August 25

Today was a big day, I had been telling myself that all day. Mom had even made a super-special lunch for me to try and get me ready for this afternoon. She even put a note in my brown bag wishing me good luck. Luck was good, but I already knew that I was ready for this.

Today was the last day of the first week of school when I sat in my last class for the day, rolling up the corner of a paper in my fingers. The edges looked messy and worn because I had been messing around with it for the past five minutes. I propped my head up on my elbow, and stared absentmindedly into a worksheet we were given to complete. I had already finished it before many of my peers were even halfway through.

Inhaling deeply, I began to pack away the things scattered across my small desk. Looking at the clock, I noted that there was less than five minutes left in the entire class. I had football tryouts after school ended, and I was excited. I had been on the high school's team since ninth grade. This was going to be one of my final years to play on the team, so I had to get in and make it count. Football was my thing. I played it in middle school, and in elementary school. It was my life. Saying that was an understatement, though. I spent every minute outside whenever I could when the weather was mild and practice my tosses. Or sometimes I would brush up on my tackles because I tended to get rusty from time to time.

When I felt somebody place their hand on my shoulder and begin to shake me, I jumped out of my thoughts.

"Alfred, you ready to go, dude?" A boy with blonde hair tossed to one side asked, excited. My head lolled to the side as I thought about what he had just asked.

"Uh, yeah." I replied, gathering my things then standing up.

Matthias had been my close friend since the fourth grade. I remember the October evening that he and his parents had moved in across the street from me. He had moved to America from Denmark because his mother had found a new and better paying job overseas. We clicked instantly when we met, and were inseparable for the most part. Whenever one of us were in trouble or in some situation, we'd have each other for backup. We'd hook each other up with different chicks we found. Most of them we ended up either sleeping around with, or having no connections with, which in both scenario's ended up in us dumping them once we got bored of them. Then, we'd move on and find a new person.

When we were finally outside of the school a few blocks away, Matthias stretched his arms, throwing them up over his head. He took a deep breath with a satisfied smile on his face. It was just warm enough that I began to sweat. That kind of grossed me out. I fanned myself to keep cool. He turned to me, throwing his black schoolbag over his shoulder.

"Wanna get something to each before we go to tryouts?" He asked me, pointing to a place that sold cheese steaks. Another one was across the street. Both looked to be competing with each other, using flashy signs and bright lights to attract eyes of people who were passing by.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Sure, but we have to be back on time." I told him, referring to the tryouts. We still had a half hour to spare before they even began.

When we arrived at the Gino's, we stood in line behind a shorter guy with fussy blonde hair. He was rambling on his phone, disagreeing with somebody about something. It wasn't his hair or anything that caught my eyes, but his accent. It was some unusual sound. He had a very pompous air to him. I tried to look at the ground, but when I did, I noticed that he was holding a bag. It looked just like the one Matthias owned. I wondered if he came from our school, and if he just so happened to be trying out for football, too. It was weird, though. I thought I had known a fair amount of my entire grade's student body? Lost in thought, I hadn't realised the line had began to move until Matthias began to shake my shoulder a little. I snapped back into reality, realising that the dude in front of us was gone. I looked around, but he was gone.

Sighing in defeat, we finally ordered our cheese steaks. When we walked over to the side to get condiments, Matthias and I stocked our food with everything available. We shoved them quickly into our mouths, making a mess during the process. Matthias quickly wiped his mouth with a napkin he had snatched from the dispenser, handing another one to me so I could clean my face.

I looked at the watch on my wrist. We still had about fifteen minutes to get there, but I knew we should still be quick about getting back to the school. The Dane and I happily chatted about our day and what went on in our classes. I glanced at my wristwatch, and then looked over to Matthias. I liked to be on time, so I made the two of us rush back to school.

Being the wonderful personal that I am, we had made it back to the school with time to spare. We walked in to the locker rooms, and changed into appropriate clothes for the tryouts. I was pulling on my sneakers when Matthias pulled out two shiny, but used helmets for us to put on. We had to return the rest of our gear from last season.

When I came out of the locker room and walked out to the field behind the school, I found it filled with people who were on the football team the year prior. It was still not very warm outside, but I didn't mind too much.

