The New Neighbors

by Vanilla and Chocolate

I swear this is a plot against me. There’s no way the kid in my Chemistry class can be the real Edward Elric, but everything seems to point in that direction. God must hate me.

2. Chapter 2

Okay, first off, those of you who didn't catch it last time, I am not stealing this story. Vanilla and Chocolate is the shared account of both AdventureAddict and Agent000. Me and AdventureAddict agreed to take a story from each other and rewrite it from our own perspective to get practice on co-authoring. In other words, I have her permission to rewrite The New Neighbors and she has my permission to rewrite My Body, Your Soul. It really irks people to be accused to stealing their own stories, you know? Please, people, learn to read author's notes before pointing fingers.

Anyway, now that I've gotten that out of my system, welcome back to this second chapter of The New Neighbors! I hope you enjoy it. Robyn's quite the character to write. :P

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I could try putting a leash on him and showing him off like a pet, but I think he'd start arguing with me over the issue and would make it not worth the effort.

I leaned against the brick wall as I walked to the cafeteria. English was a bore. Geometry was a bore. I'd doodled through both classes, my mind focused on the freakish Ed clone. I couldn't believe he had beaten me.

I turned the corner, and there he was, in all his glory, leaning against the wall beside a poster about the upcoming Anime Club on Monday and looking as bored as could be, perhaps even more so than me, which is saying something. I snorted at the thought of what he'd put me through that morning and I walked up to him.

"Hey, Wonderboy!"

Ed raised an eyebrow and said, "Wonderboy?"

"Yes," I said, "Wonderboy."

"If you mean I'm an awesome superhero, then yes, I'm glad you think so too."

I snorted again. He broke out in an amused grin and said, "Pfft. What's with all the snorting. Are you a pig now?"

I put my hands on my hips. If nothing else, I could at least best him in a verbal sparring match. "If I'm a pig, you're a piglet."

He scowled and I knew the comment had sunk home. He had just opened his mouth to say something when the bell rang and he looked around as though having forgotten what he had just been doing a moment before.

"Yes, lunchtime!" he said.

I moaned, causing him to look toward me and once again raise an eyebrow, so I furthered my performance by placing the back of my hand across my forehead and sighing. "You mean we share lunch together too?"

He crossed his arms. "If you hate me so much, don't sit with me."

I walked past him and shoved him to the side, even though that wasn't necessary considering there was plenty of room in the hall. His facial expression had made it so worth it. I turned back around and flashed him a mischievous glare. "Race you to the cafeteria!"

Without further warning, I was off, and after a quick, "Hey, that's not fair!" I heard his boots clunking behind mine as we raced each other through the halls. A short while later, we were neck and neck with each other, but I wasn't about to let him pass me. This was one thing I was going to win against him.

We entered the cafeteria and darted for the nearest free table we could see, slapping our hands onto it at the same time. "I—-won!" shouted Ed between breaths. We were both panting heavily.

I shook my head and said, "Did—-Not. I—-Totally—-Won" He didn't seem to buy that, but I didn't buy his assertion of his winning either, so we just let it drop—-for now. I knew the truth anyway. He was just a loser.

I pulled out my ham sandwich from my lunch sack, and Ed went to the lunch line. He soon came back with a huge mountain of food, typical for anyone named Ed it seemed, and I continued munching on my ham sandwich, wondering why we were even sitting at the same table when we were always trying to compete with each other. It wasn't like we were friends or anything. We had just met that morning.

I reached into my lunch bag again and felt around for my drink, only to realize it wasn't in there. Dang, I had forgotten to pack a drink. It looked like I would have to buy my own, if I had enough change to do so. I pulled whatever I had in my pocket out and counted it up. Fifty cents. Just enough for a carton of chocolate milk. It would have to do.

"Ed, I'm going to—-" I looked at the boy, who was devouring the food on his plate as though he had never eaten a thing in his life and I changed my mind about telling him where I was going. It wasn't like he would hear anything through all that commotion.

