"You stay here, 'kay? I'll go get us some lunch. You still like Pepsi, right?"

Alfred was already moving away, so I had to catch his sleeve to stop him. "Can you get me a Coke?"

He threw me a grin. "Sure! I'll be right back." And so the American excitedly rushed past students down the stairs to the cafeteria.

I finally got a moment to take a look around. I was sitting in a wooden chair in front of an empty table in the middle of the room, where other kids were talking and eating together. The purpose of this 2nd floor was completely for eating and dining purposes, chocked full of tables and chairs like an open restaurant. The floor extended to an open balcony with a beautiful view of the campus trees swaying in the gentle breeze. Downstairs was a kitchen that served a cultural mix of food and a few tables to eat on. All was tidy and clean. The interior design was quite classy, too, couches and coffee tables in one corner complete with a big screen TV.

"Konnichiwa, Utopia-san," greeted a voice. It was the Asian kid from the infirmary. "May I sit here?"

It was a pretty big table.

"Sure!" I scooted my chair over a little so he could take the seat next to me. "I'm sorry, but what was your name again?"

"Kiku Honda," he said, graciously sitting down. Kiku looked around. "Are you alone?"

"No, Alfred's downstairs."

"Ah, I see." As he took out his personal pair of chopsticks, he glanced at something by the stairs. "It looks like Alfred-san came back."

"That was fast," I said. But when I looked at the stairs, it wasn't Alfred I saw, but someone else. "Hey, Matthew! Come sit with us!"

Matthew looked very surprised, as if no one really talked to him much, but saw who was calling him and walked over, smiling.

"How are you, Utopia?" he asked.

"Fine," I replied. "Thanks for asking. Wait, are those…pancakes? For lunch?"

Matthew blushed a little. "I love pancakes."

"Non, Mathieu," came a suave voice. "It's the maple syrup you love so much."

Someone came up from behind me and put their hands on my shoulders, kissing my hair. I groaned. What's with all these people and touching me?

Before Kiku could politely step in, I growled, "Get off of me."

A chuckle sounded, but he obliged nonetheless. "Someone's gotten a personality check."

I twisted around, saying, "And what's that's supposed to mean?"

The guy standing there looked like a model. A French model; one with silky blonde hair and sexy stubble along the edge of his jaw. His eyes, while not striking blue like Alfred's, were alive with delight.

The boy lifted his chin a little. "It's just that I always knew you had at least some kind of fiery spirit in you, mon cheri. You just chose to never show it."

I stared at this weirdo for a moment, and then turned to Kiku. "Who is this guy?"

French model clucked his tongue, and I saw him eye my hand. Suddenly, I drew it back for fear he would take it and plant a kiss.

"Utopia-san, this is Francis-kun. He is from France."

"Figures," I muttered under my breath. Francis didn't seem to hear me as he pulled up a chair and squeezed in between Kiku and me.

From the stairs came Arthur—caterpillar eyebrows are very iconic —with two plates of food. He spotted our table and walked over. Was it my imagination, or was he glaring at Francis?

"Here's your bloody food, wanker," Arthur snapped to the French boy. He let one of the plates clatter on the table and started to eat the sandwich on his own.

Francis smirked, sliding the food to him. "You shouldn't be so sour, Arthur, just because you lost a bet."

Arthur's face flamed red and his glare turned murderous. "Sh-Shut up."

I got curious. "What bet?"

England's face turned even more red while Francis laughed gleefully.

"Oui, Arthur, tell her, tell her! That'll be rich!"

Fortunately for Arthur, he didn't have to at the moment, for a dark shadow strolled from the stairs and, spotting our table, headed straight for us.

"Ah," Ivan said, his smile bright and happy. "It looks like everyone is having fun! I shall join you, da?"

I think I was the only one who smiled back at him as he took the nearest seat, right next to Arthur.

"Hi, Ivan," I said, out of courtesy at least. "What're you eating?"

"Borscht," he answered happily, picking up his spoon and stirring the deep red soup. "It is perfect for a cold winter afternoon."

"Cool."

"Heyo, Utopia! I'm back!" called Alfred, appearing from the stairs with a tray in his hand. He stopped for a second, seeing the crowd that had spontaneously appeared around me, and said, "Wow. Where'd all these people come from?"

I had no answer to that, so I stood and reached out to take the meal he offered. "Hamburger?"

He grinned. I caught Arthur rolling his eyes.

"Of course," they both said, but in two very different tones.

"No need to be sarcastic," I scolded Arthur. "Hamburgers are fine." I took a big bite, realizing just how hungry I really was.

"Just don't be a pig like Alfred, yes?" Ivan hummed. The Russian was very much enjoying his borscht.

Alfred scoffed. "Look who's talking, fatso."

I swear the temperature dropped. The lunchroom got quiet. Looking around, I saw that our surrounding peers were tense, stealing glances at us and whispering things to each other. I made eye contact with a girl across the way and she immediately looked away.

I leaned into Matthew. "Hey, why is everyone else so quiet?"

He gave me an apologetic look and was about to answer me, but was interrupted by yet another person that joined our table. It was Yao, the Chinese boy.

"Aiyaa," he said. "Everyone's sitting together! Has something happened, aru?"

"Not everyone," Kiku commented. "Ludwig-san and Feliciano-kun are not here."

I was confused. What was wrong with everyone sitting together? Was that bad? The lunchroom chill got colder, if that was even possible. Kiku looked flustered, like he wanted to ease the tension, but was afraid he'd make it worse. No one said anything.

"Are you guys in some kinda fight?" I blurted. The silence was unbearable. "Because if you are, could you, I dunno, leave? I'd like to eat this hamburger in peace without getting a headache from all your bickering."

I earned a few surprised looks from them.

"It's like she died and came back with an opinion," Francis said, grinning.

"Da. Utopia is very different from before."

There they were again—the comparisons.

Before I could argue on this, a loud yelp of protest sounded downstairs. Suddenly, there was a clash, as well as shouting.

"UTOPIA!" yelled a girl's voice.

A girl appeared in the stairs, eyes burning with anger, long brown hair bristling at their edges. Clenched hair in her hand was a frying pan. Huh, how odd.

I felt the whole table freeze up (except for Ivan, who giggled to himself and took another sip from his soup).

"Yes?" I said to her.

Her eyes flickered around before settling on mine. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"I finally found you!" The girl marched straight for me. "Do you know how long I've been looking for you? And why are you all staring at me?" she snapped to bystanders. "Mind your own business." They promptly turned around.

A thought occurred to me. "Oh, are you the girl that's supposed to show me around school?"

She huffed in annoyance. "Yes, but I couldn't find you anywhere!" Her eyes trained on the group of seven sitting around me, eyes sharpening dangerously. "Which one of you dragged her here?"

No one answered for fear of her wrath. I quickly caught on to the nervous mood. Alfred looked cool and calm, though it was just an act.

"Actually, I kinda just wandered here," I lied, standing up. Crumpling up my hamburger wrapper, I tossed it in a nearby bin. "Alfred found me and offered to buy me lunch."

The girl pursed her lips, but pursued my kidnapper no further.

"We should get going. I don't really care if I miss fifth period, but I have a presentation in sixth. And lunch is almost over!" She hooked her arm in mine. "My name is Elizaveta Héderváry."

"Cool, my name is Utopia. Can I call you Eliza?"

"That's fine."

As we descended the stairs, I looked back at the lunch table. Alfred mouthed a very grateful 'thank you' to me. I smiled and waved back.

What I didn't know was that the other six pairs of eyes noticed this exchange, and two pairs actually narrowed—one chilling lavender and the other piercing green.