Taylor wasn't quite sure who had blackmailed her. She wasn't quite sure what she had done wrong or how she deserved this treatment. But Taylor was sure of exactly two things:

One, she was gonna be convicted of murder.

Two, she was gonna have to miss the funeral.

She stormed towards the plaza were she was directed to go, her tanned face now flushed a deep red in pure rage, her dark brows furrowed, her brown eyes dangerous.

To anyone who knew Taylor, it was quite obvious why she was so upset. She wore a layered, fluffy dress, in which the bottom layer was a satin pink frill. On top of that was a white sheet that also frilled at the bottom, ending about 4 inches higher than the previous layer. Her upper body was also covered with the white fabric, with a sharp v-neck cut and puffy sleeves. The final layer, which was a vibrant hot pink, wrapped around her back and was held in place by a large, satin pink bow, which matched the one around her neck and the ones on either side of her head, popping out easily against her extremely dark, straight hair.

"Taylor... Is that you?" A voice called and her head snapped, glaring towards the sound of the voice. She relaxed slightly when she saw it was her best friend, Hope, peering out from behind a thick tree.

"Did you get a letter too?" Hope continued, keeping as much of her body hidden as she could.

Taylor instantly knew what her friend was referring to. She had received the letter, telling her to come to this park dressed in the outfit that had accompanied the letter. If she hadn't come, her human status would be revealed to all the countries who didn't know she existed, and that was extremely dangerous. So, against every fiber of her being, she put on the frilly, pink dress and showed up to satisfy her blackmailer.

"Yeah, I did." Taylor grumbled, "Now, come out. I'm not gonna be the only one suffering here."

Hope sighed and stepped out from behind the tree. She wore a short and frilly light pink skirt, which was held up with suspenders. She wore a pale colored crop top and on the top of her head was a crown of pastel-colored flowers. The flowers were pretty by themselves, but they looked awful against Hope's messy hair, which was sprayed and chalked vibrant neon colors in random places, making her seem as though someone spilled several different paints on her head. On her feet were white Converse with little fuzzy, pom pom like balls glued on the toes. Sitting just below her knees were mismatching socks; one red with Christmas candy canes decorating the material, the other blue with different kittens' faces printed on it.

Taylor covered her mouth, forgetting for a moment about her own wardrobe. "Good God, Hope, that is atrocious! You had the guts to walk out in public like that?"

"Hey, at least I don't look like Princess Peach!" Hope retorted.

"Woah, you guys are starting to sound like Alfred and José." A third voice intercepted, and the two Canadians turned their heads before covering their mouths simultaneously. Standing before them was Jenna, but that was hardly registrable with the outfit she was sporting. Wrapped around her figure was a bright red sundress, which seemed normal enough. It even had pretty jewels embroidering the neck line. But her head piece was a different story. It covered her from the top of her head and reached to the base of her neck, the color matching the dress. Out of the back of the hat, silver ribbon glinted and shined in the sunlight, stretching all the way down to her mid-back. She had glitter covering her skin, making her sparkle in a similar fashion to a Twilight vampire, and her dress and limbs were laden with different flower bracelets and pins. Finally, in the center of her forehead was stationed a large silver bow, which almost hid Jenna's brown eyes.

Jenna shifted uncomfortably. "Do you mind not staring? This is awkward already..."

"Is everyone else here, too?" Hope wondered.

"I have a feeling we were all invited." Another voice answered, and they turned to face a distraught Samantha. Her outfit wasn't awful or ugly, like Hope and Jenna's, but it wasn't something she was comfortable in. She wore a long green grass skirt with beaded anklets stacked on her ankles. Around her chest was a red band of fabric, leaving her stomach and small of her back completely exposed. In her hair, which flowed over her shoulders and down her back like a gentle, dark brown waterfall, a large pink flower was pinned to the right. She looked pretty, but her arms were wrapped around her stomach in attempted to cover it and her cheeks were red, her brown eyes fearful.

"Well, where's Shelbs and Thaovy?" Jenna wondered.

"I'm right here." A nervous voice answered, and a few of the girls recognized it as Shelby's. However, she was no where in sight.

"Where?" Taylor inquired.

"I'm in one of the trees." She answered.

"Which one?" Sammi continued, circling around at the trees in view.

"I'm not telling you."

"She's in the one right there." Jenna pointed to a pine tree that was rustling slightly whenever she spoke. "Shelbs, come out. Yours can't any worse than ours."

"No way. I'm staying here. No way in Hell is someone seeing me dressed like this."

"Don't be a baby, Shelby. My outfit takes the prize for most embarrassing." Another voice sounded. The girls turned to face Dreamz. Their face was the only part of their body who was visible, as they were covered in a very bulky Halloween costume.

