It should have been an ordinary Monday. Yao should have gone through all his classes like he normally did, focusing completely on his work and going to Tai Kwon Do after class ended. Then, he should have gone back to his dormroom, done his homework, made dinner, and gone to bed, maybe hanging out with Kiku and Yong Soo somewhere in between activities. A normal day in the life of Wang Yao. This is what should have happened.

Unfortunately, it didn't.

The first clue that it would not be an ordinary day was the fact that Katya, usually a quiet, timid girl, rushed into the room, looking frenzied. She went straight to the teacher, Mr. Livonia, and began talking with him in a low, pleading voice. Yao couldn't hear what was being said, but after a minute or so she thanked him profusely and walked back to the door, beckoning something inside.

This was the second clue that it would not be an ordinary day. The something was a someone, and just the sight of them gave Yao a bad feeling. It was a youthful looking boy with light blond hair and a shy smile on his face. He was wearing a scarf even though the weather was fairly warm and had violet eyes. Yao knew that no good could come of this.

Before anyone had time to wonder what he was doing there, the teacher stood up and cleared his throat, waiting for them to be quiet. "Everyone, this is Ivan, Katya's younger brother. The middle school caught on fire this morning and he has nowhere to go, so he will be accompanying her to all of her classes today," he said, then sat back down. After a moment, the rest of the class resumed chattering amongst themselves while Katya took her seat at her desk, which happened to be beside Yao's. Ivan grabbed a chair and sat down in between the two of them. He looked way too cheerful, the freshman noted as he pulled out his textbook.

Once Mr. Livonia had given the assignment, he went back to his desk and sat down. He really didn't care what his students did during class as long as their work got handed in. After a few seconds, Ivan turned in his chair to face Yao with a cheerful smile.

"Hi! I'm Ivan," the boy said.

"...I heard, aru," Yao said, momentarily surprised by the boy's bold manner.

"What's your name?" he asked when he realized that the older student wasn't going to tell him on his own.

"Yao," the Chinese student told him.

"Yao," the boy repeated. "That's a pretty name," he said with a grin.

"...Um...thanks?" Yao answered, unsure of what else to say. He then turned his attention to his textbook and tried his hardest to make it look like he was busy with schoolwork. It seemed to work; the boy didn't question him any further, but he could feel him watching everything he did. Frankly, it creeped him out.

Half-way through class all of the students split into smaller groups to continue working on projects that had been started the week before. Alfred, Roderich, and Antonio made their way to Yao's desk and Katya took her papers to the other side of the room. Yao managed to contain a grimace when he realized that Ivan wasn't following her.

"What are you doing your project on?" he asked no one in particular.

"The Cold War!" Alfred said with a cocky grin. "It's gonna be awesome."

"Did you get to pick your own topic?" he questioned.

"No, we were assigned to it, but it really makes no difference," Antonio told him, a spacey smile on his face.

"Alright guys, we need to finish the posters this week, aru," Yao said, doing his best to ignore the boy sitting next to him.

"The report also needs to be finished soon. We're running out of time," Roderich stated.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry. We'll get everything done," Alfred assured them.

Within a few minutes everyone was working on whatever part of the project they had been assigned. Yao was helping Antonio glue pictures onto the posterboard, Alfred was researching for the report, and Roderich was putting the slideshow together on his laptop. Ivan watched them with interest for a few minutes before his gaze eventually fell back on the Chinese student.

"Yao?" he asked.

"Yes?" Yao replied, not looking up from his glueing.

"Are you going out with anyone?"

"W-what?" he sputtered, looking at the boy incredulously. Alfred began to laugh, and Antonio found himself chuckling. Yao glared at them, becoming embarrassed. "I-no, but-" He paused and gave a long sighed, knowing that whatever he said wouldn't make a difference. The boy was giving him that cheerful smile, looking very pleased.

Yao groaned and rested his head on his desk. He had a dreaded feeling in his stomach, and he knew why- he and Katya had all of the same classes.

Yao was beginning to grow paranoid. The Russian boy had followed him to his next class while Katya lagged behind talking to a friend, and stayed standing next to him until the Ukrainian returned. Fortunately, she sat in the back and Yao in the front for science class, but every time he looked back he saw the boy watching him with the same cheerful smile on his face. It was beginning to creep him out.

The Chinese boy turned his attention back to his science textbook and tried to focus on what Dr. Magyar was lecturing about. Biology was not his strongest subject.

"...but, these cells are always developing so they can become immune to our antibiotics, so we must constantly create new ones to continue to eradicate these viruses," Dr. Magyar droned. Yao hastened to scribble down this information. "Now, any questions?" He paused for a second. "Yes, um..."

"Ivan. What happens when we run out of antibiotics to invent?" Yao looked behind him, surprised. He hadn't thought the boy had been paying attention.

"Well, right now we're just hoping that doesn't happen," Dr. Magyar said.

"There has to be a better way to do it," Ivan said, slight concern on his face.

"If there is, we haven't found it yet," the teacher said simply. "Now, would you all turn to page 339 in your textbooks..."

Yao almost felt sorry for the kid as he went to turn to the right page in his book. The look on his face had been one of discontent, to say the least. But maybe the boy's thoughts on antibiotics would preoccupy him for the rest of the day... He could only hope.

However, when class was close to being finished, he knew that this was not the case. "Hi," Ivan said from where he stood next to Yao's desk, watching him pack up.

