50 Reasons Why

50 Reasons Why I'm a Hero

Alfred's POV

          I woke today to the sun shining in my eyes. I quickly looked at my clock, and sighed in relief when I realized it was 7:58. I had about 30 minutes to get ready. I looked out the window to see a bird chirping away, and I gently opened my window. Grabbing seeds from the little bucket I had on the window sill, I stuck my hand out. The bird hopped on and began eating. Bernie wasn't like most birds, he never flew away from me. I think he's some kind of small eagle, but he has yellow around his eyes like a mask.

"Good morning Mr. Bernie Bird? How are you?" I smiled, it was nice to wake up to Bernie's chirps.

The bird only replied with more chirping and eating from my hand.

               I looked at the pile of clothes near my bed and sighed, another day to suffer the depths of hell society calls school. I then remembered that Artie left his jacket on the field along with a little notebook he must have been carrying earlier. Both were shades of green that matched his eyes perfectly, not that his eyes were like, striking or anything. I just noticed how they were the same color as the grass when the sprinklers went off. Speaking of which, I wonder if I left all those footballs out on the field. Oh well. I dressed myself sleepily and went downstairs to see Mattie eating pancakes.

"Sup bro! Make any for me?" I asked as I sat down.

                      Mattie simply nodded and slid a plate to me. Ah, food. I ate happily in silence enjoying Mattie's presence. Last night I heard a him freaking out, I hope he's okay. I didn't want to put him i a bad mood so I focused on the food in front of me. Mattie's pancakes tasted good, but my eggs and bacon definitely beat all. I should get best cook of the year, and that's not even accounting for what I can do with a grill. Wait, what was I doing again? Oh that's right, chewing. I gulped down the rest of the food and grabbed my backpack.

"Ready to go Mattie?" I smiled. Walking to the bus stop silently I noticed Mattie's sleeves were rolled all the way down, which shouldn't bother me but with last night's noise...

"Dude, are you okay? You were freaking out last night. Bad dreams?" I whispered.

Mattie only nodded and I saw him tense. Internally all alarms went off in my head. I hated knowing my little brother was in pain and being able to do nothing about it. I felt so helpless.

"Let me see your right arm." I stated. I saw Mattie's eyes widen, and I knew I had guessed correctly.

                I grabbed his arm and heard him wince in pain. I hated to hurt my brother, but I knew if I didn't do anything he would hurt himself more than I would ever dare. Mattie bolted to the bus stop, and I ran after him. He sat in a seat with someone sitting next to him seconds before I could. Because of this I sat in a seat on the other end of the bus and I was waiting for us to arrive.

                    When we did Arrive I dragged Mattie off of the bus and shoved him into a brick wall so he couldn't escape. I rolled down the sleeve to see gauze, then took that off and did my best to shield him from the other students.

"Not cool dude. You promised. Remember what the therapist lady said? No cuts, they make things worse. Now pull down your sleeve and when we get home I am throwing away the razor." I gazed at my brother.

                      Why now? I thought he was doing better, it's been more than ten years since mom died. I mean I still had bad dreams and what not, but I had promised myself from that day forward that I would never let any harm come to my loved ones again. I would be the Hero that saved lives and helped people who needed it, like little boys who's mom died in front of them. I'm basically Batman. I just wish I had a Robin.

"Vhat is dis about? Is somezhing wrong?" Came a voice behind me. It was the new kid, Gilbert. I released Mattie, flashing my hero smile.

"Nothing is wrong just a brotherly chat." I said as I walked away, clutching my backpack. My day was pretty much ruined. There goes any hope of hanging out with Mattie today.

                    Walking to first period PE I tried to focus on the positive. Today we were running the mile, which was awesome because I could do that in 5 minutes easily and still have enough stamina for more. I was in first place as always, feeling proud of myself I looked out to the field and saw a couple of kids who weren't doing so great. By that I mean they were on the verge of passing out, and only on the first lap. I looked at coach Vargas and he nodded. This was my favorite part of PE, helping people who seemed to be on the verge of tears out of embarrassment or because they weren't used to pushing their bodies this way.