The football field was being cleaned the day of the tryouts. Some kids had decided to paint the field in our rival-school's colors. This set off the principal's lid, and he immediately ordered for it to be removed. Nobody but the staff was allowed in that area for the rest of the week. This pissed off Coach so much to the point where he made everybody in his P.E. classes run even more than usual.

Turning back to the people around me, I smiled, knowing that most of them would likely make the team quite easily. This was going to be a cakewalk, and I knew it. Matthias tossed me a ball. I caught it, and tossed it around in my hands. The Dane smiled brightly, and opened his mouth to speak just as a whistle was blown.

We looked back and sighed deeply, knowing the person who had blown the whistle. Neither one of us looked very excited or amused as a short, sweaty, bald, and very bulky man walked over to the group. Matthias sighed deeply, leaning on his left leg. I rolled my eyes, not impressed.

"First," He called out in a demanding way. Everyone's eyes were on him, and if they weren't before, they were now.

"We're going to do some group warm ups. Get ready, boys." He ordered as Matthias and I glanced at each other.

The group of us lined up. After a few moments, he coughed a little, and we got to work. Coach never really had a plan for tryouts. The guys just did whatever they wanted. We walked over to the middle of the field, where we both sat down and began stretching in the grass. I was trying to reach for my toes, but having long legs makes it a little hard. Sighing, I switched to the other leg, and worked on it too. Matthias hummed an upbeat little tune, slightly bobbing his head with some beat as he pulled one arm over his head with his other hand. I smiled slightly, and them rolled my ankles to try to make them less tense.

Coach had called us back after a bit, appearing from wherever he had disappeared. He was standing next to a large crate filled with footballs.

"Start tossing with your partners," He barked, shuffling away again.

Matthias laughed a little. "He's not as enthusiastic as last year, that's for sure."

I nodded, and walked over to the crate to grab a ball. As I was reaching in, another hand bumped into mine. I quickly looked up to see who it was.

"Oh, sorry," I said quickly to the guy. He looked a little surprised, and a bit disgusted. He quickly pulled his hand away. I gulped, wondering if I had done anything wrong. I replayed it in my head. Nope. Nothing was wrong. He looked familiar, though.

"Don't worry about it," He muttered, retrieving a football before hurrying away.

I stared, trying to remember where he was from. Wasn't there someone like him when Matthias and I were getting cheese steaks? That had to be the little guy. He looked and sounded the same. I shrugged to myself, and took a ball from the crate.

Matthias was goofing around with the ball when I came back over to him, swinging it around carelessly. I smiled as he accidentally hit his shin. He yelped in pain, and I laughed at him.

"Hey, muffin man," I chirped, playing with the baseball. Matthias looked up at me. He smiled weakly, still in obvious discomfort from hitting himself.

"Let's get crackin' dude!"

He nodded, releasing his leg to walk away so we had some distance.

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes. After a short moment, I opened my eyes, beginning to wind up. I could feel my body tense a little, and I threw the pigskin to Matthias. He didn't run for it, so it went further than it was supposed to. I had to cover my eyes from the sun to keep on watching it. The ball landed on the other side of the grassy field.

I turned back to look at the Dane, who stood casually, waiting for me. I pouted.

"You did that on purpose!"

"Did not,"He shook his head, smirking.

I spinned around to go retrieve the football. As I was jogging back, I looked at the other guys. Everyone was partnered up with their friends, working on different things.

My eyes kept wandering, and they eventually landed on that boy with the funny green eyes. He stood somewhat awkwardly, with his eyes cold and glaring at his partner. I felt bad for the other dude, to be honest. Those eyes looked poised to kill.

However, I was going to have to deal with this blondie. He was winding up the wrong way, and if he wasn't stopped, I had a feeling that he was going to hit somebody by accident. Heaven forbid it was me. I couldn't afford to have a big bruise on my handsome face.

"Hey, bro!" I called over to him, trying to get his attention. He didn't turn around to face me, so I jogged over to the guy. I stepped in front of him to prevent him from following through.

He didn't look too pleased to see me, but I decided to ignore that. I put up a friendly smile and then began.

"You're trying to throw, right?" I asked him, keeping my tone light.

"Yes, I am. You're in the way, though." He said flatly, the sour look on his face becoming more prominent.

"Well, er..." I began, trying to find the right words. "Your form is wrong, dude." I told him, arms akimbo.

