Thank you so much for all those who reviewed. I appreciate them a lot. Now I get to update, but I'm really sure the next one's gonna take a while. So, here's Chapter 9: The Club Sign Up Day.
Once more, all FMA characters are not mine, but the rest, are mine.
--
The days before the club sign up day had Roy and the rest of the council members working over time. Roy had asked to be excused for the morning classes because of the final preparations for the Sign Up Day. Ms. Ramirez herself had to leave ten minutes before the bell rang because she was going to supervise the council members. Periods were shortened and the sign up day was right after lunch.
"So anyway, I'll introduce you to Corinne later. She'll probably be happy that you'll be joining the Karate club."
"Your sister sure sounds nice." Riza and Sunny were eating at the canteen, and Sunny was telling Riza about the sign up day which was going to happen later in the day.
"Oh you've never heard her speak yet… she's pretty scary when she talks. Scares the hell out of Bianca actually." Sunny said with a chuckle, eating her French fries.
"She's a talented speaker?"
"Debate champion when she was in high school. Editor in chief of the school paper. Graduated second honors for that." Sunny replied.
"Wow… you guys are so… popular and talented."
"Oh I wouldn't say popular." Sunny said with a sly smile on her face.
"You're just too modest."
"Well, if I'm modest, what can you say about yourself." Sunny asked Riza.
"All I can say Riza's one of the nicest people I've ever met." Both girls turned to face the one who spoke. It was Roy, looking very tired and exhausted. Riza masked her surprise with a smile.
"Oh hi Roy. How's the preparations coming?" Riza asked him.
"I wish I could say it was going smoothly, but I really can't." Roy said, ruffling his already messy hair.
"Did you have lunch already?" Riza asked him.
"Afraid not… I still have a lot of things to finish. Well, speaking of the Sign Up day, can I talk to you for a moment, Riza?" Roy asked her. Riza was about to answer when Sunny spoke.
"I'll leave you two sweethearts alone." Sunny said with a wide grin as she stood up to leave.
"Sweethearts?!" Roy and Riza both exclaimed at the same time. Sunny couldn't help but laugh and then she left. Roy was surprised for a few seconds before Riza tugged his sleeve and asked him to sit down.
"What did you want to talk about Roy?" She asked, finishing the last of her mineral water. Roy was still ruffling his hair, and he seemed to be thinking of what to say.
"Well, I told you that not a lot of things were going smoothly today right? Well, the emcees are absent today and I volunteered to host the thing. But Ms. Ramirez wanted me to ask anyone to help out… do you think you can help me host?" He asked, looking at her.
"I don't now, Roy… I'm new here, and I don't know a lot of the students here." She said, fixing her tie.
"So what if you're new? I really know you can do this that's why I asked you first." He told her, trying to persuade her.
"I just don't know. I'm afraid of getting criticized especially since Christella's pretty mad at me right now." Riza softly said.
"Who cares about what Christella thinks? I don't care about what she thinks. You can do it Riza. Not only this hosting… I have a feeling that there are more things to come, and you'd really make a great leader. Let me ask you, if someone offered you a job like becoming a part of the council, would you accept it?" He asked her. He had enough guts to hold one of her hands. She was just surprised, but didn't show it. Neither did she pull her hand away.
"Honestly… I would accept the job. Before I came here, I was supposed to be part of the council, but I left. But I'm sure that would be impossible." Riza said, shaking her head.
"Well, think of it as you being a special member of the council for the day. Will you do it? Please Riza, please do it…" He begged her. Riza wanted to decline the offer, but a voice told her to go for it.
"…Oh fine, I'll do the hosting job with you." She finally said. Roy's face split into a smile.
"Yes! Oh thank you Riza! Thank you, you don't know how much this will help us get this job done." Roy happily said. And then Riza found herself in a big hug from Roy.
"Thank you, Riza."
"Alright, alright… you're so happy." Riza said, softly laughing.
