Chapter Four:

Elizabeth ran a hand through her hair, pacing the hallways again. It had been a good ten minutes since the bell rang and she was still outside. She hadn't quite yet calmed down after her little outburst at lunch. Elizabeth was half inclined to punch a locker in her frustration. She had worked so hard to forget about the Incident and just like that in a middle of a stupid argument she managed to bring it back up. What had they even been arguing about anyways?

Finally realizing that a perfect, reformed lady such as she really shouldn't be skipping classes – especially on the first day – Elizabeth ran towards her English class, cursing herself for nearly skipping her favourite course and possibly getting into the teacher's bad books.

"Sorry," she gasped out as she ran into the English room. "I'm so sorry," she apologized profusely as the teacher stared at her in confusion. "I'm afraid I lost track of the time and didn't hear the bell ring – I'm sorry!" she apologized again.

To her surprise, the teacher smiled. "It's alright, sit down. I'm Ms. Mary. I'm the new English teacher," she replied. Elizabeth smiled back shakily before sitting down next to Gilberta, who had evidently been saving a seat for her.

"I'm Elizabeth," she said before sitting down. Ms. Mary nodded and she continued on with what she had been doing before – which was handing out sheets.

"What are we doing?" Elizabeth whispered to Gilberta. Gilberta shrugged.

"One of those things they always make us do on the first day, those 'introduce yourself so I can get to know you better' sheets," Gilberta answered.

"Oh," Elizabeth said in relief, leaning back on her chair. Gilberta rolled her eyes.

"You're such a pansy, getting worked up for nothing," she teased. "But good thing you finally managed to come – I need to talk to you about something," Gilberta continued, face serious. Elizabeth blinked at her. She had never seen a serious Gilberta before.

"About what?" Elizabeth asked nervously.

"You know your cousin?" Gilberta began. Elizabeth frowned.

"Alyssa?" she questioned.

"No, no – Matthew," Gilberta said in annoyance. "Is he gay?" she asked. Elizabeth stared at Gilberta.

"No?" Elizabeth said. Gilberta let out a sigh of relief.

"Ok good. I didn't want to risk anything," Gilberta said. "He's cute. Don't you think we'd make an awesome couple?" she asked.

Elizabeth blinked. "You…and my cousin?" she asked, ever so entirely horrified. "Don't even think of raping his innocence," she threatened, just as Ms. Mary walked by. The teacher turned to give the two girls a look and Gilberta stifled a laugh at Elizabeth's mortified expression.

"I'm not going to rape his innocence," the self-proclaimed Prussian continued once the teacher was gone. "I just want to get to know him better, and how better can I do that than by asking you what he likes?"

Elizabeth sighed. Gilberta had that steely, determined look in her eyes and Elizabeth knew that there would be no point in trying to dissuade her. Once the girl set her eyes on a boy she wouldn't give up.

This was going to be a long class.

Francis stared at the Spaniard with a horrified expression. "Repeat what you just said," Francis said, his left eye twitching.

"The way you rant about Elizabeth, I think you may like her," Antonio repeated, looking mystified. The boys had decided to skip their next period to continue their discussion.

"I think Lovina might be right; you are an idiot," Francis said in surprise.

"What? No I'm not!" Antonio protested. "I'm just saying – the way you go on about her, it's like you harbour secret feelings for her. Gilbert's right – you guys do have some unresolved sexual tension going on… although it might be resolved now," Antonio joked, laughing. Francis punched his arm. "Ow!" Antonio exclaimed, pouting.

"Gilberta thinks we have unresolved sexual tension?" Francis asked, wondering if it would be going against his moral obligations to punch Gilberta as well.

"She isn't the only person," Antonio replied, slightly miffed that Francis had punched him.

"Obviously they are mistaken," Francis said huffily. As if he could ever harbour feelings for her. "Because although Elizabeth has long flowing blonde hair and enchanting green eyes and her body is smooth and supple and her intelligence is refreshing – there is nothing I like about her!" he exclaimed.

Antonio stared at him. Francis stared back. "I know Lovina calls me slow sometimes… but did you just hear what you said?" Antonio asked.

"I said that there is nothing I like about her," Francis replied.

"Before that. Repeat that again," Antonio prompted.

"I said…I said she had flowing blonde hair and enchanting green…oh," Francis said, gasping. Now that he thought about it, he always found Elizabeth beautiful – it had been one of the reasons why he decided to drunkenly sleep with her that faithful night.

"See?" Antonio said excitedly. "You do like her!"

