Finally it was Saturday. She'd be able to see Antonio at the party. Chiara would never admit that she had missed him, but she had. She straightened out the red mini dress she wore, inspecting herself in the mirror. This was a party filled with 3rd and 4th years, so she had to look more mature. She put red lipstick on her lips. She didn't know Nicole that well and she was nervous.

"Antonio's here." Florencia called from downstairs.

Chiara carefully walked down stairs to see Antonio smiling at the door.

"Ah, Chiara you look so pretty." He coed.

Chiara blushed, looking down and pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "Sh shut up." she mumbled

After they had walked off the property and onto the sidewalk she asked, "We're not walking there are we?"

She didn't know where Nicole lived but it was probably not close.

"Gilbert's gonna drive us."

Oh, of course. Why has she ever thought for a second that it would be just her and Antonio?

"We can't walk to Gilbert's though." She commented. It was a rather long walk.

Antonio stopped walking and looked down the street. Gilbert pulled up in his white car with Francis in the passenger seat. Gilbert pulled down the sunglasses he wore to reveal his red eyes.

"Get in losers,"

...

When they arrived there were many others already there. The sun was about to set. Antonio and Nicole hugged each other in greeting. Chiara inspected the taller girl. She was rather skinny and tall. Her straight blonde hair was cut into a bob. Her green eyes were bright and she gave Chiara a big smile.

"Come with me sweetie." she winked offering her hand to Chiara which Chiara hesitantly took. They walked around and Chiara looked around at everyone. It seemed she was the youngest here.

"You make sure to drink from this one." Nicole said pointing to the punch bowl on the left.

Chiara just nodded. In all honesty that made her feel like such a baby.

"Anyways, time for something more juicy." She gently put her hands on Chiara's shoulders, leading her away from the punch. "You and Antonio are a pretty cute item. Have you two..." she trailed off "done you know anything really special yet?" she bit her pink lip.

"Wha ..." Were people around school talking about them? It seemed a repeating pattern that people called Antonio her boyfriend or called her, his girlfriend. Was there a rumor going around?"We -we're... not dating."

"Huh?" She wrinkled her nose. "He's always talking about the pretty and/or cute Chiara."

"R- really?" Chiara glanced over at Antonio who was laughing at something.

"Geez. You both like each other so why don't you just make it official already."

A choking sound came from the younger girl. "I- I...wha ..." she couldn't form a sentence and she knew that she was blushing like crazy. She wanted to deny that she liked Antonio but just couldn't.

"Whatever, have fun." with a small wave she disappeared

So shyly Chiara joined the crowd and began dancing. The party was actually rather fun. Chiara had actually made acquaintances with Lukas Bondevik a Norwegian 3rd year boy. Together they had laughed at the drunk kids awful dancing. She had met a few other older students as well and even danced with them.

"Alrighty everyone inside!" Nicole shouted loudly

The large group of teens made their way inside. Nicole had an empty glass bottle of beer in her hands and made them sit in a circle in the basement. She stood in the center.

"It is tradition that this game is played at high school parties. And you're all horny and experimenting teenagers so you LIVE for this shit." She put the bottle down before taking her spot in the circle.

Chiara looked at the glass bottle nervously. Her stomach did flip flops.

Spin the Bottle

The Italian girl quickly glanced at a certain Spaniard. God she really wanted to squash the feeling of want, of hope that she'd get to kiss him.

"Well, who's going first?"

Chiara watched everyone go, thanking god it hadn't landed on her or Antonio. She didn't know if she could handle seeing him kiss anyone else. Gilbert and Francis kept making kissy faces at her and cooing. She wanted to yell "like hell I'd kiss either of you" but did not want to draw everyone else's attention to herself. Some people pecked each other's lips shyly and some were passionately making out with each other.

"Your turn."

Chiara's head snapped over to Nicole who was smirking at her. Then she looked down at the bottle, slowly reaching for it and giving it a spin. She watched it spin around and around tentatively. She mentally kicked herself when she got disappointed when it passed Antonio.

It stopped.

Chiara's breath hitched. She slowly looked up into smirking red eyes. No way! It had landed on Gilbert. He had the biggest smirk on the face.

"Come on Chi, you know you want to."

Well at least he hadn't said "we've done this before".

Nicole glanced at Antonio just in time to see his expression darken. She raised an eyebrow and couldn't help the amused look on her face. He was so jealous.

Chiara slowly made her over to Gilbert. She tried to ignore everyone's eyes watching her. She tried to ignore how nervous she was. She tried not to look at Antonio. Chiara got really close to his face and inhaled. She had never kissed anyone before. Well she had kissed Gilbert once before but it was an accident and didn't count. This one, this one did count though.

A very light blush coated her cheeks. Chiara cupped Gilbert's his face, squeezing her eyes shut and pressed their lips together. After they had pulled away from each other Nicole let out a whoop. "Who knew the second year was so wild. I didn't think you'd actually do it." she grinned

Chiara let out a breath quickly returning to her original seat. Chiara didn't look at Antonio. She couldn't bring herself to. And so the game continued and she just glanced around or focused on her hands the entire time. Luckily the bottle never landed on her.

...

Chiara answered a text from Rome, lying that she had went home with Emma and was sleeping over at Emma's house. She hadn't realized it had gotten so late honestly. But their grandpa was such a worry wart. She wasn't some little kid anymore.

