A/N: Aaaaaah! It's been a while. Life, drama, and all that good stuff got to me. But it's ok now, so I have another update for you lovely, lovely people. And just as a note, I actually think that this fic might be coming to a end much faster than I thought. All the real drama starts the next chapter.
And just to clarify some things:
Eliisabet: fem!Estonia
Laura: Belgium
Erika: fem!Romania
Daniel: male!Hungary
Gillian: fem!Prussia
Lars: Netherlands
Chapter 6: In Which An Awkward Week Passes By, pt 2
Monday:
"Jing Mei, in which year was Germany technically united?"
Oh crap. Jing Mei had always been a little scatter-brained with dates, and she was currently drawing a blank.
"Er…1866?"
"No, although you are close. 1871, right after the Franco-Prussian war."
In the back, she could hear Gillian, their student aide for this period, cheering. Jing Mei had no idea how Gillian had persuaded Mr. M that she was capable of being his student aide for Advanced European History, but then again, it was European history and Prussia was brought up often. It was probably why Gillian had managed to pass the Advanced Examinations with a five out of five.
"So, continuing on. Who was the mastermind behind this plan, Jing Mei?"
"Otto von Bismarck," she answered quickly, hoping that her shrewd History teacher was done picking on her for the day. Boy was she wrong.
"What was his background?"
"He was a conservative Junker, but he was also very sly, cunning, and manipulative. He wanted to unite the German nation because he felt that a strong Germany could crush the rest of the world."
"Who was his Austrian counterpart? In some aspects, since they really didn't agree in most topics."
Was he purposely taking longer on her Socratic Dialogue? Sure, she'd been skipped over during the last two times because they had run out of time, but hey! He was definitely putting her on the spot for no reason at the moment. It wasn't like she was the only one who hadn't gone. Heracles, the sleeping wonder, hadn't gone either.
"Klemens von Metternich."
"Excellent. Now Heracles, what did Metternich oppose with great fervor?"
"Nationalism."
"Why?"
"He thought that it would tear Austria apart."
"How so?"
Having Heracles answer a Socratic Dialogue was possibly the most excruciating ordeal of the class. He would answer everything in one, concise sentence, causing their teacher to ask more and more questions until he was satisfied with the drowsy boy's performance.
Jing Mei doodled a little on her notebook. It was going to be a while before Heracles' turn was over.
Suddenly, Anders Densen bounded into their classroom with a note from the office. He looked as cheery and carefree as ever, grinning at all of the girls in the class. His gaze lingered a little longer on Jing Mei, but she quickly brushed it aside.
Mr. M quickly skimmed over Anders' note.
"Miss Wang. Office."
Anders grinned widely as Jing Mei gathered up her things and followed him out the door. Jing Mei attempted to ignore the obnoxious junior, but it was useless. He continued to blabber on and on and on about everything and anything. By the time they reached the office, Jing Mei realized she had never been so relieved to have arrived at the office.
Tuesday:
"Mei Mei!"
Jing Mei found herself being glomped by her hyperactive cousin as she attempted to scramble to her third period class. Yong Soo was gleefully hanging off her arms, having no regard for the fact that his cousin was desperately trying to run to the classroom halfway across the hall.
"Yong Soo, let go of me! I'm gonna be late for English!"
"But Mei Mei, I have something to tell you!"
The clock indicated that she had less than a minute to get to class. Out of complete and utter desperation, she burst out,
"Im Yong Soo, if you don't let go of me right now, I WILL tell the entire school about the time when you decided it would be a good idea to throw…"
"Aaaaaah! Don't, don't, don't!" begged Yong Soo, immediately letting go of Jing Mei. Jing Mei quickly took this opportunity to dash into her classroom.
"Miss Wang, were you running in the hallways?" questioned her teacher as Jing Mei quickly scooted into her seat just as the bell rang.
"Uh, no?"
"Anyhow, welcome to class. Today, I am assigning you a new project. I was talking to Ms. Warnstein, and we have decided start a brand new project this year. Because the juniors in AP English may have forgotten some of the vocabulary, writing techniques, and literature of sophomore year – and because you sophomores need a little challenge – we have decided to pair up one junior and one sophomore from every period of AP English and Honors English in a large, multi-genre writing project with several requirements and many topics."
Eliisabet von Bock raised her hand. Jing Mei vaguely knew that Eliisabet was one of Tina's best friends and a complete master when it came to technology. The rather slim and poised-looking blonde girl seemed slightly anxious as she waited for Mrs. Benson to call on her.
"Yes, Miss von Bock?"
"Will we be able to choose our own partners?"
"I'm afraid not. We'll be pairing you up according to writing style, writing and reading strengths, and personality."
Another person raised a hand.
"Yes?"
"When will we be meeting our partners? And where?"
