Sidetracked

Bright lights, crowd roaring, and sweat running down my face. I glanced over to my gang and they were jamming out too. The Allies! It was such a great feeling. The rhythm of my electric buzzed through my body. The spotlights faced toward me as I started my solo.

When I was finished, I pumped my fist in the air.

"Yeah!"

"Ow…"

Ow?

I opened my eyes. It was just a dream. Again. I got my vision to focus from the bright light streaming from the window and I saw Mattie holding his cheek with one hand and a spatula in another.

I sat up and yawned. "Sorry bro."

"It's okay." He smiled and handed me my glasses. "You were going to be late so I came to wake you up."

"Thanks," I stretched and got up, "See, I don't need a stupid alarm clock when I have you." I patted my bro on the back and went to the bathroom.

Back when school started, I was so happy when I got to room with Mattie. I mean I could have settled with anyone but I was probably hopeless without his organization and patience. I sped through the shower, blow-dried my hair, and threw on my uniform. I checked myself out in the mirror hanging on the wall. I tugged on my bomber jacket and placed my headphones around my neck. Hair, check. Jacket, check. Headphones, check.

I swept onto my seat at the table as Mattie set a plate of freshly made pancakes in front of me.

I stuffed half of one in my mouth. "I'm lovin' it~…"

Mattie just pointed his fork at me and laughed. "Don't talk with your mouthful, Al."

I grinned at him and swallowed. "Don't sound like Artie."

He smiled and poured a gallon of maple syrup on his pancake. A silence buzzed by as we ate.

Mattie cleared his throat. "So how are your class-"

"I had the best dream earlier." I sighed in content and leaned back in my chair. I set my fork and knife down on my plate after I finished my fifth pancake. "I was at a gig and totally rocking out, and when I was doing my solo, everyone was cheering for me." I gazed at the ceiling. If only it wasn't a dream…

"That's really cool." Mattie cleared away our plates. He handed me my backpack and grinned. "I'm sure you'll reach that dream someday."

We walked out of our room and the door's lock clicked behind us. Mattie always carried the key so I knew we were good. I put on my headphones and played the first song on my playlist. We made our way down the hall and outside the dorms so we could get to homeroom. Mattie was telling me something but he was drowned out from an epic guitar solo.

I scrolled through my text messages. Still no replies… I sighed and placed my phone back into my pocket. I texted Alfred-kun twice last night asking about the video game I lent him last week. I wonder if he saw me as an enemy now because we were in different groups... That would be simply sad. One instant we were close friends and after a declaration of competition, we parted ways.

"Geez, why the long face, aru? Is walking with me that bad?"

I snapped out of my thoughts. I looked at Yao-san and bowed my head apologetically. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking about something."

I usually walk to homeroom with Alfred-kun but he wasn't at our usual or backup meeting places. Time was ticking away so I started to make my way and ran into Yao-san. It has been almost a week now. I've seen and talked to Alfred-kun every now and then during passing period and lunch but the feeling wasn't the same anymore. I should confront him later…

"So, what did you pack for lunch?" Yao cocked his head.

Even though we were in the same room, my Chinese roommate usually prepared his lunch and left early before me. He complained about never having time to relax throughout the day so he decided to do Tai Chi in the mornings at the field behind the dorm building.

"I've prepared salted salmons and rice for my lunch."

"Typical Kiku." Yao yawned but paused in the middle. "Didn't your health doctor say you should be careful of your salt intakes, aru?"

I just shrugged as we walked through the doors and headed toward our homeroom. This school was very strict about not only attendance but specific division during homeroom and in the dorms- Asians in a room, Europeans in another, and so on. At least we were allowed to mix after homeroom…

I knew Yao-san was lecturing me about watching my health again but I tuned him out when I saw Feliciano-kun and Ludwig-san down the hall.

"I'm sorry Yao-san but I will see you in homeroom." I bowed my head at him and went toward the two.

"Ve~" My Italian friend waved over at me, "Good morning, Kiku."

"Guten morgen {Good morning}," said the German.

I smiled at the two and bowed at them. "Good morning, Ludwig-san, Feliciano-kun."

"Are you ready for Newspaper Club today?" asked Feliciano-kun.

I nodded. "I brought my cameras for us to use for the coverage on the frequent food fights that have been occurring."

"Yay!" he cheered. "I can't wait now."

The German scratched his head. "Are you sure you don't mind? You have good quality cameras."

I smiled and handed one to him. "Do not worry, Ludwig-san. These are waterproof and easy to clean."

"Ve~ speaking of food, I'm hungry," the Italian tugged at Ludwig-san's sleeve. "Let's go to the vending machine." He turned to me and grabbed my sleeve. "You should come too!"

We were dragged to the nearby snack machine by Feliciano-kun. We stood behind him while he took his time trying to decide between a chocolate chip granola bar and a strawberry Pop Tart. I glanced around to see if anyone was waiting their turn and met eyes with a friend.

I turned and waved at him. I felt myself smiling slightly. This was to test to see if he had any harsh grudge against me.

Oh! Hey! I waved back at Kiku. I haven't been able to hang out with for a while thanks to the band war. It's not like I have a grudge against him.

I told my twin bro that I'll see him later and jogged towards Kiku. Nope, no grudge. We should have a video game all-nighter on Saturday! Oh wait, that's tomorrow. Even better!

