Flip. You glanced over at the folded piece of paper that had just landed on the corner of your desk. Who...? You glanced to your left and then back up at the teacher who was writing something on the board as the class took notes on grammar from their textbooks for what had to be the third day in a row. "Pisssst!" You looked behind you. Your eyes immediately found themselves trained on a medium sized girl with long, mousy brown hair and a flower clip pinning her bangs back. She gestured slightly with her hands and mouthed, open it. Hesitantly, you did as she asked. Inside the folded card was a messy message written in very... boyish chicken scratch. Huh. Strange...

are you friends with allen?

Your eyebrows crinkled in confusion. Why would she ask that? Quickly you wrote a short response below her initial question.

sort of... why?

You felt a hand tap your shoulder and you jerked away. The blonde girl, with a ribbon holding her short, blonde hair out of her face sitting behind you, winked before gesturing for the note. Silently, you handed it to her. Several moments after you turned back around, the hand returned, once again offering the note. You took it and unfolded it to read the response.

because he's been staring at you since class started.

Surprised, you turned to your right and looked to the very back corner of the room. Sure enough, blood red eyes clashed with yours. You whipped around and shrank in your seat as you heard a low chuckle coming from behind you. Mr. Geoffrey looked up from the seat he had just taken at his desk. "Well, I'm assuming that everyone has thoroughly completed the assignment considering the noise I am hearing. Let's continue on with the lesson, shall we? Anything you have not completed will be homework." Half the class turned and shot dirty glares at Allen. He grinned and leaned back confidently, and you never once felt him take his eyes off of you.

-Later-

Five minutes before class was dismissed, the teacher stated that he had something to go do and said that we could just leave when the bell rang. Odd. None of the other kids seemed to think it strange though, as they started chatting with their friends sitting around them. Well isn't this a laid back school... The girl with the flower in her hair came up beside your desk as you started to collect your things. She watched you shove your English folder into your bag. "Helló! My name is Elizabeta, but you can call me Lizzie. It's nice to meet you!" She offered forth her hand.

You looked at her before taking her hand and shaking it slowly. "Hello, my name is (Y/n). You do know I've been in this class for about three weeks, correct?" She laughed. "Of course I know! I just now remembered I had never introduced myself." You nodded slightly; that was definitely not why she was here. Suddenly, she leaned (way too far) into your personal space, an excited glint in her eyes. "So... can you tell me why the captain of the Baseball AND Football team is giving you rides to and from school everyday?" You drew back uncomfortably. "Um, there was an... incident and he-" She squealed, effectively cutting you off from explaining 'the story' (aka the lie you and Alfred had made up). "OHMYGOSHAREYOUPREGNANT?!" You blushed as heads all around the room turned to stare at you. "NO! No, we're not even... together."

She looked extremely disappointed. "Aw man! And I thought I had a new couple to watch too!" You blushed an even darker shade of red. She looked across the room and seemed to remember something as a twisted looking, perverted smile rippled across her face. "What's up with you and Allen?" Oh my gosh, this is NOT helping me stop blushing, dammit! You looked at your desk, hoping she'd get the hint to just drop it. "Nothing." She didn't speak and you waited with your breath held, hoping she would just leave. You heard fingers tap your desk and she spoke in a singsong voice. "Alrighty then, but if you ever need to... talk... here's my card." Sure enough, she set a small, rectangular piece of paper on your desk with her name and number written in flowing cursive as she skipped away. Beneath her information was written 'Relationship Specialist'. Great, now what did I get myself into? You hesitated before sighing and picking up the card, slipping it into the side pocket of your backpack as the bell rang and you moved to leave the room.

You let everyone else shove their way out of the room, standing patiently off to the side to prevent yourself from being trampled. You were about to slip through the doorway as hands wrapped themselves around your waist and pulled you back against a hard chest. The first thing that flew to your mind was the 'incident' that had happened the other day. You struggled and was about to kick your 'assailant' in the shin when a deep voice laughed into your ear and stopped you. "Slow down, baby girl, I just wanted to tell ya how much I missed ya." You felt your face flush and you were (momentarily) very happy that everyone else had already left the classroom.

He continued speaking before you could demand he release you. "So, let me get this straight, you're riding in some dick's car, morning and night, and you didn't even bother asking me first?" You shifted in his grip. "It's not what you think." He chuckled darkly, "Good 'cause I've already got dibs. Maybe someone, and by someone I mean myself, should let little 'Alfie' know that though, after all, he's gettin' a little too cocky 'bout getting chicks... deserves to have the shit beat out of him if you ask me..." Allen continued, purring roughly into your ear, "Mhmmm, but anyway, I'm very happy to hear that you aren't pregnant... by someone other than me, doll face..." You gasped and started struggling against his grip. "Allen! That's not funny, let me go!" He laughed again and turned you around to face him, his hands keeping a firm hold on your wrists. His eyes bore into yours and the lust you saw in them frightened you. "ALLEN LET GO!" He rumbled, "What if I say no, beautiful?"

"Then you and I would have a problem, wouldn't we?" Another voice called warningly into the otherwise silent room. Allen's aura shifted darkly and he turned. His hold loosened a little, but he did not let go. You turned your head to see who was attempting to save you. You breathed in sharply and couldn't help but shift back into Allen. A tall, serious looking... man (even though he was probably your age) stood erectly in the entrance. His icy blue eyes were slitted slightly beneath his combed back, blonde hair and in his arms rested several advanced level books.

