This chapter has been reposted after being edited and cleaned up.

All right! The second part of Songbirds is here!

Kit: Damn.. This is long...
Cat: Longest chapter yet, and it's making up for the last two!
Kit: Amazing...

This chapter follows the same "Labeled" skipping like the last chapter. That's my "Part" chapters style. Chapters with "Part" or "pt" in their name will be conducted like that. BTW, this suddenly turned non-filler. It's long. It's packed. A lot happens.. I hope I didn't screw up..

I got from the Reviewers:

Spaghetti, (Whoo! Nope, never got that before!)
Cookies!
Pop Tarts (Sugar! My Life-blood!)
"Pot-of-gold chocolate thing" (mmm... pot... I mean... chocolate... -.-) (I don't do drugs! I swear!)
Pocky! x2
Ice-Cream Sundae

See ya next time!

... This chapter took 8 hours to write! Damn!

Sin High

Chapter 10 - Songbirds - Part 2

Act 1 - Wednesday - 1:45pm - Marco's Class (Third Period)
..0...0..

Lunch had been rather exciting. All the entries for the talent show had been called to the gym and were to propose to the people running it what their act was, what it included, props needed, length, etc. Ed had been blushing, to his embarrassment, when he explained his act. He was lucky that Al's old cd with the song he was singing on it also had it's instrumental version, else he'd have had a very big problem. He was just thankful that karaoke was so popularly associated with the singer (AN: Envy was lucky too in the same respect, Duo's CD had an instrumental for each song on it. It was the karaoke special, hence all the lyrics with it).

With that done, he stuck around to see the final count of acts and time. A "last-minute-drop-out" warning was issued. Most of the people who had been forced into the show by their classmates or friends, etc, took the chance eagerly and dropped out (Envy didn't drop out, he wasn't around for the warning. He submitted his act and left. Heh, impatience gets you no where!). About half of the participants were left, and it was organized right there on the spot. Similar acts and acts that were too lengthy (which was quite a considerable number..) were discussed and cut, as a volunteer didn't get you right into the show, it just meant you were a candidate for it. The first 250 volunteered acts had been cut by roughly half after the "last-minute" warning, and the remaining hundred and twenty-so were quickly scrutinized and fit to the time length. At last, just under 40 acts were fit in, with two dozen on back-up. The average time for each act just breached 3 minutes. All the participants would be given an order number and would know exactly when they were to go on stage within the next two days. The gymnasium was announced to be open for the next two days for further organizing and questions and comments and such.

When lunch ended, Ed went straight to third period. A quick assembling of the class, and everyone was calmly working within minutes of the class starting. Ed was focused on his review sheet. There was always a quiz on Friday in Marco's class, but due to the Talent Show, he bumped it a day earlier. This week, however, it was a very important quiz, it had the same marks as a test. It was on a very complicate sequence that the class had been taught and practicing since Monday. Now review, tomorrow, the quiz.

Anyways, Ed wasn't having problems with it, nor was he being terribly interesting at the point, so let's switch over to Envy, shall we? Speaking of which, yesterday in this very class, Envy had returned Ed's bag to him. The chibi wasn't happy, but accepted his bag none-the-less.

Envy left out that he'd finished Ed's lunch, but the blond wasn't very hungry anyways, so it was okay. (AN: (laughing))

Envy was bored as hell. The review papers lay rejected on his desk, and he had no intention of paying attention to them. He didn't understand the sequence, and he didn't feel like stressing over it. So he slouched in his seat with a pen hanging out of his mouth, and glared at Marco every time the teacher glanced his way.

Finally, without raising his hand, he announced that he had to use the washroom. Marco sighed, knowing that Envy wasn't going to come back. There wasn't much one could do when dealing with the stubborn teen, so he stopped trying a long time ago.

Envy grabbed his bag and left the review paper on his desk, walking out of the maze of desks and making his way to the door around the perimeter of the class. He winked at Ed as he left, much to the blonde's embarrassment. Hmm.. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't bugged the boy that much in first period.

Envy shrugged it off and walked out the door. He was just going to plain go home and stay there, but maybe he'd come back after school and pester the chibi. Seemed like a good idea.

His stroll down the hall was momentarily paused with questioning by one of the two hall monitors, but he was known even to them, and the guy waved Envy off with a sigh when the teen said he was "sick and had to go home" in a tone that clearly challenged him to argue the lie.

