Author's Notes
Names in this section:
England- Alice Kirkland America- Amelia Jones
Estonia- Etty von Bock Italy- Feliciana Vargas
Germany- Louise Beilschmidt Turkey- Sanem Adnan
Japan- Honda Kiku China- Wang Yao
Russia- Anya Braginskaya Cuba- Carmen Castro
Canada- Madeline Williams Poland- Felicyta Łukasiewicz
Lithuania- Viktorija Lorinaitis Vietnam- Nyugen Trinh
Belarus- Natalya Arloskaya France- Francine Bonnefoy
Prussia- Maria Beilschmidt Romano- Lovina Vargas
Netherlands- Larissa Dupont Belgium- Clara Dupont
Switzerland- Vanessa Zwingli Liechtenstein- Lili Zwingli
Latvia- Regina Galante Iceland- Jóhanna Ericson
Hong Kong- Wang Fang Seychelles- Michelle Morphey
Monaco- Grace Blum New Zealand- Helen Kirkland
Australia- Jane Kirkland S. Korea- Im Yong Il
Taiwan- Sun Mei
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own anything. Thanks for asking though.
The Princess and Her Knight
Chapter 5: 5-Day Swap
It was a Monday morning, and a rather warm one at that. Needless, to say, Alice Kirkland was not pleased. However, it probably had little to do with the weather at that point. No, the main drive of her anger was the fact that that very day was the start of the "5-Day Switch"- the first task in the Princess competition, which entitled each candidate to switch talents with her partner. This meant all the Knights would become art students, and the Princesses would get much more exercise than they were used to. At the end of the week, the scores given from tests and the likes, and their new teachers' reports would be compiled, and the placements of the pairs would be announced. It wouldn't actually affect the final choosing of the Princess, but it was a certainly great opportunity to show you in a good light throughout the school.
The twin-tailed Brit was not looking forward to it for a majority of reasons, the majority of which had to do with her lack of athletic ability. Alice had always been slow as a child, often being the base in games of tag with her neighborhood friends; they didn't see it as fair to have her be a player herself.
Likewise, Amelia didn't seem so enthusiastic either. "Why the heck do we have to do this? I hate English class." The American girl, for some reason, had decided that morning to sit with Alice. Alice spent most of her breakfasts alone, usually reading Shakespeare, or some other inspiring work, preferring the calm those quiet moments brought. However, it didn't look as though she was going to be able to obtain those this morning.
"Writing is no fun. If anything, math is way better," Amelia complained, sucking on the straw of her smoothie.
Alice sighed, agreeing with Amelia. After the announcement, the two had attempted to help one another to prepare for the week ahead. Once back from dinner, Alice had immediantly started on teaching Amelia how to compose fiction. It had not been an easy task. Amelia's stories were often short and lazy, holding the same plotline to each- a hero is born, defeats the bad guys, and lives forever. The experience had left Alice completely drained of all energy whatsoever. This had been most unfortunate when the very next morning, Amelia had attempted to coach Alice in baseball. That had ended in Alice becoming so delirious she thought Amelia threw the ball three minutes after she actually had.
As they strolled into school, breakfast long since finished, the two pulled out the schedules that had been given to them the previous Friday, and gave descriptions of where their first classes where to one another. Schedules usually worked in the high school program by having five regular classes before lunch, which usually included your regular English (the school's official language), social studies, science, math, and foreign language classes (which included a selection of French, Spanish, German, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Hindi, Russian, Portuguese, Dutch, Italian, Greek, Polish, Korean, Vietnamese, Javanese, and Bengali). After lunch, the student would go to classes specifically focused on her major. Sports students would go to their respective areas and practice feverishly, while the ones in the arts would take specific courses designed to promote their talents, and then get free time to finish a masterpiece by them by the end of the quarter. Alice's own schedule before lunch was French 4, English 2nd-High School, Pre-Calculus, European History 2, and then Chemistry.
Immediantly after learning of where her new first class was, Amelia dashed off with an unusual amount of excitement Alice would have never thought possible out of such a hater of writing. Alice herself was very depressed, almost certain the day would go sour within moments.
She walked solemnly to the first classroom- Advanced Physics. It was located on the fifth floor of the general education classes, where the sciences classes generally were. It was very far down the hallway from the staircase in a tiny classroom Alice could tell was usually abandoned for anything other than Advanced Physics.