He rolled his eyes, looking miffed. "Really, now? Would you care to correct me?"

I nodded my head, and stepped towards him. "If nobody else does, you might end up knocking out Coach."

Although, that wouldn't be such a bad thing.

I took the ball from his hand, and turned around to signal to the dude's practice partner that we would need a moment. He nodded, and walked away to join another group for the time being. Turning back to the guy, I smiled widely.

"So what's your name, stranger?" I asked lightly, tossing the baseball between my hands, back and forth.

He looked to his left a little, with his nose sort of stuck up. "Arthur Kirkland," He muttered.

I wondered if I had offended him at all, but tossed the thought aside. "Okay, Arthur," I began, leaning on my right foot. "First, you aren't pivoting your right foot."

I positioned my foot to what was needed, keeping my eyes on Arthur. He glanced at my foot, then back at me. He looked really unimpressed.

"Then, step back." I began to put my one leg out. "You want to stand firmly," I held the position without trouble. "Try it, dude."

Arthur nodded, and mimicked my position. He began to wobble a little as he lifted his leg, and I wanted to sigh. Had this dude ever even attempted this? It didn't seem like it.

"You're raising your arm too much. Lower it some more." I instructed, waiting until he was properly balanced.

Arthur still kept a blank face. I wondered if he had it permanently stuck that way. It definitely seemed like it.

"Cool, cool. Now step back." I slowly showed him an example, expecting him to follow what I was doing.

Arthur continued to follow my movements and mimic them just as slowly as I was moving. I nodded in approval. I glanced over to where Matthias was to see him dropping and doing push ups. It was good to see that he wasn't screwing around and wasting time like he usually did.

Turning back to Arthur, I noticed that he was just standing. I frowned, feeling a little frustrated.

"Why'd you do that?" I asked, annoyed.

"I felt ridiculous." The guy looked at me and crossed his arms, as if to make a point.

I shook my head. "I'm just trying to help, dude."

Arthur kicked at the grass a little and made some blades of it land on my shoe. He looked slightly uncomfortable as a strong wind blew over us. He shifted from one foot to another. I wondered what was bugging him.

I sighed, dropping the football from my hand. It made an audible thump when it met the ground.

"Just watch, okay?" I told him. "That should be easy enough, right?"

Arthur scoffed, but said nothing. He nodded a moment later, his large, caterpillar-like eyebrows furrowing a little. He began to lean a lot more on his right, and settled there, watching me intently.

I inhaled deeply, giving myself some distance from Arthur. The air was warm, and it kind of made it hard to breathe. It made my lungs hurt a little. I was going to show this guy how good I really was. Taking my starting position, I began to take my arm back. I let my body carry me through the rest, the movements feeling as simple as moving to walk. I let my top half almost lurch over, my arm releasing nothing.

I straightened up a moment later, and turned to Arthur. My hand tensed a little, the muscles in my thump twitching frantically. I shook it a little to try to loosen it up. It settled down after I squeezed it. Sometimes things like that happened whenever I threw the football. It wasn't much of a problem, though.

"Think of flicking a boogie!" I laughed.

Arthur grimaced. "No, thanks."

"Want to try, dude?" I asked after he didn't respond, finally deciding to place my hands on my hips.

It took at least a minute for Arthur to respond to me. When he finally opened his mouth to speak, a whistle had been blown. We looked to our right to find coach, signalling that warmups were over. It was time to start playing.

When I looked back at Arthur, he had his back turned to me and was walking away.

When I returned to Matthias, I apologised to him for taking so long and not coming back right away. After Arthur had walked away, we started an actual game. It went smoothly as people started to actually do stuff. Despite the fact, that one kid ended up getting hit on the back of the head by accident. Matthias and I had laughed so hard that the coach had to tell us to shut up.

It felt really hot when I crouched down to face off. I don't think the guy in front of me had brushed his teeth this morning. When we finished pushing each other around, coach told us to take a break. I knew that I was only going to becoming more tired trying to stay in, so I agreed with no problem. Since the football field was unavailable, everybody who wasn't playing or who had already gone through had to stand off behind the people who were still waiting to play.

Sitting down on the sideline, I watched the rest of the other guys drop down like their heads off whenever coach blew the whistle. I blinked as I realised who Matthias had to face off with; that Arthur kid. I gawked. Arthur was so scrawny compared to Matthias! He'd get crushed.