The ride home on his bike was uneventful, even with the diving people and dangerous tricks. It was all just another regular drive to Envy. He hated boring, and by the time he got home, he was as bored as he was in class.

'That's probably why I'm fining that chibi to be so fun to bother.. He's quite the change..' Envy pondered to himself as he walked through his door. Falling ungracefully onto his couch, he slung an arm over the rest and propped a leg on the other.

He was wearing his long leather pants today, and decided after a moment that they were too restricting. That's why he preferred his skorts..

Getting right back up to find said article of clothing, he made the trip to his room and back. When he sat back down on the couch, he noticed the slip of paper that said, "Sing 'Mirai'".

Envy sighed. Damn you, Duo.

Once, a while back, He, Duo, Marcus, and some other guys clubbed and actually managed to all get drunk, even Envy. Some girls on the stage had asked for one of them to karaoke with them, and Envy got voted to go up. The song was Mirai, a rather popular song by a popular artist at the time, and even though he was drunk, very obviously so to the girls and the onlookers, he sung the song quite well.

Envy leaned back on the couch and crossed his bare legs. Damn Duo, and his memory.

Envy had never really sung before, nor had he since, though his friends had at the time, mentioned that he should keep the idea in mind. Marcus had told him that his voice was rather high (which he got shoved for..), and that he could probably pull off a few small-time hits and then sink back into the crowd. One of the other two guys had commented that Envy wasn't capable of sinking into the crowd, but the bottom line was, Envy had never planned on singing again.

Damn Duo. Damn his memory. Damn his sadistic streaks.

Envy looked a bit further from the slip of paper to a CD case. Duo had dropped it off this morning. It had the song on it, as well as the lyrics for all the songs. He reached over and picked it up. A moment later, Envy was lying down and reading the lyrics over.

Man.. this song was so.. Optimistic.

Sitting up again, he took the CD and walked over to his front door. Locking it, he headed for the stairs.

If he was going to practice, even a little bit, NO ONE was going to walk in on him. If someone was at the door and he couldn't hear them, oh well.

Back in his room, he dug out his old stereo from the closet, and set it up on his desk (after grabbing one side and lifting it so the things cluttering the top all fell on the floor..).

Before he popped the cd in, he took a minute to glance around at his room. He had a whole lot of shit lying around, mostly stuff he'd never use again. He was an impulse-buyer, and usually bought stuff that caught his interest. They didn't tend to hold it for very long, so he dumped them in or around the house and forgot about them.

He had the money to live like that, since his grandmother gave him all the money as he'd mentioned to Ed last week.

He was being funded by his grandmother, Dana, but she'd told him years ago that she would not support him anymore if he had not graduated from High school by age 19. As long as he was in school, she'd fund him, so he was being expected to go to collage, and later, university (which she offered to pay for as well. Yes, she's that rich.) When he'd finished school, he was expected to get a job, and slowly start to take over his own costs. When she passed away, he was to be qualified enough to inherit the fortune.

So his path to a perfect, Kodak-worthy life was being handed to him, and he hated it.

He was fine with using his given money now, but he struggled in school. He didn't like what he had to learn, and he did not want to go to collage. He didn't care if he wasn't going to be funded, he didn't care if he wasn't going to inherit the fortune.

He didn't want to lean on someone else and be guided for his whole life. When the time came for him to support himself, he was going to try and find something he liked, and would live making money like that.

He refused to think too deeply on the subject of his future. He cursed the CD in his hands for the irony of the song. (Mirai - Future)

When came time to decide what to do with his life, he'd think about it then. Not now, when his care-free life was so preciously short.

He decided after a few minutes of shoving everything up against the walls, that he was going to go around the house and collect everything he knew he'd never use again. He'd give it all to charity, though he sure as hell wasn't going to right now.

With that done, he took the cd out of it's case and put it in the receiver of the stereo, and set the tracker to "7". When the loud, forceful intro started, Envy glanced at the lyrics and quickly started to recall the song. He'd heard it many times, back when it was popular, so it wasn't hard.

All too quickly, he found himself enjoying the practice. Soon, he was trying to out-volume the actual singer. The singer, a guy with a much deeper voice, had a very different style than he did, but his own new spin on the song seemed rather pleasing. He was actually proud of his version. His voice was high enough to play the song nicely, though he wasn't over-joyed to admit it, but it seemed to be in for the best. Maybe this talent show thing wasn't going to be as bad as he thought it would...