This time there were three people who were falling behind and fast. The first two were Toris and Feliks, who seemed to be sticking together.

"Go go go! Come on I know you can do it! Let's go dudes faster!" I instructed the boys.

"I can't, like, do it!" Feliks cried. "I'm going to die!"

"So am I!" Toris whined.

"Come on guys! You can do it! Only two laps left now." I encouraged.

           Soon the boys finished off their laps and only one person remained on the track.She was small and had her blonde hair tied up with a blue ribbon. I'm pretty sure her name was Erika, and she was a junior.

"I'm going to die." She winced. "I'm already behind everybody."

"It's okay. I'll finish with you." I smiled.

"I can't do it Mr. Alfred!" She cried.

"Sure you can! What's your favorite song?" I asked.

"Um, I don't know..." she huffed. I thought about cadence songs, when the perfect one popped up in my head.

"Do you know the song Barbie Girl?" I whispered.

"Yes, I used to sing it to my big brother when he was sick." She replied.

     By this time all of the students were in the gym, so it was just me and Erika, thank goodness for that because if anyone saw what I was about to do I would never live this down.

"Okay I'm going to sing the song, you step and breathe with the rhythm." I said

"Okay." She smiled. And then I sung.

"I'm a barbie girl..." I sang softly at first.

                      The next few verses came out and soon we were almost there. Unfortunately for me, I started to get really into the song, and Erika was singing with me. At that moment I saw Arthur exit the back building holding posters he was putting up around the school. I tripped ungracefully and Erika laughed, still singing. I got up as quickly as possible, and just in time to see Arthur's head snap back. He saw me and waved, I waved back of course, only to fall into Erika.

"See," I said. "Even the best of us fall sometimes."

Erika was laughing as we crossed the finish line. I looked over to see Arthur putting a poster up outside.

"I knew you could do it!" I high-fived Erika.

"You were right, I didn't die, my big brother would be so proud of me! But I didn't make the 12 minutes like I was told." She frowned.

"Did you run the mile?" I asked.

"Yes but-" She started.

"Did you have fun?"

"Yes at the end but I-"

"Then that's all that matters. You followed something through to the end and had fun doing it. Life is like a mile, you have to enjoy doing it." I smiled.

               She smiled back and went into the gym, bouncing happily. I let out a sigh and was about to run another lap when I heard clapping. I whipped around to see Arthur sauntering towards me, a smirk on his face and a poster in the hand on his hip.

"Who new Mr. Hero had a soft side?" He teased.

"Mr. Hero was just doing his job and saving a damsel in distress. " I replied. "Does this damsel need a hero to help her put up those awfully big posters?" I put my hands on my face Dramatically.

"Oh stop. I am perfectly capable of putting these up all around the school." He frowned.

"Are you? I could help you if you wanted dude. I have around thirty minutes until the bell rings, I'll just tell the coach I was running more laps." I beamed.

"That's lying." He pointed out.

"Not unless laps is code for errands." I winked.

He paused for a moment before saying, "Well I suppose you could help."

"Awesome brah! Where are we going now?"

"To the east end of the school, near the music room." He instructed.

I nodded and began walking in sync with Artie. It was awkward silence, so I decided to break the silence.

"So because we're friends now, if I ever go up to you with someone and I'm not making any sense, play along." I spoke.

"What on earth are you talking about?" He looked at me confused.

"Like, if a teacher comes up to me and asked why I wasn't in period xyz, you would go along with my excuse." I explained, as we entered the building.

"So again you want me to lie." He huffed. "Why would I do that?"

"Lying is the price of friendship. So are food and WiFi passwords."

"It's so is, not are, and since when are we friends?" He stopped.

"Since we wrestled in mud. We are now tied together like pigs are tied to the fate of becoming bacon." I answered, which earned me an eye roll.