I sighed, resting my elbows on my knees, and held up my head. That was on himself, I guess. I wondered who was going to make the team this year. I already knew that the Dane and I were going to get into the team already. Matthias tackled Arthur to the ground, and the coach yelled something directed towards him. He just laughed, and the tryouts continued. We were clowns, no doubt. It was all in good spirits, though. All we had to do now was wait. Arthur laid on the ground for a minute or two before getting up. I think he got winded or something.

Matthias waved his hand before pulling his shirt over his head. "Dude looked like he could use the help." He smiled, sitting down to begin tying his sneakers.

I put a sweat jacket over top of my wife beater, and then grabbed my bag from one of the blue lockers. After I had done that, I pushed up my glasses, and sighed. That Arthur guy hadn't even thanked me for my help. What a jerk.

Matthias was cracking his knuckles and biting his lip off when I said good-bye. He just waved me off and nodded with a small smile. I walked over to a full-length mirror that was by the entrance of the locker room and tried to fix my bangs. They were getting long. I held a lock in between my fingers, wondering when I should get it cut. I didn't want to look like a bum. Some people could pull off that shaggy look, but I couldn't.

The Dane yawned from where he was sitting on a bench, and I looked back.

"I'm going to stay back for a bit to talk to some people." He looked at me before standing up. "So just go ahead without me, all right?"

I nodded, adjusting the bag on my shoulders. "Okay then. I'll talk to you later."

Matthias waved me off as I walked across the locker room. Turning a corning, I finally left the tiled room. The hallway was quiet when I walked through it. The walls had been recently given a new coat of paint, so instead of having dull-colored walls, they were white like they originally had been. The tiles on the floor were white also, but with some blue tiles here and there. Those were our school colors, and most of the school wore them proudly on the spirit days we had.

When I walked through the front entrance of the school and stepped outside, a gust of hot air hit my face. I took my jacket off. It was hot, even if it was late in the day. The sun wouldn't be setting for another four hours at the most, so I could still wander around the city before it became dark. It was still really hot, though. A breeze passed by for a moment, and I sighed. The trees shook, swaying one way because the wind kept pushing on them.

I knew how my parents felt about me walking around the streets after dark. This city was just like all the others; sometimes it was dangerous. There were killings, arsons, rapes, and kidnappings just like in every other city. But, those things could happen at any time during the day. With my good looks in mind, I began to walk a little faster.

Living on the outer parts of this city had some bad sides to it. It could be cooler here than it was in Center City. The buildings were still close together, but not like it was there. There was more wind here, too. Oh, it was driving me insane! My hair frantically whipped my face, irritating the Hell out of me. I shoved my hands as far as they could go into my pockets, and stalked home. Cars sped past me, filling my lungs with the exhaust that lingered behind. I could feel my throat constrict a little.

Luckily, walking home was quicker than I thought it was going to take. That doesn't mean that it was peaceful. Some loser forgot to take their trash can away from the street, and it flew onto me. People who were walking by just laughed. I flipped them the finger.

When I finally walked up to my home, all I wanted to do was to take off my shoes and have something to eat. I wasn't even inside yet. I walked up the old concrete steps to the front door, and pulled my bag in front of myself to fish for my house keys. Even if people were home, we always had the door locked. It was just in case something happened, because Mom was always afraid that something would happen to us. She never told us what that something was, but there was no need to. We understood.

When my fingers finally brushed the keys at the bottom of my bag, I snatched them and found the correct key. Jamming it into the lock, I turned the doorknob and opened the door. I stepped into the townhouse, into the small foyer. I could hear somebody in the kitchen, humming loudly. It smelled like cookies, too. I smiled; this was a good thing to walk into.

I walked through the small hallway lined with small, framed photos of my family smiling in different places. Stepping into the room, I saw my sister over by the stove with her back towards me. She swayed lightly along to the music from her CD player that was hooked to the belt loop on her jeans.

"Amelia," I said, trying to get her attention. She didn't hear me. Or, she was just ignoring me.

I walked over to the fridge and opened it, pulling out a can of soda. She continued to dance, singing loudly. I wondered how loudly the volume was on her CD player. Her earphones were big and bulky, and I could hear small bits of her music escaping from it. Yep, it was loud.