(AN: Okay, I know that was all over the place, but forgive me, please. Half-way through I suddenly got inspired, and along with a big headache, I managed to get down the rough idea for this story's sequel. Yup, very big-picture. Don't expect to see it soon however, this story is planned at like.. 30-40 chapters.. Maybe. More, less, I don't know. Anyways, sorry, please continue!)

Act 2 - Wednesday - 4:30pm - Somewhere between Hasawa Street and West Rain High School
...0..0...

Ed felt an icy cold hand of nervousness grip his stomach as the sound of tortured tires screamed in his ears. Turning around, he saw that his fears were confirmed.

Envy was racing down the street on his red motorcycle, and Ed was still a block away from home.

Shit.

There wasn't much Ed could do as the vehicle along with it's psychotic passenger raced by him and pulled a sharp, moving U-turn, much sharper than advised. Ed moved a few paces to the left and struck his head against the wall-fence there repeatedly.

"Now now, chibi, that can't be healthy." Envy sneered as he dismounted. Losing the hair-tie as usual, he paced over to Ed.

Ed glared at Envy. "Haven't you harassed me enough, Envy?" He sighed. This was almost getting redundant...

"No way, chibi. I'm having far too much fun with you! And you know you like the attention.." He sang. Ed snorted and protested loudly.

Ed tried to calculate an escape plan within the few precious seconds it was going to take Envy to completely close the distance between them. His house was a short block away, if he ran, he'd probably make it. If Envy went back for his bike, that would stall him enough so that Ed would be half-way down the block (he's a fast little bugger..). Envy couldn't do much to him on the bike, he obviously didn't want to hurt Ed (or he hoped so..), and the confusion would probably allow him to get back home.

So, just before Envy could reach him, he dodged to the right and bolted as fast as hit short legs could carry him.

He hadn't calculated in his quick plan that Envy might be faster than him.

He barely got anywhere before Envy grabbed the handle strap of his bag and halted him way too quick for comfort. Ed squirmed out of the arm straps, but that was exactly what Envy wanted. Dropping the bag as soon as it was loose, Envy quickly wrapped his arms around Ed before he had a chance to bolt again.

"Mmmph.. Grr.. Let go of me!" Ed growled, squirming for all he was worth in the older male's strong grip. Envy tilted his head and said lowly in Ed's ear, "Why should I?" Ed felt a distinct shiver run up his spine as Envy's breath ran over his cheek.

"Uh.. I.. Because I'm telling you to!" Ed said angrily. He was doing that on purpose... Making him lose track of thought like that.. Bastard..

"Then I'll tell you to cooperate... Will you do that?" Envy smirked. "I didn't think so. Not very fair in our thinking, are we?"

"Dammit, Envy! Let me go!" Ed yelled, trying to throw them off-balance. "I'm not playing silly games with you!"

Envy had no problem keeping the chibi's inferior strength in check, and he laughed at Ed's comment. "Oh, we'll play games, all right. We'll play games until you can beat me in them! You're still no match." He snickered and lazily drew his tongue over the back of Ed's ear, where it was sensitive. He delighted in Ed's body freezing up, and his small gasp of surprise.

"E-E-n..vy... This is harassment... I.. I could get a restraining order..." He tried to mumble, hating how his jaw didn't want to work. If he hated the attention so much, why was his body responding so fiercely!

"Wouldn't that be something.." Envy said uncaring. He pushed Ed over a few steps until he was pinning the teen to the wall-fence, face-first. He entwined their fingers and pinned both of Ed's hands against the wall to either side of them. He pressed up fully against Ed's smaller body, completely and utterly pinning him.

Ed was blushing so furiously that he felt like his face would melt. The feeling of Envy's well-toned, semi-clothed, bigger body pushing him up against the wall was triggering some sort of feeling in him that he was not used to at all.

"Envy stop it... Stop it." He stuttered. His struggles were weak in comparison to the older teen's! He was almost thankful for facing the wall, he didn't think he could take those eyes on top of this..

"Why? Your body says you like it. Follow your instincts, Edo. What are your instincts telling you right now?" Envy purred in the shorter teen's ear. Ed suppressed another shiver, and muttered back, "My instincts are telling me to run the hell away.."