"We'll be going to juniors' classroom in room 117 tomorrow."
Wednesday:
"I hope Anders Densen is my partner," Eliisabet muttered for the hundredth time.
Jing Mei was getting slightly irritated with the shy-looking blonde girl beside her.
"Alright classes, it's time for us to announce the partners."
Jing Mei held her breath. She hoped she was paired with someone who was smart and would at least do the work. Maybe Matthew, as the quite Canadian boy was a good friend of hers. Luckily, he was in this particular class as well. Jing Mei was amused to note that Gillian Beilschmidt continuously flirted with Matthew, causing the boy to blush harder and harder. It was no surprise when Gillian grabbed Matthew by the shoulders and started making out with him passionately when they went to the movies. It had burned Jing Mei's retinas, but she was glad that the two had finally gotten together.
Next to Gillian sat Chiara Vargas, who glared at Lars, who sat in the seat next to her. Lars and Chiara had one of the most dysfunctional relationships Jing Mei had ever heard of, but hey, it worked for the two of them.
"Alright, here are the lists. When I call your name, please stand with your partner, and for the love of God, please remain quiet" Everyone nodded solemnly. "Then we may commence. Kiku Honda and Vash Zwingli."
Jing Mei grinned inwardly as her "cousin" walked over shyly to join Vash Zwingli, who nodded stiffly as he stood as well. The Japanese girl had had a small crush on the intimidating, foul-tempered blonde for a while.
"Chiara Vargas and Ludwig Beilschmidt."
Gillian laughed loudly as Chiara swore vehemently and demanded for a partner change. It was unsurprising, as Chiara was furious with Ludwig for dating her sister Alice.
"Chiara! You are almost an adult! Behave yourself!"
Chiara pouted as Lars patted her shoulder with a smirk. Ludwig stalked over to stand by her, although he looked incredibly uncomfortable and awkward.
"Katarzyna Łukasiewicz and Eliisabet Von Bock."
Eliisabet's face fell slightly, but she still walk over to stand by Katarzyna who glomped her and proclaimed, "Like dude, this is totes cool!"
"Jing Mei Wang and Anders Densen."
Jing Mei's eyes widened as she realized what Mrs. Benson had just said. Anders grinned at her merrily, as if he was ecstatic to be her partner. Eliisabet glared at her with such a degree of fury that Jing Mei wanted to hide in a tiny corner for the rest of her life.
"Jing Mei? Please go to stand next to Anders."
If looks could kill, Jing Mei had a feeling that she would have been murdered by half of the girls in her class ten times already.
"Jing Mei? Hej! This is awesome!"
"Anders! Quiet!"
Wednesday After School:
"So Mei…"
"I don't want to talk about it."
The trio was back in her room, on her bed again. Jing Mei sat slumped on the floor with her back against the desk as Yong Soo continued to grin. Xiang quirked an eyebrow in amusement as Mari continued to look annoyed.
"We have a better idea. We'll cancel the plan. Just be English partners with him and then we'll see what ends up happening."
Jing Mei raised her head to look at them. "Half of the girls in my English class really hate me now."
"Hey, at least they notice you now."
"Not funny, Xiang."
"I agree," echoed Mari, nudging Xiang. "Girls can be pretty awful."
"I think Eliisabet especially hates my guts."
Mari snorted. "She's an ex-girlfriend of Anders'. She dumped him, but in the past year, she's really starting to regret it."
"Ugh. They're having a girly talk. C'mon Xiang-muffin! Time for some male bonding with aniki Yao!"
Xiang shrugged and followed Yong Soo out the door, but not before giving his girlfriend a peck on the cheek.
"PDA," chorused Jing Mei and Yong Soo at the same time. The other two just rolled their eyes.
"So how do you feel about all of this anyways?" asked Mari after the boys had left. The platinum blonde had gotten off the bed and joined Jing Mei on the floor.
Jing Mei shrugged, twiddling her thumbs. "I really don't know. From what interaction I've had with him, I feel that he's really just too annoying. I don't even know what the three of you are really planning anyways."
Mari smiled, a genuine and sincere curve of the lips, and offered Jing Mei a hand as they got off from their seats on the floor. "You might be surprised by Anders."
"I certainly hope so. The texting thing's making me feel really guilty."
"Don't," advised Mari. "And actually enjoy yourself while you're doing this project. The rest of the girls suck anyways."
Mari was surprised when Jing Mei suddenly enveloped her into a hug.
"Thanks," came Jing Mei's muffled voice.
"Are you crying?"
"N-no."
"Good, those girls aren't worth crying over."
A/N: Yes, Anders is rather popular with the underclassmen girls. That's where some of the drama will be coming from, especially because the smarter ones can tell that Anders has a small thing for Jing Mei.
Hope you liked!
