"But I don't wanna go to school!"
A high-pitched wail raced up the stairs of the small house, invading the silence in Envy's bedroom. He groaned and stomped down the stairs, swinging into the living room to clamp a pale hand over Wrath's mouth, effectively silencing his shriek. "Shut up!" he hollered at the small boy, removing his hand when he received a nod of consent. As soon as as he let him go, Wrath began to wail again.
"Lust says Sloth said that I hafta go to school! But I don't wanna!"
"Deal with it, runt," Envy growled. "We all have to. It ain't great, but it keeps the humans away." He grinned maliciously. "And it's kind of fun sometimes. They get scared easy." Truth be told, Envy wasn't all that happy about their current predicament, either. Sloth's rules were absolute. Everyone goes to work or school with the exception of Gluttony, whom they couldn't risk going on a rampage and blowing the homunculi's cover. Absolutely no alchemy or special powers in public, and only a little bit at home. And, Envy's least favourite part. The dress code. Gone were Envy's skorts and belly shirts. Pants and shirts, and shoes when he was outdoors, were required.
None of the homunculi were sure exactly how they had ended up on earth. But, as soon as they had found each other, Sloth had decreed that they were to live as normal humans, each assuming a new identity as part of the Sin family. Wrath was William, Envy Matthias, Sloth had become Annabelle, Lust assumed the guise of Regina, Pride went by Vincent, and Greed had called himself Brice Hollman for a time, before coming to live with the rest and calling himself York after being accused of a series of vicious killings and devastating robberies. Gluttony had no need for a new name.
"Wra-William, darling," called "Annabelle" from the stairway. "Time for school, hon." Sloth had taken to adding endearing phrases such as "pumpkin" and "honey bunch" to her communications with the others in an attempt to seem more maternal, seeing as Wrath, Envy, Lust and Greed were all supposedly her children.
Wrath continued to grumble, but shoved a pair of sneakers onto his feet and followed Sloth out the door. The school was rather far away, but Sloth's previous attempts at driving had led the sins to chose walking several miles to school in the early morning over having her drive them. The neighbors watched as Annabelle Sin led her youngest son to his school 5 miles away at 6:30 a.m. Around 30 minutes later, they watched again as Matthias Sin, a 9th grader, strode off confidently in the direction of Lime Valley High School. He had previously gone to Lime Creek Middle school, where Wrath was headed now. Wrath had been the last to be found, and had joined the Sin family around 2 weeks ago, at the end of summer, after holing up in an alley for the first 7 months of living in the human world.
An hour later, a sleek red convertible pulled up in front of the homunculi's house and collected Regina Sin before driving of in the same direction as Matthias. Lust's current boyfriend, Evan Mickenzie, always made a big show of showing up at the Sin family residence and elegantly offering to drive any other family members wherever they needed to go. He always did this, despite the fact that Sloth, Envy and now Wrath always left before he got there, Greed took the bus to college, and Pride's job was just down the street.
"Honestly, Evan," chided Lust. " You should know by now that Vincent and York don't need it, Matthias hates every cell in your body, and Annabelle took William over an hour ago."
"How is the little tyke, anyways?" asked Evan. Lust shrugged.
"Screaming bloody murder at having to go to school," she explained.
"I used to do that..." mused Evan. Lust shrugged again and remained silent for the rest of the ride.
"Good morning, class!" Rebbecca Willhelm greeted her 5th graders.
"Good morning, Miss Willhelm!" the class dutifully repeated.
"Well, class." Miss Willhelm enthused "Today we have a new student! Everybody, this is William and his mother, Mrs. Sin!" Her squealing voice annoyed Wrath to no end, but he approached the teacher when Sloth jammed her thumb into his back. "So, William, would you mind telling us a bit about you? What's your favourite colour? Do you have any siblings?"
Wrath sent a pleading glance at Sloth, who shook her head firmly. He turned to face the teacher.
"My favourite colour...is black. And I have three siblings...Regina, and York. And Matthias."
Miss Willhelm beamed. "Well, I'm sure we'll all get along fine. William, you can sit in the back row, next to Owen. Mrs. Sin, if you would like to stay, you could sit over there." She pointed to a chair in the back, a little behind Wrath's seat. Sloth nodded and smiled, but she seemed a little worried. "I think I will stay," she agreed, and sat down in the chair to which she had been directed to watch Miss Willhelm start the lesson.
Envy sighed in annoyance as he slouched to his seat. Dennis Rook, school bully, had attempted to beat him up, and Envy had only gotten a few punches in before Principal Dannen had found him and given him 2 weeks worth of detention, as well as a call home. Of course, Pride had handled it seamlessly, as he always did when calls came home about his violent children. In Envy's opinion, the other sins were getting altogether to complacent about their situation. He sat down in his seat and ignored the teacher as she started lecturing students on the importance of being on time to class.
About half an hour into the period, the students heard a tapping sound. Envy located it before anyone else and stared at the window, a wicked grin spreading across his face. Standing up, he walked over to the window and easily flipped it open, allowing Greed to slide inside the classroom. "Hey, bro," he said cheerfully. Envy glanced around the classroom. The teacher was staring, aghast, at a newspaper article on her desk. She glanced from the paper to Greed several times, before she shrieked
"Brice Hollman! You're him! You're a serial killer! The paper said you'd been sighted in town. It's true!"
"Yes, indeed, ma'am," responded Greed with a flamboyant bow. "But don't worry, miss. I'm not here to kill you. Just picking up my 'little brother' from school." He ruffled Envy's long green hair, making the shape-shifter growl in annoyance.
"Matthias! You knew that he was a murderer?! And you didn't report him to the authorities?" the teacher shrieked. "Did you even tell your parents?!"
"My parents have been dead for a while now," smirked Envy. "Now, if you were talking about 'Vincent' and 'Annabelle', then yes, they know."
It was rather obvious that the teacher was about to swoon. As she struggled to remain conscious, Envy and Greed strode out the door.