Chapter 11: Quite Often Actually

"Okay! Let's get this started!" Grieta said, pulling both Matthew and me out into the hallway. "This is a very important weekend!"

"How so?" Matthew asked, half-expecting me to know why. I could only reflect the same confused look back at him and hope Grieta would explain.

"Because this is your first weekend together!" Grieta answered simply, beaming at us.

"…So why are you with us, then?" I asked, already regretting having told her that I was meeting with Matthew today.

"Because I definitely have to see this for myself." She replied enthusiastically, guiding us towards the faculty dorms. I couldn't understand why she was taking us there, but I began feeling anxious.

"See what for yourself?" I decided to ask, although I was a bit nervous to know what she had planned for us.

"I think I know what she's gonna do," Matthew sighed, squeezing my hand to remind me he would be there too. "She's gonna go tell the teachers about us—"

"Not just that!" Grieta interrupted. "I'm going to interview them to see what they think of you two!" she finished explaining triumphantly. With this, I stopped in my tracks, prompting Matthew to pause beside me. Grieta walked a few more steps before realizing we had been left behind, after which she merely turned around and tapped her foot impatiently.

"What's wrong, Tina?" Matthew asked concerned. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Ah…it's just that…it's not like we announced it or anything…" I began rambling. "I mean, I don't know if Yao will appro—"

"…Hm?" he knew I had more to say, but caught me just staring at his face contemplatively.

"Nevermind!" I suddenly answered, startling Matthew a bit. I started heading towards Grieta again, with more confidence this time. "I can't think of anyone who wouldn't approve of you."

"Ah…haha…now I'm the one getting nervous…" he said, matching his pace with mine.

... ... ... ... ...

The first stop was Mr. Vargas' office, simply because his room was the first one after entering the building. Grieta knocked and went in first, suddenly shutting the door after telling the two of us to wait outside. We couldn't help but listen by the door…

"Oh hey Mr. Vargas! I have something to ask you." She said quite excitedly, her voice easily heard through the door which Tina and I were listening closely to.

"What is it, Grieta?" he seemed welcoming, but clueless. "Aren't you usually out and about on weekends?"

"Yeah, usually." She answered. "But today, I wanna ask you about…" Grieta said as her voice seemed to get louder from outside the door. Suddenly the door swung open and Tina and I, who had been leaning on it, fell inward. "…these two!" Mr. Vargas stood up in slight alarm when we fell in, but then he began laughing, offering no help while I tried to untangle myself from Tina.

"A-ah, sorry!" I apologized, getting up from on top of Tina as fast as I could.

"O-oh, it's fine." She said just as hurriedly as I helped her up. Mr. Vargas approached us and answered Grieta's question.

"I think it was only a matter of time with these two!" he said in his loud, booming voice. "It took you look enough, though!" the Italian man said, whacking me acceptingly on the back so hard that I almost fell over again. Why is everyone so aggressive lately?

"Uh…thanks?" I said, not knowing how to react to the overly friendly principal. Just then, two people could be heard heading towards Mr. Vargas' room.

"Hey, did something happen?" Mr. Beilschmidt asked, looking into the room.

"We heard a loud sound," Mrs. Kirkland added, popping up from behind the German. "It kinda sounded like something fell— Oooh~!" she changed from a concerned tone to a delighted one after seeing me and Tina standing next to Mr. Vargas.

"Oh, this is just perfect~!" Grieta joined in. "Now I can ask the two of you too!"

"Ask us what?" the Vice Principal and Literature teacher said in unison.

"These two!" Grieta said, pushing me and Tina towards the two adults until we faced them directly. Mr. Beilschmidt was even taller than I was and stood, scarily looking down on me, with a stoic expression on his face.

"Haven't your detentions been increasing exponentially since a few weeks ago?" he inquired, almost accusingly, though his facial expression was unchanged.

"Aw, don't be like that, Leopold." Mrs. Kirkland said, putting her hand on his stiff shoulder. "I think they're so adorable!"

"Hmm. Well, as long as they don't get any worse…" he softened, speaking to her instead. Then he turned to me and gave me a nod, before beginning to walk back out the door. Mrs. Kirkland began following him out, but then hopped back towards us.

"Oh, I changed the seating so that the two of you are next to each other now!" she said, excitedly. "But you guys sit at the front so I can keep an eye on you~"

"Thank you!" I said, sounding embarrassingly eager. Both Tina and Mrs. Kirkland were surprised for a second, but then smiled.

"Good catch you got there." She commented, ruffling Tina's hair before she joined Mr. Beilschmidt, who had been waiting for her by the door. The rest of the teachers first gave confused looks when Grieta asked them about us, mostly because they didn't recognize me or was unsure if whether or not I was Alfred. But after straightening that out, they gave us random congratulations. Mama Karpusi and Mama Hassan began probing us with questions about 'how far' we had gotten, but when we were too flustered to answer anything coherently, Grieta began answering for us.

