a/n: hello readers! So for this story I will be posting about 1-3 chapters a month revolving around a storyline taking place during that month. For example, October will focus on Halloween. I hope to update the day the story takes place, but due to my busy schedule they may be slightly late. Expect updates about once a month starting now till June to go through the whole junior year.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia

August 28, 2012

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

"Uuugh" Gilbert groaned and smacked his alarm before dragging himself into an upright position. 6:30 blinked the little red numbers. Gilbert rubbed his eyes and was debating snoozing another five minutes when his grandfather, knocked loudly on his door.

"Gilbert, I know you're awake. You have 30 seconds before I bring the water bucket".

Gilbert's eyes widened. He knew from experience his grandfather would make good on that promise. Grabbing his robe, he ran into the kitchen, almost knocking over a chair in the process.

"Ok, ok. The awesome me is here. No need for water buckets!" he cried breathlessly. Ludwig, already seated at the table eating toast cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, don't give me that look. Just wait until your junior year and then tell me if you want to get up at 6:30 every day", Gilbert said grabbing some toast for himself.

"Gilbert, if I recall, you've never gotten up on time", called their grandfather from the other room.

"Kesesese~ I guess you're right, but still, the little shit's gonna have his hands full with all those honor classes. I shall watch with amusement when it hits ya, bruder". With that, Gilbert strode out of the kitchen, hands in his robe pockets, to go get ready for school.

Thirty minutes later Gilbert stood admiring himself in the full-length hallway mirror. As much as he hated school uniforms, he had to admit he looked awesome in his. The uniform consisted of a white button-up, a black tie, a purple blazer, and purple plaid pants. Most students wore a beige sweater over the shirt, but Gilbert chose to stick to a white one instead- it was the one thing they could change in the uniform. The finishing touch was his iron cross necklace. His grandfather had given it to him when he turned 16 in July, and he hadn't taken it off since. His white hair perfect, and his red eyes flashing, Gilbert grabbed his backpack and ran to catch up to Ludwig.

"Honestly bro, we aren't going to be late," huffed Gilbert as he speed-walked behind Ludwig.

"I want to be early," Ludwig replied simply.

"What the hell for?" Gilbert asked exasperated.

"So I can find my classes and open my locker"

"Hmm. Well you could've told me that, and I would've asked Antonio and Francis to get here earlier," Gilbert groaned. "I don't want to be alone that's so un-awesome".

"If you woke-up on time, I could've told you earlier".

Gilbert simply stared at his brother, mouth open. Ludwig might be a goody two-shoes, but he could be a sarcastic little bitch when he wanted to.

They got to school at 7:45, fifteen minutes early. Gilbert didn't even have to worry about being alone, because Francis and Antonio were there too. Gilbert strode over to his two best friends giving them both high-fives.

"Mon cher, how was your vacation?" Francis asked enthusiastically.

"Awesome, of course. Germany was great. We even got to drink beer in the beer hall and see the old castles," responded Gilbert."Antonio, bro, how was Spain?"

"Great! I got to visit my relatives, and my auntie's tomato soup is just as delicious as I remember," Antonio smiled at the thought. "How was your trip to France, mi amigo?"

"Oh ho ho, the food was amazing, but the women even more so," Gilbert and Antonio both rolled their eyes at him.

"Dude, I thought you were gay," Gilbert said.

"Eh, it is hard to resist the charms of the French mademoiselles. I am bi, non?" Francis shrugged. "Anyways Gilbert, how's the little brother? If I'm not mistaken he is a freshmen."

"Ugh, yea you're right, Francis. I can't wait for the little shit to have his high-school awakening. He thinks he's sooo cool with his honor classes. Humph, I'm tellin ya, I think I'm looking forward to Freshmen Fridays" Gilbert answered with an eye roll.

