The Home of the Brave

5

A little ~Time Skip~ because I'm a lazy person, but I'm making it work. We also get introduced to America and China's relationship a bit more. Also, our girlie finally has friends!!! Thanks for reading this far, and this much if my weirdness, and early two chapter cus I felt like it
ENJOY!!

United States of America POV

"Erica, I love her, ok?" My brother says suddenly, giving me a desperate look.

"What?" I exclaimed without thinking, then regret it when I see his face. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm just surprised you're in love with her. A crush sure, but love is a strong word Canada. You've only known her for two months, and that's how long we've been at this school, are you sure?"

"I-I can't live my life without her. Every time I'm not with her I want to be. Every time someone is mean to her I want to beat them, kick them, and give them a fate worse than death. I'm pretty sure those are things that happen when you're in love with someone, you know?" My brother explained, pacing around his room. I shake my head and sigh "I don't know, and you should know that at least"

"So you really want to invite her over to get Mom's approval?" I asked, and he nodded vigorously. I sigh again. My brother has had crushes before, but nothing ever like this. I can tell, he really is in love with her. Not that I would get it, I've never been in love, never felt it from anyone other than my mom, and my dear brother. You could say I'm lonely, not that I let anyone know it of course. I've had many boyfriends before, but have never loved any of them. Some I've liked, some I've tolerated, but never loved. Never had a crush on anybody either. Sometimes I think I'm incapable of feeling itself, sometimes. I've gotten so good at hiding my emotions, sometimes I don't have any. It's a depressing thought, so I mostly ignore it. But sometimes it's useful, for instance, when someone betrays me, or tortures me. In the instance of betrayal, it's like I can flip a switch that turns my emotions off, so the betrayer thinks I'm not affected, even though I can only change like that when I am very affected in the first place. And in the instance of being tortured, I just shut down. No screaming, no crying, no reaction. I've learned to do that, so no one can get any satisfaction out of me, so they just give up. Sometimes, I just can't feel the pain. I wish I'd had that when I was younger, but maybe the times when I did scream and cry allowed me to be able to build up my wall, and be able to hide behind it.

"Well," I said as I dragged myself out of my thoughts "We should go get Australia and New Zealand's rooms ready, Mom is arriving with them tomorrow"

"Ok, I'll take Aussie's room, you take Kiwi's" Canada decided, and we headed out of his room, and down the hall to our other siblings' rooms. A few days ago, while father was yelling at me for kissing China (I couldn't explain that I was 'fake dating' him to gain popularity), he received a call from Mom that said she was coming with Australia and Kiwi for their break, which was couple months. I liked them, but I wasn't nearly as close to them as I was to Canada. Even when we all lived together, Canada and I had always been the closest, and same with Australia and New Zealand. The other thing about them, they were loudmouths and huge gossips. I couldn't tell them anything without our entire elementary school knowing by the next day. They also loved to tease me about anything and everything, your typical annoying siblings.

As I tidied up my sister's room, I thought about school. I had gotten straight As, make that A plus's, I didn't want to know what my father would do if I didn't. I had many friends, mostly powerful countries, with some decent ones mixed in. Japan was my best friend, surprisingly. She was like a non annoying sister that could keep a secret, and who I could actually talk to about some stuff. But still, no one made it to my heart. She was my best and most trusted friend, but I could never tell her anything I went through, how I could shut off my feelings, my scars, my past, basically anything too deep. We mostly talked about school, clothes, and friends. Simple stuff like that. She was also a country, and all countries are cruel manipulators, she was just my best friend and closest ally. I had also become good friends with Germany, South Korea, and Poland. I liked them. Me, Germany, South Korea, Poland, and Japan were all close. I was also close with Russia, which came with 'dating' his best friend China. I swear, those two have no secrets. They tell each other everything, but no one else. Everything that's shared between them stays between them. The three of us have also kind of created a trio, sometimes they share things with me too, but rarely.