"Hey let me get you another drink." A female voice said behind her

"Oh yeah yeah thanks." She nodded handing them the cup.

The girl soon returned to her with a full cup. Chiara hadn't even thought for a second that maybe they'd get it from the wrong punch bowl. She just began drinking it. Yes it had tasted a bit different but she just ignored it. She chugged the whole cup.

"Woah," she hiccuped and looked around.

"Wow you were thirsty. Should I get you another one?" She heard the girl laugh

"Y- yeah thanks." She hiccuped again.

And so she drank another. Then she herself went up to the table. Her vision was starting to get hazy. She glared at the two punch bowls. Was it the right or left? She just decided to take a little bit from both. She stumbled indoors putting a hand on the wall. Everything was spinning.

"Oh my god!" Someone got closer to her so she got closer to the wall. "What happened? I said the left bowl!"

Chiara looked into Nicole's green eyes. Her voice seemed so distant. Nicole looked panicked. Chiara wondered why as she hiccuped again.

"Antonio!" Nicole shouted as she grabbed the girl.

Chiara pushed the hands off. "Too hot." She mumbled distancing herself from Nicole.

"Chiara please stay with me." Nicole said gently reaching out her hand to her before turning her head and shouting "Someone get Antonio."

Chiara stumbled away.

"Hey Chi~" Gilbert laughed. She let go off the wall to walk to him. But felt much to dizzy and grabbed his shirt. "Woah you okay?"

"She's drunk." Nicole informed him

"Nu- uh." Chiara said like a child shaking her head. "It's hot." She pouted reaching to pull her dress up.

"Chiara no!" Nicole shouted pulling the red dress back down.

Chiara waved her arms around to keep the two of them at a distance and nearly fell back. Gilbert grabbed her hands and kept her up. A giggle erupted from her lips.

"Weeeeee~" she said making her and Gilbert spin around and around. He forced them to stop however.

"Ugh no don't go in the pool!" Nicole cried at the older kids who were taking off their clothes and jumping in, in only their under garments.

"Pool..." Chiara said before dashing off. She'd always been a fast runner.

"No!" She heard footsteps following her.

Antonio saw Chiara dash for the pool. She wasn't going to jump in with that dress on was she?

"Antonio she's drunk get her!" Nicole shouted and he saw her and Gilbert running to catch up with Chiara.

Oh.

He ran for the pool, trying to reach it before Chiara could.

"Tonio!" Chiara called, she had spotted him. Suddenly she switched courses, running straight at him.

Well that made things much easier. He extended his arms so the young girl could run into them.

"Antonio!" She yelled happily running into his embrace and hugging him.

A part of him wished Chiara was normally like this.

She pulled away from the hug. "Anto -blegh!" She vomited on his shoes.

"Ah!" He slipped out of his sneakers and grabbed her, running for the bathrooms.

He slammed the door open and put Chiara down in front of the toilet where the poor girl continued to vomit. He held her hair back, it was so soft and silky. Chiara didn't let him touch it saying he would mess it up.

"Anton- " she was cut off by more vomiting

"Shh, don't try to speak." He said gently, holding her hair with one hand and gently rubbing her back with the other.

"I'm tired..." She got toilet paper to wipe her mouth.

"I know. Come on." He said and gently helped her to her feet.

He slowly lead the girl out of the bathroom.

"Can we use the guest bedroom?" He asked Nicole to which she nodded.

He stepped into the room and brought the girl towards the bed.

"I've never done this before." She mumbled shyly

"Huh?" He looked into her hazel eyes confused.

She was trying to unzip her dress.

"No! No! Chiara we're not doing that."

"Then what are we doing in here?" Her words were slurred

"I just want you to rest Chiara."

The girl promptly crawled into bed.

"Don't leave me 'ntonio." She whined reaching her hand out for him to hold.

"Don't worry I'm right here." He said going over and squeezing her hand tightly.

After a long while of just staying in comfortable silence, holding each other's hands, Nicole kicked the door open pushing a laughing and obviously drunk Gilbert into the room and dragging a passed out Francis inside.

Antonio got up to help Nicole with Francis and Gilbert jumped onto the bed. Nicole pulled Chiara up.

"I'll let you borrow some pajamas." She said and they went out of the room.

Gilbert's shirt flew off and he quickly fell asleep. Antonio smiled slightly and put his French friend on the edge of the bed.

When Chiara returned she just crawled on top of the bodies sleeping in the bed, paying them no mind, plopped down and quickly fell asleep.

...

Chiara woke up with a groan. Ew oh god her breath smelled. What had happened? She slowly got up to see Francis at the edge of the bed. Huh? She turned to see that she had been laying on top of Gilbert. Oh my god. On the other side of her Antonio was nearly falling off the bed. What had happened last night!?

"CHIGI!" But then she groaned as a killer headache set in.

Francis only shifted in discomfort and annoyance.

"Ugh Chiara it's too early for that." Gilbert grumbled shifting his position as well.

Nicole slowly entered the room. "Hey, you party animals." She said softly turning on the lights.

Chiara and Gilbert both groaned. Francis made a noise of discomfort. Antonio fell off the bed.

"Ay!" He cried

"I got some orange juice for you and painkillers." She said holding up the glasses and painkillers.

"Thank you." Chiara said embarrassed "What happened?"

"You got hammered."

"Huh? Me?" Well she didn't remember a great portion of last night.