For a second, Envy was silent. Then he started to laugh. Ed was a little put out at being laughed at, and showed it by trying futilely to shove Envy off.

"Chibi, you don't cease to amaze." He said, laughter in his voice. He moved back and stopped pinning Ed. The blond thought for a fleeting moment that Envy was letting him go, but the second he turned to face the taller teen, he was right back to being pinned. This time however, Envy's face was mere inches from his own.

His blush born anew, Ed tried not to look Envy in the eyes. Those eyes were too intriguing.. He didn't want to get caught staring into them...

"Are you scared of me, chibi?" Ed was shocked into looking at Envy from the question. That wasn't expected..

"No." Ed snorted, but raced off the first words that came to mind. "But I sure as hell don't associate anything good with you." Envy cocked his head slightly.

"Hmm. I don't either. Ne, if you're not scared of me, kiss me." Amber eyes widened at violet.

"Kiss you! I don't even like you! Those other two times (blush) were.. Um, nothing special!" Ed was tripping over his usually well-thought comebacks. It was hard to think that he and Envy had already kissed twice...

"No, nothing special. Not yet." Envy said with a small smirk. He pressed his lips hungrily to Ed's without another word or warning. Ed's eyes flew open, but he couldn't find the will to fight as hard as he had...

Envy's mouth ravaged Ed's, it was a mind-blowing sensation, Ed was feeling lost to it. His eyes drifted half-closed, his mind wasn't allowing him to think of anything but the warm body pressed to his, the lips forcing themselves harder against his own..

Envy was surprised to say in the least when Ed not only responded, but fought him unmistakably for dominance. He eased up and let the blond kiss him back forcefully. Ed was actually pushing him back, in his new surge to kiss the wild-haired teen...

Amber eyes flew open and met amused violet ones, and Ed jerked back so suddenly he smacked his head against the wall-fence. When his vision cleared, his jaw just hung loosely, staring at the soft expression Envy was wearing, finding no explanation for his sudden urge to.. Dominate.

"My... So he can kiss. This'll be quite the struggle down the road... Will be quite interesting..." Envy said silkily (if not a little breathlessly). All Ed could manage was a jumbled mess of, "I..I..I" and "Uh.."

Seizing his opportunity, Envy said his long-awaited, powerful words.

"Edo, we've been playing this as a game. Well, I'm going to make my critical move. I'll tell you this now..." A wide grin took over Envy's features, and his eyes narrowed in mirth. "I want you to be my boyfriend!"

Ed could only stutter a bunch of, "b's", still too shocked at his own actions. When the proposition sunk in, he gaped at the taller teen.

"Your WHAT?"

"Boyfriend, Edo, you know what the word means, right?" Envy said cheerfully. Ed shook his head almost spastically.

"No no no no no! Don't ask me something like that, I don't like you! Why do you like me, so much?"

The taller teen looked up a little bit, as if in thought. He locked eyes again and half-smiled, half-smirked.

"I'm not entirely sure, chibi. I guess I just do. You, for one, seem like you are very deprived in the love-life section, so I'm sure this would be a very good learning experience." Envy was puzzled as Ed's expression grew dark.

"So, you want to play with me for an undeterminable reason for an undeterminable amount of time. Envy, the reason I don't date or anything is because I don't believe that a true relationship can be formed in people so young. I'm not going to be toyed with by you just so you can have some kicks and then abandon me."

"... So if I stayed with you..."

"You can't promise that. And in the end, I don't like you. I don't want to be with you."

Envy stared deeply at the smaller teen. This kid was scared of being left alone. The last bit stung a bit, but Envy understood just how serious the chibi was about his love-life. One lover, and for the rest of his life. What a dream.

"Chibi, I expected more sense of you." Ed blinked in confusion. "There is rarely a, "Perfect Couple." If you go on saying you don't want to meet anyone during your youth, then maybe no one will want to meet you. There's some things you need to practice in, chibi, love is one of them."

Ed looked away and snorted. "My match shouldn't like me for what I can do, but for who I am."

"I like you for who you are." Ed looked at Envy, shocked. Envy himself was pondering over his uncharacteristically soft words, but they got Ed's attention well enough.