Antonio and Francis shared an amused look. Freshmen Fridays were when upperclassmen (generally seniors) threw the freshmen into trash cans, lockers, closets-basically anything just to mess with them. The three friends had learned early that sticking together made you less likely to get singled out. Even so, it took Gilbert getting into a fight before they finally got left alone. If anyone was a prime candidate for a trash canning it was Gil's little bro. But of course, Ludwig wasn't as easy to bully as one might think. He was already as tall as Gilbert and built like a tank with all his muscles. If there was one thing Ludwig loved more than rules it was working-out. Combine that with his piercing blue glare and he was sure to be left alone.

Riiiiiiiiing. The piercing bell warned the waiting friends that they had 5 minutes to get to class. The trio turned and began walking towards the school building.

"What's your first class?" Gilbert asked his companions.

"Espanol tres," said Antonio glancing at his schedule. "Easy peasy."

"I have Algebra deux," sighed Francis. Math was not his favorite subject. "Et toi, Gilbert?"

"Uuuh, Chemistry. Hey, cool! I get to blow stuff up!" he said excitedly.

"Nice! Well, my class is this way, so see you guys at lunch. Usual spot?" Antonio asked.

"Yea sounds fine to me," Gilbert replied heading towards his class. "See ya guys at lunch."

The group split their separate ways, heading off to their first three classes.

...

Three and a half hours later Gilbert, Francis and Antonio stood in the cafeteria. "That one?" asked Antonio.

"Non, my ex is there," Francis answered.

"Who isn't your ex, Francis? How about there?" asked Gilbert.

"Right next to the window? Hmm seems nice," Antonio decided. "Any objections? Abstentions? All who approve say 'aye',"

"Aye" Gilbert answered.

"Aye" responded Francis.

"Then it's settled," smiled Antonio.

The three friends settled into the table, lunch trays in hand. As they ate they chatted about their classes.

"I have Roderich in my chem class," groaned Gilbert. "He's never gonna' wanna' explode anything! He's such a prissy."

"Could be worse," Francis patted him on the back. "You could have class with Berwald." The three friends shuttered at the thought of the intimidating Swede. He was a senior, but his Finnish boyfriend was an adorable sophomore named Tino. How the two got together completely baffled the trio (and the rest of the school).

Suddenly, a loud noise caused the three friends to look up. Their gaze was drawn to Ivan, the scary Russian senior who was known to especially enjoy freshmen Fridays. He was standing over two freshmen with brown hair. Both had a very odd hair curls (though on opposite sides) and were trembling under the massive Russian's gaze.

"Ve~ I surrender! I don't have any money, I swear. I surrender!" the lighter-haired brother was talking quickly, his Italian accent thickening, and the white flag in his hand going a mile a minute. Gilbert was fully expecting Ivan to pound the little guy, when Ludwig appeared out of nowhere. He stood in front of the Italian twins and glared menacingly up at Ivan.

"Touch a single hair on their heads, and I swear you will pay for it," he growled.

The two stared at each other for a long time. Sky blue gaze meeting unusual violet. The cafeteria seemed to be holding its breath; half wanting, half fearing a fight. Finally, the tension was broken by the taller student.

"I was just welcoming them to high school, da?" the Russian replied smirking with menace in his voice. "I shall be going now though. Come along, Toris." the shivering Lithuanian ran after Ivan. Poor Toris, the junior was terrified of Ivan, but he wasn't given much choice when it came to hanging out with the Russian.

While the two made their exit, the young Italian seemed to recover and was currently pestering Ludwig.

"Oh gratzi, Ludwig! I thought I was going to die for sure! Ve~ do you have any pasta with you...?" he trailed along after Ludwig leaving the cafeteria in a quiet state of bewilderment.

"That," Gilbert said, "was interesting. Don't you think so Antonio?...Antonio?!" Francis and Gilbert's friend had gone missing! The two friends scanned the cafeteria only to realize too late what was happening.

"You bastard, get away from me!" The second Italian brother had darker hair, and also a rather rude personality. He shoved Antonio away and marched past him, out the door.

