Ugh. I had this chapter all typed up on my laptop but it decided to be mean to me and not turn on it's monitor. Oh well. I'm on the gaming PC right now; so no WORD ):

While Monika was busy fangirling and planning her revenge on the girls who she did not like in middle school, Ivan was busy wandering about the house. It was big, not as big as his, but he was still fairly impressed. He had looked downstairs into Monika's grandfather's library, the living room (which was bordered with tiny little fences to keep the dog out), and was just about to head on upstairs had he not heard Monika scoff rather angerly. So instead of opening the door, he headed on downstairs followed by Chirifu; who no longer growled at him, but instead followed him around as if he was an old friend. Monika, meanwhile, was reading something in the manual and was looking very ticked off. She did not hear Ivan come and sit down across from her at the kitchen table, but her annoyance masked her surprised.

"What is wrong?"

Monika, quite happy to have someone to rant to, began half-yelling, "It's your manual. It says that a method of waking you up is to shout 'America landed on the moon!'"

Ivan twitched slightly at the rather unhappy memory, but Monika ignored it, "But the Cold War is over! You're not a communist anymore!" she threw her hands up dramatically, as if to make her point clearer.

Then she began to name dates, technicalities, and other things to further prove her point. But Ivan wasn't listening, as he was still quite surprised to find someone so young to be interested in History. He could tell that she had spent many a night reading and watching the History Channel instead of doing her Math homework (which, Ivan noted, was left undone on the table beside him). Ivan had once watched the History Channel. Ironically, it was with America. Something about the first McDonald's opening in Moscow after the Cold War had ended...Ivan shivered in disgust. He did not want to remember the unfortunate pleasure he had of tasting one of America's burgers. Instead, he finally decided to start listening to the girl in front of him. Monika, however, had long finished her rant on Karl Marx and the 1990's, and was busying herself with searching for something to snack on in the refrigerator. After all, she didn't eat breakfast. Or lunch (even though she promised her grandmother she would). So instead Ivan was content on staring at the back of her head until she turned around; which she did eventually, seeing as she was quite paranoid at this point.

Monika, not liking awkward silences, decided to break the ice, "Ivan, would you like to accompany me to the grocery store?" After all, her grandmother did get him for a reason. And she felt like going out.

Ivan nodded, "Да." before getting up and towering over Monika and smiling a smile that seemed too innocent and happy to be on his face.

She was about to smile back, had she not noticed that he still had his long winter coat on.

"Wait." she said, "It's too hot outside to be wearing that."

x

"Okay, can you gimme a boost, please?"

Ivan nodded and lifted Monika up on his shoulders so she could get a better look of the shelves nailed to the walls. They were in the garage, looking through her father's and uncle's old clothes to see if there was anything that could possibly fit the six foot tall Russian. While Monika was muttering about how she could get used to being this tall, Ivan noticed that she wasn't wearing any shoes, and was in fact barefoot. He also noted that she had painted her toe nails a bright blue. It reminded him of his older sister's eyes...

"AHA!" Monika shouted triumphantly as she pulled out a rather large, white dress shirt from a blue Tupperware bin, "Russia, you think this'll fit you?"

She handed it down to Ivan, who carefully looked over it before nodding to himself. It would do for now, "Да."

Monika smiled but soon frowned because Ivan had taken her off his shoulders, and she had missed being that high up. But she shrugged it off, and began leading Ivan to the door; carefully avoiding the twenty or so computer monitors her grandfather had placed there, the mountains of clothes that used to belong to her aunt, and what she called a small plateau of her old childhood toys. Ivan followed suit, eyes wandering over her old toys.

Monika pointed to the door at the end of the laundry room, "You can change there, it's a bit small though."

