»Part Twelve: Sam «

Linsey and I continued chatting as we walked down the hall. Ed was on the other side of me, wisely keeping his distance from the maniac with the flute. His presence had become almost ordinary as the day moved on, and I had nearly forgotten that he was an abnormality to my everyday social life. Wait... I have a social life?

"I don't even know how he got here!" I whispered excitedly to Linsey.

"Where did you find him?"

"I didn't!" I exclaimed, "He just... showed up on my doorstep!"

"Weird..."

Ed looked over at the two of us, seemingly uninterested.

"Yes, we're talking about you," I nodded.

"Hm," he shrugged, facing forward again. I knew he would probably try to listen in to our conversation now.

"So what am I supposed to do with him?"

"How should I know!" she thrust her upturned palms into the air. "I still can't believe it's really him!"

"Please, don't start that again." I breathed sarcastically.

"What are you going to do with him?" she asked, "Like, how are you going to get rid of him, I mean."

"Get rid of him?" that worried me. "I don't wanna get rid of him; he's kinda cool!"

Another jerky grin slipped across Ed's face as he heard me.

"Well, have you told your mom yet?"

"No, she's on some trip. And everyone else is ((somewhere else I have to think of before the end of the story.))"

"Oh," she said as we reached the pod.

I sighed and broke away from our conversation, leaving Linsey to stop at her locker while I led Ed off towards mine to grab some stuff I needed before English class. I entered the combo and pushed up at the little latch, swinging it open on its hinges. There I squatted down on my feet, piling books after book and a binder into Ed's hands. Allison often made me hold her supplies as well, but I didn't mind at all. I just liked helping people out.

"Okay, thanks," I said as Ed handed me my stuff. Then I shut my locker and swung my purse up over my wrist.

"Upstairs again, huh?" he followed me over towards the stairwell.

"Yep," I nodded, "All of my classes except for Child Development and lunch are upstairs."

"And your locker's downstairs." Ed stated.

"I know, right?"

I grabbed hold of the railing as I rounded the corner on one of the landings. Every staircase in the school was in a white, two-story high room and had two sets of practically perpendicular stairs. There were Spanish posters and a sunset mural in this particular one, and students usually hung flyers or other stupid stuff in the rest.

I always liked to run up the stairs on all fours at our house, but I had to resist the urge to do so while I was in school, for obvious reasons. Okay, sometimes I did anyway—and still do—just don't let it get around, y'hear? Alright... where was I... oh, yeah. English class.

The door was always open to Mrs. Smith's room, but our teacher's name was Ms. Stratton. She had blue eyes and chocolate-colored hair, which she often wore up with a clip. I don't want to guess her age for fear of getting it wrong, but she looked fairly young. Her methods of teaching and friendly personality was something I liked, and I was one of the best students in her class (if I do say so myself.) She would always smile and say 'hello' whenever I walked in.

"Okay, just let me talk," I whispered to Ed as I took a step into the classroom. It seemed that I was always the last one there.

"Hello," Ms. Stratton welcomed me, just like I had predicted. Her voice trailed off as her eye-contact with me shifted to Ed.

"Um, yeah." I paused abruptly, lingering on thoughts of her reaction. I was shy in this class as well. Maybe it was because I had no friends... in here and Child Development, I mean. "This is my cousin..."

"Hi," she said quickly, letting me finish.

"He's, like, coming to all my classes and stuff..." wow. I really sound like an idiot, don't I. That's probably what I'd actually say to her in this situation. Thank God it's only a story.

"Oh, okay!" she smiled at him.

"Yeah," I choked out. Talking to teachers always made me nervous.

"What's your name?" Ms. Stratton asked, almost as if I had just told her and she had already forgotten.

"Ed," Ed said blankly. He didn't bother holding out a hand for Ms. Stratton to shake because he saw that her hands were already full with books and a marker.

"I'm Ms. Stratton," she introduced, looking around the room for a place where Ed could sit. Luckily, the seat next to mine was empty. "You can just have a seat over next to Oli," she pointed, "I don't think Brynne's here today."

"No, she's not," I confirmed.

"Okay."

We bended around the projector and snaked through the crookedly aligned desks until we got to mine. I shared a double-desk with Maggie, while Brynne was normally seated to my right. A kid named Sam, who we both hate, sat to the right of her.

I had been in a class with Sam ever since kindergarten, and I'd always despised him. He hasn't changed much—still loud and obnoxious as ever—which is why I can't blame anyone who finds him unruly; not a pleasure to be seated next to, as Ed soon found out.

"Whoa, who'er you?" Sam boomed impolitely, leaning back in his seat.

"Name's Ed," Ed replied. The friendly tone in his voice told me that he had no idea of what kind of person Sam was.