"Yeah. I caught the culprit. Someone gave you a drink from the wrong bowl. It wasn't on purpose or anything."

"Did I do something embarrassing?"

"Well you did almost jump in the pool."

Chiara groaned.

"And you threw up on my shoes." Antonio said

"W -well they were ugly anyways. I'll buy you better ones."

Antonio smiled knowing well that this was her way of apologizing.

"Anyways I decided to let you goons crash here since the driver got drunk and the frenchie passed out."

"I did not pass out. I was just very tired and resting my eyes."

"Right." Nicole rolled her green eyes. "Anyways you guys are fun. I'll definitely invite you to parties again."

Chiara smiled slightly.

...

That Monday as she turned and went on her way to class she noticed a certain German sitting under the stairs.

"Gilbert don't tell me you're skipping." She said looking at the boy sitting under the stairs.

"Class is boring." he waved his hand dismissively

"You're going to get in trouble."

"Don't I always?" he smirked

She bit her lip.

"You're going to be late." he stated

"Is something going on?"

Chiara knew he had a strict father. He had complained about his classes and how dull they were to him. But he had never skipped before.

Gilbert shrugged. "Don't worry about Chi, get to class,"

She sat down next to him trying to look defiant. In reality she felt guilty for skipping but she was more worried about her friend.

"Don't just fucking keep things to yourself, jerk. Antonio, Francis and I are your friends."

Gilbert gave a faint smile because he knew that's just how Chiara was. He pulled her into a hug and slowly she hugged back. The bell rang.

"Get to class, kid."

"I'm only a year younger. And I'm already late."

"There's a bigger punishment for skipping."

"Fine. I don't want to get in trouble because of an idiot like you." She said walking away, slowly turning to see the German boy smirking at her. She frowned "Fuck you." She said and speed walked away the next time she risked peeking he was no longer there.

"You should get to class." A voice said behind her and she squeaked.

"W -what about you?" She said backing away from Arthur.

"I have hall duty to catch kids who are late or skipping right now."

He sighed holding out the detention slip to her her. Chiara couldn't bring herself to look directly at him. She had meant to avoid him. She looked at his hand and slowly took the pass, already knowing she'd be in the basement again. There were other members of the disciplinary committee so why did she only see him all the time. She knew Yao Wang was in the committee, she knew Ludwig had planned on joining, as well as someone named Alfred. Yet it was always Kirkland that seemed to catch her.

"Did you go to that party?"

"Huh?" She looked up from the pass to his face before quickly focusing her gaze on something else. " Yeah," she said then eyed him suspiciously as he walked next to her.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

She crossed her arms. "'Cause you're chatting me up like we're friends or something."

"Well honestly "

"Florencia..."

Chiara quickly dashed to the corner and peeked to see her sister with her friend Sakura. Florencia was clinging to the blushing Japanese girl who had her head turned away so that Chiara only say the back of her silky black bob.

"Aw Sakura you're so cute."

"We have to get to the library." Sakura mumbled softly, looking anywhere but at Florencia

As Arthur was about to make his way over to interrupt the encounter because that was clearly PDA, Chiara put her hand on his chest. Arthur looked down at her curiously, but silently stood behind her also watching. This was her sister so of course Chiara would want to see what's happening.

"I know, silly. But you have to agree to get gelato with me after school. Just the two of us, okay?" Florencia said in a whiny tone swinging their interlocking hands.

"This whole time I thought she had a thing for Ludwig." Chiara mumbled out loud.

Ludwig? As in Gilbert's little brother? Ludwig was completely different from his brother or rather it seemed that way if you didn't know Gilbert that well.

The two girls began walking to class. When Sakura was calmly walking while her Italian companion was skipping, happily humming to herself, their fingers interlocked.

"You're really late to class. Aren't you worried?"

Chiara jumped at the sound of Arthur's voice.

"N- no, I have orchestra right now." She felt rather bad for being so late. She did love the teacher and the class very much.

"You'll end up with a bigger punishment for skipping. So even if you don't care about missing the class you should go."

"I do ca- " She stopped. She didn't have to explain that she did care for the class very much. Plus it would lead to revealing why she was late which was Gilbert.

"Whatever. I'm going."

"See you after school." he teased

"Ugh,"

She couldn't believe her sister was totally flirting with one of her best friends, granted Sakura was also Florencia's friend. Most likely Sakura was better friends with Florencia then Chiara. Sakura, Florencia and Ludwig were a trio that hung out quite often. Chiara personally hated being lumped in with the Bad Friends Trio though she had been spending a lot of time with them recently. She would prefer to say that her squad consisted of Abel a dutch boy in his fourth year, his younger sister Emma and Antonio. However the group didn't hang out often. Antonio believed that Abel greatly disliked him and it was honestly hard to tell if that was true or not. She found herself already at the door to the orchestra room. She slowly peeked in, the guilt hitting her hard. Ms. Bonnefoy's blue eyes pierced Chiara above the black frame of her glasses.

"Nice of you to show up Chiara." she said, before continuing to conduct.

That made her feel even worse. She adored Ms. Bonnefoy. Though she did not adore her nephew Francis at all. She was a gorgeous woman, her long dirty blonde hair was always nicely braided and she was always well dressed. She was very smart, rather nice and seemed to play any instrument beautifully. Chiara got her violin, taking her seat, catching on with the rest of the orchestra with ease.

...