Ivan nodded his thanks before brushing past her and sliding open the bathroom door. Monika, meanwhile, turned off the light and locked the door to the garage. She then walked into the kitchen and began looking for her old, smelly sneakers. They turned out to be under the table, where they usually are. She was glad that she was home alone, so she wouldn't have to explain a huge 5'11 Russian man in her grandmother's home. Just as she was lacing up her last shoes, Ivan came out of the bathroom; His coat and shirt he was wearing were in his arms. She instructed him to just leave it on the chair to be washed later, and resisted the urge to sneek a peak at one of his many medals and badges from the Russian Military. She ignored the fact that Ivan was still wearing his scarf (she had read somewhere that if he took it off, it would kill him), and instead she pocketed her wallet and began walking towards the front door. Ivan followed her, having been quite excited about going outside ever since Monika had told him that she lived in a fairly warm place.

Monika turned off all the lights and quickly opened the door. Immediately, a bright and hot light engulfed them both; Monika, who was used to the desert heat, just shrugged it off and walked outside. Ivan, however, took a longer time before stepping outside for Monika to close the door with her keys. She reminded herself to change her current keychain, as the Eiffel Tower one her aunt gave her from when she went to Paris was getting old. She turned around to see Ivan looking at the roses planted in front of her grandmother's house. Monika smiled, because he reminded her of a little boy. And, despite what she would tell you, Monika loved children.

"Come on Ivan, duty calls."

x

It had been a much shorter walk than Monika remembered. It was probably the company, because she seemed to remember the long walks to school to be antagonizing and stupid. Very stupid actually, and she avoided it at all costs. Except when she was walking home with friends. Then Monika remembered that she had no friends. Well except for Larsa. Larsa was her friend. At least...she thought she was.

In any case, they both had made it to the grocery store without attracting too much attention, and that's all Monika really wanted. Upon entering, she grabbed one of those red, plastic baskets by the door and wandered over to the flowers. Quickly and efficiently, she picked up a bouquet and placed it in her basket before turning around to find some chocolate. Well she would have, had not Ivan been blocking her way. She looked up at him as he started laughing that infamous 'kolkolkol' of his. Nervous, she asked him if something was wrong.

"You have sunflowers, Да." he smiled.

Monika looked down at the bright flowers before turning back to Ivan, "They're for my cousin. Her birthday is coming up, and sunflowers are her favourite." She shifted her weight back and forth, trying not to tremble under his gaze. Ivan was intrigued, but only continued to stare at poor little Monika. He wanted those sunflowers, and by God, he was going to get them. Suddenly, a cold, scary, and purple aura surrounded Ivan as he tried to scare Monika into buying him some sunflowers of his own.

"B-But I barely have any money-"

"KOLKOLKOL-"

"Okay okay, keep your panties on!" she snapped at him as she swiped another bouquet from the rack. Ivan's cheerful attitude came back, and he gladly followed Monika into the snack section. All while pretending not to notice the bizarre stares people were shooting at them and the mutterings of 'stupid overgrown psychopathic manchild' coming from Monika's mouth.

After picking up a bar of Toblerone chocolate (Monika's favourite), Ivan once again scared Monika into buying him something. That something being sunflower seeds and some sort of strange mushroom chips that came from Ukraine or something like that...

"Oye Monika!"

Monika twitched and froze, before turning around and facing Bianca: a girl who was not quite her friend but not quite not her friend. She wandered over to where Monika was standing by the lettuce batches and immediately questioned her about the huge Russian behind her.

"¿Podrías creer que mi abuelita me lo compro para mi cumpleanos?" Monika answered skeptically, not really knowing how to answer her.

Bianca laughed, obviously not believing it.

Ivan, meanwhile, disobeyed Monika and opened his bag of sunflower seeds and began eating them whilst she was distracted by the short girl. All while watching the show going on before him. He could tell that Monika was very uncomfortable with the situation, and he was quite enjoying seeing her suffer. Eventually, the girl left them alone, and Monika sighed with relief.

"You know," she began, "You're a lot more trouble than you're worth." she sighed once more for the millionth time today and grabbed a whole bunch of lettuce to munch on later.

Ivan noted that she seemed to be talking more to herself rather than to him.

'She really is a funny girl.' he thought to himself as she yelled at him to get moving.

bam. that was quick.

there's something...iffy about this chapter. I don't know what it is. I'll fix it later.