A/N: Hello again my readers! I'm extremely happy because I got four very wonderful reviews and I dedicate this chapter to you guys! You four reviewers made me so happy I happy danced all around my room and I've been smiling four an hour now, you made my bad day awesome! Also, do you think I should tweak the plot a little? Change it from "Working two jobs' to 'being caught in a gang war'? Seriously, the part about the gangs wasn't supposed to be in the plot but it just...happened ya know? I'm just terrible at staying with the story plot X(
I was born in a place that lives by the sword.
After Principal Vargas came to threaten the boys about fighting while the coach watched on in rapt amusement, the school bell rang. Ivan and Mathew bolted for the gym and changed, they grabbed their stuff and left for their class.
Ivan made it to art and sat in the very back, away from everyone as he contemplated what Mathew had said, so Alfred and Arthur were in a gang? That was interesting, he didn't peg Alfred as that kind of person. Did the teachers know about it? Did they care? No one died, so they probably didn't care...All these questions whirled in Ivan's head as he pulled out a sketch pad and began to draw the item on the board. A simple flower with the words 'make this into something that means a lot to you' written above it. Simple enough, Ivan loved sunflowers, his mother grew them before she died, her wedding bouquet was mostly composed of sunflowers. It was in no time that Ivan finished and showed it to the teacher, she clapped her hands and smiled.
"How does this flower mean a lot to you?" She asked genuinely.
"My mother, she loved them." Ivan admitted, she smiled again and wrote an 'A' in her grading book. "You may go to your club activity now, Oh! I forgot, you don't have one yet. Well, you have a free period." She said. Ivan decided to go to the library to kill time, it was huge!
Wooden bookcases stretched from the floor to the ceiling, he wandered into what seemed to be the oldest section where leather bound books adorned the shelves. Ivan was enraptured, he liked books, just never had time to read. It was like a door to another world, free from your troubles and exploring different lands.
He peered curiously at the titles and didn't recognize any of them save for a tattered copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales. He picked up the book and flipped through it, once he was done he placed it back on the shelf and looked some more.
"Do you need any help?" A accented voice piped up, Ivan jumped and spun around. A girl with long brown hair and green eyes, she reminded him of somebody he somewhat knew.
"Ah, no thank you. I was just looking at the books." Ivan said sheepishly.
"Well, the bell is about to ring in a minute and it's pretty easy to get lost, I just came to look for people. It's kind of useless since nobody at this school really reads, but it's interesting to look for things in here, you might find things you didn't expect." She explained.
"Things like what?" Ivan asked, looking over his shoulders, now it was kind of creeping him out.
"I once found a hundred dollar bill that no one claimed, plus no one was in the library for two days straight. I think it was before Christmas last year." She said.
"I'm Fatima, Antonio's sister." She smiled and pushed her little blue cart loaded down with books.
"Ivan." He said. Fatima laughed.
"Everyone knows who you are, Ivan. You can blame Alfred for that." She chuckled once more and parked her little cart by the checkout desk.
"It was a pleasure talking to you, Ivan." She said and escorted him outside and locked the door, placing the key above the door frame.
"You too, Fatima." Ivan said, Fatima waved to a Mexican (A/N: Not being racist since I'm Hispanic w/ Mexican roots!) boy her age.
"That's Alejandro." She smiled and followed Alejandro out the double doors. Ivan followed turned around and went to the cafeteria where he waited for the bus. He frowned, it looked like a nice day so he decided to just walk home, it wasn't that far and he had memorized the route the bus had taken.
He wasn't the only one, Arthur glanced at him and waltzed over towards him.
"Wanna hang out?" Arthur asked, Ivan nodded. He knew he could trust Arthur more than anyone else, besides his family.
"Follow me." Arthur jumped a cement fence, Ivan followed without much difficulty, it seemed that Arthur was into free running.
Finally after jumping fences and running on rails and roofs (Arthur, the 'wanker') Arthur stopped at a park. He wasn't even breathing hard while Ivan was huffing and puffing, bent over on his knees trying to catch his breathe. He was fit but he didn't have to run a freaking marathon everyday!