Chiara sat in the basement, tapping her fingers on the desk, bored. She was waiting for Kirkland to come in. Once again she had been locked in here and it seemed Gilbert hadn't been caught skipping.

"Oh hey!" A voice that significantly was not Arthur's boomed.

Chiara turned to see a tall, fairly muscular boy with blonde hair, blue eyes and the biggest smile on his face.

"H- hi..."

"I'm Alfred. I just recently joined the committee."

"You're a first year..?"

Now that Chiara saw him she realized she knew who he was. He was another star football player despite being his first year and how he abruptly moved here, Europe from America. However she only knew him as "Jones" seeing as that's what it said on the back of his jersey. It was odd that a first year was not skinny, small and awkward. Instead Alfred was tall and muscular and booming with confidence. His bright energy seemed to radiate off of him.

"Yeah! Guess it's obvious." He laughed rubbing the back of his neck.

Well, not really. But he didn't need to know that.

"What's your name?"

"Chiara."

"Chiara..." The American echoed before asking "What are you in here for Chiara?"

"I was late to class."

She didn't really want to talk to him. His personality put her on edge. She could just sense how outgoing and sociable he was.

"Ah, yeah this school's pretty strict." He laughed again.

Ah, awkward silence. He sat in the seat next to her. Chiara gave him a look, to know she did not enjoy the proximity. He squirmed in her gaze and gave her a nervous smile.

Alfred coughed. "So you're um..."

She tilted her head. He never finished that sentence and his face had gotten pretty red. What an idiot.

"Think before you start speaking." she told him, rolling her eyes.

"Heh, heh okay." he chuckled

More silence fell between them

"You know this school's really different from back home." he said then paused "I'm from America, actually."

She had already known this.

"I've never been to America." she said, not sure if she ever planned on going or not.

"I think it's great there but I'm biased." he laughed

"I'm from Italy. Have you been? It's beautiful there."

"Nah, I'd like to go though."

And so the two peacefully chatted, describing their home countries to one another. Alfred noticed that Chiara was actually rather shy. He could tell by her motions, how her eyes usually averted looking at him, her small blushes, how she seemed to try and shrink into herself. But he could see the passion, the love in her eyes as she recalled her true home, Italy. It was...beautiful.

...

Arthur had not been the one that was given the task of watching over the kids in detention this time. He vaguely wondered who it was. Well maybe he could walk home with her...

"Antonio, you waited for me?" A familiar voice cut into his thoughts.

Arthur looked up.

"Of course I did."

Arthur could just hear Antonio's smile. He however could only see Chiara from where he was. Which definitely pleased him. Chiara was something very nice to look at.

The Italian turned her head to the side. A blush coated her cheeks and there was a small smile on her face, her happy and hopeful hazel eyes were looking down so she didn't notice Arthur and her hair fell most likely blocking Antonio's view. The sight was gorgeous and only Arthur alone had seen it. But the moment was short lived as Antonio reached to move her hair out of her face.

The girl quickly stepped back, turning her head to him, the smile gone. "What are you doing? Don't mess up my hair!"

"Ah, so mean." The Spaniard chuckled. Arthur couldn't help but grimace.

"Whatever." She scoffed walking past him and out of sight.

...

The two walked side by side in a peaceful silence. Chiara turned her head to look behind them before looking at Antonio.

"I think something's going on with Gilbert." she said after some contemplation

"Don't worry about it Chi..." Antonio said softly

He knew what was going on. She was their friend too. So why weren't they keeping her in the loop?

"I wasn't worried. Why should I be?"

Antonio only smiled making Chiara frown more. She leaned over to push him the tiniest bit. His smile only widened at that however and he did the same. So she pushed harder. And then so did he.

"Who do you think you're pushing around, huh?" She raised an eyebrow, poking him in the side.

"You, of course." he joked and went to poke her back but Chiara jerked out of the way.

Antonio moved closer to try and poke her but once again she slipped out of the way and then quickly reached over to poke him. Antonio looked up only to see the back of her head as she turned. He wanted to see it. He knew she was smiling. The Italian girl was running away, he knew exactly where to. He wanted to see the most beautiful and rare sight. So he chased after her.

He hoped to hear a giggle as they ran onto the lush grass of the park. Chiara's laughter was the most beautiful sound Antonio had ever heard. It beat the sound she made playing the violin. It was even nicer when he knew that he was the reason behind her laughter. But Chiara didn't laugh. She didn't laugh as often as the Spaniard would have liked.

He had finally caught up to her. He reached for her arm and turned her towards him. Finally he'd get to see her smile. Or so he thought.

"Chiara," Her name left his lips as they went tumbling down the small hill into a meadow of daisies.

Antonio had ended up on top of her. They blinked at each other, processing the situation. Antonio tried not to appear disappointed that he had no even seen the smallest smile.

"G- get off, stupid." her face was red and she squirmed

Oh, she was so cute when she blushed. That did make up for it a bit.

"Chiara you look like a tomato." he laughed

"Wha ..Shut up! Just hurry up and get off."

"Okay, okay." He smiled, getting up and offering his hand.

She took it and he gently pulled her up.

...

"Do you like it?" Florencia asked her friend, feet swinging under the table.

The Japanese girl curtly nodded. But even so the Italian's smile widened.

"Yay! I knew you would."

Sakura looked up at Florencia, taking in her features. Her light curly hair was up in its usual ponytail. She was smiling, another thing that was not unusual for her. Florencia was always so peppy. Her innocent and positive nature was rather nice to be around. Florencia's eyes slowly opened to reveal her brown eyes.