Antonio could only call after, "But tomatoes make everything better!"

Gilbert rolled his eyes. Leave it up to the Spanish idiot to try and hit on someone that just barely escaped getting the living daylights knocked out of them. Since they had finished eating, Gilbert and Francis stood up and went to rescue the stunned Spaniard.

"Come on, mon ami," Francis urged. "You're making a scene." Antonio followed his friends out to their favorite hangout spot by the bike rack. Gilbert and Francis leaned against the railing, but Antonio sighed softly and sank onto the ground.

"Dude, what's up with you?" Gilbert asked. "You were totally normal until ten minutes ago".

"I think I'm in love," Antonio answered quietly. "His eyes, his skin, his voice, that adorable curl..."

Francis chuckled and patted Antonio on the back. "Mon cher, do not worry. It will pass- love always does."

Antonio gasped. "How can you say that? Love is beautiful and wonderful and amazing. It's about finding the person you want to be with more than anything else. It's being happy to be with them because they are them. You love them because you are meant to love them...even if they don't love you back." Antonio sighed again at the last part, his head resting in his palm.

"Antonio, I think you're being a little over-dramatic," Gilbert started off slowly. Or a lot over dramatic, he scoffed. "I mean, ya just met the kid. You don't even know his personality or anything. He's probably not even gay. Even if he is, you can't expect to walk up to him and expect him to fall head-over-heels for ya."

"Lovino," was all the Spaniard said.

"Bless you?" Francis said, thinking Antonio had sneezed.

"No, no. His name is Lovino."

"Oh, well in any case, I agreed with Gilbert that you should forget him. He is a Freshmen after all, that's a tad, eh, young."

"Age is just a number!" insisted Antonio. "But, perhaps I was too forward. I must be smoother next time."

Gilbert had watched the rest of the exchange between his two friends quietly. Having very little relationship experience he would let Francis deal with the love-sick Antonio.

As Francis tried to talk sense to the Spaniard, Gilbert let his gaze wander. He noticed lots of his classmates like Arthur, the irritatingly proper English senior, who was also Francis's ex, and current student body president. He was talking to Feliks, Toris's long time crush. Feliks was blonde, Polish, spoke like a valley girl, and was like, totally a cross dresser (at least on weekends). Feliks and Arthur were also having a conversation with Elizabeta, Roderich's Hungarian girlfriend. She was pretty, with waist-length brown hair, but she could also be a bit of a bitch.

Turning his attention back to his friends, Gilbert noticed that Antonio seemed to have calmed down. He was no longer sitting on the ground, and while his green eyes were shiner than normal, he no longer looked close to crying. Francis was patting him on the back and saying something quietly to the nodding Antonio. The Spaniard murmured something back before turning and heading off into the hallway.

"What did you tell him?" Gilbert asked Francis.

"I told him that there is no such thing as love at first sight, so he might want to try walking past Lovino again."

"You did not! Francis, Antonio's gonna' kill you if this backfires on him!" Gilbert cried, half-laughing and half-worried.

"Do not worry, mon ami. Antonio will not have time to track down Lovino. The bell should be ringing right... About..."

RIIIIIIIIIIING

"...now."

Not bad, Gilbert thought turning towards his next class. Although for Antonio's sake i hope he doesn't see Lovino for the rest of the day.

Gilbert's Trig class wasn't very far down the hall, so he stopped at his locker to drop off his blazer. Right when he was about to turn into his classroom, however, Gilbert saw his little brother walking with the Italian from earlier chatting animatedly beside him.

Huh. Who would've thought rigid Ludwig would make such an eccentric friend. Let alone on the first day of school. Gilbert was still pondering this when a blonde boy slid into the seat next to him.

"Hello," he said quietly with a Canadian accent. "My name's Matthew."

The rest of the 28th shall be posted tomorrow, along with the last August chapter. I apologize for there not being too much plot in these first few chapters, as I was setting the scene for the later ones. I hope you enjoy anyways!