The Hunt for Sviederbach

Disclaimer: I do not own Shake it Up

A/N:

Chapter 4 (Apartment Rules)

Aveline leapt out of the way, her cheeks red with embarrassment as Ander stepped in the doorway, rubbing the back of his head. All three of his roommates, and some girl standing behind one, were watching and clapping. "Way to go man!" One of them exclaimed. "Your first day here and you've already got yourself a girl!" Ander lowered his arm and pointed to the roommate with his girlfriend.

"What about those two? He's new here also…"

"Well yes that's a given, but da-amn, you're here making out with not just any girl. The Princess herself!" Aveline fell onto the bed and groaned while he quickly tried to cover it up and protest. There truly was no denying it, however.

"Seriously, you can't tell anyone." Aveline leaned forward and peered at the door, hoping to get a view of the people. The man talking seemed Ander's age, was wearing a jocks uniform, had a bit of a bigger build and a strong jaw. His head was shaped almost like a mountain, or a block, and his hair was spiked and sandy brown. Until she learned his name, she would refer to him as spiky. Yes, that seemed a perfect title for him. She chuckled inwardly, then smacked herself mentally for the thought.

The man not saying anything at all was a skinny boy about eighteen or nineteen by the looks of him. He was wearing a pair of thick glasses, had a light brown stubbly goatee, and blonde hair parted on the right and combed over to the left. The man with the girl was tall, about the same build as Ander, if not a little stronger. He had an oval face, piercing green eyes, brown hair spiked backwards, unlike the jock, and a bit of a scowl. She had a very bad feeling about him, but didn't want to say anything. The girl behind him looked a tad shy. She had extremely long brown hair which went out to her thighs. Her lips were twisted into a tiny smirk, and her eyes were wide and brown. She was about a foot shorter than the man she was with. He was about 6''4', she was about 5''4. Her wrists were hidden behind her back, and her hair seemed to cloak her heart shaped face.

"Why tell anyone you're shackin' it up with the Princess?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, we are not doing that!" The jock appeared unimpressed. Aveline rested a hand on her cheek and sighed as everyone started to enter the room. Why was it she felt like she was on display here? Ander backed up in front of her and extended his arms out to the side in defense. Her eyes locked onto the other woman in the room. What was it about this woman that was catching her attention? This woman and her boyfriend, something was just off about them. "We've been dating a while, that's all. You can't tell anyone yet…"

"It's fine." The jock put his hands up in surrender, then extended his hand. "Anyway, I'm Art Caden, I've been here for a couple years. The other roommates moved on to other places. So I'll give you the runabout if you'd like." Art turned to the others in the room and pointed to each of them. "Anyway these guys showed up before you, so…the skinny guy is Odo Reginald. Then these guys over here are cultural students Martin Lamont and Mala Nils."

"Right, I met them on the plane." He waved at the two, but received no response. Aveline raised her eyebrow and leaned back on her palms, sighing as everyone continued staring at her. She felt it would be rude to tell them off. "I'm Ander, uh…Bransford…" Mala looked up to him, and Martin's cold gaze flicked from Aveline towards Ander.

"No way! Get out of here!" Art laughed and quickly shook his hand, patting Ander on the back. "Well, you'll fit right at home here, it's good to meet you." Aveline smiled at the man and watched him point out the door. "So I'm right next door, Martin and Odo are in the hallway on the other side of the living room." Lowering his arm, he cleared his throat and started scratching his left thigh. "Anyway uh, oh yeah! I'm usually up studying until two, my classes are later in the day, so if any of you guys are out past like eleven or twelve, that's fine. I'll be awake. If you're out past two don't bother coming home!" Ander's face fell and the others stared at Art. After a minute, Art laughed and pat their shoulders. "I'm kidding! You got keys, just be quiet when you get in! Also, whatever's in the pantry or fridge, if you don't label it with your name, it's fair game for everyone. So if you lose something, don't complain! Got it?"

"Y-Yeah, we got it. Anything else?" Art paused and looked from Aveline to Mala. He held up two index fingers and cleared his throat.

"Right! Next rule. This goes for you two, Odo doesn't look like he has a girlfriend-"

"Hey!" Odo protested. Art raised an eyebrow and beckoned whether or not he had one. Odo's response was merely bowing his head. Aveline stifled a chuckle and cupped her hand over her mouth. "Okay so I don't have a girlfriend…I just don't like being singled out."

