AN: I do not own Hetalia.

"It's so loud," Gilbert complained, squeezing his crimson eyes shut as he stood in the hallway that was bustling and full of students wearing the green and white standard-issue uniform of Hetalia Academy. "Why does it have to be so loud?"

"It's high school," sighed his companion, who was quickly getting tired of Gilbert's incessant complaining. "What do you expect?"

The admissions counselor had decided that it was a simply wonderful idea to keep him and the temperamental German teenager stuck together. They shared a dorm room, which was an arrangement Arthur understood. What he did not understand is why he and Gilbert shared the same schedule. They could not have possibly come from the same academic background, and Arthur was really beginning to doubt that Intro to Psychology was a class that Gilbert would enjoy. Also, their first hour was a cooking course, and Arthur was dreading it.

Anyhow, Arthur barely knew Gilbert, but he had already decided that he was going to dread living in a dorm room with the boy until the end of semester (which the counselor had kindly stated was the only time when new roommates would be negotiated). Arthur understood the action. He and Gilbert were both new students, and they were transferred rather unceremoniously to the small boarding school in the middle of the semester. Both of their families had to move. Arthur's father was enlisted in the American military, and Gilbert said that his family moved to America for a "new change", whatever that meant. Arthur did know that Gilbert had moved from somewhere in East Germany. Arthur himself had moved from London. Coming to such a small American town in the middle of nowhere was a huge adjustment to cope with. At least they still spoke English. Arthur absent-mindedly wondered if Gilbert was having any trouble. He then mentally smacked himself for caring.

Gilbert was still talking away, oblivious to the fact that Arthur was no longer listening to him. Arthur looked at his schedule again, and then at the clock. 7:13 A.M. There was still half an hour before classes began. He nudged Gilbert, who made a face as he was interrupting in the midst of his monologue.

"What?" Gilbert asked, glaring lightly at the Brit.

Arthur forced a smile towards the German. "I think we should try to look for all of our classes. That way we won't get lost later on."

"Can't I enjoy the first thirty minutes of school without doing school-related things?" protested Gilbert.

"Fine. I'll go by myself, then." Arthur started walking off.

Gilbert looked around him at the unfamiliar faces, all talking amongst themselves. Gilbert then looked at Arthur's retreating figure. "Crap," Gilbert muttered to himself before running after the Englishman.

Arthur sighed as he heard Gilbert fall into step beside him. "I see you changed your mind."

"Are you kidding? I don't want to be left alone in this place. Everybody looks at me like I'm some sort of weirdo."

"Here we are with the complaining, again," muttered Arthur. "What do you expect?" He said again. "We are new students. Of course we are going to be looked at strangely."

Gilbert scoffed, "An awesome Prussian like myself should not be subjected to such close scrutiny."

"Prussian? Aren't you from Germany?"

"No, I'm from Prussia."

"But Prussia is now a part of Germany."

"Posh," Gilbert frowned. "Prussia is not simply a part of Germany. How would you like it if I said you were from the United Kingdom, even though you're from England? Then you would know how I feel."

Arthur sighed as he walked along the corridors, periodically looking away from Gilbert to look at the numbers over the doors. "That makes absolutely no sense. For one thing, England is a part of the United Kingdom, so saying I'm from the United Kingdom would be right. And another thing, England actually still is a country. Prussia isn't."

Gilbert opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it, coming up with nothing to retort. Arthur smiled lightly at his victory as he opened the door to their first class, hesitantly looking inside for other people.

"Cooking?" Gilbert grinned. "I love cooking."

Arthur shuddered. Cooking was the bane of his existence.

The room was large, with several little kitchens complete with ranges, microwaves, sinks, and plenty of different utensils and cooking supplies. There was a single refrigerator at the front of the room, and there was an island in the middle of the room with a range and sink- Arthur assumed that that was the demonstration table. The rest of the room was made up of six tables. Arthur sighed inwardly. He never did like working in groups.

There was nobody in the room save for an elderly woman, who Arthur assumed was the teacher. He stepped inside, and the woman smiled and stood.

"Ah, hello there. I wager you two are the new students?" she asked amicably, and Arthur relaxed at her polite attitude. At least it didn't seem like the teacher would be the Satan to this culinary Hell….

"Yep! I am Gilbert Beilschmidt, and this lump is Arthur." Gilbert introduced them rather enthusiastically, putting his arm around Arthur's shoulders. Arthur immediately shrugged him off. The teacher smiled a little.

"Kirkland, right?"

