Yea! Lots of good reviews and lots of good ideas! Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone! There might be some more additions to my pairings list, but you'll have to wait until you see it in the fic. Anyway, here's the next chapter and I don't own SO3 or any of its characters, but I can still dream about owning Albel, can't I?

Chapter 2

"Yo Steeg!" Cliff called out as he entered the home economics classroom with Mirage and a half awake Fayt. Steeg looked up from his extra credit work and stood up to greet Cliff and the others.

"Sup, Cliff! Mirage! How's it goin'?"

"Just fine! Fayt here needs some of our energy drink so he can stay awake in class today," Cliff explained as he held up Fayt by the collar of his shirt, "Do you have the secret ingredient on you?"

"Yup! It's here in Marietta's purse," he answered as he searched through the mentioned purse that he 'happened' to have until he found a small package that contained a special blend of ginseng and dried citrus fruits, "We're running low on this stuff so you should go ask Welch to make some more."

Welch Vineyard, the class inventor/genius, was the gang's secret supplier of gadgets, herbal compounds, and other various things. She mastered every skill except Smithery and she needed a little more practice in Cooking. She can use her combination of Alchemy and Crafting skills to make cheap jewelry for bribing teachers. Her Writing abilities are good for last minute essays that are due in forty minutes. She does Compounding for the herbal compounds. And who could forget her Engineering abilities? She has invented many items like an eraser recycler, silent mini-copters that can carry notes across the classroom, and small communicators so anyone can reach her at anytime.

"Mirage, go see if that pitcher of lemonade is still in the fridge," Cliff ordered before he moved Fayt to sit in a desk and turned to Steeg, "Watch him and make sure he doesn't fall out of the desk, would ya?"

"Sure thing," he replied as he returned to his work. Mirage kneeled behind the teacher's desk and opened a small compartment that hid a refrigerator.

"We're in luck, there's a half a jug left," she announced as she pulled the lemonade out and followed Cliff to the back of the classroom, where all the kitchen counters were. He started to mix the compounds and some sugar into the beverage while Mirage grabbed a spoon for him to stir with.

"So…," Steeg drawled as he became bored with his assignment, "How's Maria?"

"Just fine," Cliff responded as he took the glass of orange juice Mirage handed him and poured it into the energy drink.

"Did she ever get that restraining order on my brother?"

"Nah, she wants to, but that would mean for her to actually get up and do a lot of paper work. 'Sides, she's a little reluctant to get it, since we'd loose a pretty decent drummer in the band."

"I see…Well tell her I'll try to keep Lieber as far away from her as possible."

"Keyword 'try'," Mirage teased before she pulled out a large bag of sugar and whispered in Cliff's ear. He pulled away quickly and rewarded her with a shocked look before grabbing her by the shoulders.

"Mirage, you're a genius! I love the way your mind works!" he shouted before he comically kissed her on the forehead. Steeg raised one eyebrow at them as Cliff poured half of the bag of sugar into the drink. He then glanced at Fayt's snoring form.

"Uh, so how are you going to get him to drink that?" Steeg asked curiously as he lifted one of Fayt's arms and let it fall unto the desk.

"Oh that's easy…COACH ADRAY'S SOCKS!" Cliff yelled before Fayt jumped up.

"I'm awake! …Really, I am!"

Steeg only blinked once before he shrugged and went back to his work. Soon there was loud stomping out in the hallway followed by an angry female voice.

"STEEG! I KNOW YOU HAVE MY PURSE!"

"Oh, crap! Someone told Marietta. Gotta go. See ya Cliff and Mirage!" he called as he rushed past them and left the classroom through the back entrance. There was a brief moment of silence before a loud squeak that could only come from sneakers dragging on the floor and the sound of Steeg screaming, "I didn't do it!" was heard through the door. Mirage chuckled while Cliff playfully sighed and shook his head.

Fayt was about to nod off again when Cliff placed a glass of a yellow-orange liquid in front of him. He glanced at Cliff and then at Mirage before he stared at the so called 'energy drink'. With a shrug and a prayer to Apris, he picked up the glass and chugged its contents quickly. In no more than five seconds, Fayt dropped the glass as his eyes widened and his pupils dilated while a slow maniacal grin appeared on his face.

