Chapter Four
Gabby's POV
We'd spent a while lingering in the cafeteria with our new friends (Caliegh'd brought back some guy named Matthew, who looked just like Alfred except with slightly more purple eyes, and wavy hair of a lighter shade plus longer length), exchanging basic information like where we were from. After lunch, Alfred took me on a little tour to all the places that weren't covered the first time I was officially shown the campus. The best hangout places, secret paths in the garden, empty storage rooms where people hid for lots of reasons… Alfred showed me it all. I didn't think it was possible for me to love it here even more, but obviously I'd barely gotten started with what there was to experience.
We headed up to get our showers and such (the bathrooms there, by the way, were pristine) early, at about 8:00. I found it pretty amusing that Caliegh and I put on the same type of pajamas: fuzzy pants with an old t-shirt. I guess it was kind of a relief that we still somewhat thought the same way.
Our classes started the next day. Questionably the best part, however, was the very first thing after breakfast: homeroom. Since we were new about a month into the year, we weren't assigned homerooms according to our last names like everyone else; we were just tacked into whichever ones weren't full. I don't know where Caliegh ended up, though I was put in the homeroom for people with last names starting with a K-O. Of course, the name "Bibus" really stuck out there.
I expected to be greeted by a teacher, but no, the man remained seated at his desk. Instead, he gave a look to a guy that appeared about 18, who got up with a roll to his eyes and a slight groan. There must be something in the water here, because damn, this dude was hot too. Golden colored gravity-defying hair, bluish eyes, ripped muscles beneath his uniform….. Shit. I need to stop checking guys out when I first see them.
"Hej, I'm Mathias KØhler. Welcome to homeroom 216 in Hetalia Academy," he droned in the same tone of voice that a longtime McDonald's employee would ask for someone's order. He had a pretty heavy accent that I couldn't quite recognize.
"Oh, well, thanks. I'm-"
"Gabriel Beebus, ja."
So he already knew who I was, huh? Kinda creepy….. "It's Gabby Bibus," I corrected him quickly.
"Oh. Woops. Here, I'll show you to your seat," he continued, sounding very much like he'd rehearsed this many times. After a hard look from the teacher, he added, "Want me to carry your books?"
I blinked. "Nah, I got 'em..." I wasn't low enough to make someone carry my crap barely a minute after meeting them. Mathias shrugged, ushering me toward an empty seat in the back of the room and plopping himself at the desk beside me. He scooted his chair back slightly in order to prop his combat boot-clad feet atop the desk. I noticed the teacher shaking his head in annoyance, obviously having dealt with this before. "So is everyone here brainwashed with you?" Wow, I'm so good with my words. Note the sarcasm.
Mathias, however, perked up ever-so-slightly at my idiotic conversation starter. A slight grin played on his lips. "Nah, don't worry. See, I'm in trouble with my teachers, so they're making me do this stupid welcoming committee thing as community service or whatever."
My eyes briefly drifted over to the clock atop the doorway. 3 minutes till the bell would ring… "In trouble with your teachers, huh? What'd you do?"
"Nothin' that concerns you," Mathias assured me with a wink. I know I should've been wary of this guy, but I couldn't help it: I smiled.
"So where are you from?" I asked, afraid of a dreadful awkward silence. Mathias spontaneously lit up.
"I was born and raised in Danmark," he answered with utmost pride. I nodded slowly, my grin growing a bit more sincere.
"Denmark, huh? I've always wanted to go there…"
"Oh, it's amazin' there! Best country in the world."
Until the bell rang, Mathias described the wonders of his homeland to me. Instead of asking me where I was from, he simply confirmed I was American; I guess it was just pretty obvious. We shut up to listen to the morning announcements, then Mathias walked me into the hall. I couldn't help but wonder if he was required to do so because of his whole "welcoming committee" gig.
"I'm s'posed to give you a little walk around the school," he indicated. I didn't notice until then that he hadn't stopped grinning yet.
"I uh, already got an extra tour yesterday." Curse you, honesty. I could've walked around the whole academy with a hot Danish guy!
"Well I gotta do somethin' with ya! How about you come sit with me 'n my buddies at lunch?" he offered.
"You don't NEED to be all friendly with me, you know. If any of the teachers ask, I'll tell them you-"
"I know I don't need to. I want to," he interrupted. I stared at him for a moment, a sheepish smile seeping onto my face.
"Well, awesome. I guess I'll see you at lunch, then…?"
"Ja, I'll find you. Or, weren't you sitting with Gilbert? I'm cool with him; just ask him to point you in the direction of my table."