Ed closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Looking back, he said with sincerity, "I can't say the same." Envy didn't look mad, but his eyes grew distant. He let go of Ed's hands and moved a step away from his previously pinned opponent.

He reached out and ruffled Ed's hair, to which he got no response. Ed had him fixed with an unreadable expression.

"Maybe in time, chibi. Maybe in time."

He walked away and mounted his bike, not bothering to put on the hair-tie and racing off down the street. Ed watched him go, almost feeling sorry. The green-haired teen seemed to be a little more interested in him than he'd thought.

Ed went and picked up his bag, puzzling deeply over the teen.

Act 3 - Wednesday - 4:45pm - On a major Highway
...0...0...

He'd thought it was just lust. He'd passed it off as his playful nature. He didn't expect actual feelings to be hidden there.

Envy roared along the highway, not caring where he was going, as long as it allowed him to go fast. His hair tugged painfully at his head, more-so than usual since it wasn't tied back, but Envy paid it no mind. The air bit at his bare skin, but he was already too used to it.

Ed had confirmed the very thing Envy was going to do. Parade around with the younger teen as his 'boyfriend' and probably take the blond a few times, then leave him if he got bored. He figured that wouldn't be for a while, since the blond had captured his interest so hard, and thought no further than that.

He hadn't expected the blond to capture something much more critical.

Of all the people Envy had ever met, Ed was one of the most sincere. And he was innocent without being naive.

He was the type of person who wanted to have a serious relationship, not just play around, like Envy did. They were complete opposites. (AN: You know what they say about opposites..) Envy was seeing more and more qualities in the blond that made him pure, too pure. If he were ever to be discarded by someone, after he thought they were going to stay together forever and loved them truly, he would probably break.

'I don't know if I could be so dedicated. I'm not heartless, I don't need something like that on my conscience. All the people I fool around with know we aren't serious. They know we won't be together for the rest of our lives.' Envy thought to himself. He felt a pang of regret, and some surprise. Now that he'd thought of it, he never had been in a serious relationship. He'd never actually loved before. Damn, he hadn't even been on a real date!

Was he that scared of rejection? That he couldn't bring himself to put any real tie in someone?

If so, then the hurt he was definitely feeling from the chibi's last words must prove that he'd indeed placed some part of himself in the smaller teen. Ed probably had no idea. Envy was falling for someone in ways that he was unfamiliar with, and dammit, he wasn't appreciating it.

His rise sort of died, as he thought about those last words. Ed didn't like him, but that was understandable. Envy had underestimated the chibi, he never expected someone to be so.. Virtuous. Ed didn't appreciate his affections, and didn't want to associate with him.

That hurt.

Envy was staring at two metaphorical walls. One, which stopped him from wanting to like the chibi, because he may end up hurting the blond severely. Or vise-versa. And another wall, that prevented him from wanting to move on. There was something that stopped him from running away and continuing his carefree ways.

It was surprising that Envy was even considering the possibility of settling down with one person. Tame the wild beast? He would have thought it impossible.

Envy was at a loss. He had no idea what to do now. He wasn't supposed to be so indecisive, dammit!

His momentary rage caused him to veer closely to a car that had been rushing along beside him. A loud blaring beep and a domino-effect swerve got Envy's attention and he cursed. He kicked his speed up and raced on ahead, before the driver started to yell at him.

Envy was in a bad mood. A Very Bad Mood.

Act 4 - Wednesday - 10:18pm - Ed's Bedroom
...0...0...

Ed had refused to think about Envy after he walked through the door of his house. Homework, time with his brother, practicing for the talent show, he'd managed to get through the evening rather well. But now with nothing to distract him, his thoughts returned.

Envy had been hurt. That much was certain.

Envy didn't seem the kind of person to just walk away like that without a good reason, and Ed was sure he caught something akin to pain in his eyes anyways. If Envy was just wanting to fool around, why was he upset by Ed's rejection? He wasn't before..

Ed gasped in realization. Before, Envy was playing a game. He didn't really feel anything for him! But maybe now... Maybe Envy had gotten too attached, maybe that wild teen had made a tie with Ed that he couldn't sever.

The fact that Envy was interested in him, and showing it, had made Ed blush to himself on more than one occasion. He was usually rather cold to anyone who tried to portray feelings to him. He never considered them to really mean it. He felt the same thing about Envy, even though no one had ever gone so far as him.