"So how do you feel?" Cliff asked.

"Ifeelgreat! Thankyousomuch,youareagreatfriend!"

"Huh?" Mirage said as he jumped out of his desk and did cartwheels around the room.

"Lookatthetime! Classwillbestartinginfiveminutes! Seeyouinhomeroom!" Fayt said as he ran out the door. Cliff and Mirage slowly looked at each other in surprise.

"…I think you put a little too much sugar in that energy drink. Just a little," Mirage said while emphasizing 'little' with her fingers.

"I think you're right…"


Clair Lasbard sighed as the warning bell rang. Although she became a teacher's aide five months ago, she was still a little nervous to run a class all by herself. Thankfully, all she had to do was take roll for the homeroom class and then help her father in the gym. The students began pouring in one by one and quietly sat down in their seats.

"Hello Miss Clair." Clair looked up from her roll sheet and found Nel standing by her desk.

"Oh, hello Nel. How are you?"

Clair and Nel used to be best friends before Clair graduated two years ago. It was kind of awkward to talk like friends now that she was a teacher's aide for her father's classes but outside of class, they always found time to gossip a little.

"I'm fine. Are you still feeling nervous about teaching?"

"Not so much anymore," she answered before a blue blur whizzed past them and ran in circles around Clair's desk.

"Fayt? Are you okay?" Clair asked worriedly.

"I'm fine! How are you today? That's good to hear!" he said while shaking both her hands and then running to sit in the desk beside Sophia and behind Maria.

"It sounds like his speech is slowing down a bit," Mirage replied as she and Cliff came in.

"That's good to hear. I was actually getting worried." Mirage sat in front of Maria while Cliff took the seat beside Maria so he could monitor Fayt. Nel eventually walked over and sat in front of Sophia and then faced Maria.

"Dare I ask what happened to Fayt?"

"Don't look at me! Ask Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde," Maria said as she gestured to Cliff and Mirage before Clair walked to the front of the class and cleared her throat.

"Okay, is everyone here?" she inquired as she noticed three empty seats near the window. The door opened and Marietta came in while dragging Steeg with her by the ear. Steeg was also dragging Lieber in by the ear to make sure he doesn't go bother Maria as they approached the empty seats.

"Sorry we're late Miss Clair," Marietta apologized.

"That's alright, just as long as you show up to class…" she muttered before starting the roll call, "…Marietta, Steeg, and Lieber are here… Sophia."

"Here."

"Cliff."

"Here."

"Mirage."

"Aqui."

"What?"

"It's Spanish for 'here'," Mirage explained before Clair continued.

"Fayt."

"I'm here! Right here! See? Right here!"

"Uh-huh…Welch.

"Present!"

"Maria."

"Here."

"Nel."

"Here."

"Eliza, Mayu, Vanilla, Puffy, and Meryl?"

"Here!" they all shouted in unison.

"That's everybody," Clair finished as she walked back to her seat. No one bothered to speak though Fayt kept fidgeting in his desk, so it was all silent in the classroom as Principal Lasselle entered.

"…And speaking of dumbasses…" Steeg suddenly muttered loud enough for only the students to hear. The entire class started snickering, earning a suspicious glare from Lasselle.

"What can I do for you, sir?" Clair wondered when he faced the class.

"I only came to inform the students that we have a new student joining today. Albel Nox is from a highly respected family like the Zelphers and you must treat him with as much respect as you give to Lady Nel. Any reported jokes or pranks on him will earn you detention and Saturday school, do I make myself clear!" he shouted.

"Yes, sir," everyone mumbled in a monotone voice.

"Good." He began to leave, but just as he reached the door, he faced the class one more time, "Oh, before I forget, Miss Zelpher, report to the office."

"What?" she squeaked as everyone, but Clair, Maria, and Sophia shouted, "Ooh, Nel's in trouble!"

"I told you to hide the body after you run over it!" Cliff teased as she stood up and headed out the door.

"Oh, be quiet Cliff!" she snapped while she stormed down the hall.

Nel wondered why she was called to the office. Mirage or Cliff couldn't have pinned the blame on her for that prank they did last week, could they? When she finally arrived at the office, she was astonished to find a pair of ruby red eyes staring back at her.

