Friends (Highschool AU)

Get Ready

I tried my hardest to apologize to Bela over the next few days, but to no avail. She kept shutting me down whenever I tried to talk to her. The whole school knew of what had happened and my reputation was going down the drain.

The graffiti on my locker seemed more and more violent and my confidence was quickly depleting. North wasn't bullying me anymore though. The only good thing.

I arrived home from school and walked straight to my bedroom. I threw my bag across my room and laid in my bed, face down. I felt so drained of energy by the end of the day. So much of my energy went into trying to see normal.

Aus occasionally comes to sit in my room with me, watching videos. Although he doesn't say anything or do anything, I appreciate the company. He doesn't ask me how I am, he just sits there, back against the door, stopping anyone else from entering, just like he would do when we were younger.

Meri would always try to get me to talk about my emotions while Nada had questionable tactics. But with Aus keeping them all away, it made me feel a little better.

Today was one of those days when Aus would sit against the door while I tried my best not to cry into my pillow.

"You know how Mum and Dad are going to their couple counselling session tonight? Well, Ame has invited Bela over for dinner in hopes you guys can amend things," He stated blatantly.

"What!?" I shouted, but my voice was muffled by my pillow. I pulled my head off the pillow to look at him.

"Yeah, he told me not to tell you, but I thought you should know," He mumbled.

"No! Please tell me she said no! I can't do it,"

"She already agreed, and you have been like this for a while, it's kind of pathetic," He always spoke honestly and I guess I had been acting rather pathetic.

"But I can't. I'm not ready," I complained.

"I'll help you get ready," Aus said as he stood up. He walked over to my wardrobe and pulled out a set of clothes and threw them at me.

"Get dressed, the school uniform is awful," He explained as he left the room.

I did as he asked and got dressed into the clothes he threw at me. For someone who wears his safari outfit everyday, he has good style in clothes.

I still stayed in my room. I felt so nervous. What was I supposed to say to her? Would she even want to talk or would she just ignore me.

Why were girls so hard to understand? I remember Can talking about that he is gay because girls confuse him. I can see that now.

I pulled out my phone to see if there were any messages. Only a few, but none were from Bela. It made me feel more nervous. I started flicking through pictures that I had taken of her on my phone. I probably shouldn't have done that though, each photo made me more and more stressed, but I kept looking until someone pulled it out of my hand.

"Stop looking at pictures of her," Meri muttered, holding the phone above my head.

"Why did you invite her over?" I asked bitterly.

"Look at you. You're a mess over this girl and you need to get your act together. So, someone had to do something. I also thought I told Aussie not to tell you. I had better tell him not to tell Nada. You know what he's like," Meri sighed. He left really quickly and came back just as fast.

"I will help you get through this. You just needed the chance to apologise and you guys can go back to dating." He smiled.

To be honest, I didn't even know if I wanted to keep dating her. We never fought before we dated. Now that I think of it, I don't think I have ever had any feelings for her. Guess I was just playing along with it.

"Okay," I mumbled back.

"You need to trust me; I will tell you everything you need to know as soon as Dad leaves for couple counselling. You know what would happen if Dad were to find out that you had a commie over," He explained.

"Bela isn't a communist! That was years ago." I defended her.

"Good to see you still sticking up for her, now go have a shower, you smell of tears," He said as he left again.

"I don't smell of tears," I muttered to myself. I mean, I did, but I wasn't going to admit that. I didn't want a shower so the next best thing to mask the scent of depression was the stacks of deodorant Mum keeps buying me. I barely used it.

I quickly doused myself in the stuff and left my room to find America. I found him talking to Aus in the kitchen.

"You hear me, don't tell Canada. Okay?" Meri sighed.

"Twenty dollars," Aus said with a smirk. America pulled out some money and stuck it in Aus's hands rather aggressively.

"Oh hey Kiwi," Aus smirked, looking over at me.

"I told you to have a shower, not cover yourself in deodorant," Meri muttered.

"So," I grumbled.

"Oooh, Kiwi is grumpy," Aus said in his baby voice. I bit back the urge to punch him.

"Get lost," I muttered instead. Aus just snickered and walked past me.

"Ignore him," Meri sighed.

"I was planning on it," I said as I walked over to him and sat down. He grabbed a drink out of the fridge and offered me some with a small hand gesture. I shook my head and he took a big sip of it.

"Right, now the first thing is first. You need to apologise to her with sincerity. Okay pretend I'm Bela," Meri leaned on the bench and fluttered his eyelids.

"Ew, no." I complained.

"Come on, for me. Babe," He said, smirking.

"No, that's gross!"