"Because I've been so stressed and you accepting to help me, help us, is a great help to us. Thanks a lot! Tell you what; go to the Council office right after you finish here. Bring your stuff with you. Ms. Ramirez will brief us. The office is at the very end of the hall, beside the faculty room." Roy told her. Riza could just smile and nod.
"Alright, I'll see you then Roy. I'll be there; I'll just throw this and get my things. I also have to tell Sunny where I'm going. She might look for me everywhere." Riza told him as he stood up to leave.
"Alright I'll see you there." He told her with a smile as he left. A few moments after he left, Riza stood up and left the canteen. She went straight up to her classroom, put back her books in her locker, got her bag, told Sunny where she was going and quickly left the room. She took the staircase at the very end of the hallway (the opposite staircase, near the 2nd year rooms) because she'd end up in front of the council office.
In no time she was in front of a white door with a small, narrow window. She peeked in first before she knocked. Sure enough, Roy, Ms. Ramirez and Maes were inside.
"Am I interrupting anything?" Riza said as she opened the door and stepped inside.
"Oh of course not. Thank you so much for helping us out Ms. Hawkeye. I know that you're practically new to the system and the Talent Development program, but I'm sure if you listened to Mr. Richardson's speech during the students' orientation, then I'm sure you'll feel that you've been here for quite some time. Now... if Mr. Mustang here informed you, our hosts are absent today and I will give them a long lecture for that, but anyway, you will open and close the 'show' and you will also give out reminders and the like… and then after, you can go pick your program. I hope you have made your choice already." Ms. Ramirez told Riza after she took a seat beside Roy.
"Yes, I already made my choice." Riza said with a curt nod.
"What are you taking, Riza?" Hughes asked her as he polished his glasses. Hughes didn't look as tired as Roy looked. He was cheerful as always.
"Erm… I'm taking up Karate."
"Ooooh, Karate. Watch out Roy… in no time, she could be kicking your butt." Hughes joked, punching Roy's arm.
"Oh shush… can we tell her what we're supposed to do now?" Roy asked rather impatiently.
"Tell her what program you're taking, Roy." Hughes told him. Ms. Ramirez was just listening intently and once in a while she'd raise an eyebrow and laugh.
"I don't want to tell her… if I will, I'll tell her later when we're alone."
"Awww, somebody wants some alone time with Riza." Hughes teased in a sing song voice. Ms. Ramirez laughed and Riza turned slightly red and she avoided anyone's gaze.
"Better some alone time with her than with you." Roy said as he was about to punch Maes on the arm but Ms. Ramirez stopped him.
"No fighting in MY office." She told him, half-joking, eyebrow raised again. Roy had to surrender.
"Alright, I'll get you next time, Hughes."
"Oooh, easy on that, Roy… you don't want to lose that chance to become president right?" Maes said joking. Even Roy had to laugh on that one. After that, silence ensued for a while until Riza asked Roy what she was supposed to do. Roy told her everything she needed to know, and somehow, she felt like she was happy that he asked her to host with him.
"Riza, do you have any questions?" Roy asked her, shattering her moments of thinking.
"Oh, no it's fine. I understood everything. But what program are you signing up for, Roy?" She asked him. Ms. Ramirez stood up and went to her computer and started printing some papers. Hughes was arranging the program lists. When Roy was sure no one was listening except Riza, he whispered to her.
"Well, you see… I'm taking up Chess, all because I'm the captain of the school's chess varsity team. I know it's pretty stupid, I mean other guys in our level would love sports like karate and baseball and probably you're thinking that it was so stupid of me to pick chess and --" he was cut short by Riza who also whispered her reply.
"It doesn't matter what program you're in as long as you enjoy it right? Besides… I don't think chess is a stupid sport."
"Well, do you enjoy karate?" He asked her again, still whispering.
"It's a new thing for me, but I generally enjoy sports that will be a form of self-protection to me. I actually wanted something that involved shooting targets like archery and target shooting, but Sunny told me that this school didn't offer it. Well, neither did my previous school for that matter." She told him, no longer whispering.
"That's good to hear. I hope that this is going to be a great day for you." He told her with another one of his rare smiles.