"Is food all you think about?" He asked stopping in a hallway. "Here, now help me put this one up."

              I did as told and held the poster up as he placed the pins. I stood there for a while thinking about bacon, when I heard a small grunt. I looked over and saw Artie stretched as far as he could on his tippy toes trying to place the pin, and failing.

"Need a hero now?" I smirked.

He simply nodded and looked away as he handed me the tack. A small blush was creeping onto his face, which was so ador-

"Are you going to put the tac in or not?" He mumbled.

"Oh, ya sorry teapot. I was just wondering how many times is possible to save someone in one day." I giggled as I put the pin in.

"Shut up!" He pushed me and as I was laughing, I saw Mattie through the window of the art room. He was scratching his arm, and all the memories of this morning came flooding back. I felt my smile fall of my face, fading into oblivion. Artie noticed as quickly as it happened.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked, following my gaze. "That's your twin brother, correct?"

"Ya." I whispered. That was the moment Mattie thought no one was looking at him, and scratched his arms revealing the cuts.

"O-oh." He stuttered. "Let's move on shall we?"

"Okay, where to next?" I mumbled.

"The next building." He smiled. "But about your brother, he is getting help right?"

I nodded, then he nodded and we walked in uncomfortable silence. It went like that for a while before Arthur spoke.

"So why do you need a tutor? You seem smart enough." He inquired.

"Well, see, um, how do I explain this? Well long story short, coach is going to replace me with the Russian if I don't have perfect grades." I huffed.

"Ah, but what's being a Quarterback. You could still play right?"

"I can play, but I won't get a scholarship. Football is my ticket into college."

Arthur nodded then smirked. "Guess that makes me your hero, doesn't it."

          That stopped me in my tracks. I was always the hero, I never thought of Artie as mine. He smirked up at me with those beautiful green eyes, and flipped his messy, sandy blonde hair before sashaying away. I felt my cheeks flare up as he turned around and looked at me over the shoulder, smiling brightly before breaking into a laugh.

"Come now, we don't want to be late now do we? As your hero, and former hall officer, it is my duty to get you to class on time." He joked.

         And that was a moment that changed it all. 'Oh shit' I thought. All it took was one touch, one glance, one word, one smile, to change everything. I followed him down the hallway to my second period, still stuck with the annoying fluttering in my stomach. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten those pancakes earlier.

"Good luck, nice shorts by the way." He chimed.

          I looked down to see myself still in my gym clothes and held my breath as my face heated up even more. Why didn't I change before I ditched class? That would've been smart. The bell rang and instantly crowds of people emerged from the rooms around us.

"Bye Alfred." Arthur laughed as he walked away.

         It was then I realized I also forgot my backpack in the locker room. In an instant I bolted to the gym, and burst through the locker room. I grabbed all my stuff and stuffed it in my backpack. I would have to change during lunch. I ran all the way back and burst through the door as the bell rang.

"Late again Mr. Jones. Take a seat."

Doing what I was told I sat down, and stared at the clock.

~~~~~~~~





Later in fourth period





I swung into my seat next to Kiku. I loved science, and luckily we got to pick partners. The teacher was instructing on how to set up the labs when two voices cut him off.

"No, I want the blue goggles, they go with my stylish outfit! Of course you would know nothing about that black sheep!" Came an accented voice.

"Shut up you frog! Stop being a tosser for just a moment and focus on something actually important!" A familiar voice said. I turned to see him in the back of the classroom with a guy who had long hair tied back.

"Well at least I can cook something that isn't poisonous like your music- oW!" The french man cried, as Artie pulled his hair.

The class gasped as the Teacher pulled them outside of the classroom.

"Who needs a Hero now, I mean who pulls hair? You say I'm childish." I smirked at Artie. He glared daggers at me as the teacher closed the door.

Kiku gave me a look and smiled.

"What?" I asked.

"Oh nothing Alfred-san. So what was this thing for?" He held up a small bottle of a green liquid.

"I have no idea, let's pour it in with everything else!" I insisted.

That didn't end well.