"Hm?" She hummed coaxing her head to the side

"N- nothing," Sakura blushed looking down at the gelato in her pale hands.

"Okay!" And the Japanese girl received a broad grin.

"I just..." She stopped herself to think.

They were friends. Thought the Italian was always rather affectionate. Sometimes too much for Sakura's comfort. Florencia was always okay with hugging and even giving small kisses on the cheek. And Florencia was rather flirty as well. But still they were friends, right? Just friends.

"Just what? Come on you can tell me."

"Why just the two of us?" She couldn't hardly look into Florencia's eyes.

The emotion in her eyes changed but she kept that smile. The tan hands reached to hold the others but she pulled her hands away. Florencia's smile faltered as she looked up at her friend, slowly pulling her hands back, her legs stopped swinging.

"I like it when it's just the two of us." She said pushing her bangs back to have them fall right back in place. Her brown eyes looked elsewhere.

She was hurt.

...

"Florencia," her grandfather, Romulus, exclaimed happily as his granddaughter finally returned home. She had arrived much later than usual without telling him that she would.

Florencia said nothing in response, her face no longer held its usual cheerfulness. She went right upstairs to her room, slamming the door behind her.

He quietly went upstairs and knocked on Florencia's door. He was only met with silence.

"Florencia it's grandpa." He said softly

Still nothing.

"Can I come in?"

"No..."

He sighed.

"Oh, Florencia's home."

He turned to see his other granddaughter who had come home much earlier than Florencia had. Chiara had come home in a much better room than Florencia.

"She seems upset." He pouted at her

Chiara looked at the door before walking up and knocking on it.

"It's me, I'm coming in." She said before opening the door and promptly shutting it behind her.

...

A pillow was swiftly thrown at Chiara as soon as she entered the room.

"What the hell?" She demanded crossing her arms.

Well what the fuck was with her?

"You always get mad at me when I enter your room without your permission." Florencia said, sitting up on the bed. She had let her hair down.

Chiara picked up the pillow as she walked over and sat on the bed. She noticed the picture on her night stand with her, Ludwig and Sakura and suddenly remembered her little gelato date with Sakura.

"Hug therapy time." Chiara reached her arms around her sister, pulling her into a hug. Florencia had often done this to her.

Florencia didn't move in her grip. Chiara ran her fingers through the other girls hair.

"You don't have to tell me about it, if you don't want to." She said softly.

Florencia slowly hugged back and Chiara could hear her sniffling.

Honestly why did it hurt her so much?

After they finished the gelato and walked together Sakura recoiled whenever Florencia tried to touch her. Whether it be holding hands or a hug she would abruptly avoid the contact. Each time it tore a bit at Florencia's heart. Then Sakura decided to cut their time together short.

Oh, she knew she liked Sakura more than she should have for a friend. But Florencia couldn't help how she felt. Though she has yet to tell anyone including the few family me ever she had she had known for the longest time that she liked girls. Sakura hadn't rejected her but it honestly felt like it.

...

"Oh my god what is that?" Arthur heard Chiara's voice exclaimed. He looked up from his lunch to the 2nd year. What was she doing here?

She held up her pass to him as if she heard his thoughts. The pass indicated she had a free period and was allowed to come here.

"It's my lunch, why?"

"Where you'd get it? Even the school food isn't that bad." She said looking at his food in horror.

"I made it. Thank you very much." He huffed

She put her backpack down on the table and zipped it open and took out a pink lunch box.

"Here." She held it out to him.

"Huh?"

"Take it." She put it down in front of the older male and took his lunch away from him. "I have lunch money."

"No, no I can't..."

"I'm seriously not going to let you eat your own lunch. It obviously can't be good for you. Eat real food." With that she promptly threw out the lunch he had made.

"Uh...thank you..." He said softly, slowly he opened up the pink lunchbox and took a bite from the food. "Oh wow this is amazing."

"Of course it is. I made it." She said

Arthur froze. She made this? Why had she given him her homemade lunch? That's something a girlfriend did for her boyfriend in TV shows and things of that nature.

"I'll take my lunchbox back after the periods over. I just can't stand to see someone eat whatever that was supposed to be." She walked past.

Arthur turned and watched her sit with Antonio and Francis. Antonio was giving him a dark and dirty look. He didn't avert his gaze as he asked Chiara something. Chiara followed his gaze and waved her hand dismissively, saying something that Arthur couldn't hear. They were too far away.

...

Chiara came back to his table a few minutes before the bell rang. He gave the lunchbox back.

"Thought we weren't friends." He teased remember how the girl had eyed him suspiciously days ago.

"Shut up! We're not. I already explained myself." She said blushing furiously as she promptly put her lunchbox back in her bag.

"So you'd do that with anyone."

She scrunched up her nose. "No."

"So then what does that make me?" He bent forward a little bit, looking into her hazel eyes.

She took a step back, her face completely red.

Suddenly a tan and muscular arm wrapped around her shoulder. Antonio pressed Chiara to himself.

"Ah, Chiara's cooking is the best. I love having it when I'm invited over for dinner."

Arthur frowned and could see the dark look in Antonio's eyes despite the bright grin on his face.

"Antonio shut up..." The girl said softly

"Ah, Chiara I'm complimenting you."