--
In no time the lunch bell rang and students filed outside their classroom to proceed to the big, air conditioned gymnasium near the sports complex. Ms. Ramirez had to go up to their classroom to make sure they were ready to leave. Roy, Riza and Maes, along with other council members went to the gym ahead of the others. Riza had never seen the gym before. To put it simply, it seemed huge to her. There were bleachers and a huge parquet area, where the club booths were. She saw people adding their finishing touches to the booths. She saw teachers and club instructors making sure that the program was going to go smoothly.
"Do you want to look around first?" Roy asked her as they walked towards the stage where there special chairs for the hosts, the council members and school administrators.
"I'll see them all later right? I want to get a good view from the stage first." Riza replied.
"You don't have a case of the stage fright right now, do you?" He teased her.
"Of course not! What made you think I had stage fright?" Riza asked him in sharp tone. "Not unless, you're underestimating my, shall we say… hosting abilities?" She gave him a look that rivaled that of Ms. Ramirez.
"I was just kidding. No seriously I was… man, you're like a mini Ms. Ramirez." He told her as they went up the stage to their seats.
"So what if I am a mini Ms. Ramirez? Is that wrong?" She asked him, playing along.
"Of course it isn't wrong! Why don't you take a look at the booths first?" Roy told her. People were starting to enter the gym and moving to the bleachers. From where they were Riza could see the Karate booth. She thought she saw Christella by one of the more colorful booths.
"No need. The students are already here. I'd rather wait for the thing itself… Roy?"
"Yeah?" He replied rather absent-mindedly. He was watching the students sit down on the bleachers.
"Is that Christella I see by that Blue and Gold booth?" Riza asked as she sat down beside him. Roy looked for the booth Riza described.
"Yeah that's Christella. That's the Modern Dance Booth. You see, Christella's the cheer dance captain and all cheer dance members have to be part of the Modern Dance Program." He said turning away from the booth and looking at something else. By then, Ms. Ramirez had entered the gym and as she passed by council members, she'd tell them to get on the stage.
"How long will this last?" Riza asked.
"Depends. Mind you, Mr. Richardson's still going to say his speech before the actual sign up activity's going to begin." Riza merely nodded in reply as she read through the notes she had in her hands. She and Roy were going to alternate. He'd introduce Mr. Richardson while she'd call on Principal Havelock to formally open the sign up day.
"Are you two ready?" Ms. Ramirez was on the stage and was followed by Maes and the others. Administrators were starting to fill the seats on the stage. Maes and the other council members took their seats on the stage as well.
"Yeah we are." Roy told her. Riza didn't feel very nervous. She was in fact, rather used to the job.
"Are you okay Riza? Ready to start your first hosting job at Fountain Hill?" Ms. Ramirez asked turning to Riza.
"Yes I'm okay, miss." Riza answered with a smile.
"That's good. Now while waiting for the rest of the students, why don't I introduce you to some of the administrators? Mind if I borrow her, Roy?" Ms. Ramirez told the two.
"I have no objections to that." Roy said.
"And neither do I." Riza said as she stood up before following Ms. Ramirez to some of the administrators.
--
"I know you've met Mr. Thompson. This is Ms. Devereaux, the Elective and Computer coordinator." Riza shook hands with a very pretty brown haired woman.
"…and beside Ms. Devereaux is Mrs. Carter. She's the Science coordinator of the school…" For the next ten minutes, Ms. Ramirez was dragging her all over the stage and once in a while she'd shake hands with a teacher she just met. A few minutes later a man went up the stage and behind him was Ms. Hale. He went straight to Ms. Ramirez and asked her if everything was ready.
"Yeah it is. We were just waiting for you. By the way… Riza, this is Mr. Richardson. John, this is Riza and she'll be hosting along side Roy since our emcees are absent today." Ms. Ramirez told Mr. Richardson. Mr. Richardson just nodded and Riza did the same. As for Ms. Ramirez her usual smirk was back on her face.