If Envy was hurt by Ed's rejection... Then, maybe his feelings were a bit more sincere than Ed was giving the teen credit for.

Ed snorted. Must be a bit of a shock to him. If that is indeed the case, and this only just recently developed, Envy must be surprised too. Ed figured that the teen hadn't planned to be so serious, and was probably unaware of his own feelings.

But did that mean that Envy did indeed feel something for him? Stronger than lust? Something more than playfulness? Ed wasn't sure.

He felt sort of bad for his comment. True, he couldn't see himself liking the teen the way a couple could, but it wasn't entirely truth that he didn't like the teen at all.

Ed admired Envy for his complete lack of caring for what people thought of him. Ed was too self-conscious, and he wished he weren't. Envy had little shame, and although Ed was so proper and 'goody two shoes', he couldn't help but admire that too. Envy was just such a unique individual, that it was a rather nice change from all the alike people Ed saw so often. Envy was a breath of fresh air.

Ed blushed. It was also true that Ed couldn't honestly say he hated Envy's actions towards him. He felt embarrassment, anger, but those were such natural responses. Ed wasn't familiar with the kind of attention he received from Envy. It was a strange feeling that someone as.. 'wild' as Envy could like him. He felt the urges at the time, but afterwards, cursed his body for trying to act on it's own.

He didn't appreciate it, he only wanted someone he'd be serious with to be so familiar with him. But he couldn't disregard the fact that Envy's affections were.. alluring.

Ed sat up and shook his head. He could not be thinking of Envy like that. If he didn't want Envy to touch him, didn't want Envy to like him, then why didn't he hate the other teen's affections more? Why didn't he fight against Envy more?

There was no way he could like Envy, was there? Wasn't it just his hormones, calling out for him to 'explore new territories'?

Ed flopped back onto his bed and raised his hands to massage his temples. He felt a headache coming on.. If he really did have some small like for Envy, more than just a scarce bit of admiration, then he could really end up hurting himself.

Ed didn't believe that the older teen could hold a serious relationship. He couldn't believe that Envy would stay with him.

'Argh!' Ed tapped himself harshly in the forehead. He didn't want to think of the older teen staying with him. He didn't want to like the teen! He didn't want Envy to like him!

Ed sighed at his predicament. The more he thought of Envy, the more confused he got. His actions seemed to show that he didn't hate Envy. His fear was that Envy couldn't hold a relationship if he wanted to be serious with Ed. Ed's problem was that he didn't want to like Envy, but he was finding it harder and harder to resist the temptations. Ed wasn't some sucker, he couldn't get roped into something completely by someone else's will. There had to be a part played by him, he was strong like that.

The logical solution was to observe, then act accordingly. Analyze his feelings for Envy over a short period of time, and determine what he really felt. Was it just hormones, or something else? At the same time, try to find out what Envy's feelings were. Was he correct in thinking that the other teen may have more than just a lustful eye on him?

Ed sighed at his own self-programming. He was a logical person, and through the confusion, the plan seemed to be a bit of a comfort. He was aware that he was opening his mind to the fact that he may actually like Envy, but then again, he wanted to be a scientist, and scientists had to have open minds.

So, he fell asleep holding on to the shred of light that was his solution.

To which our own comforts, ne?

Wow. So Envy is unsure whether to go on and try harder with Ed, or run away and continue to live carefree. Ed is settling for being open-minded, and observing both their actions. Both are scared of "Serious Relationship" becoming "Serious Failure". Seems these two have to find the courage to leap into the unknown, ne?

Act 5 - Friday - 8:29am - Havoc's Classroom.
...0...0...

Thursday had come and gone quickly. Ed had been surprisingly eager to begin his 'solution', but had been equally surprised at his disappointment when Envy hadn't shown up for school that day. He turned the leaf and told himself that at least he'd have a day to calm down and relax in class. He did, and the day had gone by with little drama, but today was completely the opposite.

It was Friday, the day of the Talent Show!

The class was buzzing, most of the students were eager of the two last periods off, and the chance to see some free entertainment. The rest of the class either didn't care, or planned to leave. Ed was being constantly pestered for his act's details.

"Edo-chan, come on! Please tell us what you're doing?" Tia pouted, trying her best to weasel out the information. She was trying her best to lighten the teen's mood as well, he seemed pretty nervous. He was grinning slightly at his refusal to divulge the information, so she guessed it was working.