~~~~~



Lunch rolled around and Artie was still laughing at me.

"Oh my, nice hair! Green is an amazing color. You know Alfred, you could very well be a superhero! You look just like the hulk in those shorts and green forehead! I regret being sent out. I would have loved to see your antics literally blow up in your face!" He chimed.

"Ya I get it dude, Hulk hahaha, now save Kiku and I a spot while I go change." I demanded as I headed off.

I came back to see Arthur talking to Kiku in a table in the corner. They seemed to be getting along talking about things I've never heard of. Oh well.

"Miss me?" I said as I slid into my seat.

"Nope. Kiku and I were talking about the movie camp out coming up."

"Movie camp out?" I asked.

"Yes it's where you stay all night long on a Friday, watching movies all night." Kiku explained

"Alfred." Arthur looked at me sternly. "What do you think was on all the posters we put up? Did you read any of them?"

"Posters?" Kiku smiled. "When was this Al?"

"Um, nope." I gave a sheepish grin, Ignoring Kiku. "They looked cool and Important looking though. What movies are they playing?"

"If they looked important then you should probably read them. We are playing Romeo + Juliet, for English, The Sound of Music for history and well music, Wall-E for the environment , and the first Jurassic Park for science as well as making it semi fun. It had to be educational, these were the best we could do."

"Awesome! Most of those movies are only kinda boring. Where and when is this rodeo?" I exclaimed.

"I believe it's on the football field a month from now, if I remember correctly." Kiku looked to Arthur.

"You are correct. It's three dollars to get in, but make sure to bring blankets, chairs, food, pillows and a warm jacket. It should be fun." He stated. Should be.

Oh! Speaking of jackets! I just remembered Arthur left his jacket and notebook on the field. I reached into my backpack and dug around for them.

"While we're on the subject of jackets, you totally left your stuff on the ground dude. Sorry your book got just a little wet, sprinklers am I right?" I laughed and handed him his things.

This got Kiku's attention. He leaned in slightly to Arthur's response.

"Oh, I didn't even notice I had left them. Thank you so much for returning them." He said as he studied the objects. "You didn't look in the book did you?"

"Nope. What kind of friend would I be if I held darkest secrets against you?" I beamed. Kiku coughed very loudly, which was unlike him, and got up.

"Prease excuse me it seems I must find my diary and hide it. Bye Arthur, Alfred-san." He said as he smirked at me.

          Luckily Arthur saw nothing, as he was eating and seemingly staring into space, and I shot a glare at Kiku. He smiled and winked pointing to his phone. Sometimes I wish best friends couldn't read you so perfectly. I began eating as well. It's a good thing we still have that Burger Bar. I was in the middle of a REALLY good bite when one of the cheerleaders, Lucille, walked up to me.

"Hey Al! I was wondering if you would like to maybe go out to eat later?" She smiled.

"Sorry, I would love to but I'm hanging out with my buddy Artie here after school. We need to study for a test, and Mc Donald's is perf, right Artie?" I said slowly. Arthur snapped back to reality.

"Oh, yes um, we have this thing in science and I didn't get any notes today-Lucille?" he looked astounded. "What are you doing? Francis would just love to know what you were planing with poor Alfie." He smirked as she turned white. "Go run along now before I go get him. He would skin Alfred alive."

"Dude did you just call me- skinning? What?" I looked that them.

Lucille nodded and walked away quickly. Arthur just sat there like nothing happened and continued to eat.

"Dude what just happened?" I stared at Arthur as he swallowed.

"Well I do believe I was doing just as you told me, and 'playing along' as you put it. I thought the objective was to get Lucille to leave, was it not?" He said calmly.

"It was-How do you know Lucille?"

"She's Francis's little sister. They guy I was fighting with in fourth. He's an old pal of mine. He's also very protective of her, don't worry she won't bother you anymore. Now I do think we need to discuss the problem of you making plans without my consent. Here."He handed me a slip of paper. "Text me, and make sure I agreed on the time to meet up. I'm very busy and I have a strict schedule."

