Chapter 2: First Period Science
I chose a seat in the middle of the room. I wanted to sit up front, but all of the boys were literally slugging each other to get a seat close to Miss Lust. Envy walked around the room, then gestured to the seat next to me. I nodded. It was better then having some girl sit next to me. We watched the fight for a few more seconds before Envy pulled out a pencil and started to speak into it like he was a sport commentator. "And they're off! Blue shirt just pushed Yellow shirt to the ground! But Yellow isn't going to stand for that! Instead, he takes Red's chair! The two look like they're about to go for each other's throat!" Many kids had stopped taking out pencils and whatnot to listen to Envy's 'commentary'. But, as the saying goes, it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt.
I had seen the girl around before. She needed glasses badly, but didn't get them. Instead, she always sat at the front of the class so she could read the board. Well, some boy wasn't paying attention and shoved her out of her seat and took it for himself. She hit the tile floor, hard and started to cry. Miss Lust, who had been watching the whole thing, sprung into action. By 'action', I meant that the boy that pushed her to the ground was given an after school detention and was forced to sit in the back of the room and the girl got her seat back. The fighting stopped shortly after that.
Miss Lust passed around a seating chart and we all wrote down where we sat. "Ok, now that that's over, I have some things to pass out." She picked two girls at the back of the class to pass out the papers. "The papers that are being passed out right now are a set of class rules and a Lab Contract. I expect them to come back to school, signed by both you and your parents, by the end of the week." I flinched. Al and I had no parents to speak of; it was a miracle that we still had the house. I noticed that Envy also flinched. I wonder what it was like at his place. Must be pretty bad to make him flinch like that.
"All right students, now let's test your Science knowledge with a verbal quiz." She said in that soft voice of hers, "What is a theory?" I rolled my eyes. This was too easy! All the hands in the room went up. She called on a guy up front. "Um.......an educated guess?" Miss Lust sighed and I smiled. This is way too easy! She looked around the room and picked me. "A theory is a unifying explanation for a broad range of hypotheses and observations the have been supported by testing." I recited. Alchemy is just another form of science, so knowing science was a must for an Alchemist. "Very good. I see some students paid attention last year." Miss Lust said, smiling at me. "SHOWOFF!!!" Some guy in the front of the room yelled. I didn't care. They were jealous because they weren't smart.
Her eyes glanced at the seating chart. "Ok, Bob, what is an observation?" Miss Lust said in a voice that reminded me of the sound of a rattlesnake shaking its tail. He stared blankly at her. "Well......It's....well, you know........well it's a observation!" was his pathetic, stuttered reply. "I want you to take out a piece of paper when you get home and ask someone what an observation is. Then, I want you to write, not type, the definition 25 times. I expect you to turn in the paper tomorrow morning and tell the class what an observation is." She said writing 'Bob – definition of 'observation' 25 times' on the board. Some people snickered. She gained some of my respect. "She a no-nonsense person isn't she?" Envy whispered in my ear. I nodded in response because she was looking in our direction. I hated school, but that didn't mean I wanted to get into trouble. The bell rang. "Time for second period! Hurry up now, you only have five minutes to get to your next class!" Miss Lust said, smiling warmly.
Envy and I walked out the door together. "So...can I see your schedule?" Envy said, pulling out his. I handed it to him. He looked over it. "NO WAY! That is SO AWESOME!!" he said, practically jumping up and down. "What is so 'awesome'?" was my reply. How could schedules be awesome? All he did was hand me his. We had the same schedule! "Friends?" he said, extending his hand. "Friends." I said, shaking his hand. "OK, so what do you, I mean we have next?" he said, grinning from ear to ear. "Algebra." I said. He grabbed my arm and pulled me through the crowd of lost people. We stopped in front of an open door. "Well, here we are. Shall we go in?" He said, saying the last part with a fake British accent. I laughed. Maybe school won't be so bad after all.