Edward Elric was not happy to be going to a new school. Over the summer, the family he and his little brother Alphonse lived with-the Rockbells-decided to move into the city, so, instead of starting his Sophomore year at Resembool High where all of his friends were, he had to start it at Central Academy, which sounded much fancier than it actually was. The school was at least twice as big as his former one, and had more teachers that probably didn't give a damn about their students.

Ed had gotten a map of the school when Pinako Rockbell took him to get registered at the school, and he spent the last week committing it to memory, because he didn't want to get lost on the first day of school. 'I should have just gotten home-schooled with Al and Winry...' Ed thought to himself as he walked up the concrete stairs to the big, brick building. When they moved, Pinako gave the three of them the choice between being home-schooled or going to public school, and Edward chose the latter while the other two took the former. The only reason he chose not to be home-schooled was because he had heard that Central Academy rated highest in science scores in the nation, and Edward always had a love for science.

The school was pretty packed with students already, and Edward was having a hard time walking through the hallways without bumping into people. None of the other students seemed to care much about the contact, but Edward had always been insecure since his "accident," which caused him to have to have his right arm and left leg amputated...but he didn't really want to think about that right now. Right now, all he wanted to do was focus on the light-blue, metal lockers until he found his own. It didn't take him very long to locate locker 111, and he was quite relieved to see that it wasn't as dented as some of the other lockers.

After opening his locker, Edward took his books out of his backpack and organized them according to when he would have to use them, and he hung his backpack on one of the hooks in the locker. Edward had memorized his schedule as well as the map of the school, but he still checked it to make sure he was grabbing the correct book. First class he had was English with Mr. Falman. Edward grabbed his English book, as well as his binder, shut his locker, and turned to head to his class, which was only a few halls to the left, if he wasn't mistaken.

In his hurry to get to is first class of the day, Edward wasn't paying much attention, and he ended up running directly into someone that was much bigger and taller than he was, causing him to fall to the linoleum floor with a light thud, and his book and binder to fly out of his hands. "Hey, watch where you're going, twerp!" the boy Edward ran into spat, sounding angry.

Edward looked up and started to apologize, but stopped suddenly after seeing the boy. He had raven-black hair and eyes to match, he was tall and well-built, and he had very handsome features, though Edward assumed the guy would be much more attractive if he didn't look so pissed. "I-I'm s-sorry-" Ed began to stutter out, but the guy cut him off.

"Whatever, are you lost or something, Shrimp?" The guy said quite rudely.

Edward felt his face get hot, and he really wanted to yell at this guy for basically calling him short, but he held his temper. "N-no, I was just g-getting to c-class-" Edward stumbled over his words as he began to collect his fallen items.

"W-well I g-guess you b-better be off then, Loser," the guy mocked, smacking Edwards books out of his hand not a second after he had picked them up. "Welcome to Central Academy, pipsqueak," the guy said as he walked away, kicking Edward's book away from him before he could grab it. The guy chuckled to himself as he left, leaving Edward to pick up his stuff quickly so he could get to his first class before the bell rang.

Edward Elric had just encountered his first bully. Edward wondered what he could have possibly done to provoke the guy, hell, he didn't even know his name, and running into him had been a complete accident that he had apologized for. He also wondered how someone so attractive could be such a bastard... Edward shook the thought from his head and hurried off to class. It took him a little longer than he had anticipated, because he was still a little fuddled over the conflict with a complete stranger (something that never happened in Resembool, mind you), but he was able to make it to the classroom before the tardy bell rang, which was a relief; Ed didn't want to be late for his first class on the first day of school. That would just make his teacher think he was a slacker or something, and Edward Elric wasn't a slacker when it came to academics. Edward took the only empty seat in the class, which was near the back next to the window.

"You alright? You look a little shaken up."

Edward looked to his right to the desk that was next to him. In the desk was a boy that couldn't have been much older than him. The boy had long, black hair that he kept in a ponytail, squinted eyes and a welcoming smile. Edward smiled at him. "Yeah, I'm fine, just had a run-in with someone that wasn't very nice, is all. I'm Edward," he introduced himself, holding out his slightly shaky left hand for the boy to shake.

The guy next to him took his hand and shook it briefly. "Ling. Nice to meet ya, Ed, can I call you Ed?"

"Sure," Edward said, glad that he was making a friend already.

"That person you ran into, he didn't have really dark hair and eyes by any chance, did he?" Ling asked.

Edward blinked. "Uh, yeah, he did. Why?" Edward asked.

Ling sighed. "Thought so. That's Roy Mustang. He's a senior, and pretty much an asshole to everyone. If he's already picked on you though, I fear the worst for you, Ed. He picks on everyone, but every year he chooses one person to really mess with throughout the whole year. I don't know how you got on his bad side, but I think you should try to avoid him as much as possible."

Edward groaned. Great, just what he needed. "I accidentally bumped into the guy. I even said sorry."

"Well that was your first mistake." Edward looked at Ling with a confused expression until Ling explained. "You apologized. Mustang sees that as some stupid sign of weakness, or whatever, so he knows you'll be easier to pick on. Maybe if you show him that you don't take any shit, he will leave you alone."

"I hope so," Edward said, though he honestly wasn't sure how he would show this Roy guy that he wasn't going to take any shit from him, when Edward didn't even know that bullies were a real thing until just today. At that moment, the last bell rang, and the teacher started the class.

The first class was easy; they just went over the syllabus and Mr. Falman passed out the first book that they would be reading this school year, which was Romeo and Juliet (which Edward found to be totally overrated, but it was a good story nonetheless). They were given instructions to read the first ten pages by tomorrow, and Mr. Falman spent the rest of the class answering any questions that anyone had. While that was going on, Edward zoned out, wondering what he could possibly do about his new problem. Bullies were bullies for a reason, right? Most people weren't assholes just for the sake of being an asshole, there was usually much more to it. If Edward could figure out exactly why Roy was a bully, then maybe he could find a way to get Roy to stop. It was a long shot, but maybe it could work...maybe...