"Well let's get started shall we?" Ms. Hale said.
"It's show time, Riza. Good luck." Ms. Ramirez said as the two walked to Roy, who immediately stood up and listened to some last minute instructions. Ms. Hale and Mr. Richardson took their seats, and a few minutes later, Principal Havelock joined the rest of the administrators. Some of the faculty members were seated on the bleachers, watching the students while the non-advisers were seated beside the administrators on the stage.
"So, make sure you remember your cues and the flow of the presentation. Good luck." Ms. Ramirez said with a wink before heading to her seat beside Maes.
"I guess we should get this thing started. To help you, I'll start it. Just follow." Roy said as he stood up. Riza followed suit. Roy handed her a cordless microphone and he got another one for him. He tapped it twice to make sure it was working right and then with one last look at the student council members, he took a deep breath and started the show.
"Good After noon Fountain Hill Students!" Loud cheers filled the gymnasium and Riza couldn't help but smile. She then took a deep breath before she spoke.
"Good Afternoon also to the faculty and administrators!" Riza said, earning her smiles and nods, especially from Ms. Ramirez and the student council members who were listening.
"Well everyone, it's this time of year again. The Talent Development Program Sign up Day. But before we get started with the actual sign up day, I'd like to introduce my lovely co-host, Riza Hawkeye!" Claps and cheers filled the gym, the loudest coming from Hughes.
"And this is my dashing co-host and your student body vice-president, Roy Mustang!" Riza said cheerfully, earning more claps and cheers. "Now that we've introduced ourselves, maybe we can get on with the program. It seems everyone's excited to sign up for their respective programs."
"Agreed. But before we formally open this sign up day, I would like to call on Mr. John Richardson, the Talent Development Program head to give us a background on the TD Programs and some reminders." Roy said, calling on Mr. Richardson who promptly stood up. Riza and Roy went back to their seats as Mr. Richardson took the microphone from Roy.
"Thank you to Mr. Mustang and Ms. Hawkeye for the introduction. Now before I give out reminders for today's sign up day, I would like to give a brief background of the Talent Development Program…"
--
"Thank you so much, Mr. Richardson for somewhat enlightening us all on how this sign up day will commence. Now to formally open this sign up day, I would like to call on Mr. Peter Havelock, Principal of Fountain High School to open this sign up day." Riza said through the microphone as Principal Havelock stood up to open the sign up day. The students and faculty politely applauded him and Riza handed him her microphone before she and Roy took a step back.
"Welcome to the teachers, professionals and alumni. Welcome also to the students of Fountain Hill. Now I won't keep you guys any longer. I know how excited you are for this sign up day. I now formally open this year's sign up day and this year's talent development program." Principal Havelock announced through the microphone, earning loud cheers and applause. Smiling, he went back to his seat as Roy and Riza stood up to finish the first half of the hosting job.
"Now, let's get started with this sign up day. We will start with the freshmen. All freshmen form one, straight line and proceed to the parquet area. Once you're in the parquet area, please proceed to your desired program's booth and line up before you sign up. Please make sure that the program you will sign up will be your final choice. You will no longer be allowed to change programs once you have finished signing up. If you do not follow these rules, student council members patrolling the area will be forced to pull you out and you will have to wait until all students are finished before you can sign up." Roy started, repeating the reminders given by Mr. Richardson.
"Once all freshmen are done, all sophomores follow the same procedure to be followed by the rest of the levels. Once you are done signing up at your desired program, please quietly go back to your seats. Temporary class beadles, please make sure that all your classmates are accounted for. Once everyone has finished signing up, student council members will tally the number of students who signed up to make sure everyone has signed up. I guess that's all the reminders needed, right Roy?" Riza finished Roy's statement, with a rather sweet smile.
"Yes, we're all ready to go. We will now begin with the sign up day." Noisy chatter filled the gym as the freshmen stood up before lining up. Roy and Riza sat down again, as Maes and the rest of the council members stood up to facilitate everything. As they passed by the two, Maes gave Roy a good pat on the back and a smile to Riza. Roy was about to stand up to join them but Ms. Ramirez approached the two.