"Nox?"

"Zelpher," Albel returned bemusedly. He smirked at her bewildered stare until the secretary returned.

"Oh, Lady Nel! Just in time. I was wondering if you'd show Lord Albel around the school and help him find his classes," she asked with pleading eyes, meaning that she didn't want to show him around. Nel glanced behind her at Albel and noticed that he was staring back at them with his usual cold stare. He must have scared the poor lady off.

"Okay, I can do that." The secretary let out a sigh of relief before handing her a piece of paper.

"Thank you, here is his schedule." She then left the office to run some errands. Albel silently came up behind Nel and peered over her shoulder to see what was on his new schedule.

It said:

Homeroom – Clair

1st period – Literature – Count Noppen

2nd period – Government – Duke Vox

3rd period – S.D.F.C. – Farleen

4th period – Advanced Biology – Lady Elena

5th period – Fencing – Tynave

6th period – Calculus – Farleen

7th period – Art – Stanice

8th period – P.E. – Adray

Nel blinked to make sure her eyes weren't tricking her. This looked exactly like her schedule. He had every class with her?

"What is S.D.F.C.?" he inquired softly next to her ear, reminding her how close he was.

"I'm not sure, no one ever asked what it means, but it's mostly a free period where Maria and her band practices and sometimes Miss Farleen would teach us something. Right now she's teaching everyone how to dance. …Anyway showing you around won't be a problem. It seems that you have every class with me."

He let out a grunt that could be deciphered either as amused or he didn't care as he finally backed away from her. She realized that she had been holding her breath and released it when he moved away. He still had that effect on her. What she didn't tell Maria and Sophia was that she actually did have a crush on him before she moved out of Airyglyph. Even though he seldom said anything nice, he always would unintentionally do something that would make her go weak at the knees…

"Are you going to show me around or are you going to stand there gaping like a Lousyd?" …and infuriate the crap out of her. At least he wasn't calling her a fool anymore.

"Alright, follow me."

"About time, maggot." That earned him a death glare that could rival his own. She made sure to punch him in the shoulder on her way out, but all she got in response was a charming dark chuckle that made her suppress shivers that had nothing to do with fear.

As she led him down the hallway, she began to understand why they picked her to show him around. Expecting Albel to listen to another student who he probably thought was beneath him wouldn't help him get acquainted with this school, but making someone who was practically his equal show him around would. Besides, if he didn't listen to her, she would just hit him upside the head. The best thing about that tactic was that she wouldn't get in trouble for it because Glou always gave her permission to whack Albel whenever he stepped out of line. The bell rang, alerting her that homeroom was over, so she began leading him to Count Noppen's classroom. She knew she had left her things in homeroom, but she also that knew either Sophia or Maria would bring it to her since they had first period with her.

The thought of her friends worried her a little. They would expect her to introduce Albel to them, but she was sure he didn't want to meet anyone. Maybe if she was lucky, all she would have to do is show him where his classes were and then he can go off to sit near the corner of the classroom and glare at the teacher like he did in elementary school. If she didn't sit close by him, then she could introduce him without him knowing.

When they entered the Count Noppen's room, the Count was glancing disdainfully at the students that were already there while holding his lace handkerchief up to his nose to cover the supposed 'stench' of them. He didn't like the students here and always referred to them as 'filthy urchins'. He did have one favorite student though, and that was Nel, but that was only because she was higher in nobility than he was. When he noticed Nel in the doorway, he was about to greet her, but when he saw Albel, he dropped his handkerchief and backed into the backboard with wide eyes.

"Lord Albel! What are you doing here!"

"…Hello Count Noppen. Glad to see you are still……alive," Albel replied in a dark tone with an evil smirk. Noppen used to teach in Airyglyph, but then he moved to Aquaria because Albel scared him.

"J-just t-take your s-seat," he stuttered before running to his podium. Nel only shrugged and left Albel to go sit in her seat near the back of the class. She was soon surprised to find that he had followed her and sat down in Maria's usual desk beside her.

"What?" he snapped when he caught her staring at him.

