This is it. My first and last year of high school. Walking down the dull hallways of school, I watched the new 7th graders rushing to their first class as if their life depended on it and the 12th graders barely moving from their places.

I couldn't believe it when my father told me I had to go to high school. At the end of one of my home-school lessons, he told me that he enrolled me in a local school so that I could learn the ways of normal people. It could help with being an Alchemist. Of course it could, dad.

I don't want to go to school. My father has already taught me practically everything I need to know, and what he didn't; I re-searched myself. I didn't dare say that to him, he would think that I wasn't taking my job as an Alchemist seriously. So here I am, walking to my first ever public school lesson.

Walking in to the classroom, I almost knocked into someone. A boy. I mumbled an apology, briefly looking up at the well built boy. His sandy hair was cut just short enough to keep out of his hazel eyes.

"No worries," he replied with a small smile before continuing to a seat at the very back of the classroom, in the right corner. I however, made my way to the dead centre of the classroom.

It was another five minutes before other students piled in. I watched the small redhead make her way to the seat left of mine (she smiled at me kindly and I was genuinely shocked enough to small faintly back at her), I watched the tall, thin, blond girl sit in the middle of the front row and ignored my flash of envy, I watched the boy who was a little overweight and carrying a biology textbook, even though we were in English, until finally the teacher entered.

"Okay, guys, settle down please," she said to the almost silent class. "Now, we're going to start with-"

The teachers attention was caught by a late student at the door. The boy grinned at her.

"Oh, don't mind me," he said, his long legs taking him quickly to the seat diagonal from me, on my right, "I'm nothing but a spirit. Please continue with this riveting tale of self journey I'm sure you were about to tell."

The teacher went beet red.

"Ah, yes, thank you, as I was saying."

The teacher went on to tell us that this was the last year to truly discover ourselves as young adults, and to reach our fullest potential, no matter what cruel and beautiful Mother Earth sends our way. I smiled down at my book, recovered, then looked back up. My eyes automatically caught someone looking at me and followed that instinct until I was looking directly at the boy from before. The lazy smile on his face turned into an amused grin and I once again smiled before looking down at my book, then the teacher.

For the first day of school, I'm smiling a lot more than I thought I would.

So, that's the first chapter, guys! Please let me know if you like it because I'm not sure I have the time to continue writing this, let alone publish regularly. I have the second chapter written up, but we'll just see how this goes. :)