What is... "Home?" (Hetalia Fanfic, W.A. '13 Finalist)

Chapter 7~!

~5th period

Because of the food fight trashing the cafeteria, most of fifth period was canceled so everyone responsible could clean the mess up. Canada and I got away without having to tidy up because we weren't throwing food.

"Serves them right," I muttered from where I sat on my bed. "That was pretty stupid to start a food fight."

"I suppose it was," Canada said, coming out of the bathroom after washing his face. He had a towel around his neck, which he was using to dry his jaw and throat with. He glanced over at me and cocked his head to one side quizzically. "Melina? You're looking kind of red in the face."

"I-I am?" I felt my cheeks with the backs of my hands, and they were warm. I chuckled nervously and slid off my bed, going to the window and throwing it open. A cool mid-October breeze blew through, helping me relax a bit.

"Is something the matter, Melina?" Matthew asked, moving behind me and pulling off the towel around his shoulders.

"No, I'm fine!" I said a bit quickly. "It was getting warm in here, is all."

'Jeez, Melina. What's your problem?' I thought to myself.

"Come on, we should get to our next class," Matthew said as he slid his glasses back on and opened the door to the hallway. I grabbed my bag and followed him to what was left of 5th period Literature. That went by quickly (for obvious reasons), as did 6th period Algebra 2 and 7th period Art. Art and Home Ec were my favorite classes by the end of the day. I did notice France giving me odd looks during both Algebra 2 and Art, like he was sizing me up or something. Of course, that renewed my fears that he suspected me of being a girl, and I had a nervous tick where my leg would bounce up and down rapidly when I was sitting down. My leg was jumping around like a frog (A/N: England: Ah, because of a frog, too. B: Hush, let's focus on the story, okay, England? England: I was only making an observation...) during dinner, which I tried to still but it just kept coming back. I don't think anyone noticed it, but I barely heard half the things America was ranting about because my own scared thoughts were drowning him out.

"And that's when I thought- Yo, Malcolm, dude! Ya listening?" America waved his hand under my nose, which was pointed down at my tray in thought.

I blinked rapidly and looked up at him. "Yeah?"

"Dude, what's bugging you?" he asked with a fork in his macaroni and cheese (A/N: America not eating hamburgers? Shocker! America: ...)

"Nothing, why?" I asked around the fork in my mouth. 'Yummy fish...'

"Bro, you kidding? You've been super spacey all through dinner. Do you even know what I was talking about?"

"Um, yes?"

"What was I talking about, then?"

I hung my head for a brief moment. "Sorry, Al. I've got some things on my mind that just /won't/ shut up."

"What kind of things?" England asked. "It is only your first day, after all. Is it that bad?"

'Eeep!' "Naw, it's not much to talk about," I answered before taking another bite of salmon.

"Are you sure, dude? If you wanna talk, go ahead," Al said with a sincere expression, and I was so startled by the unfamiliarity of such kindness that I felt like I would die if I didn't tell him.

"Well, y'see... I was getting some weird looks from Francis during my last two classes, and it's sorta freaking me out," I admitted without giving my secret away.

Don't get me wrong, I felt like I could trust Alfred and Arthur with a lot of things, but Matthew found out by accident and I want as few people to know as possible. If I told more and more people, sooner or later someone would slip up and I'd be done at this school. No thank you!