"Oh, nothing," she replied as she faced the front. When Maria and Sophia came in, they only took one look at Albel before they grinned at each other. Neither girl said a word as Sophia took her seat next to Nel and as Maria gave Nel her purse and back pack and sat down in the desk in front of her. It was the same way with Cliff and Fayt in Government class, minus the grinning to each other. Albel once again sat next to her, but she was more distracted by the hostility between him and Duke Vox to care.

Vox was almost the same as Albel when it came to people skills, but Vox used his personality to tame his class into submission, so they would pay attention to his lectures. 2nd period went by fast, but when 3rd period arrived, Nel had no choice, but to finally introduce him to everyone. The moment she and Albel entered the Auditorium, Fayt and the others cornered them.

"So, aren't you gonna introduce us to your new friend?" Cliff inquired bluntly, wasting no time. Nel sighed as she glanced at Albel who had one eyebrow raised in curiosity. He was no doubt wondering why a bunch of worms were blocking his way.

"Everyone, this is Albel Nox. Albel, these are my friends," she pointed from left to right, "Sophia, Fayt, Maria, Cliff, Mirage, Steeg, Marietta, and …where's Lieber?"

"Dunno, but it's not like you'd consider him a 'friend' anyway," Maria responded.

"So, are you having a good first day?" Cliff wondered politely as he held his hand out to Albel.

"Yes…being surrounded by maggots is a bloody good time," he mumbled under his breath. Only Nel heard what he had said.

"Come again?" he asked as he dropped his hand.

"He doesn't like to talk much," Nel said quickly before Albel could repeat what he said more loudly.

"Oh, I see. Well you can stand there and look pretty while the rest of us play around a bit, kay?" he replied as he slapped Albel gently on the shoulder.

"Don't touch me, worm!" he snapped, threateningly as Cliff started chuckling from his outburst. Maria, sensing that Cliff was going to try to pester Albel for the rest of the period, quickly grabbed his arm.

"We are going to play a few songs, get your violin out Cliff," she ordered before she turned to where Fayt was standing, "Fayt you…never mind, you're already doing it."

She watched as the hyper active blue haired boy ran around the Auditorium, gathering wires, plugs, and his laptop computer. Cliff stopped laughing on the dime. He loved his parents dearly, like any son would, but he couldn't help but curse their existence when they forced him to take violin lessons. Despite his hatred toward the small stringed instrument, he was quite good at playing it.

"Oh good, you guys are doing something productive. I was about to tell you that today is a free day," a rather high pitched voice called from the large double doors.

"Hi Miss Farleen!" Marietta shouted as the violet haired woman started walking towards Albel and Nel.

"So you're the new student, huh? Pleased to meet you. My name is Farleen and this is S.D.F.C. which means that this is a Super Duper Fun Class!" she cheered, earning twitches from Albel and from a handful of the people present. True her voice disturbed many, but she was too nice to be disliked. She even won a Teacher of the Month award last November.

"That's what S.D.F.C. means?" Steeg inquired before she faced him.

"Uh-huh! You wouldn't believe how long I waited for someone to ask what it meant, so I got tired of waiting and decided to use it in the introductions."

"Maria! I'm here! Let's start playing a song!" Lieber screamed all of a sudden as he burst through the doors.

"Hold it right there mister! You're tardy!" Farleen yelled as she chased after him.

Once everything was ready, they started playing a song that Maria wrote. Fayt worked on the special effects on his laptop with Albel watching him type in the computer every now and then. The program he used was top of the line and was very hard to find. Maria, of course was the lead singer along with Nel, who was also playing the piano at the same time. Sophia and Mirage were the back up singers and Cliff played the violin while Steeg played the electric guitar, Lieber played the drums, and Marietta played the electric keyboard. Nel could tell Albel was staring at her as she played her piano solo. His staring made her nervous and she almost missed some notes.

4th period came and for once, Nel was glad to have Albel around. Since she was the only one in the group who took Advanced Biology, she was a little lonely. Lady Elena taught this class and she was a great teacher, but sometimes she would get so caught up in her lectures, that she wouldn't notice if someone dozed off or threw a paper wad across the room. Most of the time, the class would take notes written on the overhead projector and study for tests, but then there would be some days when Lady Elena brings out a cool project that would put other science professors to shame.

