Give him a chance - Chapter 3

"Hey, man…"

Arthur, who was working on the computer, turned towards Alfred, in the office's doorway. The teen was in his pajamas, a brand new laptop in his arms.

"Yeah?"
"I can't get Internet in the guest room."
"That's normal, my connection is awful."
"Can't you fix that?" the teen grunted.
"I'll see what I can do tomorrow. You can stay here for tonight."

The American boy sighed, and lolled in the little sofa, his laptop on his knees.

"D'you know why I can't send texts to my brother?" Alfred suddenly asked.
"Are you sure you used the good country code?"
"Well, I was able to call him when I landed..."
"So, do you have some credit left?"
"'Course, I have unlimited calls."
"Kid, you're abroad."
"Oh shit."

The two of them stayed silent for a while, except for the sound of typing.

"Do you have any white shirts with you?" Arthur asked.
"Mmh ? Yeah sure, one or two, why?
"You must wear one of them tomorrow, because you won't have your uniform immediately. "

Alfred stopped a few seconds, and turned his head toward Arthur, dumbstruck.

"My what?"
"Your uniform. You know, the clothes you will have to wear at scho-"
"What? There are uniforms? Are you still in 1500 or something? I have to wear some awful day-glow yellow pullover to match everyone? No way in hell, dude."

Arthur raised an eyebrow, sipping his tea.

"Actually, it's extremely simple. Only a white shirt, a tie, black trousers and a dark blue pull-over. And it seems that's you're pretty free with it, I already saw a few Chinese kids with their duangua instead of a shirt under the pull-over."
"But… I can't!" Alfred shouted. "It's against my principles! I can't accept to wear a uniform, for the sake of freedom!"
"Freedom my arse. Otherwise, you can compromise like this one guy did back when I was still in school. He was an exchange student, and didn't want to wear a uniform. So, the principal told him to wear it or to wear nothing at all."
"Weeeeell, very interesting, dude." the teen sighed.
"It was. He actually went around naked for at least two hours. Someone put the photos on Facebook last month, if you want to see."

Arthur smiled as he saw Alfred grow pale, and put his mug down on the desk.

"So, I guess you'll be needing a tie, then?"

…..…..…..

"Are the girls hot in this school?"
"Sorry, kiddo, I wouldn't know. I don't check out underage teenagers."
"But doesn't your friend tell you about them or something?"
"Please, just shut the fuck up before I stop the car and I leave you on the pavement."

Alfred rolled his eyes, sighing loudly to emphasize his state of irritation. He had to wear a shirt, a prickly pull-over, and a fucking tie. Moreover, Arthur was a total jerk. And he listened to shitty music. And he had a Mini Cooper, and that was really gay, man.

"What does your friend even teach?" the American asked, trying to drown out the shitty music. (The Cops, or something. Wailing about a Roxanne.)
"Economics."
"Shit, I wanted to take Economics. Otherwise, I would have liked to pick Chemistry, Religion, or something about computers."
"And which language?"
"None. I speak English."
"You will pick one. I hate those stupid Americans who think that because they speak English, learning another language would be useless" Arthur spitted.
"So, no French, you'll only try to help me and I don't want you to." Alfred grumbled. "German, maybe."

The British man chuckled, amused with the stubbornness of the teenager.

"Ich spreche Deutsch. Ich bin glücklich, weil die Sonne scheint."
"Mmh…. Me gusta Spanish" the teen replied.
"¿Cómo esta dan la casa? ¡Está bien!"
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Alfred shouted.
"This time? Totally. And watch your-"
"Language, I know…"

They quickly arrived in front of the school. Alfred jumped out of the car, happy to leave his stupid caretaker. Well, until he noticed that his stupid caretaker was following him.

"Hey! What are you doing, old man?"
"Er… You need me for the applications, and-"
"What? I can take care of myself! I don't need you!" the teen shouted.

Arthur just raised a caterpillar, already knowing that it will end up in a stupid argument.

"Alright, so, you know where you have to go, and who you have to see, and-"
"Of course! The Economics teacher, you said it!"
"Hmm… Which one? And where is he?"
"… Well, fuck you, old man."

…..…..…..

A few minutes later, the both of them and the teacher were in the hallway, all of them pleased with the fact that all the papers were filled out.

"Are you happy?" Arthur asked to the down teen next to him.
"I couldn't be anything less!" the teen said ironically.
"At least, you can continue the same subjects that the ones you had in America… I will find a solution for your awful level in Spanish, though."

Alfred sighed, already regretting his choice to learn Spanish.

"Didn't your friend just say that he spoke Spanish?" the teen asked, pointing to the blond Economics teacher next to him.
"I said I spoke German, French and Italian" the teacher retorted.
"Ain't Italian and Spanish the same thing?" Alfred naively asked.
"Arthur, I pity you" the teacher sighed.
"It's even worse than that, Vash. Way worse. Well, I must leave you, I have to go. Alfred, be nice and don't mention everywhere you go that you're American, don't miss the bus to go back home, and don't get involved in fights or whatever you did back in your old school, my dear… Mmh, what did she write? Oh, yes. My dear sweetie-sweetie pie."