"You can sit this one out Roy. Maybe you can help with the tallying, but we can handle this for now. Thanks for hosting." She said shortly, with a small smile before following Maes and the rest of he council members.
"Great, she wants me to just sit this one out." Roy said, sighing.
"Is there a problem with sitting this one out?" Riza asked him as she watched the happenings in the gym.
"There's nothing wrong with it, really… but I enjoy the 'field job'." Roy answered her question.
"Oh just take her word for it, and sit this out. You've been so stressed these past days. And if you're asking, I noticed that." Roy had no reply to that.
Meanwhile, Christella and her close friend, Vanessa were busy manning the booth and were looking very happy that a lot of people were signing up for the Modern Dance program.
"Hey Chris…" Vanessa whispered to her friend as they paid attention to the sign up.
"What?"
"I saw Hawkeye and Mustang talking on the stage a while ago." Vanessa whispered again.
"Thank goodness I could still hear you. Ms. Gray and Mr. Charles are talking so loud. So what if they're talking? I don't care if they talked until she got sick of talking to him." Christella whispered back.
"Well, they're getting closer and closer each day. That's not really good for you, now is it, Chris? I mean, since you said that you and Roy ARE pretty close."
"We ARE close. Why are we talking about this anyway? And why now? We'll talk about this later. This isn't the right time to talk about this. Concentrate on the job." Christella ended the conversation, but she couldn't resist looking at the two. Once in a while, she'd see Riza smile when Roy told her something, and then she'd see Roy smile because of something Riza said. That just annoyed her even more.
In no time, the freshmen finished signing up and the sophomores lined up to sign up. Riza saw Ed go to his desired program's booth before he signed up.
"He's signing up for Football again." Roy said, snapping Riza out from her thoughts.
"Oh, he's singing up for football… what are the other members signing up for?" Riza asked.
"Erm, for Maes it's journalism. He likes something not too strenuous I guess… and besides, he's an editor of the school paper, the Insider. Aurelia is a member of the school choir and so she's signing up for the chorale program. Annika is more of the artsy type so she signs up for painting. Victor always signs up for Baseball. Sophia goes for Creative Writing. Basically that's it. I don't know what Stella signed up for because she's in the first year." Roy told her.
"I have another question. How do you pick the first year batch representative?" Riza asked, still waiting for the sophomores to finish.
"Oh… never expected a question like that to come out so early… but it's no surprise you asked me that. You see we have a sister school. A Grade school, not so far from here, and the name's a no brainer of course. Fountain Hill Grade School. Honestly, not a good choice for a grade school name. Anyway, before the school year ends, the seventh graders come here and of course, there are people who want to run for the council. So they do and day before the elections, they come here to listen to the platform and speeches of the parties. Pretty confusing, if you ask me." Roy answered, looking a bit bored now.
"Oh I see… it's hard isn't it?"
"What's hard?"
"The campaign and elections. It requires a lot of time and effort."
"'Course. But it's worth it. I think that's the last of the sophomores. Come on, let's join the council members so you can sign up first. Karate is one of the favorite programs in this school." Roy told her as he stood up. She followed him, down the stairs on the side of the stage and joined the council members on the sideline. When they got the go signal from Ed (who was watching his batch mates and making sure there were no hitches) Roy accompanied Riza to the Karate booth as their batch mates lined up before going down.
"Hey, sorry it took me a while." It was Sunny.
"Hi Sunny… do you mind if Roy came with me?"
"Oh wait, I'll go sign up. Sunny can accompany you right? I'll meet you on the sidelines." Roy said with a wink before heading of to the Chess booth not so far away. Riza could see (as she lined up) Roy exchanging stories and high-fives with his team mates and coach.
"Next." Came the curt voice. Sunny, who was standing beside Riza outside the lines, greeted the speaker who had shoulder length black hair tied neatly in a ponytail. She looked a lot like Sunny, but she was just an older version of Sunny.
