!" Alfred said, leaning against Matthew. "You know how much I love your cooking Mattie! Especially your pancakes! You're such an amazing cook!"
"Flattering me won't make me make you pancakes every single morning of the week," Matthew replied, letting out a small laugh at his brother's comments.
It has always been like this between the two. They would always arguments over certain things, however it was never that serious. Actually, they never had a serious argument, it was more like he two would take the opportunity to poke fun at each other, and tease one another over the smallest of things.
They continued their little banter on until they finally reached their stop, and they proceeded to make their way towards the Academy they were going to attend. It was past a small neighbourhood, where where it was pretty isolated from the rest of the town.
Once the duo entered the huge building, they found themselves in the spacious, yet a bit crowded, Main Foyer of the school.
"Finally!" Alfred said, feeling a bit tired from that long walk between the bus stop to the school. He took a glimpse around the foyer, noting how big it really was. He knew the place was pretty big (that's an understatement- it was huge!), but it seemed bigger than the last time he came here, with his Dad. "Is it just me, or does the place look bigger than before?"
"It's just you," Matthew replied sticking close to Alfred.
Alfred noticed that to the wall across to where they were standing, there were a pair of huge doors that lead to what was an auditorium (or the 'Grande Theatre', as the plaque above the doors read). On to both sides of the entrance, there were two long tables that were set up, with students lining up.
"What's that for," Alfred asked, Matthew as they began to walk forward.
"I'm pretty sure that's where we register," Matthew replied, sounding a bit unsure. He glanced along the rows of students before saying, "It's funny, but it doesn't seem like there is a lot of student...I was expecting more."
Alfred was about to say something in agreement, before he heard a husky, German-accented voice directly behind them say (or, more like exclaim),
"Of course not!" The brothers quickly turned around,looking directly at the source of the voice. There stood a boy, maybe around their age, looking directly at them (mostly at Alfred). The features of the boy struck Alfred as incredibly odd- he had an ivory complexion, but it seemed paler against his slighty spiked up snow-white hair, and his eyes seemed to have a red colour to them. He was around their height (or a bit shorter) and he was wearing the white school collar shirt, along black pants.
"You guys must be the new freshies! Well, welcome to the school, my dear birdies! Kesese~" the boys said, finishing with a cackle and lending out his hand. It was a small, friendly gesture, yet, Alfred suddenly did not feel that comfortable with him. He found the boy odd - and a bit too friendly?
He noticed how Matthew, however, moved a bit forward, as if he would shake his hand. Matthew was always polite, and he didn't want to leave the stranger hanging.
The boy suddenly just took notice of Matthew , and he looked at him for a second, as if examining him. He then leant way too close to Matthew, before letting out a small whistle.
"Wow, I didn't know they'd have a real cutie amongst the freshmen," he said, grinning. Alfred realised that Matthew just stood frozen in place, and...was he... blushing? Matthew's entire face slowly stared to turn into a red colour, most likely from the other's comment. Looking at the stranger again, he took a step so that he was between Matthew and the other.
"Who are you?" Alfred asked, earning a sort of glare from the other.
"You don't know who I am?" The boy said in disbelief. "Well, I should introduce myself. I am the one and only, awesome Grade 10, Gilbert Beilschmidt, from the most powerful nation in the world: PRU-!"
Before he could finish, someone hit him lightly, so he can stop. Alfred glanced away from Gilbert and saw another young boy. But this one was a few inches taller than Gilbert, and although they had a similar complexion, this one had blond hair that was slicked back, and hard clear-blue eyes.
"Bruder," the blond started, and he too had a German accent. "I asked you to take me to the registration table. Not to make a fool of yourself."
"Geez, West! Must you be like that?"
"I am sorry if my brother did any harm to you," the blond (who is supposedly named West?) Said, as if he had said this to other people before. He then asked, "Are you in Grade 9 too?"
"Y-yes, we are," Matthew spoke up behind Alfred.
"Oh, okay. I'm in that grade as well. Sorry about that. What my brother was trying to say is that they don't usually see a lot of students that gets accepted here. It's normal to see this many students. Although there are more in the auditorium and the dorms. You guys should start registering now. Just go to one of the lines. They should give you your schedule, and other necessary things."