After 4th period was lunch. Nel didn't bother to ask Albel if he wanted to sit with her and her friends at the lunch table. She had (dare she say it) a 'hunch' that he would anyway. He had been trailing her like a puppy all day. Okay, maybe not a puppy, more like a short tempered, fire-breathing dragon. When they sat down at the table, Nel realized that the others were stuck behind a long line. That meant she was going to be alone with Albel for a bit longer. Her lunch was a roast beef sandwich from the leftovers of last night's dinner with some warm apple cider that Sophia made in home economics. She looked at Albel for a moment and noticed that he didn't have anything to eat. He only sat there with his elbows on the table and his chin resting on top of his hands as he stared out the nearby window.

"Aren't you going to eat?"

"I don't eat cafeteria food. I wait until I get home," he answered softly. Nel wondered if she should be worried that he didn't call her worm, fool, or maggot yet.

"You could always bring your lunch," she suggested as he glanced at her from the corner of his eyes through his black blonde hair.

"That would be too suspicious. I can't possibly suck anyone's blood in the middle of the cafeteria," he grinned. He was referring to the time when her father, Nevelle, made a joke about Albel being a vampire and she thought it was true. It wasn't her fault that she had an overactive imagination when she was six! She rolled her eyes before she playfully shoved him, receiving a wider grin from him. That was the first time they ever had a normal conversation without arguing and in Nel's opinion, it was kind of nice.

"Hello! Why's your face all red Nel?" Fayt inquired as he sat across from them. Once he was seated, he immediately began digging into his food. It was apparent that the energy drink was still in his system. She hadn't realized that she was blushing until he had pointed it out and tried to cover it up.

"It is? I must've gotten sunburned yesterday…" The fact that Albel was still staring at her wasn't helping her control her blush.

"Nah, it wasn't red this morning," he replied though a mouth-full of sloppy joe. She glared at Fayt as she hoped her blushing didn't get worse until Maria unceremoniously dropped her tray on the table and proceeded to sit next to Nel. Next was Sophia, who plopped herself down next to Fayt and dropped her milk carton onto his tray. Then Mirage, with Cliff right behind her, took a seat next to Fayt and began eating her food quickly, but daintily as Cliff leaned on the table with his hands.

"Alright, anyone who wants to see operation: Lasselle's an ass, finish up in seven minutes because that's when we begin," he announced before sitting beside Mirage. Cliff usually ate his lunch while in line so he was done by the time he reached the cashier. Now that Maria had mentioned Cliff's crush on Mirage, Nel noticed that he was sitting closer to Mirage than he usually would. He even had his arm casually resting against the back of her chair as he contacted Welch with the communicator.

When he turned the device on, the screen flickered before the young inventor's face appeared.

"Welch? Have you finished the preparations?" He asked in a businesslike manner.

"Yes, sir! I'm all ready on this end! This is the perfect time to test out my newest model-"

"Okay, see you in a few seconds," he interrupted before he cut the device off. Mirage was stuffing the last bit of her meal in her mouth when Cliff suddenly brought his arm down and pulled her against him. He rested his head on top of hers as used his free hand to gesture towards the whole cafeteria.

"Mirage, this is it. If we pull this off, then we will become the ultimate prank masters," he dramatically fisted his free hand, "No one will be able to top what we are about to do!"

"Mmmph mmmf, muf mmmph!" she mumbled with her mouth still full. He let go of her and looked at her with a confused expression.

"What?"

She swallowed quickly before answering, "I said 'That's nice, but let me swallow first!'"

"Oh…Let's go. Come on Fayt." He grabbed Fayt by the collar of his shirt and dragged him away before he could finish his lunch.

Everyone except Nel and Albel picked up their trays and headed towards the exit.

"You're actually going?" She heard Albel inquire as she started putting away her trash. When she glanced back at him, she noticed that he had not budged an inch, but moved his head slightly so he could look at her.

"Yeah, I'm going. Mirage promised that this was going to be really entertaining, even if it fails," she replied as she stood up.

"Bah…" was all he said before he stood up as well and began following her out.


Sorry for the cliffhanger! This chapter was getting really long, so I decided to split it into two chapters. The second half is almost finished and I'll post it as soon as possible.