"You'll see what it is, only a few hours away!" He grinned. He knew she was trying to cheer him up along with getting the juicy prize of his act details, but his grin was mostly for show. He was dead nervous of singing in front of the school. He would have turned at the last moment and did something else, but Al made him promise, and Ed frankly had no idea what he would do if he did chicken.

Al had also made him promise to buy a tape of the show. The announcements yesterday had said that a few hundred tapes would be made for the whole show, and would sell for about 15 dollars. The information had greatly excited his little brother.

Ed wasn't the only one stubbornly keeping his act to himself, Envy was doing the same thing. His nervousness was being portrayed as irritation, and though Ed caught on to that quickly, not many other seemed to get it. Lucky for Envy.

The teen hadn't spoken to him yet. He wasn't avoiding eye-contact with Ed, no, he'd grinned at the chibi more than once, but he didn't bother or touch him. Ed was surprised at the change, but he didn't comment on it. Could it have been a way of distancing, or an attempt at making him more comfortable around him?

Maybe it was just the pent up anxiety of the Talent Show. Maybe Envy had some hidden stage fright, despite his eagerness to stand out.

In any case, the class went semi-smoothly for the first half. Most everyone was in bright spirits, and just a bit after 9, Scieszka saw that everyone was much too excited to get much work done. The sea of whispers was quite audible.

'Though they're all young adults, they still have that excitable quality in them', She said to herself with a soft smile. She announced that the work they were doing was now homework, and they could finish it now or do it at home and have the rest of the period to themselves as long as they were quiet.

The surprise free time was accepted happily, and about three separate groups of card-players blotched the room. Ed had been sucked into a game of poker with Marcus, Envy, and three other guys.

Scieszka was delighted at the happier mood of the room, and settled down to read a book for the rest of class. The day was sure looking bright, and she herself couldn't wait for the events of the third and fourth period-long Talent Show.

This was going to be fun!

Act 6 - Friday - 1:30pm - The Auditorium
..0...0...0..

Ed's heart was beating so fast he thought it would break out of his chest. He'd never been to the auditorium before, and SHIT, it looked like a concert gathering!

The school held roughly 3000 students, and it was built for far more. No one had problems finding seats (though the incoming classes grade-by-grade were being matched to a certain area, so mass confusion didn't break out).

The show was scheduled to go at 1:45, that was in a bare 15 minutes. Ed would have had much more time to calm down and enjoy the show, but, he had been timed as one of the opening acts, and he was set to go as act 7. Lucky him.

The show was going to run for about just over two hours, with 38 acts going right after one another. There was no intermission, if students wished to leave for the washroom (or just to leave, as would be predicted), they could just go and come back if they were going to when they pleased. Principle Bradley figured that he didn't want anyone to be there who didn't want to be, and as if by reverse-psychology, most of the students showed up for the spectacle.

Students had been pouring in for the last half-hour, and Ed could tell that the population of the crowd was going to be way over 2000. He was going to sing in front of that many people...

Ed had found a source of comfort during the wait, and in the last thing he would have expected. Envy had found him somewhere a while back, and stood with him amongst the throng of participants. Everyone who didn't need to be backstage and cued was standing in an area off to the left of the auditorium, gathered and chattering excitedly. After you had completed your act, if you didn't want to leave immediately or if you didn't need to use the washroom or other reasons concerning props or such, you could go sit in the few rows of reserved seats where they were standing near now. Those seats were for retiring participators, and many who couldn't take the excitement were sitting in them now.

"Quite the commotion, ne?" Envy said to Ed, grinning and crossing his arms. He wore a similar outfit to the one he wore at the club last week, and the translucent black sleeves danced merrily and settled lightly on his folded arms. Ed wore a form-fitting red sleeveless and his usual leather pants.

"Yeah... I'm as nervous as hell.." Ed admitted, stepping subtly closer to Envy without realizing it. Envy took notice, but didn't say anything. He didn't admit it back, but he was feeling a little nervous as well. He wasn't afraid of being in front of people, and he wasn't worried about what they would think. But he was going to be.. Singing. It was just a completely different matter all together. He'd probably ever hear the end of it.. Oh well. Not like he didn't do enough outlandish things anyways..

