(Author's Note: Hi there! just to let you know, there might be some bloopers in this chappie, like miss-spelled words and crap like that. Please review to let me know, okay? I like some input every now and then! Now, on with the fanfic!) Oh, and also... I DON'T OWN FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST!!!

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Sam and Jill followed her stare with curious eyes. Sam jaw dropped in shock as she recognized the person standing in front of them, apparently not noticing his exposed metal arm.. "You- you're- ugh…."

The group, including the newcomer, just stared as the teenager crumpled to the floor. With a small exclamation, the figure rushed over and knelt at her side. Seeing that she was alright, he looked up at the other girls in confusion. "Can some PLEASE tell me what the hell is going on?!"

Jill sweatdropped at the newcomer's reaction. "This one fainted at the sight of you, and Gabrielle is currently in a mental shutdown." The girl grabbed Ed's wrist and pulled him up from her friend's side. She gestured to her comatose friend who was currently staring into space behind her. "I need to hit Gabrielle here to make her snap out of it. Can you pick up Sam?"

The alchemist raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Who?"

Oh boy. "The one on the floor, shorty."

Twitch

Three, two, one...

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT AN AMEOBA CAN'T SEE HIM, YOU JERK?!"

Jill ignored him and then proceeded to hit her friend over the head.

Clunk.

"OW!" Gabrielle was back to normal, but she wasn't too happy about being waked over the head. "What the fuck was that for, Jill?!"

The said teenager smiled as her pissed-off friend cursed in pain. "Good, you're not dead to the world." she said. Pointing to the confused alchemist behind her, she continued, "I don't think we need any introductions, do we?"

Gabrielle flashed the young man a grin and nodded. "Nah, we're good!"

Ed just stood there, totally clueless to what was going on between the two girls. I'm not even going to ask... Oh crap, I forgot about my arm again!

The young man quickly tried to cover up his arm, but to his surprise, one of the girls stopped, took Sam's coat, which was on the floor, and gave it to him. "It's okay." she said. "Put this on. It'll cover your arm."

The alchemist stared at the girl in surprise, unsure. "You don't think that my arm is... well, weird?"

Jill shook her head, her blue and gold-flecked eyes sparkling with amusement. "No, not really!" She turned to her friend on the ground and knelt by her side. "Besides, there are weirder things in this world than a metal limb." Looking up at the young man again, she smiled. "You don't mind picking up Sam here, right? You look pretty strong."

Ed let out a small chuckle as he remembered the forgotten girl lying on the ground. "Sure." Picking up her limp body, he was surprised when she barely weighed anything at all to him. "Wow, she's pretty light!"

Gabrielle nodded at the young man's comment. "Yeah, she tends to get that a lot." She turned to Jill, who was carefully closing to the door of the principal's office. "Remember when her ex-boyfriend tried to pick her up, but ended up dropping her in the snow?"

Jill laughed out loud, remembering the moment. "Yeah, Sam was so mad that she started chasing the poor idiot around the parking lot!" Checking her watch, the girl's eyes widened as she realized what time it was. "Oh crap, the principal's going to be back soon! We'd better go somewhere safe..."

And them a miracle happened: a light bulb went off in someone's head, FINALLY...

Gabrielle let out a cry of realization as she figured out a good place. "I know! We can hide in the auditorium across the street! No one but the janitor ever goes in there, and we won't have people dropping in on us every second."

Ed nodded and started off. "Alright, let's go!"

Jill and Gabrielle sweatdropped as the alchemist started walking off in no particular direction. "Uh Ed..." Jill muttered. "It's that way..."

The young man sweatdropped as well, realizing that he had no clue where he was going. "Oh, right..." He turned back to the two girls, shifting Sam into a more comfortable position in his arms. "So, where are we going?"

If it was possible, Jill and Gabrielle would have face faulted right at that moment. Oh boy... Jill thought. We have a lot of work to do...

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Taking the lead, Gabrielle led the group outside and over to the auditorium. "You might want to watch your step out here." Gabrielle said. "It's a little windy out today!"

As if on cue, a gust of wind rushed at Ed, causing him to stop in his tracks. Man, she wasn't kidding! he thought. But at that moment, he felt a strange moment near his chest area. Huh? What was that?

Sam had shivered in the cold, moving closer to Ed in her sleep for warmth.

The young man tried hard not to show his embarrasment as he started walking again. He caught up to the two girls and rushed into the building in front of them, grateful for the shelter from the cold. "Thanks for holding the door open." he said to Gabrielle. "I wouldn't have been able to open it while holding Sam here. That is her name, right?"