"Okay, bearing that in mind. Now Ander, Martin, during the night I do not want to hear your girlfriends. Do you dig me?" Aveline raised an eyebrow and Mala shifted uncomfortably. "Meaning, you, Princess…" She sat upright and Art lifted a hand up. "I don't mind you being here, mi casa es su casa, and all that. I can be perfectly casual and fine with you here, I won't even say anything about you being here. When you're here, same goes for Mala, help yourselves. However as the curfew of the campus states, Mala needs to be at her dorm by eleven, and Aveline needs to be back at her castle by at least midnight. Don't try to sneak them into the apartment, otherwise we'll all get in trouble for having a girl over, but also, Odo is probably trying to sleep or study, and I'll be trying to sleep or study. If you have to do anything sexual, any fighting, take it elsewhere."

The next person that decided to make anyone think they had sex, she would snap their heads off. "We don't have sex," Aveline said with narrow eyes. "I'm not like that."

"I understand that, and I respect that, I'm merely saying…" Art cleared his throat and turned to Martin and Mala. "You understand as well, right? At least by eleven, if not eleven, midnight at the latest, the girls need to be gone." Martin nodded his head and put his arm around Mala's waist. "Okay good."

"Sure seems like there's a lot of rules, Artie."

"It's Art, Aveline, just Art." She chuckled and moved her right leg over her left. She didn't mind him calling her Aveline at all. She wanted to clear up whether or not he would do that or call her Princess. "So Ander, you're cultural studies like Martin and his girl?" Ander slowly nodded his head, earning a suspicious look from the jock. "You're the son of Frankie Bransford, why the hell do you need to do cultural studies in a country that you should already know everything a-" Art's eyes flipped over to Aveline. Her eyebrows bounced up and down and he slowly bowed his head. "Right, your girlfriend…"

"And this place is where I'm from," Ander replied as casually as possible. "Can't possibly go wrong here."

"I hope you feel at home."

"I do, first day here and it has a strange connection. Different than just visiting, I live here now. At least for two semesters…"

"You should talk to your dad about moving back, you know Sviederbach would take him back, right? I mean hell, he could even get on Parliament…"

"I don't think he's too interested in Parliament, but I haven't heard anything about them moving here. It would be nice if he did, it's great to reconnect with my roots. It's kind of sad I won't be a part of the baseball team back home, but oh well." Art stepped beside Ander and put an arm around his shoulders, patting his shoulder while smirking.

"Glad to hear it. As for baseball, we do have a sports program here. Choose any program you like. I'm actually studying to be a personal trainer."

"Cool."

"Yes." Art looked to Odo with an eager smile. "Odo, what are you attending for?" Odo quickly looked up, stammering at first. Art spun his hand in the air, pushing him to speak. "Come on Odo, we can't have this man. You got to talk, socialize bro!" Martin raised an eyebrow and Odo nodded.

"Right sorry. I'm just a transfer, I've heard good things about the college and their programs. Um, I'm here for video game design…"

"Great!"

Martin snickered once and shook his head. "Looks like we need to beat the shyness out of him." Aveline rolled her eyes as Art jumped up, in idea mode once more.

"Right! That reminds me, the other rule, no violence! We're all bros here, there should be no fighting amongst each other. If there is, I have to step in and settle things, and if I have to settle things, then it's going to get ugly. Got that?" Ander chuckled and Martin agreed. "Good!"

Remembering she was almost late, and Estelle was likely waiting outside the apartment, Aveline quickly rose up. She pat down her dress as the others looked towards her. "Sorry guys, I need to get going. I'm about to be late for Mom's training session, so I'll leave you to hang out. It was good to meet you, Art. Also, just call me Ave or Aveline."

"All right." Art saluted her with two fingers and she quickly pecked Ander on the cheek.

"I'll call you later Ander, let me know how it goes. Love you!" He hugged her goodbye, then she went on her way. Just as she reached the door, she heard Art laugh and compliment Ander once more. She smiled and rolled her eyes, surely the man would get over the fact that his roommate was dating the princess. She didn't think she could deal with that excitement every day. It did look like Ander would have a good time with these roommates of his at least, she thought they were great people. Although, something just seemed off about Martin and Mala, it felt like she'd heard his name before. Martin Lamont, it just sounded oddly familiar.

No matter, her biggest issue now was getting home before her mom noticed she was late!

Well, tell me your observations. What did you like, notice anything?