"Denied." Alice said in a pensive, almost cold, tone of voice and stature.

"Denied?" One the three football players who stood in her office echoed in disbelief. "Why?"

"Because, Mathias Køhler, the football team already has a set of uniforms for championships." She explained.

"But we want new ones." Another one, Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, spoke up.

"The ones you have are only two years old." Alice reasoned. "They are still fairly new."

"This isn't fair, your just gonna use that money to do something stupid anyway." Mathias accused her and Antonio nodded along with him. The third player, was Alfred, and he stood the farthest away looking away at ground. Likewise, Alice tried to pay him no attention but felt her heart beating fiercely in his ears.

"If you want new uniforms you'll have replenish your quota, which is already being spent on your-" Alice paused to sneeze into her sleeve. "trip to Paultons park, including bus fee along with lodging and food expenses." Pulling out a tissue to wipe her nose, Alice waved at them to dismiss them away. "I'm sorry but I can't anything more."

"Yeah, I bet you can't." Mathias said bitterly and nudged the other guy to follow him.

Alice sighed and turned back to the paperwork on her desk that she left on her desk yesterday. Because of her stupid reaction, she was now behind schedule. All the while she noticed that Alfred hadn't left the room and was standing there awkwardly, making her feel all to conscious.

"You could do somthing about it you know." He said to her sparing a sideways glance. Alice kept her eyes on her desk not feeling able to look at him yet. After all it had only been a day.

"The football team's quota has already been filled and I have to be fair to everyone, Jones." She quipped with a slight icy nip to her tone, Alfred heard it in her voice. Her use of his last name made him feel as if they were distant from each other.

"Ali-"

"Excuse me Alfred-san, could you come here for a moment." Kiku popped in just as Alfred was about to speak up and led him out of her office and enable her to breath better, well as best as she could with her clogged sinuses.

Alice had done her absolute best to make sure her mother didn't know that she was sick and went to their private doctor secretly to get medicine. Even so, her fever hadn't gone down much and she was still very sick. But she refused to appear weak as usual, especially in front of Alfred; she's already appeared vulnerable enough times to him.

...

Alfred followed the smaller boy outside the office and into the hallway, taking him upstairs to the next floor, his friends now long gone and the hallway was pretty much empty due to it being lunch, leaving them almost completely alone.

"What do you want Ki-"

"Stay away from Alice-chan." He interjected with a surprisingly commanding voice. "I don't want you visiting her at lunch anymore, I don't want you visiting before or after your practice, and I don't want you to speak to her in class anymore either." Kiku dictated with a strong authority he's never shown. Recovering from his previous shock Alfred became irritated and lashed back at the black haired boy in front of him, standing up straight to show off his superior height.

"And who are you to say I can't see our friend?" He questioned him with bite in his voice.

"Her best friend." Kiku chided back. "Who do you think let Alice cry into their shoulder last night? I've been her friend longer than anyone else and I will not let you hurt her any furthur." He claimed in a powerful voice, standing up to his full height as well, though it fell short compared to the american. Alfred was still shocked by his upfrontness as he had always seen Kiku as a quiet third wheel. But he what he didn't know what that Kiku turned into a beast whenever someone messed with those close to him.

"I didn't mean to hurt her, it's not my fault that I don't feel the same way." Alfred said back to try and calm the raging asian with reason.

"Then help her heal and stay away from her. I was fine sharing her with you up until now, but I will not stand for anyone causing her pain right before me." He stated.

"What a great job you did when she was jumped then." Alfred sneered trying to provoke him. "I seem to remember that I was the one who saved her."

"Well thank you for that, but I also remember that you slapped her that night and was the asshole who humiliated her on several accounts. Sorry, but you're no longer necessary in her life."

Alfred felt his anger rise at the guy he once thought as a buddy for trying to forbids him from being friends with someone close to him. Sure he hated her at first but that was water under the bridge to him, now she was his closest friend in this school of mostly strangers, there's very few here that he'd consider close to him as his personality seemed to drive away. He would not let one of the few who accepted him be taken away because of a little drama.

"Alice is my friend too! I have a right to be with her!" Alfred yelled with him.

"If you want what's best for her, stay away and break up with England." He said darkly, stepping in close to where they were barely a hand length away. Alfred momentarily ceased his anger and became confused by him mentioning Iggy in a conversation about someone else entirely, Kiku also seemed to catch his mistake and quickly spoke up again. "England is my friend as well and I don't want you to break her either."