I bought the chocolate milk and came back to my table. "Where were you?" he asked. I shrugged and poked my straw into the milk carton, which seemed to have attracted his attention.

"Bleh!" He covered his eyes with his free hand. "And here I thought you might be a good person after all. Guess I was wrong."

I laughed. That was just too cute how he was acting like Edward Elric down to the last detail, but I wasn't going to let him know how cute he was. It would be much more fun to push his buttons and see what else he would do.

"Yes, I've joined the dark side." I took a sip of my milk, swallowed it, then smiled and blew through the straw so the milk in the carton bubbled. Ed squirmed in his seat, pushed his chair back a couple inches, then turned his head so he wouldn't have to look at me and clamped his hands over his ears.

"Must you do that?"

I put on my best puppy dog stare and said, "Do what?"

He snapped his head back to me. "You know d—- well what!"

I put my hand over my mouth and laughed into it. He didn't seem amused. I could see him glaring at me, and if his aura had gotten any more intense, it would have turned visible. Then I could point to him and say, "See? He really is Edward Elric! His aura becomes visible like an anime character's."

I quickly drank the last few sips and tossed the empty carton into the trash can behind me. No need to torture the poor guy more than I needed to. He would avoid me if I did, and then I wouldn't have anyone to pick on. "There, better?"

"Much better."

"You need to chill, Ed. Milk isn't going to kill you."

"Says you."

I chuckled, but bit my tongue and avoided saying any of the things I wanted to. "Um—-" I searched for something better to talk about than milk or height, or the lack of it, and then remembered the poster I had seen earlier. "Oh hey, would you like to come with me to Anime Club on Monday?"

As soon as I had said that, I wondered why I had. If this guy went around dressing the way he did every day, he was going to stand out. Perhaps that wouldn't be a bad thing in Anime Club, but perhaps it would be.

Ed shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

"Heh, okay." I needed to learn how to check my thoughts before sharing them. "It's in the social studies room. I'm not sure if you know where that is."

He waved the comment off as if it were nothing. "I'll be going there later today, so I'll know where it is by Monday."

"Okay, um—-" I needed to get off the topic of Anime Club and anything else awkward fast, and I wracked my brain for something else to talk about. School was too boring. Lunch was too obvious. I could talk about Fullmetal Alchemist, but this guy would probably just pretend to be clueless since he was so dedicated to his Edward Elric act. What else was there to talk about?

A smile then spread across my face. There were other ways to get him to talk about Fullmetal Alchemist without having to say it outright. "So, Ed, do you have any siblings?"

He didn't bat an eye and shrugged. "Nope. What about you?"

I stared at the boy as though he had just flown in from outer space. That had not been the answer I had expected from someone who was trying so hard to be Edward Elric. Why hadn't he started rambling about Alphonse? What kind of Ed clone wouldn't?

He regarded me with a suspicious glare. "What?"

"Oh, n—-" I began, but the bell cut me off and I didn't have to finish my statement. I gathered my things and ran out of the room. This guy was getting to me for some reason, and I didn't know why.

I didn't see Ed for the rest of the school day, and I thought that would be the last I saw of him before Monday, but I was wrong. Just as soon as I'd stepped out the door, there he was, Mr. Red himself.

I raised an eyebrow. "What are you standing around for?" Somehow it struck me as odd since he didn't look like he was waiting for someone, and he wasn't talking to anyone before I came along.

He shrugged. "I don't know, what are you standing around for?"

"Asking what you're standing around for."

"And I'm asking what you're standing around for."

"You're a nut!"

"What kind of nut?"

"Um," I said, having to think over that one a bit, "A crunchy nut?"

He raised an eyebrow. "A crunchy nut?"

"Yes," I said, "Nuts are crunchy, are they not?"

Ed waved his hands at me. "I don't even want to go there."

"Get your mind out of the gutter, you perv!"

"You put it in there in the first place!"