His head tilted to the side ever so slightly. "I believe the Fräulein told you to let go. It is very rude to ignore a women when she is speaking to you, ja?" Allen's entire body tensed. "I don't take orders from you, blondie." The man's eyes narrowed again. "If you would prefer, I'd be more than happy to fetch an administrator to work this out. Is that what you want?" Both men stood their ground for another minute before Allen shifted uncomfortably and was finally forced to yield. He gently released your arms and leaned forward quickly to place a small, possessive kiss on your cheek. "Later, babe." The man turned in the doorway, allowing Allen a narrow passage out into the hall. They didn't stop glaring at each other until Allen was around the corner of the hallway.

You stood silently. The man turned back to you and a good majority of the seriously scary guy from a minute age vanished. He shifted awkwardly. "ähh, hi?" You nodded, watching a blush creep it's way across his cheeks. "I-I didn't interrupt something, well, of course I interrupted something, but I was going to ask if I interrupted something you, Äh, wanted to happen?" His blush darkened. "No. Thank you for interrupting." He made eye contact with you for a split second before he looked away again. "If he bothers you again in a way you don't like, you can, ähhhm, always ask me for help... j-ja?" The corners of your mouth lifted slightly. "Yes. Thank you-?" He looked at you and blinked. "L-Ludwig." You moved forward and hesitantly held out your hand. "(y/n)." He smiled, or at least he attempted to, and nodded.

You jumped as the final bell rang, signaling that you were late for fifth hour. You sighed heavily and muttered under your breath, "Great... that's exactly what I needed." He interrupted your train of thought. "Let me walk you to class." You looked at him questioningly. He blushed again. "I could, Äh, talk to your teacher, ja?" You tilted your head. "And tell him about Allen?" "N-no, I'm on student council and I could tell him you were doing something with me, if that's okay..." You nodded after a minute. "Yes, that would be very nice of you. Thanks." He sighed, looking relieved, and ran his free hand through his hair. "in Ordnung, where is your class?"

5 minutes later, you sighed (almost happily) and slipped into your seat as you nodded a thank you to Ludwig. He blushed again, ducking his head, before he left the room. He had been right, the teacher had excepted his excuse without question. It was really nice of Ludwig to do that for me...

Your thoughts re-centered as your teacher started talking. "Okay students, get your notes out from last Friday. We're doing the other half of the poverty lecture today." Half the class groaned audibly. Silently, you slipped the three ring binder out of your bag and opened it up to the loose leaf paper after you set it on the table. Uncapping your pen, you drew a slash line horizontally across the middle of the paper already half covered in notes and dated the lower half. You sat back, waiting for further instruction. The teacher glanced up from his computer screen and cast his eyes on the table you were seated at. "Miss (l/n), if you would be so kind as to re-awaken Mr. Karpusi." The teacher returned his eyes to the screen.

You glanced over to the boy seated next to you with his head resting on the table. Hesitantly, you reached out and lightly touched his shoulder. He straightened sleepily. "M'sorry, what?" He turned towards you. You nodded in the direction of the teacher and returned your attention to the paper in front of you. He didn't say anything but you still felt his eyes on you. You shifted uncomfortable after a minute. Your eyes turned back to him. "Is there something you need?" He thought about it for a moment. "May I borrow a piece of paper, please?" You looked at him. "Sure..." After ripping out a sheet of lined paper from your binder, you handed it to him. He nodded contently but still did not look away. "Is there anything else?" He smiled slowly. "Are you still looking for a job?" You froze.

"How did you-?" He blinked sleepily again before answering. "Ms. Burns is my counselor. She mentioned something about it. My mom owns a Greek restaurant just west of here and she's looking for another busboy. Do you still want a job?" Huh... You did remember mentioning trying to find a job to Haley last week. You nodded. "Your mom would be okay with that?" He shrugged. "Of course, come to Opa's tomorrow at 5:30 and you can talk to her about it." You smiled slightly. "Thank you."

Heracles nodded like it was no big deal. He repositioned himself, apparently to try and fall back asleep, before he jumped like he had remembered something. He lifted his head off of his hands. "Tell her Heracles suggested you." You nodded again and he fell back asleep. Huh, I feel like that should have been harder... Could it possibly be that things are going my way just this once for the first time in God knows how long?

*Writer's note- Yay Ludwig! In case you want to know, I to am crazy about Germany and Russia :3 #Unofficialsisterhoodofsmexyguys. I hope I wrote Germany okay, I know he's not supposed to be very good at talking to the opposite gender but I figured he'd get better as the story progresses. Yeah, I think I said chapter seven was my favorite so far? Not anymore. On a side note, I'm not sure if anyone picked this up yet, but Canada's locked in the friendzone closet. Poor Mathew... If someone wants me to let him out, I can, but otherwise that is where he shall stay. I can make him a love interest in another story if it don't work out here, anyway. I'd do that, because deep down, everyone loves Canada. For some of us, maybe it ain't so deep down... but still! Hope ya'll enjoyed! Peace-Berries and Beans

Translations:

in Ordnung: Okay

Äh/ähhhm: (From what I understand) The German equivalent of 'um'