Arthur nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"I am Mrs. Thompson. I do hope you all will have fun in this class. It's a pretty relaxed atmosphere, so I'm sure you two shall fit in quite nicely."

"Thanks," Gilbert grinned.

Mrs. Thompson nodded. "Here. I'll check you out your textbooks and show you where you'll be sitting. You can leave your things here if you need to go anywhere else."

"Thank you very much," said Arthur, though, on the inside, he was panicking. Not only was he in a cooking class, but he was also cursed with reading about cooking in textbooks. This world truly hated him, didn't it?

"Here you are." Mrs. Thompson handed over the thin textbooks to Gilbert and Arthur after writing down their numbers. "Now, for your seats… Do you two want to sit together in a group?"

"No!" they both exclaimed simultaneously. Mrs. Thompson smiled an amused smile.

"Alright then. Gilbert, you will be in this group here, with Lovino, Francis, and Antonio." She pointed to a seat at one of the tables. Gilbert set his bag down next to the seat. "I think you will get along quite nicely with these people. Though, remember to keep them in check, Mr. Beilschmidt, they get distracted kind of easily."

She moved over to another table on the other side of the room. "This is your group, Arthur. With Matthew and Feliciano. They sometimes struggle because they are a small group, so I'm glad you have come."

Arthur smiled a little as he set his bag down as well. If she thought he was going to be an asset to this group, she was deathly wrong. He could tell this would be his worst class already. Lovely.

"Okay, well, I shall see you later, Mrs. Thompson. Gilbert and I need to see our next class."

"See you in twenty-five minutes, boys." She smiled. Gilbert sighed and went out with Arthur.

"Wait, wait, wait." Gilbert stopped Arthur, pressing a hand to Arthur's chest. "Our next class is Calculus? I haven't even passed out of Geometry yet!"

"I suppose they looked at my records to choose that gem," Arthur responded with a sigh.

"Dude, you're in Calculus? You're a complete nerd, aren't you?"

"I have a life, if that's what you mean. Or, at least, I had one."

"Whatever. I'm going to find that counselor to get my schedule changed. I know you want the awesome me with you 24/7, but I'm going to die if I have to take Calculus. See you in first class, bro." Gilbert walked off. Arthur smirked, noting that Gilbert was going the wrong way.

Arthur, as he went visited all of his new teachers, noted that there were only five people in his Calculus class, two people in his Biology class, and eleven people in his English Literature class. Arthur was relieved. He never did like large classes. He supposed that was the benefit to being placed in all of the advanced classes.

He did not get a chance to go to all of the classes he was to have that day or the next, however, because those three classes alone amounted to five books he had to carry. One calculus book, one heavy biology book, and three English ones. Granted, the English books were small, but Arthur's arms were already hurting, and he just wanted to sit down.

He made it back to the cooking classroom just before the five minute bell rang. There were a few more students in the class than before, and Gilbert wasn't back yet from the counselor. Arthur was greeted by a cold glare from a brown-haired boy sitting at the table Gilbert was supposed to be at. Charming.

He shrugged off the stare and went to sit at his table, where a boy who looked a lot like the glaring boy was already seated across from him.

"Hello! My name is Feliciano Vargas! Are you new here?" The boy held out a hand cheerily, his amber eyes dancing excitedly as he introduced himself.

Arthur frowned slightly at the obvious question before smiling and shaking the boy's hand. "Yes, I'm new. My name is Arthur Kirkland."

"Nice to meet you!" Feliciano responded. "Where are you from?"

"England."

"How cool! I've always wanted to go there! I'm from here, but my mother and father were immigrants from Italy. I wish I knew Italian though. My parents speak it at home, but I have never really gotten the hang of it."

"That's okay. I don't know any foreign languages either."

Feliciano laughed. "That's my twin brother over there. Lovino." He gestured to the glaring boy, who was looking through his textbook absently.

"Ah," Arthur said, unsure of how to respond to that fact. "Uh, are you two really similar?"

"Oh, no!" Feliciano laughed again. "Lovi and I don't hang out like we used to. He's really good friends with Antonio, though he would never admit it, haha!"

"I see…" Arthur replied.

"That over there is Feliks Łukasiewicz. Everybody knows he likes to crossdress, and he's proud of it! Though some people like to bully him because of it. He's best friends with Toris Laurinaitis, but he's not in this class. Maybe you'll meet him later!"

Arthur nodded, only half-listening to the introductions, but still grateful for the information he was able to glean from Feliciano's rapid-fire speech. Gilbert finally walked into the classroom. He had a triumphant expression; Arthur guessed that his plans of changing his schedule were a success.