Swiftly before he could speak up again, Kiku shoved him and turned back, disappearing down the staircase out of Alfred's sight.

Angry over their unfinished argument he went and kicked the wall with his foot, managing to leave a crack in the wall. Shoving his hands in his coat pockets he stormed off to the inside cafeteria to grab himself some anger food to help cool him down. All the while as he walked people could almost physically see him steaming with rage and stayed clear of him, not wanting to provoke him. Quickly grabbing himself a burger and some fries, Alfred went of and sat by himself on a near by staircase, not feeling in the mood to communicate with anyone at the moment.

'What right does he have to tell me I can't be around her?' Alfred thought angrily. 'He can't stop me from being friends with her. We'll move past this eventually.'

However, over the next few days, it seemed that he was able to do just that. Kiku was always at the council office before him and never let him in, even requesting to have Ludwig keep him out as well. Kiku had taken his place when it came to making sure she got home, not giving him an opening to talk to her after class. Worst was during class because if he so much as got near her let alone talked to her, he'd immediately step in between them and take her away from him. He never saw a single opening to talk with her the entire week, Kiku even skipped his clubs to stand between them, guarding her like a dog.

...

Alice was at a lost on what to do with the Alfred situation. She had spent the past three days avoiding him in order to clear her head, Kiku had even helped her with it. Alice even ignored his texts and calls to Iggy. She did feel a little guilty about not talking to him and giving him the shoulder, but she needed to think things through.

While she did still have his affections as England, she was afraid that she might lose them if he ever found out who she was and whether he'd be angry with her. Alice didn't know if it was worth pretending she was someone else throughout their entire relationship. Her lies would only catch up with her and guarantee an explosion in her face in the end, and she'd lose him entirely. This as well, Alice was even more terrified that her feeelings may grow further and she may one day fall in love with him. If that were to happen the pain would only be worse and cause more regret and agony than with just liking him.

But even so, Alfred made her happy and joyful in a way she had never experienced. She loved to talk with him and see all his quirky antics he created, even if some of them gave her a headache. It was a feeling she wasn't ready to give up because of 'what ifs'.

"Alice-chan?" Kiku called as he walked into the room.

"What is it?" She asked.

Kiku walked from the door after he closed it and stood in front of desk, opposite of her chair.

"I don't think you should go out with Alfred-san." He confessed his true opinion. He had been watching Alice dance around her predicament the entire time but left her to decide for herself while still being obvious about what he thought was best with his gestures of keeping her away from the root of her trouble, he was only just saying it out loud now.

While she took the kindness to heart, she saw it as pointless after the second day and even told him to turn it down.

"I know, but I don't what to leave him when there is the smallest part of me that he likes." She sighed, confused with her own feelings and what to do.

"But Alice-chan, that isn't who you really are. It's not fair to yourself if you allow him into your life if he doesn't like all of you." He pressed. Alice could tell that Kiku was generally concerned about her, and a hidden fire in his eyes reveled that he was angry at Alfred, an anger she didn't understand.

"Remember that quote by Shakespeare: It is better to have loved and lost love, than to never have loved at all? I'll try and believe that he was right and take my chances." She provided her rather corny answer. Kiku seemed to grimace in disagreement, still not thinking it was a good idea.

"Kiku please, I really like Alfred, try to understand where I'm coming from. I know very well that I'm probably being stupid but I just want to be with him." Alice begged in her explanation, trying to convey the feelings behind her actions.

After a moment passed he let out a breath and nodded his head. "I understand your feelings, but please, for your sake, tread carefully." Kiku warned he while he looked at her woeful eyes.

"I know, and I will."

Kiku bowed out and left her alone in her room almost reluctantly. Alice wondered if she did the right thing by deciding to maintain her relationship with Alfred only as England, if setting herself up to live half of her life at a time was smart. She'd have to wait until later to see if she truly regretted what she just did.

Alice walked out of her office, asking Kiku not to follow her, and headed to one of the three music rooms to practice and relieve stress.

...

Alfred groaned in frustration as he sat in the music room by himself to call Iggy, in all this confusion he needed someone he could talk to, sadly though she did not answer. Why the music room? Well in search of solitude this was the first room he found that happened to be empty. As he debated on whether or not he wanted to leave and give it another go, the wooden door to the class was opened with a creek, leading him to bolt up and come eye to eye with the one who he had been kept away from all week, Alice.

