Changes

Chapter Two

Sitting down in one of the chairs facing the door, all Canada could think was, What have I done? They’re all going to hate me now. Folding his arms across the table and then laying his head down on them, his feet moved forward, farther under the table, and accidentally kicked something soft.

“Hey, watch it!” a little voice with a British accent yelled. Jumping out of his seat a bit and pushing his chair back, away from the table, Canada said without thinking, “I’m so sorry.” There, crouching under the table, was Sealand. “Sealand? What are you doing here?”

“I was hoping to impress the other countries with good suggestions on how to fix the world’s problems so they would finally see me as a country,” he said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Why are you under the table?”

“Well, I can’t have them throwing me out before the meeting even begins!”

Before Canada could respond, the door opened and, in a panic, caused the Canadian the almost squish poor Sealand while quickly pushing his chair back in.

“Were you talking to someone, Canada?” Britain asked walking in the door.

“No,” he quickly replied, hoping he didn’t sound nervous.

“I thought I heard voices.”

“Must just be your ‘imaginary friends’ again, Britain,” America laughed.

Turning around, getting rather angry, Britain snapped, “They are just as real as you are, America!” Chuckling to himself a bit as he walked in, France walked past the two bickering countries and towards a seat several down from Canada. As he past, he leaned down and whispered in his ear, “I really like how the red brings out your eyes.” Canada gave him a polite, small smile as France sat down. Seconds later America was sitting just a seat away from Canada on his right and Britain next to him.

The room was awkwardly silent as the four sat at the “U” shaped, wooden table that took up most of the room. Pulling at the seams of his shirt under his suit coat, Canada kept looking up at the door hoping that someone would push them open and relieve the suffocating silence. Was it getting hot in here? Maybe it was just because he had the sun on him because of the giant glass windows behind him.

Just when he thought the deafening, awkward silence strangle him, they showed up.

The doors flung open as the energetic Italy followed by Germany and quiet Japan entered the room. Italy was in the middle of saying something, but as soon as he walked and his eyes landed on Canada, the previous conversation didn’t matter. “Who are you?”

“I’m Canada.” Sometimes he wished he could just speak louder, maybe then others would know who he was without him having to explain every single time. Italy stood there for several seconds staring at him, before smiling widely and happily saying, “Ve, it’s very nice to meet you!”

“Italy he’s been to these meetings before,” Germany sighed, sounding slightly annoyed.

“Really? How come I’ve never seen him here before?”

“Don’t worry, people usually don’t notice me.” It was true, he’d probably been to over twenty meetings before even the nations he sat next to noticed he was there. But he was used to being invisible.

“Oh,” Italy basically whispered, looking down slightly. After several other awkward, silent seconds the three sat down at the table opposite of Canada, France, America, and Britain.

It had only managed to quiet for a couple moments, when Canada suddenly felt someone tug on his pant leg. “Move back, will you?” Sealand asked quietly from under the table. Canada felt bad for forgetting about him, he knew from experience how it felt to be forgotten about.

“Did you hear something?” America asked, his head perking up from his phone.

“No, of course not,” Canada said and he scooched back, giving the almost-country a little more room under the table.

“No, I heard it too,” Britain said, looking confused.

“I heard something as well,” Japan said.

“Same here,” Italy agreed. Oh no... How do I respond to this.

“Maybe it was just America’s phone,” France suggested.

“Dude, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t my phone.”

Suddenly the doors opened revealing a tall figured that was heavily dressed. “Hello,” Russia said as he walked in. “Sorry if I am late.”

“Why does he have to be here?” Britain snapped standing up.

"I would ask the same of you, Britain," France calmly fired back. "But this is the first you hear me complain about it, today."

"Quiet you, frog! This isn't about you!"

"Will you two please just—" Germany started, but was interrupted by the loud bickering of the other two countries.

"You bloody little git! I never—"

"Oh so sure of yourself? Tu est trés vaniteux, Angleterre!"

"I'm not—"

"Oui you a—"

The two seemed completely absorbed in their little gray cloud of fighting that they never noticed Russia sitting down beside Canada, or America taking pictures—probably just to upload them to some social media website—or Italy growing uncomfortable thanks to the fighting. So far it was just a normal meeting and they probably would have been at each other's throats all day had Germany not spoken up.

"If you two don't mind, we have to start the meeting now!"

Pulling away from each other, they moved back to their seats. Along with the six other nations, Canada turned his attention to Germany who started the meeting off. Apparently they were still on the subject of international trade, and how they could create a system that allowed everyone to trade freely without restrictions, similar to the European Union. I thought we cleared this up last time, Canada thought to himself boredly, his fingers absentmindedly playing with his curl. Can't we talk about something that affect us all, like Global Warming.

Snapping back to reality, Canada glanced up at Germany, still going on about trade, not noticing Russia leaning closer to him.

"I like the new look," he whispered almost silently in Canada's ear, causing a slight shiver to run up his spine. "I think the older children would call it 'punk,' but I like it no matter what category it fits under." Oh crap...how on Earth do I respond to that? I have to respond. Just say something!

"Thank you," Canada mumbled almost breathlessly. Hoping that would be the last of people flocking over him, he returned his attention back to the German who was practically running the whole meeting.

Unfortunately for poor Canada, the whispering between him and Russia wasn’t over yet.