The girl sighed and nodded. "Yep, that's her name." She turned to her friend, rubbing her arms for warmth. "How long do you think it'll take for the principal to realize what we did to his office?"

"I'll bet only a few seconds, once he opens the door, that is!" the girl replied, grinning at the imagined scene.

Ed chuckled at her comment. "What exactly did you do to his office?"

"We covered it with silly string." she replied.

That was when the dam broke, and both girls burst out laughing. Ed just looked at them with a confused look on his face. "What's silly string?"

"Silly string is a sticky substance that sprays out of a can, but in the form of string." Gabrielle managed to say between fits of laughter. "I don't really know what it's made out of, though, but it's great for practical jokes!"

The young man nodded, a grin making its way across his face. "I still don't really get it, but thanks."

Both of them grinned in return. "No problem!" Jill replied. She looked over to her friend in Ed's arms. "Man, she's been out for a very long time." she said. "When do you think she'll wake up?"

The other girl only shrugged. "I don't know. I think that this is the first time she's ever fainted!"

"Ugh... What happened? Wait a minute... HOLY CRAP, YOU'RE EDWARD ELRIC!!!"

Poor Ed, who was still holding the formerly unconscious girl nearly dropped her in surprise when she shouted out that random comment, not noticing the use of his name. "What the heck?! Oh, you're awake now!"

The excited girl continued to freak out. "Oh-my-GOD! It's you-it's really you!!!"

The other two girls face faulted at their excited friend's outbursts. We all know that already... Jill mentally groaned.

Ed tried to calm the hyper girl down, but without success. "Hey, settle down!" he pleaded. "I'm going to put you down, so please, calm down for crying out loud!" He placed the girl feet first on the floor, and she took in deep breathes, staring into his gold eyes. But then she said the worst possible comment she would ever say:

"Wow, you really are short!" she said with a chuckle.

A vein popped out of the alchemist's head when he heard that one. "WHY YOU LITTLE- mphh!"

Sam had covered his mouth with her hand. "Ssh... Please don't freak out, because I didn't mean it that way." She removed her hand and smiled at him again. "I like you being short!"

Ed did a double-take in surprise. "Wait..." he said in disbelief. "So you like me being short?"

"Yup!" the girl replied.

The young man's jaw dropped in shock. ."Huh?!" he cried out in disbelief. Noticing that he was staring at her, he quickly regained his composure, trying to not look embarrassed. "Oh, okay... Thanks!"

The teenager gave a small laugh in reply. "It's no big deal!" Realizing what she just said, she sweatdropped at her own mistake. "Wow, that was a really bad pun, wasn't it?" Getting off that topic, she held out her right hand to Ed. "I'm Samantha Bushman, Sam for short."

The young man grinned and shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, Sam." He pointed over his shoulder at her other friends, who were still standing separate from the two of them. "Who are those two?" he asked.

The one with brown hair and blue and gold-flecked eyes held out her hand to the alchemist. "I'm Jill Banks."

The other girl with brownish-black hair and hazel eyes grinned and laughed. "And I'm Gabrielle Chenet. Nice to meet you too, Ed!"

The said young man shook each of their hands as well. "Thanks." He replied. But he stopped mid-smile as he realized what Gabrielle just said. "Wait a minute... How did you know my name?" he asked suspiciously.

The other girls turned to the said teenager and yelled at her as one. "GABRIELLE!"

The sweatdropping girl smiled sheepishly and smacked herself in the forehead. "Oh shit..." she muttered.

Jill pulled a book from the bag that was over her shoulder and tossed it at the unsuspecting girl. "You are such an idiot, you know that?!" she yelled.

Gabrielle ducked and taunted the girl as the book sailed over her head. "Ha hah, you missed!"

Thunk!

The jeering girl was hit straight in the face with a second flying object. "OW!" She rubbed her forehead, a vain popping out of her head in annoyance. "Damn it, Jill, cut the crap!"

Ed flinched and stepped back, looking for an escape route. "How long do you give them before all hell breaks lose?" he asked Sam, who was also looking nervous.

She looked at him with a sideways glance, warning him of the impending fight. "Three, two, one..."

At that moment, everything went into total chaos. Ed and Sam dove behind a row of auditorium seats for dear life, ducking to avoid the random objects that Jill was throwing at her opponent. The young man peeked out from behind their shelter, only to move back as a ruler nearly hit him in the eye. "Are they always like this?" he yelled over all the commotion to the girl next to him.