"...Hello, aru," Yao answered realizing that the boy wouldn't leave him alone until he said something.

"You're in the same grade as Sistra, right?" he asked. Yao guessed that he meant Katya, in which case it was obvious that they were in the same grade.

"Yes..." he answered, one eyebrow raised.

Ivan looked ecstatic. "That's great!" he said with a huge grin.

Yao was a little bit startled by his excitement. "Why?"

"I get to go to the same school as you!"

His mind blanked for a moment. "...what?"

"When you're a senior, I'll be in ninth grade. We'll get to go to the same school!" he explained.

"Oh...great..." Yao mumbled. He could only imagine the little Russian in three years' time, taller but with the same creepy grin.

"It is! I was thinking about dropping out next year because Natalia will be going to the same school as me, but if I get to go to the same school as you it'll be worth it," Ivan said, his voice bubbly. "Natalia is my little sister. She's scary."

Yao didn't know whether to be flattered or to run away. "Um...I have to go," he said, picking up his things and exiting the classroom, headed for the lunchroom.

The Chinese student spent his lunch period trying to blend in with his brother and cousin and be discreet while still finishing his meal. He had a feeling that Ivan had seen him, but he left him alone during lunch and sat with his sister and her friends.

Computer class was almost as uneventful. The teacher let him use the internet on one of the spare computers while she taught. When the Lithuanian student entered the room and saw him, however, he almost dropped all of his books.

"I-Ivan!" he exclaimed, and the boy turned around to see who had said his name.

"Oh, hello, Toris!" he said cheerfully, then returned to whatever game he was playing.

When Toris had recovered enough from his shock, he took a seat at the computer next to Yao's.

"What's wrong, aru?" the Chinese student asked.

"He is the scariest kid ever," Toris said with a shudder.

He approached Yao again during math class with yet another question. "You're from China, right?" he asked. Yao nodded, not looking up from the equation he was doing.

"I was born in Moscow," Ivan said proudly.

"Really," Yao mumbled.

"Yep! It's really cold there, but I don't really mind it most of the time." He paused. "You should come visit sometime."

"Why would I want to do that?" Yao asked, looking up from his paper.

"Because, it's really pretty there, and I want to show you around," Ivan said, smiling.

Yao wasn't quite sure what to say to this, but luckily he was saved form having to answer by Katya, who called Ivan back to her desk with an apologetic look on her face.

'The day is almost over,' he remind himself. 'Almost over...'

In his last class, language arts, Ivan was oddly quiet. Yao was left alone until the very end of class when he asked what Yao wanted to be when he grew up.

"When I grow up?" he repeated. "I haven't really given it much thought. Maybe a vet, aru," he said.

"So you like animals, then?" Ivan asked cheerfully. "What's your favorite animal?"

"Panda," he said after a moment.

"Cool! I like bears. And tigers. And snakes," Ivan told him grinning. Yao just stared at him for a few moments. 'Such dangerous animals...'

At the end of the day Ivan followed Yao out of the school building onto campus, not minding the fact that his sister was not with him. He wondered whether the boy was going to follow him to his dorm when he heard Katya call out and breathed a small sigh of relief. The Russian had started to worry him.

"Ivan, there you are!" the girl said, running over. "You shouldn't leave like that."

"Sorry, Sistra," he apologized, not looking very sorry.

"It's okay, now come on, I've gotta get you back home so I can study for the test tomorrow." Just as she said this, a voice resounded over the outdoor loudspeaker system.

"Katya Braginskaya, please report to the office."

"Oh, shoot," she muttered, then looked up at her fellow student. "Yao...I hate to ask you this, but, would you please watch him for a minute?" she asked with pleading eyes.

"Um..."

"Thank you so much! I'll be right back, I promise!" she exclaimed and left before he could protest.

Yao sighed. It seemed like he couldn't get away from this kid, could he? He looked at the boy. He was looking up at him with that same smile he had been wearing most of the day. It was really starting to freak him out.

Suddenly Ivan grabbed his hand. "Look!" he exclaimed, pointing at something near one of the buildings. He then proceeded to drag the taller boy to get a closer look. Yao was startled by how strong he was.

"What is it?" the Chinese student asked, trying and failing to free his hand from the boy's grip.

"Sunflowers!" he said gleefully. "I love sunflowers. They don't have them in Moscow." Yao was was startled by the look in the boy's eyes. His face was just as cheerful as ever, but his eyes... He couldn't quite identify the mysterious look in his eyes, but Yao knew that the little Russian was too young to look like that. The two of them stood looking at the flowers for a minute, Ivan still gripping the older student's hand. "Aren't they pretty?" he finally asked, his voice wistful.

"...Yes..." Yao said quietly. Ivan looked up at him with his cheerful smile, except it looked more real now, before looking back at the flowers. Yao bent over slightly to get a better look.

"Oh, there's Sistra," Ivan muttered. He looked up at Yao with a sly grin, and, standing on his tiptoes, gave the Chinese student a quick kiss on the cheek, releasing his hand at the same time.

Yao stood straight up again, his face coloring slightly. "Wha-" he began, but the boy cut him off.

"Bye, Yao! See you in three years!" he called behind him, running off to his sister. Yao stared after him, his face blank with shock. After a few moments, he slowly turned and gazed at the sunflowers again, allowing a laugh to pass through his lips. Maybe unordinary days weren't all bad, he decided.