"Yep, thank you man," Alfred said, before pulling Matthew aside towards the lines. Before he left, he said, "By the way, what's your name? Ya know, since we might end up in the same class in the first semester!"
"Ludwig," the blond said. "Ludwig Beilschmidt."
Alfred merely nodded, saying the name once more in his head, before walking away with Matthew in arm. That was one of the weirdest thing that ever happened to him. It was only the first day, and he did expect to meet any creeps. That Ludwig guy was pretty cool. It was that brother of his that seems like a weirdo.
"Well, that was random," Matthew said quietly. "Although they seem nice..."
"Are you kidding me Mattie?" Alfred asked, a bit surprised. "Sure, I guess that Ludwig guy's cool, but that other guy looks like a creep...no wait. He IS a creep."
"Alfred, that's not really nice to say," Matthew replied, and Alfred couldn't help but roll his eyes a bit. Sometimes, Matthew can be a bit too nice. And that has always astonished Alfred.
For the next few minutes, they were just standing the line. Alfred glanced around the foyer, and he noticed how majority of them were male students. He knew there must have been many other students other than male, however, it seemed that maybe in their year they might have a lot of males.
"Man, I noticed how many guys there are here," Alfred mumbled to Matthew, glancing forward to the boy who was standing in front of them. The boy was talking none-stop and rapidly to the person that was standing in front of said boy. He is shorter in height compared to Alfred, and his skin was an olive colour. His hair is a light brown, and a obvious curl stuck out of his hair. Alfred could barely understand a single word the boy was saying- he spoke so quickly that his words were melded together.
"Maybe the others were sent to the dorms? Or the auditorium?" Matthew replied.
"Hm, could be," Alfred said, before he realised that the boy in front of him had left and a young lady was sitting opposite to where he was standing, looking at the line.
"Next," she said, and Alfred started to walk forward. She looked up to Alfred with her deep-set blue eyes, that were behind her red-framed glasses, and she asked sharply, "Name?"
"Um, Alfred? Alfred F. Kirkland?" Alfred managed to say, feeling a sudden sense of intimidation from how the lady was looking at him. She quickly went through the big brown envelopes that were stacked on one side of her.
"Mhm...Kirkland...Here you go," She said, handing him his file. "Please go into the auditorium and remain seated."
"Thank you," he replied, before turning to Matthew quickly. "I'll see you inside, brah!"
Before he could hear his brother's reply, he entered the huge auditorium, which was already a crowded. For a moment, Alfred couldn't see well. The auditorium was dimly lit, and the only thing he could actually see properly was the stage at the front, which was lit up with a bright spot-light. He stood around for a bit, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness, before making his way alongside the rows of seats, looking for a place to sit. All the rows in the back were already taken, and the only vacant ones were near the front of the stage. He started to walk down the aisle, until he was behind a few students who were walking way too slow. Alfred tried to make his way through them, which worked. But maybe he was too quick to push through them and he wasn't able to see the other boy that was right in front of him, thanks to the dark, and accidentally bumped into the other. He must have pushed him harshly, because the other boy stumbled a bit forward, and his envelope fell to the ground, along with the other books the boy was carrying.
"Oh shit," Alfred mumbled, as he immediately bent over towards the books that fell near him. The other boy was able to catch himself from falling, and he quickly bent down to take his envelope.
"Shit, dude!" Alfred quickly said, before forming an apology, "I'm so sorry dude, I didn't mean to bump into you-" He stopped himself quickly when he finally looked up to look at the other.
The boy who he had bumped into was staring at him intently, and he looked at him with an expression that Alfred couldn't decipher. From what he could see clearly, he could make out the boy's small figure. The boy had a bit of a cream complexion to his skin, and he had short jet-black hair that stood out against him. When the two stood up from the ground, not only did Alfred noticed how he was incredibly slim, in contrast to Alfred's bigger built, but how much shorter he was.