"Hey Kiku-…" My grin slowly faded into a scowl as I trotted to a walk. I stared at the bulky German standing next to him. He gave me a questioning look and I glared at him. You… I've been trying to avoid you in the halls all week! I made a one-eighty in my path and coincidentally, Francis and Artie were nearby. I grabbed them by the arms and darted toward the Europe homeroom.

"What do you think you're doing, you git?" asked Artie.

"What's the rush, mon ami?" asked Francis.

I let them go and laughed. "Never question the hero's actions!" They just shook their heads like they usually do.

I cleared my throat and pointed at them. "Are you guys ready for the band meeting today?"

"Today?" Arthur frowned. "You really need to set your schedules straight. I have Magic Club today."

D'oh! That's right… That silly Harry Potter- I mean 'magic' club with Gabe...

"Desole {Sorry}," Francis shrugged, "but Big Brother has Gourmet Food club with Yao and Sadik."

Yao too! Aw great…

"Fine then!" I walked off and almost ran into Ivan. I stared at him and was about to ask the same thing I asked the two behind me, but decided it was probably better not to.

"Yo…" I mumbled at the Russian and scurried past him. I dashed down the hall to the Americas homeroom just in time for the final bell.

I rested my head on my desk and puffed my cheek. It wasn't fair. When there's a band meeting, there's a band meeting. You can't just ditch the rock star in the making.

"No one could go to the meeting today, huh?"

I stared at Mattie, who was sitting at the desk next to mine. I turned my head the other way and watched a tree sway in the wind. I patted my pocket to bug someone into letting me copy their science homework but realized that my phone wasn't there. I dug through my bag and slammed my head against my desk when it wasn't in there either. That was probably what Mattie was trying to tell me earlier…

"Well, that was quite interesting." I wiped the lens on one of the cameras. The cloth got stained with tomato sauce. Another food fight did start again today, this time started by Gabriel-san. He had flicked his olives from his salad at Elizabeta-san and in return, she flung a spoonful of mashed potato back at him. He moved aside and it hit Sadik-san instead, who thought Hercules-san had thrown at him, and so began another rowdy lunch period. Ludwig-san, Feliciano-kun, and I managed to take pictures and interview some of the people involved. After school in the meeting room, we were able to layout our spread and the paper should be published tomorrow morning. I say it was a very productive day.

I looked at my phone to see if I had any messages but there were none. I sighed and entered the main hall of the mens' dorm. I walked to the path for the Asia dorms but a poster on the bulletin board caught my attention. I stopped to read it.

It was the official list of the groups that signed up for the talent show. I saw that Alfred-kun had indeed signed in before Ludwig-san. I remember he said something about Gilbert-kun delaying him…

I skimmed through the other fifty or so contestants. The Nordics… Natalya-san and Maria-san… Roderich-san and Elizabeta-san... The Tomato Gang… Oh?

I read the list of names in the "Tomato Gang".

"Abel-san is joining?" How interesting.

"Hey."

I gasped at the sudden voice and turned around to see Abel-san towering over me.

He raised a brow, "Scare you?"

I laughed timidly. "Just a little but I am okay." I saw him direct his eye toward the poster. He sighed heavily and shook his head. "If you want to ask, it was 'tonio's idea."

Ah… That made sense. I saw a hint of red at the corner of my eyes. I looked at his blue and white scarf and felt my eyes widen. I opened my mouth to exclaim but my Dutch friend put his hand up.

"It's just ketchup. 'tonio and that little brat was in that food fight."

"I see…" I looked up at him. I can't seem to imagine him performing on stage. He kept things to himself and withdrew from events like these.

He waved his hand in front of my face. "Spacin' out much?"

"Oh, ah, um…" I bowed my head, "I am sorry."

He just patted my head and swung his bag over his shoulder. "Well, I got to go. Bella is forcing me to go shopping with her tomorrow…" He shook his head. "Might as well finish my homework tonight before magic boy gets back."

He walked down the hall for European dorms. I waved at him as he left.

Recently, since the continuous bickering between Arthur-kun and Francis-san had bugged the surrounding people so much, the dorm leader had to split them. Francis was with Antonio-san while Arthur-kun was moved with Abel-san. I wasn't sure how they managed each other for they were both what I called 'tsundere' but it seemed a little rocky.

My watch beeped for the hour. I sighed and turned to the Asia hall.

I should be working on my homework as well.

Finally got to update! Yush! Yeah this chapter's shorter than the ones I usually write but, oh well.

Kind of an experiment chapter with the switching points of views. Should I keep it to just one time like in chapter two or keep switching like this one? Of course the time lapse would not be so choppy for I ran out of ideas for this one. Suggestions appreciated!

In case for confusions, here's a quick list for the human names for the more minor countries in this chapter:

Turkey- Sadik, Gabriel/Gabe- Romania, Maria- Ukraine, Natalya- Belarus, Abel- Netherlands/Holland, Bella- Belgium, Roderich- Austria, Elizabeta- Hungary, "little brat"- Romano, 'tonio ("Antonio")- Spain

More to come… I have no idea when I will next update. Hopefully less than three weeks…

Feedback is also appreciated ^-^ Thank you in advance!