I took the paper, and for a second our hands touched. My mind was racing, and so was my stomach. I didn't understand. I just ate, why is it acting up?

"Thanks so did you call me-"The bell rang interrupting my thought.

"Well it's time to go, see you at Mc Donald's Alfred." He said throwing away his lunch.

"Bye!" I smiled my hero smile.

I got up and walked to class. I hadn't planned on going to McDonald's after school, it was just an excuse to get Lucille to leave me alone. Too bad I have practice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                  Coach Vargas was serious when he said we weren't taking it easy this year. Practice was a lot rougher than normal, and for once I was so genuinely grateful to be wearing pads. I tackled Lovino with ease . It was awesome being the strongest here, not even Ivan matched my game. That is until I saw Arthur in the bleachers. He was sitting there with his legs crossed, writing in that book of his with earphones in. This caught my attention, that he was waiting for me, that I didn't see Ivan hurtling towards me. He crashed into me, and suddenly these pads felt paper thin.

"Jones! What was that?" Vargas boomed.

"Sorry coach! I was just letting Ivan get a tackle in, because it's the only one he'll ever get." I sneered.

"Whatever, get your head in the game and out of your ass."

"Yes sir!" I shouted.

The rest of practice went by like that, Hitting, shoving, catching the ball, running. Soon the coach blew the whistle. I went over by Artie and sat down.

"I didn't think you would actually come."

"Well I have nothing better to do for the time being. Besides I need inspiration and McDonald's should be depressing enough."

"Inspiration for what?"

"Um nothing. So shall we go?"

"Let me change, I'll be back in ten." I smiled and jogged to the locker rooms. Kiku was there taking off his suit.

"So, when did you and Mr. Arthur become buddies?" He smirked.

"About a day ago. Why dude?"

"Oh, no reason in particular. So what are doing after this? We could go grab the rest of the team and go someplace. Pizza sounds good."

"Actually I'm going to McDonald's with Artie."

"Oh, are you?" He smirked. "Well then just make sure not to forget about your best friends while you're off." He said.

"What does that mean?"

"Oh nothing. You should jump in the shower before the other guys take all the hot water. Bye Alfred." He nodded and left.

He had a point, so I jumped into the shower. When I came out I dressed as quickly as possible, and headed towards the bleachers. Arthur was leaning against them looking at his phone.

"Took you long enough. You have no sense of time do you?" He looked up.

"Nope. Let's go. Are we walking or?" I asked.

"Well I walk to school and unless you have a car the answer is foot transportation." He said.

"Alrighty then, seems legit. Let's go."

We started walking side by side. I was fairly certain McDonald's was about a block from here which was good.

"So are we still on English or are we going to tutor on a different subject?"

"Actually I need your science notes due to the fact that Francis is an Arse. Although I'm not sure you're a reliable source considering you turned yourself green."

"Hey! That wasn't because I don't know science, that was because I don't know self restraint."I shot back.

"Mhm whatever. " He rolled his eyes. "We're here."

I walked in, Artie following behind me and walked right up to the counter.

"One Big Mac, a large order of Fries, a Large Soda, and uh what do you want Artie?"

"I'll take a southwest salad please."

The cashier nodded and I handed him my card.

"A salad? At McDonald's? Who orders a salad from McDonald's?"

"No one does because the only salads they sell here all seem to be drenched in 'Bacon Ranch.'''

"Here you are, number 5013." He said handing us our receipts.

"Okay dude-OW!" I shouted as Artie jabbed me in the ribs.

"He means thank you very much sir," Artie glared at me. "Have a nice day. Come now Alfred." He dragged me away.

"What was that?"

"Don't be rude. These people work hard and the least you can do is thank them."

"Whatever you say." I grumbled as I sat down. There was next to no one here, so I picked the best booth available.