Love Doesn't Have Words [SLOW UPDATES]

-Making Friends-

Property of Russia

I look at my schedule as I get up from my seat. Gym was next? I thought I told dad I didn't want to take that class this year. But, I guess I missed out on P.E. since 5th grade so I need to make up lost time.

"What class you got next, Russ?"

I looked up at America. A nickname? Jeez, America really likes doing things my family does, huh? I handed him my schedule and he skimmed over it.

"Seeya in lunch then." America said, handing back my schedule. As he walked out the door he said "but I don't want to smell you after gym!" I rolled my eyes with a smile. That dork.

I walked through the halls. I think I saw the gym while me and Ukraine were trying to find the history room. I retraced my steps back to the front of the school, then followed the path we took before. I spotted it quickly, and pushed through the doors.

Oh no.

Just as I suspected, it was what I thought it would be like. The only co-ed gym class was before school even started, so I had one with only boys in it. Everyone was already sitting and talking with their friends on the gym floor. It was honestly intimidating. I backed against the wall the door was on. I guess this will be a class with no friends.

I scanned the faces. I could recognize a few of them from math. Finland, Chad, India, Philippines, and Turkey. They all seemed to know everyone already. Of course, remember Russia, you are probably the only "new kid". I wish I knew people, but almost no one here went to my old school, or at least they have changed to the point that I can't recognize them.

The coach came in and told us to circle around him so he could read the syllabus and have us all hear him. "Yes that means you" he said, looking at me. Wow, way to single me out, now everyone was staring at me too. I shuffle over, staying a good 4 feet behind the group.

It was very boring, trying to listen to him talk. It was the same old stuff we went over already. But then he said something that made everyone start to move. What did he say? Everyone now held blue or green or orange sheets of paper. He must have told us to get out our schedules. I take mine out of my pocket. Mine was blue.

"Look at the top, where it says your name and grade and all that junk," he instructs. "Now find where it says 'lunch'. Last year and every year before that we had it as numbers to say what periods your lunch was between, but now it says letters."

I see that beside "lunch", my number was B. He went on to explain that A lunch was mainly for the sophomores, B and C was mainly for juniors, and D was mainly for seniors.

"A is after second period, and none of you had it or you'd be in the cafeteria right now. B is after this, C is after fourth, and D is after fifth. There are special occasions where we'll have E lunch, but we aren't that cruel."

It was pretty easy to remember. Gym then lunch, alright. To be extra sure, I wrote down "обед" between gym and my next class, which I saw was art. "обед" means lunch in Russian. Or it means dinner if you say it's breakfast, dinner, then supper. Whatever, it's the meal in the middle of the day.

As the coach gets back to the syllabus, I think. Would it be more fun if Ukraine was here? Maybe Canada. Maybe even America. I doubt I can really call him a friend at the moment, but he'd probably whisper jokes about the coach from where he can't see or hear us. I'd laugh, but he wouldn't get caught because I can't audibly laugh.

I smile, but mentally scold myself on zoning out to think about him. I don't usually do that, I try to listen as much as I can. But we've gone over the rules and syllabus so many times it's getting old.

I look back at the coach and focus back on what he's saying.

"-know no one likes this one, but there is indeed a dress code. Since you guys aren't ladies I don't have to explain how long your skirts have to be, but I will talk about shorts and tank tops and crop tops, and other weird trend there are."

Yeah, I zone him back out. I'm pretty sure I can tell if I'm wearing something that isn't school appropriate. Instead of listening to him, I look around and try to learn the other countries around me.

India looks like he's going to fall asleep. His flag had three stripes like mine, orange then white then green. In the center of his face, he had a blue circular pattern.

I look beside him at Philippines. He was messing around with his gloves. Why did he even wear gloves? His flag was blue at the top and red at the bottom. He had a white triangle on the left. To top it all off, he had a sun-shaped eyepatch on the same side as the triangle. The hoodie he was wearing had the same sun on it's gray fabric.

Next to Philippines was a country who kind of looked like America, but without sunglasses. The blue patch was darker, too. And instead of 50 stars, he simply had a yellow moon and sun. See, he was smart. America was just extra.

Behind them was a guy who, at first glance, looked like my old friend from before I moved. Then I remembered that that friend was a girl. And, she didn't wear that odd hat that he had. He was poking Philippines. When the red-and-blue country finally turned around, they started playing rock-paper-scissors.

I looked around to see another familiar face. I had seen a few of them in history, but I didn't know their names. Like one country who's as blue with a yellow cross like Finland, or one who had two blue stripes along the top, and in the center of his white face was a weird star thing.

I got broken out of my spaced-out state when everyone started to get up and start talking again. I guess the coach was done. He decided to be nice like U.N. and let us talk for the rest of the time. I went back to my spot on the wall. Like I've said, I don't really like meeting new people, especially without Ukraine or Belarus to help me.

I guess being in the corner doesn't mean anything about how I want to be alone. That group came up to me, Philippines, the one that looks like America, and the one that looks like my childhood friend but with a hat.

"Hey there, bagong tao." Philippines said.

He looked pretty friendly, but I still backed away when he spoke. I didn't know what he said, but I wasn't too confident it was something nice.

"I'm Philippines," the red-and-blue country continued after I gave no response. "This is Malaysia-" he gestured to the one that looked like America. "-And this is Indonesia." He pointed to the one with the hat. Both of them said hi when introduced, and I simply waved back.

There was a few moments of awkward silence. I really wish I could break it, but alas.

"What, can't talk?" Malaysia asked. I'm pretty sure he meant it as a joke, thinking I was shy or something.

I shook my head no, and Malaysia looked taken aback about his correct assumption.

"Wait, really?" the striped boy exclaimed.

I nodded. Just then, the bell rang. I could see Philippines looking slightly disappointed, but he perked back up fast.

"Hey, do you have lunch next?" When I nodded, Philippines continued. "You can sit with us then! We can find a way to understand you then. Does that sound good?"

I smiled slightly, but it might be obvious that it was forced to be polite. I nodded, and pushed myself to my feet.

I followed the three as they walked out of the gym and down the halls. Maybe I was wrong earlier. Making friends wasn't going to be that hard.

——
Translations:
(Please tell me if I'm wrong!)

обед: the meal in the middle of the day (lunch/dinner) in Russian.
bangong tao: "new person" in Tagalog.
——
Sorry this was short, I kinda didn't know what to write here but wanted lunch to be it's own chapter-

Also, this is the last chapter I had already written and just copy-pasted here. The next one will take a while, but I've already written chapter 5, so hopefully those won't take that long!