"Amelia," I repeated, opening the can of soda.

She didn't hear me again, so I just sighed. Amelia went on with her little show, stirring a bowl of something. Some twin, she was. I took off my glasses to rub my nose. Why didn't girls ever pay attention?

"She's not going to answer you," A softer voice said behind me.

I turned around to find my younger brother. Putting back on my glasses, my vision adjusted, and I could see again. I looked at the fourteen year-old and smiled. It was a weird thing, what Matthew did to me. Seeing him made my day a little brighter. I walked over to him, and took off my bag that was still slung around me and put it onto the kitchen table. Reaching across the table, I messed with his hair just to get a reaction from him.

"Al! Stop that!" The kid exclaimed, trying to get my hands from his hair.

I laughed, and let go. Matthew was in the process of growing his hair out, and it just began to poke at the top of his ears. He was very self-conscious of his hair, even when the rest of our family assured him that it look fine. I had a feeling that it would look better once he was finished growing it out.

I looked at the work he had spread out all over the table. "What are you working on?" I asked.

"A paper for history class," He told me, scribbling some words down. "the American Civil War and stuff."

I shoved some of his books over to his side so I could pull a book from my own bag. I hummed, noticing Amelia had stopped singing. Looking over to her, I saw that she was just staring at us with some dazed look on her face. Her hair was messy from her little dance-thing earlier. She looked away cleaned her hands off with a worn, green dishrag. Amelia seemed like one of those dumb blonde girls. She definitely acted like one.

"How were tryouts?" She asked, directed towards me.

I smiled widely. Amelia had asked this question every year, no matter what sport I was trying out for. The answer would always stay the same, too.

"I think I floored Coach with my skills," I said almost casually, trying to keep a straight face.

It didn't work. Amelia smiled too, and raised an eyebrow.

"It was great, thanks," I told her, zipping up my bag and placing it on the ground.

It was quiet for a few minutes until Matthew spoke up.

"Amelia joined track the other day," My brother chirped in, writing more things down.

My smile grew. "Really? When is your first meet?"

Amelia thought for a moment. "In two weeks, I think."

Whatever she was making when I walked in, looked finished. She wrapped it up and put it in the fridge. I sat down at the table across from Matt, and pulled my books over.

Amelia cleared her throat before talking. "Mom and Dad won't be home until late tonight,"

Matthew looked up to her. "Oh, really?"

Amelia hummed, and turned to walk out of the kitchen before returning with her handbag. "Egg salad is in the fridge." She stated simply before pulling out her tiny makeup bag.

"Thanks, mother." I snickered.

Amelia just shook her head. "Just make sure there's enough left for Matthew and I when you're done. You eat enough food to last a decade."

I laughed, and put my hands up in a mock defence. "Hey! I'm a growing man!"

Matthew muttered something under his breath, and I turned over to him.

"What?"

He waved his hand. "Nothing."

I pouted, and looked over to Amelia. "What did he say?"

Amelia smiled, and ignored me.

"Hey!"

"I'll be back later." She giggled. "I'm going to visit a friend."

"Bring me back some food or something, okay?" I asked,

"Maybe."

With that, she left. I groaned, and Matthew laughed a little.

August 26

Saturday. Thank God.

Matt and I went out and got some ice cream down the street. We saw some of his friends he played street hockey with. I stood around while he talked to them for a few minutes before we went home. It was really hot out again, and by the time we got home, Matt looked like he was ready to pass out.

"I need to take a nap," He told me, and ran upstairs.

"Fine with me," I told him, walking into the kitchen.

I played on my Gameboy for a little bit before my girlfriend, Ruby, came over for a while. We talked some, but mostly made out. It was good. Matthew walked into my room and shrieked. We laughed.

August 27

It's the weekend. Why am I even writing? Tomorrow, I'll be able to see if I made the team or not for football. I know I did. Why am I even questioning that? It's not like I've ever not made the team. Even in middle school, I always made the team. I'm just a great player like that.

I think the highlight of my day was Amelia coming home with a cheeseburger for me. I was so happy.

A/N:

I forgot to mention this before, but Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya. You guys know that, though.

I cannot begin to tell you guys how sorry I am for not posting sooner. I wanted to get most of my school work done before I started on this. The chapters will get longer, I promise. Reviews are appreciated!