"Oh, who's that?" Feliciano asked. Arthur felt a little smug at being the one with all of the information for once.

"That's Gilbert Beilschmidt. He's from Germany. And… he's my roommate."

"Cool!" Feliciano smiled as more and more students poured into the cooking classroom. A blonde boy with dark blue-violet eyes sat next to Feliciano, glancing questioningly at Arthur.

"Hello," the boy greeted quietly. Arthur smiled.

"Hello. I'm Arthur."

"Matthew. It's nice to meet you."

Arthur nodded as the late bell rang and Mrs. Thompson closed the classroom door.

"Alright, students, let's get started."

And thus began Arthur's Hell.

"I am so sorry," Arthur said again, hiding his face in his hands.

"It's okay, Arthur," Matthew replied, still trying to salvage the soup they were making that day. First, Arthur had nearly cleaved off a finger cutting tomatoes, and then he had mistaken sugar for salt and salt for cornstarch. Feliciano had turned the heat up too high and the soup had managed to boil over. Arthur was in the process of mopping up.

"Five minutes left, students," Mrs. Thompson reminded the class, oblivious to the war zone that was Arthur's kitchen.

"I think we all should give up," Feliciano protested. "This is not going to be saved."

"I will manage it," muttered Matthew, who was barely paying attention to his groupmates as he kept trying to rescue the soup. Arthur felt a pang of regret, knowing that the group's bad grade was all of his fault.

"It isn't your fault," said Feliciano, seemingly reading Arthur's mind. "We should have taken you seriously when you said that you were bad at cooking."

"I should have looked at the labels more closely," replied Arthur, not wanting Feliciano to feel bad about himself.

"We can make it," Matthew said, determined. Arthur admired the boy's perseverance, but it he knew that it was a hopeless cause.

The teacher's timer went off, and everybody stopped cooking. Mrs. Thompson smiled. "Bring up your bowls, and we'll begin the judging!"

Arthur groaned. What kind of teacher judged cooking anyway? She had to be some sort of sadist, right? And here he thought she was a harmless old lady.

Matthew spooned the soup into a bowl and their group got in line for the taste-testing. They were in the back. Arthur that that was a good decision to be last. He was sure their soup would destroy her taste buds forever.

God, he was really bad at cooking.

Arthur's uneasiness got more and more pronounced as they moved up in line. Matthew was smiling confidently, and Feliciano looked just as nervous as Arthur felt. At least Arthur had a poker face.

Feliciano cracked as soon as Matthew set the bowl in front of the teacher. "Don't eat that, Mrs. Thompson, if you value your life!"

Snickers were heard across the classroom. Arthur was ready to swim back to England at this point, especially once he heard Gilbert's disturbing laugh, which sounded vaguely like a 'kesesese'.

Mrs. Thompson chuckled. "It can't be that bad, Feliciano." She spooned up some of the soup, and Arthur closed his eyes tightly, ready for her to fall over choking or something.

"Mm! This is so unusual, but it's really good!"

Arthur's eyes snapped open in complete shock. Mrs. Thompson was smiling at them. Matthew grinned in triumph and Arthur was not even sure she could have been tasting the right soup.

"W-what?" he asked.

"That's right! This is so unique! It's very sweet, but it has this salty savory flavor that balances it all out. How did you three manage this? I haven't tasted anything like this before. Great job!"

Arthur couldn't believe it as he and his group went back to their seat. He had gotten through his first cooking class without killing someone. He looked at Matthew.

"How did you do it?"

Matthew smiled abashedly. "Cooking is something I like to do. It was nothing."

Arthur grinned back. "I'm just going to warn you now- you're going to have to pull off those magic tricks all of time now, while I'm still here."

"I do hope you won't drop this class, Arthur," Matthew said, picking up on Arthur's eventual plan. "You may not be very good at cooking, but this is a class that could teach you. And you are a good person. I would hate to see you go."

Arthur looked at Matthew's genuine expression and smiled. "I guess I can stay awhile."

"Great to see yet another student to add to my long list." Mrs. Macumber grinned as she directed Arthur to his seat. There were only two other students in the classroom: a brown-haired boy who was scribbling something in a notebook, and a blonde boy who was reading. He recognized neither of them, but the blonde one looked familiar…. That was it. He looked like Matthew, except his hair was shorter and his eyes looked to be blue instead of purplish. For a second, he probably would have mistaken him for Matthew.