Alice stepped in, and found, despite the fact the late bell was seconds away from ringing, the classroom was largely empty. It appeared as if the only other students were taking the class were Etty von Bock, the Estonian girl in computer graphics; Feliciana Vargas, taking the place of Louise; Sanem Adnan for Kiku; Yao Wang for Anya; Carmen Castro, the Cuban baseball player, who, at first, Alice thought was talking to herself, until Alice spotted the last member of the class; Madeline Williams, Amelia's cousin in the hockey program. Most class had at least eighteen people taking them, and Alice was sure this was the only time Advanced Physics was scheduled. She took her seat in a desk that clearly belonged to Amelia, as it had several drawings of spaceships on the upper left corner. It was a creaky old chair towards the front, right beside where Kiku must have normally sat.
The teacher walked into the classroom just as the bell was ringing. She was a warm looking, round African woman. She wrote her name on the small, old chalkboard, and turned to the class. "It appears as though we have many new students here. Well, congratulations to all of you for being selected for the competition. I hope you won't struggle too much in this class. Let's get started then."
She turned back to board, and began to write the opening problems of the day. Alice mused, 'Well, the teacher seems nice enough. I'm not sure about the class though… Chemistry is enough of a struggle in itself, and I've never taken Physics previously. I suppose it can't be that difficult if that git can pass it.'
Alice rather regretted those words an hour later. As the bell rang to dismiss the students to their next classes, the writer had to literally take a breather and stop everything she was doing before heading out. Advanced Physics, no Physics in general, was completely impossible. Alice had understood about two words per five minutes of what the teacher had been saying, and had somehow managed to draw every single graph wrong. How in the world Amelia, who was also a year younger than her, would possibly be able to understand it at all, and likewise with everyone else taking the class.
Her second block that day was Pre-Calculus, which, thankfully, was the same math Alice was in at the moment. This was a larger class, with around fifteen students, and was not the only block it was offered, as Alice had it the third period of the day. The classroom itself was on the second floor of the general education building, also typical for math. It was a larger sized classroom, with the average Smart Board being used, and updated chairs and desks.
The blonde's seat, as told to her by that class's teacher, was right in the middle. Sitting around Alice were Felicyta Łukasiewicz (taking the place of Viktorija) to Alice's right; Trinh Nyugen, the Vietnamese girl in general martial arts behind her; Natalya Arloskaya, Anya's Belarusian half-sister in ballet to the Brit's left; and in front was, to Alice's chagrin, was Francine. To irk her even more, beside Francine was Maria, who was attempting to hit on the girl sitting beside her, Lovina Vargas. Alice felt awful for the teacher, as she had to deal with the Idiot Trio all in one class, all seated beside one another.
This class was much easier than the previous, as Alice was already taking it, and therefore already knew the material. Unfortunately, the Brit had forgotten that they were having a quiz that day in the class, and not spent any time studying in preparation. Alice also was unable to concentrate in that Maria kept talking to Francine, and asking the French girl for answers. Honestly, how that girl was not expelled yet was beyond Alice.
The oh-so loyal bell dinged once more, and after scribbling down the homework, Alice headed to the third block- Spanish 3. This was yet another class Alice was not looking forward too, in that, for her foreign language, she had taken French (mainly so she would know when a certain French girl was making inappropriate comments about her). Alice suspected she knew nothing in the new language other than yes and no.
The classroom was on the fourth floor, in a fairly large classroom. The class had about twenty people in- a substantial amount. Settling into this class, Alice found the teacher already speaking rapid Spanish, probably to immerse the students in the language. Alice understood nothing of what was going on, and had to find her seat by whispering to another student. This time Alice towards the front on the right. She found herself right behind Antonia, who appeared to be napping. 'Why in the world is Lovina taking this class?' Alice mused. To the left of Lovina's seat was Maria, again, who was talking elaborately to the sleeping Antonia about her awesome. To Antonia's right was Larissa Dupont (taking the usual spot of Clara), looking angry (probably due to a lack of marijuana in her life).
Once Antonia managed to pull herself together, she and Larissa immediantly started an argument, which was the highlight of Spanish. The rest passed by slowly, and Alice felt as if she was losing information instead of gaining. At the point of tears when the bell rung, Alice hurried to World Geography.
The fact that Amelia was taking this class worried Alice a tad. It was usually a course covered by graduating middle school to her knowledge. The Brit suspected her partner's school had all pushed "American History" courses and the like. Luckily, the course did have a block in the high school section on the third floor, but this too was a few-numbered class, with no one Alice recognized. This period went by slowly, also, but instead in that it was completely dull.