But, the one thing that Alfred had really noticed of the boy, and the one thing that may have captured his attention, would have to be his almond-shaped eyes- the irises were a warm, brown colour, with flickers of amber in the mix. The way the amber seem to gleam like tiny sparks of fire intrigued Alfred, and he kept staring the them, unaware that the other boy was staring at him questioningly.
"May I help you with something?" The boy asked, and Alfred blinked a bit, snapping out of his small trance.
"Uh...N-no, nothing," Alfred said, collecting himself. "Sorry about that dude. I didn't mean to bump into you like that."
"Ah," the other started, and as he proceeded to talk, Alfred noticed his soft accent. "No, it's alright. If anything, I should be apologising. I was sort of in your way..."
"Nah, bro, it was completely my fault," Alfred said, with a small shrug. "I shouldn't have pushed my way through those people." Alfred then pointed towards the group he was referring to. "But, then again, they were taking up the aisle and wouldn't let anyone through."
"That is true," the boy said, before looking down to Alfred's hand. Alfred glanced down, and noticed he was still holding the boy's sketchbook. There was a piece of ripped paper that edged out of the sketchbook, and Alfred caught a glimpse of the drawing on it. It was a sketch of someone- just a guy. Although it was just a small sketch, it was actually really good. He handed it back to the boy, who accepted it quickly and placed it underneath his arm along with his other items.
"Are you an artist or something?" Alfred asked, wanting to hold a conversation with this boy. He didn't want to go ahead and sit alone; it would be too awkward for him. Plus, he may as well start making friends now rather than later. He can't be stuck with only Matthew during his time he'll be spending in this place.
"Erm," the boy started, and Alfred could see he was a bit flustered with the question. He must have realised Alfred had seen one of his drawing "Yes, I guess you can say that."
"Really? That's cool, dude!" Alfred said with a grin, before asking, "What do you draw?"
"Just things," the boy replied. "Objects, people...I guess..."
"But, do you, like, draw realistic art or another type?" Alfred asked.
"I can draw a bit realistically, but I prefer a different style," the boy said.
"Ohh," Alfred said, noting that the boy must not have been comfortable with the topic, although he didn't know why. Maybe he was really shy. It then struck Alfred that he barely even knew the kid's name.
Alfred said quickly, realising his mistake, "I should have asked you this earlier, but what's your name?"
"Kiku," the boy replied after a second. "My name is Kiku Honda. And you are...?"
"Well, Kiku Honda," Alfred started, "It's nice to meet you. And my name is Alfred."
"It's just Kiku. And it's nice to meet you too," Kiku said, and he a small smile grew on his once blank face. "Alfred-san. "
"Alfred-san?" Alfred asked. "What's up with the san?"
"Oh," Kiku said, looking like he didn't notice he said that. "It's just that...it's an honorific that we use back home."
"And where's back home?" Alfred, unaware at the moment of where it's from.
"Um, Japan," Kiku replied.
"Japan?" Alfred echoed. He doesn't really know that much about the country, other than that's where some of the manga came from and certain historical events involving the nation. "Where in Japan?"
"I'm from Tokyo," Kiku said, before asking, "And you, Alfred? Where are you from?"
"Well, I'm from this town," Alfred replied, and soon, their conversation started to continue off to other places. It was mostly Alfred talking, however, and Kiku would be the one listening to him. They ended up sitting next to one another in one of the front rows, and Alfred was rambling one, before he asked,
"What classes do you have for this semester, dude?" he asked Kiku, who, in turn, gave him his schedule. He took out his and he compared the courses they had together.
At this school, the classes are divided into two semester, and the courses are split in half; four in the first semester (from September till February) and four in the second (February till June). That's why the education here was considered to be really fast, and that this was a high class, yet, fast-paced place to go.