"I can't possible hold feelings for that poor excuse for a girl," Francis said, shaking his head.

"You're just like Lovi when she didn't want to admit she liked me! It's so cute~!" Antonio cooed, reaching over and pinching Francis on the cheek. Francis scowled, swatting the hand away.

"I don't like her," Francis said flatly. Antonio rolled his eyes, just as they heard the bell ring.

"I have to go to class now – but I hope you stop being in denial soon! You and me could go on double dates!" Antonio said cheerfully, walking away and leaving Francis alone to his thoughts.

"Did you see that cute boy who was with that bitch Gilberta and her crew?" Elise whispered across Alyssa to Angelique in their biology class. Angelique nodded.

"He totally has cute potential!" Angelique added.

"I hear he's a senior named Matthew," Elise informed them. "I heard Gilberta say his name."

"Mattie?" Alyssa asked, looking confused. Were her new friends actually talking about her sweet ol' step-brother?

"You know him?" Elise asked incredulously.

"Of course I do! He's my step-brother," Alyssa replied cheerfully. Elise's perfectly shaped eyebrow rose.

"Is that so?" she asked. "Well then, you should tell him to keep away from Gilberta and her friends. They're bad news."

Alyssa frowned. "Bad news? Gilberta's friends with my cousin Elizabeth – Elizabeth's totally not bad news, she's such a prude," Alyssa said with a laugh.

"You really don't know your cousin well then, do you?" Angelique asked, smirking.

"Of course I do!" Alyssa protested.

"Did you know what Elizabeth and Francis did at Gilberta's party a few months ago?" Elise asked. Alyssa frowned, shaking her head. "Did you know that Elizabeth used to bully people back in grade 9?" Again, Alyssa shook her head. She knew her cousin could be snarky at times, but a bully? That totally wasn't Elizabeth.

"You really don't know your cousin," Angelique said in awe.

"You really need to tell your step-bro to stay the hell away from those girls," Elise said. "Gilberta dated my brother for a while – urgh, she's such a bitch, you have no idea how hard it was for me to get her to break up with him," Elise said.

"What'd you do?" Alyssa asked. Elise shrugged.

"Put child porn on his laptop," Elise said and she and Angelique giggled. Alyssa blinked, feeling slightly horrified. "But don't worry – Gilberta's far worse. She's like, always getting into trouble and she's the biggest slut ever."

"Yeah – she hangs out with my ex Francis and Antonio – who's really, really hot but really, really stupid. I mean, out of all the girls in the school, why would he date Lovina of all people?" Angelique asked.

"But Lovina's nice!" Alyssa protested weakly. Elise and Angelique exchanged a look and burst out laughing.

"Lovina...nice? Are you retarded? Lovina's one of bitchiest girls in the entire school – she'll be up in your face for no good reason! She's like, always pissed or something. I don't even know where she gets it – her little brother Feliciano is like, the sweetest little thing ever," Angelique cooed.

"And her grandfather is the principal so even if she beats you up or anything, she won't get in trouble for it," Elise added.

"Oh my gosh Mr. Vargas is like, the hottest old guy ever," Angelique remarked. Elise giggled.

"He's like, a total GILF!" Elise said and the two burst into giggles.

Alyssa stared down at her paper thoughtfully. Why didn't Elizabeth ever tell her about what she did at school? Elizabeth always seemed too uptight and proper whenever they saw each other in the summer. And Gilberta… well, Alyssa already had a feeling she was no good [I mean, who actually has red eyes and claims they were bitten by a radioactive sheep? It screamed freaky and bad]. Alyssa made a mental note to tell Matthew to stay away from Gilberta – she'd probably corrupt Mattie or something and a heroine like Alyssa would never let that happen.

Gilberta smirked as she entered her last period class, Home Ec. Her usual cooking partner [the one she had since last year], Lea, was wearing a noticeably low-cut shirt.

"Pull up your shirt, you whore," Gilberta teased, coming beside the other girl and pulling on her apron. The tall blonde Danish girl laughed.

"You know you love my boobs," Lea teased back. Gilberta rolled her eyes.

"Yes of course. They're the biggest turn-on of life. Let's start making out now so Eli's nosebleed gets worse," Gilberta replied.

"What are you talking about?"

"The freak show's probably staring at us with his mouth open," Gilberta guessed. Lea turned around. Sure enough, there he was, staring at them. Eli blushed and looked away. Lea turned back to face Gilberta, whose smirk had grown.

"How did you…?"

"Years of experience," Gilberta replied. She checked the instructions the teacher had handed out at the beginning of the class. "So we're supposed to make cake or something? Wow, how simple," she remarked.