We tried to avoid Mr. Adnan, but we ran into the Turkish man anyways. The second he saw us, he looked away and continued walking, grumbling something about 'kids not having anything better to do with their free time.' Mr. Csontváry, who had been walking with him, gave me a pat on the back similar to Mr. Vargas'. He didn't say anything, but I was glad he knew who I was. That was probably because Alfred and I were in different sports teams and, as the Gym teacher, was aware of all players in each sport.

Ms. Aestii and Mr. Zima were sitting together at a table in the faculty lounge, talking calmly, when Grieta popped in and 'interviewed' them. Ms. Aestii gave a gentle smile and said we were a good match, but Mr. Zima didn't know me or Tina since we never had his class. Nevertheless, he seemed to give an approving nod despite his stern glare reminiscent of an army general. …What is with all of these nice ladies and scary men…?

The final stop was Yao's room. Tina's nervousness returned slightly, so I tried to distract her with conversation. "Hey, how old is Yao anyway?" I asked. It was something I always wondered, but never thought to ask before.

"I'm not actually sure…" she started. "He looks exactly the same way he did a few years ago. I used to think he was a student here too, but since he oversees detentions,"

"And lives in the faculty dorm," I added, as we reached the door to his room.

"Yes. I assumed maybe he was a student-teacher or something." Tina continued. "Nobody seems to add 'Mr.' to his name, either, though."

"Are you guys ready?" Grieta asked, bringing us back to the situation. She actually waited for us this time, noticing our anxiousness. All of us knew by now how important family was to Tina, and since Yao is the only person she ever considered her 'older brother,' he was quite important. Grieta was just about to knock on the door when we heard Yao's voice.

"Come in." he said from inside. It startled us a bit since it sounded like he was expecting us. We opened the door carefully and stepped inside.

... ... ... ... ...

These kids are so noisy aru. If you're going to just stand outside my door, it's better not to discuss my age in such loud voices. I invited them in, since it was clear that Tina had come to introduce her boyfriend to me. Also, I had gotten a few separate texts from Alejandro, Brigid, and Stephen saying that Grieta was 'interviewing' everyone. The three entered in different ways. Grieta te Kolstee seemed to bounce in, immediately spotting me and preparing herself to ask questions. Tina walked in, seemingly with resolve, but I could tell she was nervous because she wouldn't look straight at me. Hands connected, Matthew Williams followed behind her, poised straight and looking me in the eyes directly.

"…so, what do you think?" Grieta finished. I hadn't been listening since I had been observing the couple, but I had an answer prepared beforehand.

"They're quite well-suited aru." I answered, simply. For a moment, all three of them had stayed silent, and then two audible sighs could be heard. Tina and Matthew were obviously relieved, but Grieta looked like she was waiting for more.

"Is that it?" she asked finally. "You're little sister just got her first boyfriend and that's all you say after two seconds of seeing them?"

"Yes."

"…What? Why?" she wondered aloud. "I thought you'd be a little stricter or something seeing as how Tina was so nervous to come here!"

"He's a little different from what I've heard," I explained, smiling. "But I can tell he's a good guy. Of course both of them have to start being more responsible regarding their class attendance aru."

"You've heard about me?" Matthew suddenly said, a bit perplexed. The boy is apparently used to being unnoticed.

"Yes, quite often actually." I answered. "It's mostly from the teachers who were surprised to find out that they didn't know who one of their best students was. But the other day Hyung Soo asked me for advice regarding the whole stairs incident, and then after that Antonio came in here to talk about you two, although he seemed to think Tina's boyfriend was Alfred."

"Oh…" he seemed not to know what to say.

"Wait, why did Antonio come and talk to you?" Tina joined in, confused. "He's not related to you like Hyung Soo and I are…"

"It's my job aru." I grinned, pointing at the name plate at my desk, which all three students seemed to have missed. "I'm the Guidance Counselor."

Epic win for me:

I finally figured it out, guys! If I write the story during the classes that I don't pay attention in anyways instead of playing spider solitaire on my laptop, then I can get chapters out more regularly! :D

I'm just gonna do a direct copypasta of my teachers' names roster that I made up for World Academy so that nobody gets confused:

Rome – Alejandro Vargas (Principal, Arts, Latin)

Germania – Leopold Beilschmidt (Vice Principal [Disciplinary], Music Director)

Ancient Greece – Athena Karpusi (Philosophy, TOK)

Ancient Egypt – Hatshepsut Hassan (Biology, Anatomy & Physiology, Chemistry, Nurse)

Turkey – Sadiq Adnan (Modern History)

Magyar – Stephen Csontváry (Gym, Ancient History)

Celts – Brigid Kirkland (Literature, Language Arts)

Balts – Galinda Aestii (Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus, etc Mathematics)

General Winter – Ushanka Zima (Psychology, Forensics)

China – Wang Yao (Student Council Moderator, Guidance Counselor)

Not much happened in this chapter…Well, not much of the original plotline I had planned out. This little Grieta's interview part wasn't supposed to be this long but it ended up as its own chapter anyways…