"Ah, running always gets me into a better mood." Arthur sighed and sat on the swings, Ivan remained standing and leaned on the pole that supported the swing set. All was quite for about five minutes until Arthur's phone went off, after a good portion of 'Anarchy in the UK' he picked it up. Since no one else was in the park Ivan could hear full well what was being said.
"Arthur...Mathew's been...stabbed..." Alfred's broken voice echoed through the phone. Arthur gasped and his hand flew to his opened mouth. It took Arthur a good while to speak.
"Where are you? I'll come get you." He asked quietly.
"Arthur...They said he might not make it! He has to! He just has to! Arthur I'm so scared! He's so innocent he didn't do anything! It's my-my f-fault, a-all m-my f-f-fault!" With that Alfred had dissolved into a bout of tears and sobs.
"We're on our way!" Arthur said into the phone and promptly hung up. He grabbed Ivan and they hailed a taxi that was conveniently passing by.
It was a total of thirty minutes they had spent riding in the taxi and when it finally stopped, Arthur threw the cash at the driver (having counted it on the way) and they both bolted for the hospital. They knew he would be in the emergency room so they power-walked there, having some respect for the patients. Even though it killed them, they didn't thunder down the hall looking for Alfred, finally in what seemed like hours they reached the emergency room and saw a shaking Alfred sitting by himself, tear tracks still glistening on his cheeks.
He looked up and threw himself at Arthur and wailed, fresh new sobs racking his body.
"He was innocent! He didn't do anything! Then they just...They just...Stabbed him!" Alfred buried his head into Arthur's chest, he looked like a little kid. Suddenly Ivan's newly acquired phone went off, he blushed, it was one of those electronic ringtones with weird beats. He fumbled with it and managed to answer the phone.
"Da?"
"Brother, where are you?" Katyusha's concerned voice echoed through the earpiece.
"At the hospital, one of my friends got stabbed." He said the last part quietly.
"Brother! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" She panicked.
"No, no. I'm alright, it's only my friend. Thankfully everyone else is okay." Ivan explained.
"Okay, call me if you need me to pick you up."
"Yes, sister." They said their goodbyes and hung up.
"Alfred F. Jones! Let go of that redcoat this instant!" A cutting voice hissed. They looked up to see a blond women with cold blue eyes and a man with the same color of hair but instead of pure sky blue, his had a tint of purple. Alfred and Mathew's parents.
The blond woman marched towards Alfred and forcefully pulled him by the collar. Arthur stood there, hidden fury in his eyes. Suddenly the scary woman turned towards Ivan and narrowed her eyes.
"A communist! Alfred F Jones, please tell me you aren't friends with this scum! Right now! I want you to make him leave!" She screamed. Alfred looked at Ivan with pleading eyes but Ivan refused to look at him.
"Mom, dad, please! They're my friends!" Alfred cried, tears still staining his cheeks. Alfred's arms were grabbed and he was twisted around. He met Ivan's purple eyes, completely forgetting about his parents. Ivan lowered his head and kissed the tears away and whispered quietly into his ear.
"Everything will be okay, da?" Despite himself, Alfred nodded. His head was spinning, so many emotions ran through his heart and head, he felt like he was drowning or about to explode! Ivan's lips hovered over Alfred's for a second before the inched forward and kissed him chastely. When Ivan finally let go of his face, Alfred was blushing a light shade of pink that steadily got darker.
"C'mon Ivan, we need to go." Arthur pulled Ivan away from the family and they walked with a steady pace until they reached the doors, after the walked out calmly, they both broke out into a run. Not even caring where they went or whom they passed, they ran like crazy until they couldn't run anymore. Surprisingly they had ran out of the city limits which was impressive, together they sat on the grass at watched the stars, thinking about their own personal battles and not saying anything. It was an unspoken request that both stayed for the other, and it wasn't until midnight that they both decided to leave. Arthur and Ivan walked towards Ivan's house and once they got there it was half past one in the morning, they sneaked in and Ivan lent Arthur some overly big clothes. Both boys collapsed on the bed, uncaring if someone walked in.
A/N: Short I know but I want to get a chapter out before state tests!