She pulled away from Antonio's grip, glancing at Arthur before looking down at the ground.

"More like you're annoying her." Arthur said crossing his arms.

The bell rang.

"I'm going." She said and sped away.

Francis came behind Antonio and gently pushed him away from Arthur, he must've thought they would fight again. Well Arthur couldn't blame him. They probably would have.

...

"Why do you act that way around Arthur?" Chiara asked him after school was over.

She and the trio had stayed around however. They were sitting on floor of an empty classroom on the top floor. Chiara was standing however.

"Why'd you give him your lunch?" Antonio pouted

"What does it matter if I give him my lunch?Why do you care?" She crossed her arms

"But Chi..." He whined childishly

She huffed in annoyance.

"Just kiss and makeup already." Francis said

Gilbert smirked at his blonde friends remark.

"Shut up." Chiara said, her cheeks already turning pink. "What are you guys up to anyways?" She said walking over to the two.

"Water balloons," was Gilbert's simple response.

"Huh?"

"Don't worry about it. Just do your part when we set it up."

"Alright..." She said, squatting down.

...

That was odd. Why was Arthur hearing the violin? There was no orchestra concert today. Even if there was it was only one violin, alone. The sound was so beautiful. He wondered who could be the source of the beautiful tune. He slowly followed the sound.

There was a large crowd around Chiara, who was the center, skillfully playing her violin. Arthur watched her in amazement. He was much too caught up in her, and the beautiful sound she created. Even so he still noticed her idiot friends running down the stairwell with their hands full. She was just their distraction. He looked back down at Chiara who had her eyes on him. He couldn't move. He just couldn't bring himself too. Not with their eyes locked like that. Arthur heard Yao's shouting. Well now he didn't even have to chase after those goons.

However he did have to get Chiara. Sure she was amazing at playing the violin but it was still a disturbance. Plus she was aiding them. Arthur forced himself to push his way through the crowd to the front. Chiara stopped playing as he made his way up and put her violin and bow in its case. She took a step forward to him.

"Come on."

"Huh?"

"Follow me."

"Wait, I don't just get a detention slip?" She sounded concerned.

"Yeah, you will just come with me for a second."

"Okay..."

She followed him to somewhere more private.

"What are they up to now?" he asked crossing his arms

"Oh," She was already fidgeting "I don't know."

"Oh, you don't." It came out much harsher than he had meant for it to.

"I don't know all the details. They never give me the details. Gilbert just told me to make a good distraction."

"Why do you do this stuff for them?"

"I...they're..."

"Are you just going to keep getting yourself into trouble to hold onto your friends?"

"It's not like that..."

He let out an exasperated sigh and silence fell between them. She wasn't looking at him again, just fidgeting about. He sighed writing out her punishment then giving her the detention slip. Both of her hands slowly took it, bringing it up to her face to read.

"Three days? In that basement?" She exclaimed

"You skipped class and caused a public disturbance that caused a crowd of kids to skip as well. I can't punish all the kids." he explained

"But you sure as hell can punish me, huh?"

He nodded at that with a smirk on his face.

"Hey what's with that look on your face." she waved her arm in front of his face as if trying to wipe it off.

He caught her hand.

"What look?" he said with cocking his head to the side, the same smirk on his face

"That one." she stomped her foot before pulling her arm out of his loose grip.

"I'll see you after school."

"You said that last time but you weren't there."

"Were you disappointed?"

"As if!"

"Right." he chuckled before walking off

"That jerk...who does he think he is..." she mumbled to no one in particular.

Chiara looked at her arm, where he had touched her. She could feel her cheeks turning pink as she thought about that playful smirk. Ugh!

...

"They split up so I couldn't catch them."Yao explained to Arthur "Do you know what they're up to."

They were in their room. The one specifically for the disciplinary committee members to meet up in.

"I don't have any idea. They don't tell her much. So even if she gets caught she can't give much information."

"That's pretty smart." he nodded

"Ms. Wilson would like to know who will be watching over detention this afternoon." Ludwig said as he

"I will!" Arthur and Alfred both exclaimed at the same time. They slowly turned to look at each other.

"How about Kirkland today and then you tomorrow?" Ludwig said as a compromise.

"Guess that's fair." They both grumbled and glanced at each other again.

...

"Huh? You're actually here this time." Is what Arthur heard as soon as he unlocked the basement door.

"Are those guys gonna break you out again?"

"No. Told 'em not to."

Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"Don't get any ideas." She rolled her eyes "It's just I think the punishment is kinda fair."

"Really?"

"Yeah it doesn't have to do with you at all."

"I never said it did."

"You said it with your eyes." She kicked in his direction

He chuckled.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing."

She huffed.

He couldn't help thinking that she was cute.

"They set it all up today, so tomorrow watch your step."

"Huh?"

"I don't know where they set it up."

"Set what up?"

"That's all the information I know.""

"Why are you telling me anyway?"

"I already told you." The blush was already crawling up her face "So just watch your step tomorrow! That's it." She crossed her arms and averted her gaze.

"Alright, alright."

She glanced over at him.

...

Chiara should be out of the basement by now. Antonio checked the time on his phone. He heard footsteps.

"Chiara!" he exclaimed with a huge grin that quickly faded as he saw who she was talking too.

"Antonio you waited for me again?" she said softly

"Yeah," He smiled again glancing at Arthur.

Chiara followed his gaze however and noticed the obvious dislike on Arthur's face.