I blew a raspberry at him and told him I was going to the park and would catch him again on Monday, so we waved to each other and went our separate ways. That guy was quite the character, an anime character in fact. Well, I didn't think he was Edward Elric, but he was convincing enough to be him if Edward Elric really existed.

I plopped down under a tree in the park and flipped open my sketchbook. It was already full of doodles from my day of hard work at school. The teachers would probably yell at me later, but I had no use for most of that schoolwork anyway. Art seemed a lot more practical. It was more fun and brought joy to people's lives, unlike math and some of those other things we had to do. Okay, math was good for some things, but I didn't have to like it.

I drew some random lines on the paper, not quite sure what I was doing, but I just let the art inside me guide my fingers. It felt so good to express myself this way. It was the one way I could let it all out.

Before long, I realized what I was drawing was taking form, and not just any form, but that of the Boy of Wonder himself. I chuckled to myself. Maybe I should draw a little cape on his back to emphasize his awesome superhero comment. Then again, just drawing him as Edward Elric seemed cool enough. I had never been able to picture Edward Elric realistically before today, and that seemed like a good enough challenge for me.

Finally satisfied with my drawing, I decided I might as well go home and prepare dinner before my dad got there and started wondering where I was, so I packed up my things and set off for home.

When I got there, there was no sign of my dad yet, so I figured I might as well be a friendly neighbor and go greet the newcomers. That would allow me to find out what kind of people they were and if they were better than the Gurps.

First, we needed a batch of cookies, but that wouldn't take long. My mother had taught me to save myself a little time by making up a few batches ahead of time and keeping the mix so all I had to do was add the liquids, throw it on the cookie sheet, and bake it. It was awesome how fast that made things go.

After the cookies were baked, I pulled the cookie sheet out of the oven and scooped one of the steaming hot cookies off of the sheet with a spatula. The best time to eat them was when they were piping hot, fresh from the oven, even though they were the most deadly then as well. I still couldn't pass up such an awesome opportunity, not by any means, not even for my own safety.

I nibbled on the cookie while assembling the rest of them on a paper plate so I could take them over to the neighbors. My mom's cinnamon chip cookie recipe was an absolute winner they were sure to like. I missed the things she used to make. She had been the best cook in the world, but she had taught me a few of her best recipes, so I could make her spirit live on in a sense.

I wrapped the cookies in cellophane and went out the door and over to the next door neighbor's house. I went up to the porch, took a deep breath, and knocked. It was always a bit unnerving to meet new people, but I was fine until I found myself in front of a closed door. Well, I had already knocked and alerted the people to my presence, and I was hearing footsteps coming toward the door, so I might as well wait for whoever it was to come and answer it. Even I'm not rude enough to run off after I've knocked, except maybe with the Gurps.

The door swung open, and my jaw dropped open in amazement. This was impossible. What was Wonderboy doing here?

His eyes bulged open as soon as he registered who was standing on his doorstep, and he jumped back. "You?! How did you find out where I lived?"

I blinked. "You live here? You're my new neighbor?" I shook my head. "Geez, what are the chances of that?"

He crossed his arms, stepped back towards me and shot me a glare, only to interrupt his glaring when he caught sight of what I held in my hand. "Are those cookies?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, they're for the discus throw, of course they're cookies!"

He snorted, yet seemed a bit sheepish after that. Maybe I should quit being so hard on him since he was going see a lot of me from now on, being my new next door neighbor. Still, he was fun to tease. It was so easy to push his buttons.

"Um, would you mind if I had one?"

I chuckled and shook my head. How could I have been so rude? "Of course. I made these for my new neighbors." I thrust the entire plate into his hands, and he tore off the cellophane and bit down into the first cookie he could grab.

"MMMMMMMmmmmmm!"

I couldn't help but laugh and shake my head. One would think this guy had never had cookies in his life, though I had to admit my cookies were pretty good. My mom couldn't have cooked badly if she had tried.