And with that, Arthur left, carrying less of a burden on his shoulders. Alfred was enraged, seeing his caretaker leave him in the unknown like that, without any remorse.

"Come, Alfred," the teacher ordered him. "I'll bring you to your Math class"

Mister Zwingli led him into a classroom on the other side of the building (Alfred would of never been able to find his way by himself…) and made him enter in the room, behind him.

"I have a new student for you" Zwingli said to the teacher, before muttering "Be careful, I think he's a little bit retarded ."
"Oh… Okay" the old Math teacher replied. "So, introduce yourself."

The teen glanced at the room, full of students about his age, and said:

"Hi, I'm Alfred F. Jones and I'm American! I've been here for two days and I already hate this country and my caretaker, even if it hasn't rained yet, and I really wanna go back to Chicago, but I hope we'll all get along!"

Zwingli rolled his eyes, sighed a quiet "I told you", and left the class, letting the poor teacher deal with this moron.

…

"Hey, Arthur! A letter for you!"

Arthur looked up at his coworker, who almost threw himself on the desk, an envelope in hand.

"Well, it's a letter, wanker, no need to be hyper like that."
"But it isn't any letter! It is a perfumed letter, with lipstick on it, sent to your office! You're having an affair, aren't you?" the brunet sang, pleased with his deduction.
"Antonio, to have an affair, I must be in a couple, don't you think? I'm just saying that in passing…

Antonio leaned correctly against the desk, seeming lost in his thoughts.

"Aren't you?"
"You of all people ought to know that that's not exactly the case. Francis is your best friend, right?"
"Well, you can say what you want, but I think you two are a great libertine couple~"

Arthur sighed. Not again this talk. "So, this letter?"

"Oh, yeah. Here it is!"

Arthur took the envelope, staring at Antonio, who didn't seem to notice that he wasn't wanted. The British man coughed. Twice.

"It's useless, I'm going to stay here, you know?"

The blond sighed, and opened the letter, in front of his very excited Spanish coworker.

Dear Artie,

It's your cousin again!

Oh shit.

I hope my Alfie-sweetie was nice with you when he arrived. I know that he can sometimes be rude, but it's okey, he's American. I read the other day in "Dog Fancy Magazine" that it was important to begin the training immediately, so I hope you already started his education! I really want him to become as respectable as you, you know? I hope you found a great school, too, and I hope he will have a lot of friends, like in his other school. My honey was so popular, a real playboy! I hope he will have a girlfriend! Learn him how to charm women! (In the latest news, he was still to the phase to do the helicopter with his ding-a-ling) I also hope that he will learn to eat something other than McDonald's…
I know that I have hope for a lot of things, but you're my last hope before juvi…

Lot of love, for you and my honey bunny!

Your wonderful cousin~

PS: I am writing this from the airport, I just landed in Bali and I'm spending this tripwith this awesome man, and we maybe will spend more time together, if you know what I mean…

PS²:I said that I wanted Alfred to become like you, but if he could avoid your habits of smoking like a chimney and drinking alcohol like a fish, that would be appreciated…

"As time goes by, the more I hate this woman."

"Who is it, who is it, who is it?"

"My cousin. She has sent me her son for a few weeks… He's a real pain in the ass."
"No, he can't be that horrible, can he?"
"He's American."
"Ouh, he must be a pain in the ass."

Arthur only sighed, placing the letter on the desk. Seriously, Alfred was about to go in Juvenile Detention? Or was this stupid mother of his just exaggerating things, like always?

"Hey, Antonio, you do speak Spanish don't you?" Arthur inquired.
"Well, I do am Spanish, and I do lived in Spain for twenty years." the brown-haired man replied.
"We can hear that" the British man sighed. "Anyway, would it bother you to give him a few Spanish lessons?"

The Spaniard pretended to think for a few seconds, before answering, with a huge smile:

"Of course I would mind!"

Arthur winced, already feeling the headache coming.

"What? Why?"
"Well, you just said that he's the worst person on Earth!"
"It was a joke," Arthur brazenly lied. "he's a real angel. You'll love him from the bottom of your heart. So say yes? I also feel like I have to remind you that I did fetch you from the police station in the middle of the night last week."
"Oh, Saturday night? Man, you should have come with us, it was awesome."
"No, thanks" the blond spitted. "You perfectly know that I don't like you and Gilbert enough to hang out with you when Francis isn't here. Actually, the feeling I have towards the both of you wouldsound more like 'hate'."
"And Francis magically makes the 'hate' disappear?" Antonio asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Absolutely not, I hate him as much as you, but at least he had some arguments diverting me."

Antonio didn't bother looking further, used to Arthur's bad temper. The man could say whatever he wanted, but he was the first to enjoy a night with them. (Well, actually he only truly enjoyed it when he's drunk, but nights like those are made to be drunk, that's not a problem.)

"I will see what I can do. This weekend? Justine is studying non-stop, and Lovi is in practice, so I have nothing to do anyway."
"Sounds great." Arthur replied. "Now, let's just hope that he at least learns easily.