"Uh, let's go." she walked over to Antonio but kept her gaze on Arthur.

Antonio nodded and began walking off. Chiara shyly waved good bye before turning around and walking alongside Antonio. Arthur watched them leave together, sighing heavily.

...

"I hope that the water balloons set off on him." Antonio said breaking the silence between them.

Chiara stopped walking. She knew he meant Arthur. "W why?"

Antonio who had kept walking stopped and looked back at her.

"Why do you care?" he tilted his head as if he were innocent

"I -I don't..." She stammered looking back at the school buildings.

"What's with you and him?"

"W -what do you mean? Between me and him? I don't have any sort of relationship with him."

"You know I don't like him." He pouted

"Antonio..." she grumbled and walked past him "I said we don't even have any connections. Why are you being like this?"

"It seems like you two are getting pretty close to me." he continued to pout walking a few steps behind her.

"W- what!?" she could feel her face flushing. She turned around to face him and opened her mouth to say something but heard a small 'meow' that made her stop.

"Huh?"

There was another small meow. Chiara pushed past Antonio, bending down a bit.

"Chiara?"

She slowly walked into the alleyway between two businesses, following the small meows. On the ground was the cute stray cat.

"Ah," Chiara squatted down extending her hands to the scared looking animal. "Come here..." she said sweetly. The cat looked up at her as if contemplating. "Don't be afraid." She motioned for it to come to her. "I won't hurt you." The cat slowly made it's way over.

"It could have something." Antonio said from behind her. He looked at the cat and for some odd reason it reminded him of Arthur. When the cat laid its eyes on Antonio it hissed.

"Huh? Guess he can tell a dumb bastard when he sees one." She gently picked the kitten up into her arms. It appeared to be a scottish fold. It was a mostly white cat with a patch of brown fur over the left side of it's face, the hind of his left leg and tail. Then she looked up at him, giving Antonio a playful smirk as she stood up straight.

"So mean."

"Yeah, yeah..." She said walking past him, out of the alleyway and continuing the path to her home.

"You're going to keep it?"

"Look how skinny and scared he was." she said petting the cat. "I can't leave him there."

Antonio smiled a bit. Chiara was really kind hearted and caring, though she always claimed she didn't care or worry.

The cat nuzzled her happily.

"It seems to like you." Antonio's eyebrows furrowed. It really did seem to look like Arthur in a way.

"Of course."

"Will your grandpa let you keep it?"

"I'm sure he will."

Antonio ran his hand through his curly brown hair.

"I'll have to buy cat food..." she thought out loud

...

"Come on Ludwig. You don't have to do all this extra work so let's all leave together." Florencia put her hand over his. He slowly looked down at her. Their friend Sakura was standing far away by the door frame, her focus was on their touching hands.

"Alright." he sighed

"Yay!"

However there seemed to be a great tension in the air as they walked to the diner. Florencia clung to his arm and was babbling about. While Sakura made no input whatsoever, just looked on at them. Now Sakura wasn't talkative but today her silence seemed rather ominous.

When they sat in the booth at the restaurant all Florencia seemed to do was stare at Sakura instead of look at the menu.

"The weather is nice, don't you think Ludwig?" Sakura said looking out the window.

Ludwig did the same. "Uh, yes I guess you're right." He then looked down at Florencia beside him.

Florencia turned her head to look at him and gave him a big reassuring grin.

"Ah, you know this is really good. You should try it." She said pointing at an item inside his menu

"Okay." He nodded

Ludwig looked between the two. The atmosphere felt so weird. But he didn't want to ask about it. They were both mostly acting the way they normally did but it still felt off.

"I really like it here ya know. We should come more often." Florencia said putting a hand on Ludwig's arm.

Sakura stood up abruptly. They both looked up at her.

"Excuse me, I have to leave." she bowed politely and with that walked off.

Since Ludwig watched her walk away he didn't notice the upset look on Florencia's face.

"Should we go after her?" he asked Florencia.

Her lips stretched into another smile and her eyes were closed like they often were. She shook her head.

"She said that she had to leave. Her parents probably asked her to come home."

Ludwig nodded. That made sense.

"Let's just have fun together then." Florencia said cheerfully

"J-ja okay."

...

Their grandfather had happily agreed to keep the cat, cooing over how cute it was. He quickly went out to buy food and probably a collar too. Chiara sat on the couch, petting her new pet. She would have to figure out a name for him.

"You know that cat looks a lot like Arthur in a way." Florencia commented as she sat down herself and turned on the T.V

"Huh?" Chiara picked it up to look at it's face carefully. She tilted her head a bit. It really did. "Weird..." she said softly more to herself than to her sister.

"What will you name him?"

"I don't know yet." Chiara admitted

...

Gilbert was sitting in the bushes, waiting. He hoped that Elizaveta would set off the trap. Francis said that he must have wanted to get his ass kicked at this. But he wanted to tease her for it. Antonio wanted Arthur to set it off and Francis had agreed with him. Well either of those two would do. He heard light footsteps coming. He peeked through the bushes to see a girl he hadn't seen before. She must have been a 1st or 2nd year. The girls long curly blonde hair was in pigtails. Behind the frame of her glasses were violet eyes. She was wear a red sweater that was big on her that barely revealed the white shorts she had and she also had on black converse. As she came this way, Gilbert pushed her out of the way and into the bushes on the other side. She let out a squeak.