On the schedual, there were the course's name, along with the teacher's name, the room number, and the period. On Alfred, it read :
Period 1- Gr. 9 Integrated Technology- An Dao- 401
Period 2- Gr. 9 Spanish- Eduardo Gomez -207
Lunch
Period 3- Gr. 9 Physical and Health Education (M) - Mogen Lars- Gym 1
Period 4-Gr. 9 Science- Krishna Rangarajan- 120
Alfred glanced over to Kiku's paper, which read the following:
Period 1- Gr. 9 Integrated Technology- An Dao-401
Period 2- Gr. 9 Science- Krishna Rangarajan - 120
Lunch
Period 3- Gr. 9 Physical and Health Education (M) - Mogen Lars- Gym 1
Period 4-Gr. 9 Visual Arts - Grecia Karpusi - 235
"Yo, dude!" Alfred exclaimed. "We have Technology and Phys. Ed together!"
"Really now?" Kiku asked, although it sounded like he was saying this to himself.
"Yeah," Alfred said. "I wonder how Technology class is going to be...I wonder how our teacher is like, too."
"...This is the best seat you can get?" Alfred heard a familiar voice ask him, and he glanced beside him to find Matthew taking a seat beside him.
"Yeah, sorry dude. All the seats were taken in the back," Alfred replied. He noticed Kiku staring at Matthew, and there was a sudden confusion on his face. "Anyway, Matthew, I'd like you to meet Kiku Honda."
"You already made an acquaintance?" Matthew asked, amusement on his face.
"Well, yeah. He's in the same class as me for Integrated Technology and Gym. I would have met him sooner or later."
"It's nice to meet you, Kiku," Matthew said, lending out his hand. "My name's Matthew, and if you hadn't guessed, I'm that idiot's brother." Kiku seemed to twitch a bit when Matthew called him by his first name, and lend out his hand.
"Gomen'nasai," Kiku mumbled quietly as he shook Matthew's hand. "I'm not used to this. It's a pleasure to meet you, Matthew-san."
"Oh, are you from Japan?" Matthew said, who actually recognised the honorific. "If you are more comfortable, I can call you Honda-san, if you want."
"No, it's alright. You don't mind me calling you by your first name, correct?"
"No, I don't mind at all." Kiku smiled a small smile.
"Ah, that's good to hear," Matthew said, before opening his package and looking at his pages. Alfred couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed how Matthew sort of showed off his knowledge of other places like that. It's not a bad thing at all, but it's just that now Alfred seemed a bit ignorant.
"Say, Alfred? Can I see you're schedule?" Matthew asked, to which Alfred gave to him. He scanned through them alongside his brother.
It seems like the only classes that they shared together were Gym. For 1st Period, Matthew has Business, then French. After lunch they have Gym together, and after that, Matthew has Math.
"Hey, at least we have Physical and Health Education," Alfred said, nudging Matthew a bit.
"I am not looking forward to you in Health class," Matthew simply stated.
"Oh c'mon! What d'ya mean by that?" As they continued their discussing, they suddenly noticed that two, fairly young looking men walked up to the stage, to the podium and mic that was set up beforehand. One of the man was shorter than the other, with curly brown hair and huge smile on his face, while the other has a stoic expression, and had long blond hair. For some weird reason, the blond one looked familiar...especially when Alfred was able to notice he had blue eyes.
"Yo Matthew," Alfred started, pointing towards the one with the blond hair, "doesn't he look familiar? Like, other than the character Legolas from Lord of the Rings?"
"Yeah...I was thinking the same thing," Matthew responded, looking at the man. "Especially those blue eyes..."
Alfred looked at him for another second, squinting his eyes a bit to try and focus his vision. He really looked familiar, but he can't exactly place where he has seen that face before...
"Ve~," Alfred heard a slightly high voice behind him, before he heard them exclaim, "Oh, is that your grandfather, Ludwig?"
Recognising the name, both Alfred and Matthew turned their heads in uniform towards the people sitting behind him. There was a boy with what seems to be lightly tanned skin, with light brown hair and eyes. There was a visible strand of curly hair that sprung to the side, and the boy had this chipper look on his face. He was seated next to Ludwig, the blond boy that the brothers met earlier.
Suddenly Alfred knew why the man on the stage looked so familiar, and he pieced two and two together. Without even thinking and hesitating, Alfred exclaimed, in his oh-so-loud voice, "He's your grandpa!"
"Yeah," Ludwig mumbled, looking aside in embarrassment at being exposed. "He is..." His eyes glanced up to look at Alfred, and then at Matthew. "Aren't you the guys from earlier? The ones harassed my Gilbert?"