"Alfred, what are you doing here?" She asked with clear nervousness.

"Taking a nap. You?" He responded.

Alice breathed and walked in further, swinging her arms nonchalantly. "Came to clear my head a bit." She replied in a relaxed voice.

"Look Alice, about the other -"

"Forget about it. Can't blame you of you don't like me the same way, can we rather forget that happened? Go back to being acquaintances." She suggested and stuck her hands in her pockets to hide her light shaking.

"Isn't that a step down?" Alfred joked.

Alice gave a half hearted chuckle and looked down at her feet for a second. "Yeah, I guess that is."

A moment of silence passed between them as they stood only a few feet from each other, and while there were only two people in the room, the heat rised significantly as if there were fifty people. Alfred scratched his nose and gave a short cough to clear his throat.

"So Kiku seems to hate me now." He said in a fake comedic tone.

"Sorry about that, he's always been protective when it came to me." She apologized.

Alfred gave her a weird look and shifted where he was sitting, giving a quick glance to his side before he spoke up again. "Any reason why?"

"We were raised together since we were little, our fathers are best friends. We were each others first friend and have always been together." Alice looked down at her feet and shifted a bit, swallowing her breath. "If anything's it's because of my mother. He understands the situation the most so he's always been my go to for help if I ever needed it."

"So he thinks he's helping you by keeping me away?" Alfred summed up what he took from he explanation.

"I've talked to him about it twice now, he still doesn't think being friends with you is a good idea for the future." She said in a shy and breathy voice, as he could now hear how heavy her breathing had become. Alfred stood up and walked over to her, Alice took a step back as he came closer so he stopped his advances.

"What do you think?" He asked in an unintentionally low voice. Alice blushed as a response and began to grip the ends of her skirt.

"I honestly don't know yet, but I already know it will be hard for me." She said and began to swing side to side slowly.

Alfred felt left disappointed by her answer, but didn't comment on it. The need to relieve the room of its tense air became necessary, Alfred decided to change the subject. Quickly he walked over to the near by grand concert piano.

"So do you play?" He inquired.

"Piano, no. I play...the violin."

"Boo, that's a boring instrument."

"I take offense to that, never underestimate me with strings." She challenge and picked up a nearby violin and began to play a variation of the song Paint it black by the Rolling Stones.

As Alfred sat on the piano chair and watched Alice play her violin, her glasses slightly pushed up as she rested her face against the wooden instrument, her hands moving so effortlessly and skillfully as she played the song, he felt so happy that even if only for a moment, they were back to as they were before. He felt relieved by the conformation that his possibly only true friend wouldn't leave him.

A beeping from her phone came to stop her from playing as she put the violin down and took out her phone. "Time for medicine, I have to go to the nurse's office." She said and walked away.

Alfred quickly jogged after her. "I'll join you."

That day Alfred was able to drive Alice home. Kiku still didn't look like he was over it, but he aloud him to take her home.

...

Alice sat at home in front of her desk, her work for the day light and already done, staring at funny images Alfred was sending her through text. Most of them included funny and cute pictures of rabbits, as Alfred had recently learned that she liked bunnies.

You: Are you done yet?

Alfred: Nope ;)

Alfred: Plenty of more rabbits to show ya

Alice didn't even bother to try and correct him, instead giving a small laugh and putting her phone down to change into her pajamas, quickly stripping and putting on a long sleeve pink two piece. Grabbing her phone, Alice took it with her and crawled into her large bed, resting her head on the soft pillow as she gazed at his incoming texts. However the next one was one by Gilbert.

Gilbert: dude, not awesome skipping out on all the practices this week. What were you and Kiku doing?

You: Sorry, drama. I should be able to show up next week, but have Ludwig text me the song list so I can practice on my own.

Gilbert: Ooo what happened?

You: Nothing that concerns you.

Gilbert: Boooooo

With that, Gilbert didn't text her again that night. Exiting out of their chat, Alice saw that Alfred had tested her two minutes ago.

Alfred: Hey, you wanna go ice skating this Saturday?

You: I'd love to.

Alice sighed in happiness, looking forward for another date with her boyfriend, honestly she felt like such a giddy child with her big goofy grin shining on her lips. 'I knew I wouldn't regret it.'

.

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Or will she? Even if y'all are reviewless ghosts, i love this story so much that I'm going to keep writing. I'd like to update as much as I can before school starts in a month so please, at least try to come back as zombies. No hard feelings my lovelies.

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