And so come lunchtime, I got my food (I settled with just a sandwich and fries today, trying to break my fatass habit) and asked Gilbert where Mathias sat. "'Thias? Ja, he's a real fun guy! He sits with his freaky little group of Nordic people over there." He shamelessly pointed across the cafeteria to one of the smaller, round as opposed to rectangular tables off to the side. It took but a second to catch a glimpse of his crazy hair, even from where I was standing. I thanked Gilbert and made my way over to the "Nordic" table.
"GABBY! Good to see you," Mathias shouted before I could open my mouth to say anything. He stood up and draped his arm around my shoulders as if we were old friends. "Guys, this is the chick I was telling you about. The one that said to 'divide by the square root of screw this' in my Math?" I gulped in embarrassment- I hadn't even realized I was muttering to myself as I did my work in Math until I spoke a little too loudly and made the whole class erupt in snickers.
"Oh, joo, she said something pretty funny in my Language Arts class, too! The teacher asked for an example of bad literature, and she listed a bunch of smart-sounding things like 'incomplete ending that doesn't wrap up the storyline properly,' then after we all gave her funny looks she just said 'Or Twilight,'" chimed a blond boy that looked too young to go to this school. I smiled slightly; that momentI was pretty proud of.
"So you're a cool nerd, eh? I like it." Mathias nodded in approval, sitting heavily on one of the circular seats and pulling me into the one to his right.
"I prefer the term 'awesome dork,' thank you," I said, praying that wasn't too lame. Apparently it wasn't, because Mathias laughed at it perhaps a little too loudly while the blonde kid- Tino, I remember his name being- giggled.
"Alright, lemme introduce you to my bros. You met Tino, right?" I nodded, and Tino waved at me cheerily with his fingers. "Cool. Well, this is his lovely boyfriend, Berwald." Mathias motioned to a very tall, glasses-wearing guy with shaggy blonde hair and an intimidating stern expression. I remembered noticing him somewhere in my homeroom.
"Hallå," he said in an incredibly deep, Swedish-accented voice. I gulped, abruptly reminded of inhibitions I didn't even know I had, and ended up just waving at him timidly. Good lord, was this guy actually Tino's boyfriend? He looked more like he'd be his dad. As if to answer my silent inquiry, Tino linked his arm with Berwald's and aimed in affectionate glance in his direction. I loosened up a bit.
"This fabulous fellow is Lukas," Mathias continued, nodding at a boy absorbed in a book about Norse fairytales. His purplish eyes had this vacant look about him, and a single strand seemed to detach itself from his cream-colored hair. His clear, slightly pale skin gave him a doll-like appearance. He didn't even look up when Mathias introduced him. This made the Dane pout, so he just moved on. "Last and probably least is his darling little bror, Emil."
Emil, who was chewing on a fish stick, shot a brief glare at Mathias, raised an eyebrow at me, and turned to stare out the window without saying anything. His hair was a strange silver color, and his eyes were more purple than Lukas's. If not for their mutual hostility, I wouldn't believe the two were brothers. They really didn't look anything alike.
"Well, hi there. Nice to meet you all." I sounded like an idiot around new people in general, so when surrounded by a bunch of cute boys, all hope was lost.
"Is she going to sit with us every day?" Lukas basically stated in a voice that perfectly matched his image, glancing up from his book.
Mathias shrugged. "I doubt it. But she's welcome to if she wants, right guys?" He grinned down at me as he spoke. Berwald nodded curtly while Tino agreed happily.
"So, you guys are all friends?" I confirmed. Why do I ever bother to speak? More importantly, why do people let me talk to them? It truly baffles me.
"Uh huh! We go way back….."
As Mathias went into how the 5 of them met in a Nordic boarding school, I started to wonder if I'd managed to make some new friends. Emil really didn't seem to like me being around, Tino seemed to like everybody, Berwald was like a freaking statue, Lukas stayed quietly lost in his book the whole time, and Mathias just came off as too friendly and aloof for his own good. But they didn't ask me to leave, and they never looked at me like I was a total weirdo, so I decided they'd at least accepted me. That was more than good enough.
~Author's Note~
I quite honestly hated this chapter... I hoped it'd come out so much better than it did. I don't see why you hated it... It was just... poorly written. And didn't come together correctly. I don't think so... *shrug*
Well, I don't know what else to say except I never realized until now how hard it is to be in character for YOURSELF. Wouldn't you think it'd be easy to write as how you would respond? WRONG. The thoughts and such are a piece of cake, but for some reason I just can't put what I'd say/do in a situation...It's rather hard, isn't it? Like, "How would these character's think of me?!" And we don't want to seem Mary Sue by having everyone get along with us or anything... GOD, THIS IS JUST DIFFICULT.
-67OtakuGirl24X3
-KiwiFruit07