The last class of the day was English 1st: High School. The English classes were organized on the first floor by grade level. Fluency wasn't a real concern, as every student had to pass an English Capability test before being accepted to the school. It wasn't that they weren't allowed to speak their native languages; it was just that if the school did not put in place an official language, the classrooms would become too incredibly hectic.
As Alice had taken the class the year before, she wasn't too worried about it at all. Walking into the class, the Brit found a variety of faces she recognized. Towards the front were Vanessa Zwingli, taking the place of Lili and not trying to be discreet about her glaring at everyone; and Regina Galante, the timid hockey player from Latvia, who was shaking violently, like usual. Others she spotted among the crowd were Carmen, with an almost-invisible Madeline again; Jóhanna Ericson, the near-silent handball player from Iceland; Fang Wang; Natalya once more; and Michelle Morphey taking the usual seat of Grace Blum. Around Alice's own seat where Helen and Jane Kirkland, who were two more of Alice's distant cousins; Yong Il Im; Grace Blum taking the usual seat of Michelle; and Mei Sun, taking the usual seat of Fang Wang. Somehow, other than Yong Il, Amelia had managed to get a seat right near many of Alice's cousins. 'Is she trying to convince them all to turn against me?' Alice considered.
Alice had already taken the class, and was very proficient in English, so it went by slowly also. She sped out the moment the bell dinged, and walked straight to the library. While it was lunchtime, almost nobody actually ate in the cafeteria, and Alice had grabbed an extra muffin that morning at breakfast that would sustain her. Also, she was most certainly going to have to study for Physics, or she certainly wouldn't last the week in the difficult class.
It was after the lunch period, and Alice was standing outside the locker room. Most of the other sports students were milling around her, and talking excitedly about new moves in their respective sports or whatnot. Alice, on the other hand, was not excited much at all. She absolutely despised running, which she was sure was going to come immediantly after exiting the changing area.
She supposed it was something that had to happen, like ripping off a bandage, at the very least, for the Princess competition. Alice carefully stepped into the room. Upon entering, she saw it was much more spacious than she had imagined. The lockers were oddly large, and painted gold. She looked around, and, after finding the J's, Alice walked over to Amelia's locker. Upon opening it, she saw the word "Heroine" at least twenty times, and the American flag upon almost every surface.
Alice suddenly realized she had no idea what she was going to wear. Amelia's baseball clothes would be too large, and likewise with the shoes. Concerned, she walked over to a large pile of shirts and shorts, which she supposed was the extra clothes. They didn't smell that awful, probably due to Saint Mary's superb janitorial staff, but it was still odd, wearing clothes another had worn. She slipped them one quickly, and stuffed extra socks into Amelia's baseball shoes (what were they called again?). Slipping off her glasses, Alice was ready to go (all too soon).
The British girl walked slowly out of the locker room out to the area behind the school where they kept the sports' fields. The baseball practice field wasn't too hard to find, but once Alice showed up, she saw the girls running laps (of course). Sighing, she began to push her body around the park also. She soon became exhausted, and tried to take a quick breather, to only be run over by the rest of the girls, and harked on by the coach.
Already worn out, the coach, a tall, brash man, detecting Alice's lack of skills, put her in the right outfield (which took her a while to find). The coach put the back-up pitcher, Carmen, at the mound (as Amelia was apparently the regular pitcher), and instructed some of the 1st and 2nd years in the high school section to practice catching.
Out field catching proved to be most difficult for the blonde Brit. Due to her horrible vision when not wearing glasses, Alice was unable to catch the majority of high balls the girls hit to her area, which was a large number. They were all regular home-runners.
Alice was going dizzy from exhaustion when it happened. The older girls had started to go in to hit, though Alice was still on the field. One of the students hit the baseball high- and higher and higher, it kept going. Alice noticed it was coming her direction, due to the insistent calls of her peers. For some reason, the hitter had decided to place the ball right where the sun also was. Alice, with her lackluster baseball skills and almost-blindness, didn't stand a chance.
The last thing she saw was a mass of white, and then everything went black.
Alice's problems with Physics are based on my own. For some reason, I keep getting C's on the tests. :/ (Though, I have a high B in the class.)
Sorry about not being able to upload last week. I was incredibly busy with our school's play, which was on Friday and Saturday, and had rehearsal the majority of the week before. Hopefully I can get a lot of writing done this weekend, though, over Thanksgiving. (Though, apparently Visual Arts is going to have a TON of work.)
Thank you for reading, as usual!
{Natsumi;;}