Arthur sat down and took out his textbook as Mrs. Macumber organized some papers. "We are right in the middle of the cell respiration unit, Arthur. If you have any trouble, do not be afraid to ask. This is a college-level class, but I will help you at all times, okay?"

Arthur nodded, looking at the other two people.

"Dang, I forgot to print off something. I'll be back in a jiffy!" Mrs. Macumber jogged out of the room. Arthur could tell that she was a very unconventional teacher already.

The brunette looked at him. "Hello. My name is Toris."

The name was familiar. Arthur remembered that Feliciano had talked about him. "Arthur. Pleased to meet you."

Arthur looked at the Matthew look-alike, who had raised his eyes from his book and was staring at him intently. "What's your name?" Arthur asked uncomfortably.

The blonde did not answer. He just stared.

"That's Alfred," Toris answered for him. Arthur was confused. Could Alfred not answer for himself?

"Well… it's nice to meet you, Alfred," Arthur replied slowly. Alfred stared for another moment, and then went back to his book. Arthur felt as if he was missing out on something here. Alfred's behavior did not seem exactly cold, but it wasn't very welcoming, either.

Mrs. Macumber entered the classroom again with her papers. "All right! Let's get started!" She grinned widely.

It was finally lunchtime. There was only one more class after lunch and then study hall. Arthur concluded that, so far, this was the strangest day of school he had ever had. Not only did he avoid killing someone during cooking class, he had spent half an hour in calculus talking to a kid named Eduard about how to throw an egg down a staircase without breaking it, and he had spent an uncomfortable eighty minutes with the quiet Toris and silent Alfred. Mrs. Macumber was really fun, though, a total science geek.

Now Arthur was looking out over the busy lunchroom. He saw Feliciano, but he was with Lovino, and Arthur was uncomfortable around him. Perhaps he could look around for Matthew…?

"Hey!" Gilbert shoved through a crowd and put an arm around Arthur. "What's up, Artie? Wanna eat lunch with the awesome me?"

"As if. I have to live with you. Can't I have some peace here at school?"

Gilbert laughed and steered Arthur to an empty table. "You cannot deny how much you want to eat lunch with me. Bask in my greatness, Arthur, before it belongs to other friends."

"I'm not your friend."

"Whatever. Francis was in my second hour, and he's a pretty cool guy. He's a pervert, but cool."

"Fascinating. I take it you decided to stay out of Biology too, huh?"

"I've already taken Biology. Besides, I don't like science. Decided to take chemistry instead, because it's required." Gilbert opened his carton of milk and took long swigs from it. He put down the carton and grinned at Arthur. "Haven't you taken Biology yet?"

"I have, but this is advanced Biology. It goes deeper."

"Yeah? What's it like?"

Arthur thought back to the strange atmosphere. "It was okay. There are only two other people in the class, so the small size was nice."

"Cool. Who were they?"

"Some kid named Toris- he was nice enough. And then there was this other student named Alfred, who didn't speak at all."

"Alfred? He was in my piano class!" Gilbert grinned.

"You play piano?" Arthur asked, shocked.

Gilbert laughed. "Not at all. It was the only class available. There's some prick in there named Roderich who thinks he's better at piano than everyone else."

"Is he?"

"Yeah, he is." Gilbert laughed. "Anyway, Alfred didn't talk in that class either. Teacher called roll and he just raised his hand. He's pretty good at piano, though, but not as good as Roderich. It seems like he's not that popular. Nobody talks to him and they avoid him like the plague. It's so weird."

"It is a little weird…." Arthur agreed, absently picking at his food as he pondered. He knew Alfred shouldn't fascinate him as much as he did, but it was still a mystery that kept nagging on his mind.

Alfred set down his bookbag as he entered his home, all of the homework he would need in his arms. His parents weren't home, but his older brother was.

"Hello, Alfred," said Matthew in greeting, not looking up from a book he was annotating.

Alfred said nothing, brushing past him and going into his room. Things had gotten better between him and Matthew over the past year or so, but it was still awkward to be in the same room as his brother for a long time. Alfred sat on his bed, looking at his Biology textbook. He really should start on his homework, but he didn't feel up to it.

He clasped his hands and bowed his head, whispering his prayer for the day. He only spoke out loud to God… not since the incident…. He felt like he had been wrong somehow, and now a lot of people despised him for it. All except one person, but he was gone now.

"Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him."

~St. Luke 17:3

AN: I hope this idea is interesting! I also hope that the Bible verse does not offend anyone (though I don't know if it really should….). Please drop a review! I am curious as to what everybody thinks.