USxUK Chapter One: Homesick

Alfred woke up to the sound of his alarm clock. Bright daylight shown through his window, causing him to cringe. He was never much of a morning person. He never felt like getting up, but if he didn’t go to school his parent would kill him for ditching. He hated almost every aspect of high school, especially after he moved to Oregon. It rained almost every day there, and even if it was sunny it was still bitter cold.

He groaned as he pulled himself out of bed and got dressed. He checked the clock which red 7 o’ five.  He sighed and headed down the stairs to the kitchen where his mother had placed a plate of waffles on the kitchen table. He scarffed down his breakfast and headed out the door.

He was greeted by the wind and a heavy dose of pine needles. He was used to the smog of New York and the sound of traffic, Oregon was pretty much the polar opposite. With trees everywhere the eye can see and the sound of birds chirping. It wasn’t a bad thing, but Alfred missed New York.

He walked down the street to the bus stop. It was about a block away so he plugged into his iPod playing some of his favorite music. He closed his eyes focusing on nothing but the steady drum beat and the screaming male vocals. He slowly approached the stop where he found a boy about his age already waiting there. The boy had short blonde hair and eyebrows the size of credit cards. He wore a thin hoodie and long jeans. Alfred hadn’t seen him before, he was surely new.

Admittedly Alfred had only been in Oregon for about a month, but who would move here in the middle of February? Alfred sighed and stood by the boy. Alfred was much taller than him, which clearly intimidated the boy.

“Sup?” Alfred said to him as he pulled out his headphones

“…Hello” the boy spoke with a heavy London accent that slightly startled Alfred

“ I’m Alfred”

“… Arthur”

“You new here bro?”

“ I moved from London a few days ago”

Arthur continued to look down as they talked about how he had just moved to America after his father got a job offering there. Alfred enjoyed talking to Arthur and they got along pretty well. Alfred tried sharing some American humor with him, but only succeeded in confusing poor Arthur. But they laughed anyways and continued to chat until the bus arrived.

“After you” Arthur spoke in a polite tone

Alfred laughed and got on the bus where the two of them sat together.

“Do you ever miss New York?”

“All the time. It sucks here, especially this damn weather!”

Arthur let out a small chuckle

“It rains even more in London”

“Dude you have gotta’ be kidin’ me!”

Arthur and Alfred laughed a bit before a girl with short, bright red hair and blue green eyes stepped onto the bus and spotted Alfred. Alfred waved to her and she took the open seat in front of them

“Hey Alfie who’s your friend?” she spoke with a Portlandian accent

“This is Arthur he just moved from London!” Alfred replied

“Wow dude you’re from London?!”

“Uh yeah…’ Arthur replied softly

“So cool! I bet you must love Doctor Who! I’m Kat by the way”

“Nice to meet you…” Arthur looked down a bit as he said this.

Suddenly the bus jolted to a stop as they arrived at school. They all trudged off the bus and headed to homeroom, which coincidentally both Alfred and Arthur had together. Kat waved goodbye as they went their separate ways down the long hallway. Alfred and Arthur walked into class, where they were greeted by all the “popular” girls who smiled at the sight of fresh meat.

“Hey there Alfred I see you have a new toy for us!” One of the girls spoke

“Hey leave ‘im alone it’s his first day here” Alfred scowled at the girl. He was used to this sort of thing in New York, except it was much worse there than in Oregon.

The girl scowled back and retreated to her friends who giggled at Arthur. Arthur just frowned at them and took a seat at the opposite side of the classroom. Alfred followed closely behind Arthur and took the seat next to him.

“Sorry ‘bout them. The real ladies are the art girls, now they’re hot” Alfred spoke calmly. Arthur looked back at him shocked then back down at the ground.

“Wow dude something wrong?” Alfred suddenly grew concerned, were girls a sensitive topic in London? “It’s nothing just…” Arthur buried his face in his arms trying to avoid any further conversation. Lucky for him the teacher walked into class at that very moment.

“ Class we have a new student today. Arthur would you mind introducing yourself?” the teacher spoke and looked over at Arthur

Arthur quickly stood up “I’m Arthur Kirkland, I moved here from London”

The popular girls giggled as he sat back down. The teacher began attendance as the students chatted. One of the popular girls slid a note over to Arthur

He opened the note his face flushing bright red and quickly ripped it in half and threw it back at them.

“ What’d it say bro?” Alfred asked urgently

“Nothing…” Arthur tried to hide his blushing face in his jacket

The two pieces of the note slowly drifted to the floor, placing the pieces together would form the words ‘ARE YOU GAY FOR ALFIE?’