The lights dimmed, and the volume of the room increased tenfold. A searchlight boomed on, and focused on two figures on the stage.

A pretty girl with extremely pink hair waved and called out into her microphone, "Hello, West Rain!" The gym exploded back a garbled version of some sort of greeting, and the other girl, tall and with long blond hair, put a hand to her ear and said slyly, "What was that? I can't hear you West Rain!"

The gym roared out again, in slightly better sync. The two girls laughed and continued their intro.

"Welcome to the Surprise Talent Show of 2006! Let's give Principle Bradley a hand for his wonderful present!" The blond said cheerfully. Screams and applause followed as Bradley walked onto the stage and waved. The pink-haired girl gave him a big hug and handed him the microphone.

"I welcome you to the Talent Show, and I hope you all will have fun! The next two hours have been specially prepared for you! Please enjoy the acts your friends and peers have come up with and will bravely show you! Enjoy!"

More applause and voices, it was so loud it seemed to echo in your head. The two girls once again took the light as Bradley walked off-stage, waving and smiling happily.

The first act was announced, and the audience was dazzled by a vicious opening display of two fencers mock-fighting to a dance-mix track. Ed was even left breathless at the amazing liquidity of the two. It was hard to believe it was choreographed.

Ten minutes and three acts later, one of the staff-members included in the background help paced along the small waist-high fence separating the participant area and seats to that side, with the rest of the gym. He called out in a voice that they would hear, but the rest of the gym wouldn't, "Acts five through ten! Five through ten, go on up!"

Ed's heart raced anew, he's be going on soon. With an almost hesitant look at Envy, he followed the other people included in the acts around the fence and up the stairs that would lead to the door to the farthest left of the stage. This was way off from the start of the curtain, so they would barely be noticed by anyone. Once entering backstage, he saw props, and people, and all sorts of equipment. Applause and screams signaled to them that the fourth act was over. Ed saw the curtains close from where he stood, and the person who had played the guitar walked off, wiping sweat from his brow. Ten people went to set up the props needed for the fifth act, doing a five minute job in under one.

The curtains opened again, revealing a small setting of a living room (chair, table, small carpet), with a single person in the chair holding a puppet.

Ed couldn't concentrate on the ventriloquist, all he could do was massage his hands and look nervously around. A short, black-haired teacher with a cheerful expression came up to him and said, noticing the paper clamped in Ed's hand with a big, black "7" on it.

"Seven, right? Here you go, please stand over there with act 6. You're on soon, best of luck!" He said, handing him a microphone. Ed was a little surprised at the weight, but it was nothing he couldn't handle, and he went over to join the three girls dressed up in cosplay outfits.

One, a girl with a wig on suggesting long-orange hair in pig-tails, grinned at him and said, "Aww! Are you going to sing! That's awesome!" She stuttered a bit, and her nervousness was quite apparent. Ed figured she was in tenth or eleventh grade.

When the ventriloquist went off-stage with much applause and laughter, the curtain closed and the background team whisked the setting away. The three cosplayers went and got into position giddily, waiting for the curtains to open. The curtains didn't open and close for every act transition, only the ones that required a scene change, so to speak. These three cosplayers had no further items than themselves, so when they went off-stage, Ed would be walking right on in front of over two thousand people.

Ed tried every possible way to calm down. He'd mess up his song if he didn't get a grip. He wondered briefly when he'd be given his cd back, since it had been requested yesterday and added to the Audio Run station set up not too far from him (all audio was being master-controlled from there). He then thought of Al, since it was actually his cd. Al was looking forward to seeing him when he bought the tape, and darn it, he wouldn't let him down!

Filled with a new courage and finally eager to get on stage, Ed added 'gut-wrenching nervousness and excitement' to his list when the cosplayers left the stage cheering and laughing, with applause following them all the way.

"And next, Edward Elric, singing for us, Returnable Memories!"

eep.

Whoo! Edo is about to go on!

Kit: That's horrible, leaving there.
Cat: Nope, it has to have a clean slate! It's the Talent Show man!
Seira: Now I'm all psyched! And I have to wait! Damn!
Cat: Sorry guys!

Alright, Edo's about to go on for the two thousand plus audience, and he's dead-nervous! Let's hope he doesn't faint! XD

R&R!

Next Time:

Sin High

Chapter 11 - Songbirds - In the Limelight