"You made these?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, I made them. They're my mom's recipe. I don't know what else to use cinnamon chips for."

He turned to head into his house, and I thought that was the last I was going to see of him for the day this time, but he turned back and motioned for me to come in. I shrugged and did so. There was no reason I could think of not to, and I was a bit curious as to the living conditions of Mr. Clone, even though he had just moved in.

Boxes were strewn all about with barely any room to walk, let alone sit. There was a couch, but it was still buried beneath loads of boxes. Ed dealt with this by sitting on a box on the floor and motioning for me to do the same. Okay, I could deal with that. I found myself a sturdy box and made myself comfortable on it.

"So," I said, trying my hardest to make conversation, but failing, "Where are your parents?"

"Still at work," he said through a mouthful of cookie.

I nodded and bit my lip. I wasn't sure if that was true or not, though there was no reason I should think otherwise, but I had never met someone who seemed so Edward Elric-like before in my life, and I so wanted to believe he was the real Edward Elric, even though I knew fictional characters didn't exist. If he were the real Edward Elric, his parents wouldn't still be at work.

I sighed, and Ed looked up at me from his cookie devouring escapades. "What's the matter?"

"How many times have you asked me that today?"

"As many times as it's been necessary."

I chuckled, and he returned it. That was a good sign. Maybe we could get along even when I treated him a bit roughly. I was always treating Kari roughly anyway, but, well, she was Kari. She could take it. It seemed Ed might be able to handle it fine too, which would be nice. It was always nice to have more friends who could handle you being you.

"Um, what do we talk about?" I said.

He rolled his eyes. "Don't you know the first thing about making friends? The first thing you ask them is what they enjoy doing as a hobby. Then they ask you and you tell them. If your hobbies match, you've got a friend for life."

I looked into his face and shook my finger at him. "Don't be sarcastic. That's my job."

"Yeah, well, I took it from you." He pulled out another cookie. "My hobbies seem to be math, science, and reading."

I laughed. "Seem to be? You're not sure?"

"Long story," he said with a shrug. "What about you?"

"Well," I laced my fingers around my knee and leaned back. "I like reading too, a lot, actually, and I like to draw, and I'm obsessed with Fullmetal Alchemist."

His brow knitted together in confusion and he put down the cookie he had just picked up. "Fullmetal Alchemist?"

At this, I had to throw my head back and laugh. This guy didn't even know what Fullmetal Alchemist was, and yet he'd dressed like the guy and acted like him all day? This had to be an act.

"I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about."

He shook his head.

I gestured with my hand as if trying to draw the words toward me to help me with my speech. "You know, the anime show about the alchemist kid?"

His confused expression got deeper. "Anime?"

I sighed. "You mean you don't know what anime is either?"

Another head shake, and I placed my hand on my forehead in disbelief. "Then why did you agree to come with me to Anime Club on Monday?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "You were going, so I figured—-"

"—-Yeah, okay," I said, "We need to get you into anime. Drop by sometime and I'll introduce you to it."

"Fine." He turned away as he picked up another cookie and then put it down. He seemed to be starting to think twice about having eaten so many cookies all at once. "Guess I'd better save some of these little treasures for my folks." He then patted them, which made me raise an eyebrow at him for once, instead of the other way around. "But they're so precious…"

"Um, okay, on that note—-I think I'd better go check on my dad. He's probably home by now and wondering where I am."

Edward nodded and escorted me to the door. We said goodbye and I went back to my house. Dad still wasn't home, but that didn't bother me. It gave me time to think, and I needed it then.

I grabbed my sketchbook and headed upstairs to my bedroom. I could think best while doodling, and I suspected there was some heavy doodling afoot. Wonderboy the awesome superhero had come in and shaken up my world, and I needed to find out whether it could be put back together the way it was, or whether I even wanted that. So many questions, so few answers. Wonderboy, I'm onto you.

Hope you liked the story. See you again soon!