Gene was so mad afterwards. Well, he had every right to be. Sort of. I did embarrass him today, but I'm only 12! What does he expect?

"Oh God!" I thought to my self. "I have school still! And a life! And…and…oh man…I can't quit school! That would mean that I'd be out of the tech team club! I can't let them down now!" and my friends thought their lives were stressful… What am I going to do? Damn! Late for school, better leave! I arrived at school 30 minutes late, with toast in my mouth, half eaten. "Crap! Detention again!" I've gotten 13 detentions…THIS WEEK! Maybe I should just quit school…I mean, hey, I'm a state alchemist! RIIIIING! RIIIIIING! RIIIIING! Everyone started at me. I shrugged and said "what?" after all, it wasn't me this time, and it was Elena's cell phone. But, of course, I get blamed for it. Just cuz I don't wear the uniform properly, cuss in school, sleep in class, and ignore directions, does that give them right to blame me for EVERYTHING?

During lunch, I turned on my cell phone, and lo and behold, I had 50 messages, from the military. Stupid gene! He probably gave them my number for revenge! Oh well, I'll kill him when I get home. Those messages were all saying "where are you? You need to be here!" from some colonel at HQ. I called him back, and talked with no respect. Ok, so I never knew of the word "sir" before, so I get yelled at. Again. I said that I had school, and then he realized that I was still a little kid.

"Well, I'm not that little! I'm 5'3!"

"Just get over here! NOW!"

"Fine. But that means I'll get about 3 more detentions, and ill be skipping all the ones I got today. Hehehe."

"GET OVER HERE!"

"Ok, ok, I'm coming!"

I snuck out of the "playground" that's really a parking lot, and ran home to get some food cuz I was STARVING! I got there about 20 minutes later, and got yelled at! Man, was today a bad day. RIIIING! Everyone stared at me. ME! I stared back and said it wasn't mine and glared at my brother, cuz his face was turning red from embarrassment. It was his!

"Ha! Not me this time!"

Everyone then glared at me harder.

"Well, what was more important than school?"

"You're a state Alchemist. You have to be here at all times."

"Sorry Gene, but I have school! HELLO!"

"Not anymore."

"Why? Did they expel me already?"

"No but you can't go anymore, stupid"

"Shut up, retard"

"Make me, Baby!"

"Well at least I'm not a psycho path!"
"Well, umm…uhh…"

"That's it. I'm going back to annoy the hell outta my teachers and get the crap out of my locker."

"What else would you go for? Its not like you have any friends!"

"I have more than you ever will in your life! I'm leaving!"

"Fine! Leave!"

I looked at my watch and it was 1:45. Great, I said to my self, I missed lunch. That means that I'll have to explain why I skipped class. I can see it now.

"HALEY! WHY DID YOU SKIP CLASS!" Mrs. Giorgio. She yells a lot.

"Well, you see, I'm a state alchemist and they wanted me at HQ, and I got into a fight with my brother, and, then I came back because I was so mad at him!"

"Haley, I'm sick of your excuses! You are 12 years old, in the 6th grade and are NOT a state alchemist! WAKE UP!"

I giggled thinking about it. I'd better avoid going there until school was over.

So instead I went to the dojo. No one knew about it, except for me and a few other people. That was where I practiced my twin blade. It was also my place to get away, a place to go where I was respected cuz I was so good at it. I practiced for about an hour, and then realized school was over. I could get the crap out of my locker, and hopefully my brother had calmed down so I could ask him if I was already out of school.

"Hey, Gene?"

"What do you want now?"

"Did you already take me out of school?"

"Yea. It's all taken care of. Go and get everything that you want before they erase the spray paint off of your locker."
"Hey! They did that a month ago and I haven't done it since!"

"Whatever."

"Gene?"

"Yea?"

"Do you ever wonder why people attacked us that night 3 years ago? And why they killed mom and dad?"

"Every day."

"Gene?"

"What?"

"Don't die."

"What do you mean?"