"Yeah, I guess we were," Alfred said, remembering the grade 10 boy who was literally flirting with his brother. He realized that the duo never actually told Ludwig their names since Alfred quickly dragged Matthew away to the registration line, so Alfred proceeded to say, "Sorry, I never actually told you my name. My name is Alfred. Alfred F. Kirkland." He glanced over to Matthew, and proceeded to say in a teasing way, "And this is my clone, Matthew."
"I am not your clone," Matthew replied without skipping a beat, as if Alfred as said this many times before. "I'm your brother."
"Ah, I see!" The boy said, taking a moment to look at their faces. "My name is Feliciano Vargas! I come from Italy! You know, the other one up there is my grandpa too!"
Alfred's widened his eyes in disbelief, as he quickly looked between Feliciano and the other man on the stage. The more he looked at them, he can see the similarities: they both had brown hair, and they both had similar smiles. It was really eerie how their smiles are so similar, but then, one can see their relation. But, that's not possible...the man looked too young to be a grandpa.
"Oh yeah?" Alfred mumbled, still in disbelief. "What does he work as?" They must have obviously must have worked at the school, considering how they were wearing a casual form of business attire...maybe they were teachers here too, like his dad?
"Oh, he's-"
"Feliciano," Ludwig abruptly interrupted the Italian. "I don't think you should be telling them..."er
"There's nothing wrong with telling them, Ludwig!" Feliciano replied back. It sounded like the two had know each other for quite a long time, by the way Feliciano talked with such familiarity to Ludwig.
"You guys knew each other when you were younger, or something," Alfred asked, and honest question he just thought of.
"Nope, not at all!" Feliciano said, before his smiled widened a bit more (if that was even possible). "I met him late during the summer! Since my Grandpa's the principal, and his grandfather is the vice principal, I met him when my grandpa brought me to the school to check in something!"
Now this was bewildering to both Alfred and Matthew. They looked at each other's surprised face, before looking back at Feliciano's happy one.
"Their the..." Alfred started.
"...Principal and Vice Principal?" Matthew ended his sentence right after Alfred finished his words.
"Oh that's so cool!" Feliciano said excitingly, clapping his hands together. "You guys even finish each other's sentences! You know, sometimes my Fratello and I would do that, but sometimes he would..."
Feliciano started to go on, as Alfred and Matthew turned their attention to the fact that has been brought up.
"No way..." Alfred said, still not buying this whole spiel of Feliciano and Ludwig's grandfathers.
"No point in denying it, Alfred," Matthew simply replied.
It was just their luck that they stumbled upon these two young looking grandfathers grandkids...and what's more, they might be in the same class together too!
"Everybody, sit down and be quiet!" The blond man suddenly ordered in a loud voice into the mic, and the auditorium suddenly fell into silence. It was like he had so much power and control over the room with just that one sentence. He glanced around, until he was satisfied with the silence. "Thank you. Now, I'll leave the rest to Mr. Vargas to explain the rest to you."
The other man happily stepped up to the podium and began to say, "Hello students! Welcome to the Academy! As you may or may not know, I am the principal of this school! And if you still don't know, I am also the one that founded this very school 35 years ago!"
As the man proceeded to give himself a grand introduction, Alfred still couldn't believe what he just heard. He let out a sigh, as he slumped into the cushions of the seat. From all that he had just heard and what had happened upon arriving the school, Alfred had a feeling he is in for a real crazy first year high school experience.
A/N: Hey everyone! After a long, long time, I have finally find myself a spark that helped me continue on with the story. Sorry about how un-regularly I update this story. I have so many things to do that sometimes I can't find myself the time to actually sit down and think the chapter and story through. But now that I'm back, hopefully I won't be taking too long with updates and such.
Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, favouriting, and following this story thus so far! I'll see you all in the next chapter!
Oh, and before I go, I might as well say which nations the teachers represent:
An Dao - Vietnam
Krishna Rangarajan - India
Mogen Lars - Netherlands
Grecia Karpusi - Ancient Greece