A costume that happened to be a penis.

Shelby's screaming laughter sounded from the tree, while Taylor, Hope, and Jenna followed in suit, clutching their stomach in pain from working their abdomens too hard. Sammi covered her mouth in horror. "Dreamz... Is that you?" She questioned.

"Well, I'm not Thaovy, and everyone else is here." Dreamz sighed in defeat, waddling over to the group. "I can't believe I'm actually here right now."

"Me neither. I just didn't want someone to tell France or England about me. Canada would be killed." Hope explained.

"Same, girl. Same." Shelby sounded from the tree.

"Well, I don't have to worry about those two, but I was worried about Italy if Hungary found out." Another voice said. From behind Shelby's tree, Thaovy peered out. She was wearing a fuchsia dress covered from top to bottom with sparkles and glitter. On her feet were extremely tall, painful looking purple heels that brought her up to around Shelby's height.

"I was worried about Romano and Spain." Taylor admitted.

"Jett would be murdered by England. Germany and Prussia are big boys; they can take care of themselves." Dreamz stated.

"If Yào's family found out..." Sammi shivered.

"Ouch. That hurt, Sam. I happen to be part of that family." A calm voice stated.

A male voice.

The girls all instantly froze and turned to face 13 countries all dressed in ridiculous outfits. The one who spoke, Hong Kong, was dressed as Hello Kitty, and China stood next to him, avoiding Samantha's eyes, uncomfortable at the that he was dressed in traditional Chinese garments- traditional females garments, that is. Japan was dressed as an in-house maid and Russia was holding a manhole cover, trying to cover as much of the dress he was wearing as he could, while cat eyes stuck out from his platinum beige hair. Alfred and Matthew stood side by side, both wearing identical outfits- black, short skirts, black bow ties, and bear ears. The only difference was that Canada's ears were white fur. Hope had to force her eyes to the ground so she wouldn't stare too long at her boyfriend.

Italy waved excitedly at Thaovy, his eyes closed with happiness. He had a school girl outfit on, to which he was not at all fazed by. His brother, Romano, who simply wore a tux, watched him warily, leaning away as though he feared he may catch his younger brother's stupidity. Prussia cackled loudly at the sight of Dreamz's outfit. The albino was dressed in similar attire to America and Canada, only he sported rabbit ears instead of bear ears. His younger brother was dressed in a maid's outfit similar to Japan, and he looked like he was frying in his own personal Hell. Jett was also laughing uncontrollably at Dreamz, although he wore a bulky Halloween costume as well. Except he was a shrimp, no doubt teasing at the stereotypical Australian saying, 'shrimp on the barbie'.

Mexico didn't say a word; he didn't even laugh at Jenna's outfit. He seemed to be rather perturbed about the fact that he was dressed in a diaper with a small hat on his head and a pacifier in his mouth. Finally, next standing off by himself was Feliks, dressed like a fairy princess; he didn't seem to mind though.

"Nice outfit, Herr!" Prussia shouted. "I can see you are sehr excited to see me!"

"Gilbert, I will punch your teeth out." Dreamz seethed.

"YOU CAN'T!" He exclaimed, doubling over in laughter. "YOUR ARMS ARE STUCK IN THE SUIT!"

Jenna smirked, placing a hand on her hip as she looked José up and down quickly. "Well, that get-up fits you perfectly." She stated.

José ripped the pacifier out of his mouth. "Shut up, Jenna. At least I don't look like a bad fashion show threw up on me."

She shrugged. "That's fair."

"Uh, Hope, are you okay?" Matthew asked, taking a step towards his girlfriend.

"Yeah." She whispered faintly. "Just trying to collect my thoughts."

Taylor crossed her arms in irritation. "So, why isn't the great Romano dressed up?"

Romano scoffed. "Because I am not a idiota like the rest of these buffoons."

Taylor raised a brow. "I dressed up."

Romano blinked, realizing his mistake. "That was not what I meant!"

"Aw, Feliciano! You look adorable!" Thaovy complimented as the Italian ran up to her eagerly.

"Grazie! You look like a spring flower, bella!" He announced, causing Thaovy to blush.

"Samantha, I did not know you did Hawaiian dance." Hong Kong teased gently as he and China approached the younger teen.

She shifted uncomfortably. "I didn't know you loved Hello Kitty so much." She paused, glancing at a nervous Yào. "Are... You okay?" She questioned gently.

"This is very embarrassing, aru..." He replied.

Poland, who had remained relatively quiet, finally spoke up, waving his wand as he did so. "Hey! Like, where is Shelby?" He questioned.