Sam sweatdropped and nodded. "Usually they just yell at each other," she said, "but the flying objects are a new occurrence!"

As if on cue, a binder soared over the row of seats and hit the girl square on the head. She cried out in pain and yelled out to her friend from behind the barricade. "Oy, Jill, keep us out of this, will you?! I still want to be alive by the time I get home!"

Ed chuckled at the angry expression on her face. "Well, at least it wasn't me this time." He rubbed the back of his head, remembering how Winry attacked him when she found out that his automail was broken again. I still have the mark where she hit me with her new wrench...

Sam laughed at the sheepish look on his face and gestured to the two girls, who were still going at it in the fight. "Wanna break up those two?" she said.

He gave her a grin. "Why wouldn't I?" Ed clapped his hands together, preparing for the surprise attack. "You probably don't know about what I'm about to do, but I'm going to use it anyway!"

One second later, Ed slammed his palms onto the floor, starting an alchemic reaction. Bolts of light crackled around them, and fists composed of cement rose up and wrapped themselves around the two fighting teenagers, causing them to yelp in surprise. "What the heck?!" Jill yelled. "Ed! No fair using alchemy on us!!"

The young man blinked in surprise at her response. "On second thought, maybe you do..." He turned to Sam while the other two girls struggled to get free of their restraints. "An explanation would be nice: right now." he said.

Sam sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll explain everything in time, Ed." She pointed at her friends in the cement. "But for now, can you release 'Dumb' and 'Dumber' over there?"

"HEY!!!"

The young man laughed and clapped his hands again. "Sure, just give me a second."

With another alchemic reaction, the two cement fists crumbled into dust, freeing their pissed-off captives. "What the hell was that for, Sam?!" Jill yelled. "You barely know the guy for a few minutes-"

"I am not dumb, Sam!" Gabrielle yelled over her.

"Quit interrupting, Gabrielle!" Jill shouted. "As I was saying-"

"EVERYONE BE QUIET!!!"

All the yelling suddenly stopped, leaving that one loud phrase to echo in the room. Sam was on her feet, looking like she was ready to explode. Ed just stared at her in shock. Appearances can be deceiving... he thought. And I thought she was a calm person!

Sam stepped up to the silent girls, continuing her rant. "Listen up, you guys. Since school is going to be over in about 10 seconds, you should go home. I'll stay with Ed and explain to him what's going on here."

"What?!" the teenagers yelled. "How come you get to stay with Ed?!"

BEEEEEEP!!!

Jill sighed as the final bell of the day rang, right on cue. "Fine," she sighed, "you can stay with him today, but Gabrielle and I get to show him around school tomorrow." She held out her hand in compromise. "Deal?"

Sam nodded in agreement. "Deal!"

The other two teenagers picked up their stuff, mostly Jill's scattered attack items, and left, leaving Ed and Sam alone in the auditorium. The two of them looked at each other, aware of the awkward silence, but unwilling to break it. Seeing that the silence wasn't getting them anywhere, Ed spoke up. "So..." he muttered. "Where exactly am I?"

Sam chuckled. "You don't know where you are?" Seeing Ed shake his head, she continued. "I guess that's to be expected." The girl went over to a seat and sat down, patting the one next to her. "Come on, sit down."

The young man complied, and Sam continued with her explanation. "You're in the state of New Jersey, which is in the United States of America."

The alchemist only stared at her blankly in confusion. "Huh? What, or should I say where the heck is that?!"

"It's a country." The girl replied. "There are many countries here, and probably thousands of spoken languages as well!"

Ed had to hold his head to stop it from aching from trying to process so much information. "Okay, now I'm even more confused!" he groaned. Looking Sam straight in the eye, he asked her the question he had been avoiding for a while now. "Can you tell me today's date?"

The girl's brown eyes sparked with realization. So, she thought, he knows that he's not in the same place he was in before... Very perceptive. Taking a deep breath, she continued, fearful of his reaction. "It's January 11th, 2007, Ed."

Meanwhile, outside the auditorium, Jill and Gabrielle were slowly, very slowly walking down the hallway, trying to catch onto the conversation between Ed and Sam. Gabrielle sighed as she strained to hear the conversation. "Do you think she needs our help?" she asked her friend, who had her ear pressed against the door.

Jill shook her head, trying to tell Gabrielle to stop talking. "Shut up, I'm trying to hear..."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 2007?!"

Jill pulled her head away from the door in pain, clutching her ear. "Want to run before she come looking for us?" she asked Gabrielle.

"Hell yeah!"

And with that, the two girls turned tail and ran away as fast as they could.