"Wh-what are you..." she began but was cut off.

"Shh..." he put his finger up to his mouth as he crouched down next to her. There were more footsteps coming. The girl looked at him bewildered but nodded slowly.

She looked over at the older male, taking in his features. He was student but his hair was white. His eyes were also a crimson red. He was rather pale but he was muscular so it couldn't be that he was sickly.

A loud squeal pulled her thoughts away from the strange boy. She looked over at the student who was now soaking wet. It was Elizaveta Hedervary a nice but tough third year girl who was in her gym class. The boy stood up and laughed, pointing at Elizaveta.

"Gilbert!" she was pissed. "I'm going to kick your ass!"

"That's if you catch me first." he stuck his tongue out before turning and running.

Elizaveta chased after him.

The girl, Madison slowly stood up from her hiding spot in the bushes, watching the two run around. That was...weird. He had saved her from setting off that little trap but that was because it was meant for someone else.

Well she probably wouldn't meet him again. She brushed her bangs away from her eyes and continued to go back to her lunch table, outside.

...

"Arturo I'm back." Chiara cooed at her new pet. The cat quickly came over to her and rubbed itself against her legs. She smiled brightly and bent down to pick him up.

"Arturo?"

"Huh?" Chiara turned to look at her sister with the cat in her arms.

"You're naming it after Arthur Kirkland?" Florencia tilted her head.

Chiara froze. She hadn't even realized she had called the cat Arturo.

"N no. Why would you even assume I'd name my cat after that guy?"

"I said that cat looked like him just yesterday and you agreed."

"Yeah but that d- doesn't mean..."

"Then why Arturo?"

"I- I...don't know."

"Alright."

Was that a smirk on her sister's face? Dammit!

...

"You're packing a lot for lunch." Her grandpa noted the two lunch boxes that Chiara was putting into her bag.

"Yeah, Emma said she really liked my cooking so..." she didn't look at him

"Aw Chiara..." He hugged her "You're so sweet."

"A-as if. Get off." She squirmed in her grandpa's grip. "You're gonna make me late again."

The man pouted but let go. Florencia had gone to school already. As Chiara ran out of the house, waving good bye he had to wonder why they didn't just go to school together. It made perfect sense. They were leaving from the same place and going to the same place.

...

As Chiara turned the corner on the way to class she saw Arthur talking to some blonde girl. She quickly hid back behind the corner and peeked her head from behind the corner. She had never seen the girl before. She looked like a 1st year. They were too far away. All she could see was their mouths moving. They were coming this way. Oh shit! Casual, just act casual.

"Hi!" She blurted out as they came around the corner. She then cringed at herself. What was she doing!? Chiara ran her hand through her hair, averting her eyes.

"Um...hi." Arthur blinked "This is Madison."

"Oh," Chiara reached over and shook the other girl's hand. "I'm Chiara his..."

They looked at each other and both went "Um..."

"Uh anyways..." She pulled her hand away to look at Arthur before glancing over at Madison.

"Oh, I'll just be waiting over there." Madison said softly with a small smile before walking off a bit.

Chiara focused her gaze on Arthur. "Um...I..."

What was wrong with her? She wasn't scared...er intimidated by Arthur anymore. It had seemed ever since they walked home together that his features had softened up when he looked at her. She bit her lip remember the smirk on his face. There were countless rumors detailing how cold and harsh he was and many students complained about him being annoying. But he didn't seem so bad.

"Yes?" Arthur replied making Chiara snap out of it. She had realized she had just been staring up at him.

"I..." She opened up her backpack taking out the extra food she had packed for him in an extra lunchbox.. "Just here." She shoved it at him. "I gotta get to class."

With that she ran off.

Arthur looked down at the lunchbox she had given him.

"You guys just started dating or something?" A soft voice asked

Arthur looked up at Maddison.

"Wh what? No! What makes you think that?"

"You guys looked at each other when you she was trying to state the relationship between you. Like should she say "girlfriend"? Are you not there yet?" Madison went on and then nodded to the object in his hands "And she's making you lunches. That's cute."

He wished his cousin wasn't so observant and that she didn't watch so many shows.

Dating Chiara? Well she was pretty cute. How could he even think about that for a second when there was Antonio. Even if Arthur had been the one to see the smile on her face it had been because of Antonio not because of him, not for him.

"Arthur?"

"Huh?"

"You are dating her, aren't you?" Madison crossed her arms

"No! I told you it's not like that."

"Whatever. You want to keep it a secret till your official or whatever. I get it." She waved good bye and went on her way to her class.

...

Sakura had some time away from Florencia. Which only made her realize she greatly disliked being without the peppy Italian girl.

"Ah, Florencia are you seeing anyone?"

Sakura turned to see some boy attempting to get with Florencia.

"Oh, Sakura!" She said, running towards her friend as soon as she spotted her.

Sakura was surprised that Florencia didn't hug her.

"I wanted to talk to you." Florencia said and pushed her hair back. "I...if I ever make you feel uncomfortable from touching you then please just tell me. It really hurts my feelings when you just move away."

Sakura nodded. "I'm sorry."

Florencia shook her head, a bright smile on her face. "We're still good friends, right?"

"Friends?" Sakura repeated, feeling her heart sink.

"Yeah, that's what you wanted right?" Florencia opened her eyes to look into Sakura's.

Sakura couldn't bring herself to answer. Is that really what she wanted?