"I was wondering the same thing, dude." America stated, his eyes picking through the crowd, but the brunette was no where in sight.

"Oh, Shelby's not coming out of her tree." Taylor commented.

"Friend Shelby, come out of the tree! We will not laugh." Russia promised.

"Absolutely not." Shelby said firmly from her hidden location.

"Actually, I'll probably laugh, so maybe you should stay up there, sheila." Australia chuckled.

"Come on, Shelbs! Everyone else is dressed up! Yours can't be any worse than Dreamz's!" Alfred shouted.

"Hey, lay off!" Dreamz blushed.

When Shelby didn't respond, Prussia flashed a wide smile. "Oh, look out! There's a spider!"

She shrieked, and the countries and girls watched as Shelby practically hurled herself out of the tree in panic. The fall would have been painful if it wouldn't have been for Alfred, who ran underneath her and caught her in his arms.

Instantly, everyone could see why she had remained in the tree. The teen was wearing a red, white, and blue lace bikini that shimmered obnoxiously with sparkles. Her feet were bare, and her face was done up with make up for once. In her hands, she clutched a poster, although she kept the words out of view. She stared up at Alfred in shock, her tanned skin turning red as he flashed a large smile. "You look good in a swim suit."

"Can you please not hold me to your bare chest, thanks." She grumbled, looking away from him now, as so not to acknowledge the fact that he was practically naked.

"Alfred, don't do it! She likes it, mate! She's just playing hard to get!" Jett teased. Still, fearing the repercussions if he didn't, America set Shelby down. She held the poster tightly in front of her, hiding both her chest and stomach from view.

"What does the poster say?" Poland questioned, skipping up to her. Shelby whispered it in his ear and he smiled, his eyes widening. "Oh, that is totally awful." He said, slight amusement in his tone.

"Who sent us these letters, anyways?" Thaovy spoke up, the one question that was on everyone's minds.

"Oh! That was me!" A new voice answered, although it sounded unfamiliar to the humans. They turned to face another, tan male that was dressed like Prussia, with golden green eyes and chocolate locks of messy hair. He waved at them happily. "Well, technically, Francis were the one who sent out the black mail. But I wanted you all to come and take pictures for the Fools of April!"

Hope's face seemed to turn a pale shade of green. "France knows about us?"

"Yes- and no. I told him you were different states and such. Hope, you're Manitoba. Taylor, you're Malta. Jenna is Texas. Samantha is Guangdong, and Shelby is Michigan. Thaovy is San Marino, and Dreamz is New South Wales. Good idea, yes?"

"Um, no. I think I speak for everyone when I say that I'd rather France- or any of the others, including you- not know I exist." Shelby stated.

Spain blinked. "Shelby, why are you not holding up your poster? I had France send that to you on purpose, you silly goose." He laughed.

"I'm not opening it."

"Por favor?"

"Sorry, I don't speak Spanish." She replied sarcastically.

"Please?"

Shelby took a deep breath, shooting Spain an icy glare as she unfolded the poster. It read:

I LOVE MY HERO, AMERICA

Everyone began giggling discreetly, except for Mexico, Prussia, and Australia, who lost their marbles. America's smile widened and Shelby avoided his gaze, obviously flustered and embarrassed.

"Spain is aboard the Shelbmerica ship!" Thaovy exclaimed triumphantly.

"Sí! Romano told me all about the couples. Canadope," Hope and Matthew both blushed, "Taymano," Lovino covered his face and Taylor looked to her feet, "Dreamany," Dreamz and Ludwig both shifted awkwardly as Gilbert crossed his arms, "Samina," Yào's face deepened in red color and Sam let out a slight giggle as Loung's smile vanished, "Shelbmerica," Alfred wrapped his arm around the teen, and she shivered, uncomfortable with the skin-to-skin contact, "Jenexico-"

"Wait what?" Juan asked, his eyes wide.

"And Tafitaly!"

"Aw, that is a cute name!" Feliciano cooed, taking Thaovy's hand.

"But he said that Shelby was also tries to deny that she likes Alfred, so I made it very clear." Spain finished.

"Lovino, keep your nose out my of business." Shelby snapped.

"Do not tell me what to do, ya Polish bastard!"

"Uh, okay, that was, like, totally uncalled for. Polish people are very awesome." Feliks stated.

"Not as awesome as me! BECAUSE I AM AWESOME!" Prussia screamed.

Locations:
- Guangdong: State/province of China
- Malta: Small country located in the Mediterranean Sea, south of Italy
- Manitoba: Province of Canada
- Michigan: State of the United States of America
- New South Wales: Province of Australia
- San Marino: Country in northern Italy
- Texas: State of the USA