"Hi Corinne… this is my classmate, Riza." Sunny told her older sister.
"Oh… yeah I remember. Corinne Montgomery, pleased to meet you. I'm happy to have learned from Sunny that you were going to sign up for Karate. Well, go on. You'll be in for a good year." She told Riza with a gentle smile as she handed Riza a pen and showed her where to sign her name. In no time Riza was done and she said her goodbyes to Corinne and Sunny before heading off to the sidelines to meet Roy.
"All done?" Roy asked her
"Yup. All done."
"Okay then, let's head back to the stage. Ms. Ramirez already had to pull out some students for misbehaving." Roy told her with a serious look. Riza merely nodded and followed him back to the stage.
--
Christella couldn't contain herself from eyeing the two from the moment they got off the stage to the moment they got back to the stage.
'Now they're sitting there and talking again. What are they talking about?' she thought with a frustrated look on her face.
"Sign here." Christella said with an absent-minded, bored look as she instructed the last of the juniors. Once in a while she'd still look at the two who were talking to pass the time.
"Chris… are you alright? You have that annoyed look on your face." Vanessa's voice made her face her friend, who was playing with her pen.
"Nothing… it's nothing really."
"What do you mean nothing? You've been glancing at those two for like ten minutes now." Vanessa said as she eyed the two before greeting the first seniors who were signing up. Christella got busy two as she put a big smile on her face before instructing the people signing up.
--
"Now as the student council members and representatives from each program tally the number of people who signed up, it's my honor to call on the Fountain Hill High School Dance Squad!" Riza announced through the microphone. There was an intermission number while the numbers were being double checked. The parquet area was cleared and Roy had left to join the rest of the council backstage, where they were supposed to tally. The cheering ensued again as the dance squad moved into their positions at the parquet area. With one signal from the dance leader, the music started and once again, the whole student population was wowed once more.
--
"Alright, we've finished tallying and I would like to thank everyone for their participation, and have a great year. Now before we are dismissed, we have a few reminders." Roy said before handing the microphone to Ms. Ramirez.
"To all student council members, please proceed to the student council office after the sign up day. To all organizers and teachers of the different programs, please proceed to the conference room after this. Thank you."
When that was done, she handed the microphone to Roy, who in turn called on the principal once more to dismiss the students. Lively chatter filled the room as the students exited the gym.
"You'll be going to the office right? I mean, your bag's there." Roy asked Riza as they went down the stage.
"Yeah. After that I'll probably walk home with Sunny or Charm… that is if I catch them." Riza answered, fixing her school jacket. Before Roy could ask anything else, Annika approached them and whispered something to Roy, which he acknowledged with a nod. After, she left.
"What was that about?" Riza asked him as they went back to the building.
"Ms. Ramirez wants you to have a snack with us at the office." Roy said simply.
"Oh I couldn't…" Riza shook her head.
"Oh come on. You deserved it. Just have a snack with us. We're not going to eat you anyway." Roy joked.
"Oh come on, I'm being serious here, Roy." Riza reprimanded, giving him a glare.
"When aren't you serious anyway? You're always serious. Come on, just take some time off and just have a snack. You're cousin's not going to mind if you stay in school for a while." Roy reasoned. Riza knew he was right. Beatrice wouldn't mind if she went home late as long as she stayed in school. And besides, there was a teacher supervising them.
"Oh fine, I'll stay for a while. As long as you're sure I'm not intruding in a meeting or anything."
"I'm sure you aren't. Great, come in… today, you're a special member of the council." Roy said with a big smile as he opened the door for her.
--
I know it's very long. Very sorry about that. If you're asking why only until 7th grade (see the part where Roy's explaining to Riza how the batch rep is chosen), well I am basing it on my education… and here, our elementary is only until 7th grade (although, my school opens in June not September as set in this fic.). If you have questions on why I chose those weird programs for them, please drop me a line.
If there are any questions, drop me a line. I appreciate them as much as I appreciate reviews. Go on click that review button, and I'll be back with the next chapter as soon as I can update.