"But sadly not simple enough for poor Lizzie," Lea replied and the two girls started laughing. Elizabeth, who was working in front of them, turned around and scowled, further fuelling their laughter. Her partner, a shy girl named Monique, gave them a horrified look. Gilberta remembered how the year before, after a cooking incident that burned the eyebrows off her face, Amanda had begged for a new partner. Unfortunately, the teacher had refused. Gilberta and Lea gave her sympathetic smiles.

"So, how has your first day been?" Leah\ asked as she pulled out the ingredients they'd need from a nearby cupboard. Gilberta shrugged.

"I met a cute boy today," Gilberta remarked. Lea's left eyebrow rose.

"So, then what? Did you punch him in the face or 'invade his vital regions' in a dark corner of the classroom?" Lea teased. Gilberta frowned.

"Neither. We became friends and I invited him to sit with us at lunch and he did," Gilberta replied, intent on mixing the dry ingredients together. Curious as to why Lea hadn't replied, Gilberta glanced to her right and saw Lea staring at her in almost horror. "What?" she asked in confusion.

"Did you hear yourself? You, Gilberta Beil-whatsit, making friends with a cute guy instead of beating them up or raping them? Are you alright?" Lea asked in mock concern, putting her hand on Gilberta's forehead.

Gilberta swatted the hand away irritably, brushing off the flour Leah had left on her face. In the meantime, Eli was having a cardiac arrest over their contact. His partner was too used to Eli's behaviour to really care. He just concentrated on making sure the blood from Eli's nosebleed didn't hit the food.

"He's cute. I want to get to know him better," Gilberta replied, pouring some more flour into her bowl. "What about you? Meet any cute girls?" Gilberta asked curiously.

Lea grinned. "Yes! I can't believe I haven't seen her beautiful face before. I think I'm in love," Lea proclaimed happily.

Gilberta laughed. "Name?"

"Erika."

Gilberta frowned. "The name doesn't ring a bell. Whose homeroom is she in?"

"Uh… she's in grade 10."

Gilberta stared at her friend. "Wow… you like 'em young, dontcha?"

Lea made a face. "She's just 2 years younger," Lea protested.

Gilberta snorted. "Yeah. To anyone else, 2 years is alright. But you're a freaking giantess – she'd look like she was 10 beside you," Gilberta teased.

Lea pouted. "I'm not as tall as Svea," she protested, referring to her Swedish cousin. Neither girl got along with each other. "You can hardly tell she's a chick – she sounds like a freaking dude the moment she opens her mouth to 'talk'!" Lea grumbled. "How the hell she managed to snag a cutie like Tiina is beyond me."

"Aww, is someone jealous?" Gilberta simpered. "Forgotten Erika already, have you?"

"Hey, I'm not lusting after Tiina – its Erika that I want!" Lea said. "I just don't get how she managed to get such a sweet nice girl when Svea's like a monster!"

"Girls, can you please quit talking and finish working on your cake?" their teacher said as he walked by, sounding annoyed. The two girls sighed and rolled their eyes, falling into silence. They worked in silence until the end of the period when the bell rang, signifying school was over.

"What are you gonna do when you get home?" Gilberta asked. Lea grinned.

"I'm gonna go annoy Svea for a bit and then maybe see if I can find Erika – apparently Tiina and Erika are second cousins or something so I can just ask her," Lea said as they walked out of the classroom. "You?"

Gilberta shrugged. "Gonna go home and annoy Ludwig. I hope Feliciano comes over – the two of them would be the cutest couple ever if they just acknowledged the fact that they like each other!" Gilberta complained.

"You have your work cut out for you," Lea teased. "Ludwig's such a tight-ass, he wouldn't figure his feelings out even if a 'recognizing your true feelings' self-help manual hit him in the face," she joked and the girls laughed.

As the girls parted ways, Gilberta remembered Matthew. Wondering if he had a cell phone number or msn, she decided to harass Elizabeth for it. And the moment she had them, she'd talk to Matthew until he realized what a truly awesome chick like she was and would want to go out with her in a second. It was foolproof!

Pity, of course, that fate had other plans…

A/N: Lea is Denmark, Svea is Sweden, Erika is Norway, Tiina is Finland. Ari's the only boy from the Nordics and he spends his time wondering why he hangs out/is related to such strange girls. I imagine Lea to be like Sailor Jupiter, I don't know why. Svea isn't really that manly - she's actually quite feminine. Lea's just exaggerating.

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