"Ed?" Sam questioned in distaste. I had to agree with him on that one; you'd think a Japan-originated anime character would've at least acquired a better English name than 'Ed' or 'Al.' But then again, 'Sam' was pretty dull, too.

"Don't like it?" Ed said sharply, catching on to Sam's class-clownish nature. "Get used to it."

Wrong move.

"Ooh," Sam howled sarcastically. His equally jerky friends joined in. Ed looked around him at the other boys; he was standing up while they all were seated. He gritted his teeth and growled a little. Yes, growled.

"Ed, don't--" I whispered, trying to stop him from getting into trouble. I was afraid that, if Ed got him worked up enough, Sam might do something that I knew Ed really wouldn't like.

"Dude, you wanna go?" Sam challenged facetiously, falsely suggesting a fight.

"I'm up for a fight, if that's what you mean," Ed clenched his left fist and swung it through the air up to his chest. He was careful not to show his right fist for the time being.

"You a tough kid, huh?" Sam teased.

"Who are you calling 'kid'? I'm fifteen!" Ed nearly shouted.

"Whoa, seriously?" Sam really looked surprised. Then he did what I'd hoped he wouldn't from the beginning.

Sam stood up.

"Same here." Sam was like most of the other freshmen guys—tall and mildly built-up.

"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!" Ed cried in disbelief, keeping his volume to an inside yelp.

The other boys stood up. Taylor, a kid who used to make fun of me in Middle School, was just as mean and just as tall, if not taller than Sam. Mike wasn't quite as tall or mean as the others; he was actually quite funny at times, but he was still taller than Ed. Together, the three of them really got to him.

"Big deal! I'll take you all at once if I have to!" He claimed, clapping his hands together like he was about to perform alchemy... too bad it didn't exist in my world.

"Huh?" Sam noticed Ed's auto-mail arm. "What's up with your...?"

Ed looked up at him, still in confusion over why his alchemy wasn't working. He took his right arm away and acted as if they had not been about to fight. "You mean this?"

"Whoa!" All three boys gaped in real awe.

"Heh heh heh," Ego took over. Ed lifted the rest of his sleeve and grinned, "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Sweet!"

"That's awesome!"

"How'd you get it?"

"Uh..." Ed blinked and held his arm.

"Shark attack!" I whispered sharply, peering over his shoulder.

"Oh, right," he smirked, "Shark attack."

"But isn't that, like, weird to have on you?" Sam winced at the thought of having a metal arm. I wasn't sure if he knew about the girl's father that I had mentioned before (ch. 5).

"I'm used to it," he let his sleeve droop again, pointing at his other metal limb. "My left leg is aut—mechanic, too."

"Whoa, really?" Sam grasped onto the back of his chair.

"Well, most of it; see?" Ed lifted his black pantleg, "It's real strong, too."

"Nice," Sam sat back down. "So, you were planning to use those against me, huh? Pretty sweet..."

Ed rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Nah, I wouldn't really," he lied, even though the both of us knew that, if his alchemy had worked, Sam would probably have been in pieces on the floor at that moment.

Sam nodded and might've been about to say something when Ms. Stratton began the class. We were instructed to take out our journals and begin writing, which was a daily exercise. After everyone had finished and a few kids shared their entries, a worksheet was passed out that was due by the end of class. It was a Q&A on a movie we were about to watch. I scanned over both the front and back sides of the paper, 10 questions in all. It wasn't that bad, and I was definitely in the mood for a movie, what with all the recent commotion over my new friend. Ed was probably more worn out that I was, but you could never tell it from the way he grinned; like he was the coolest thing since canned bread—now that's something to grin about. I mean, bread. In a CAN! Who would ever think of—oh, right.

Anyway, I leaned my elbow across the table and made a fist to rest my cheek upon. Ed put his hands in his lap beneath the table and lay his head down on top of it, like he was going to take a nap. I didn't think he'd act so casual on his first day, but maybe he had gotten used to the 21st century already.

As one of my classmates volunteered to flick off the lights, Ed rolled his head over to face me. He still had one side of his face flat on the table.

"What's this?" He asked in a hush tone. Though I hadn't expected him to know what a movie was, I still wasn't prepared to go ahead and describe it. Especially without letting the other classmates know where—or when—he was actually from.

"It's a movie," I told him, equally hushed. "Like a picture that moves." That was all the detail I could go into if I wanted to keep Ed's secret from the class.

"A picture that moves?" he repeated, sounding both confused and unsure.

"I can't get into it right now, you'll see." I shook my head. "Just don't act all excited; people will get suspicious. Movies are everyday things, and I know you've never seen one before, so don't blow your cover." I quickly glanced around the room to see if anyone had been watching or heard what I said. From the looks of it, no one was even paying attention.

My answer had probably left Ed feeling a little scattered, but I couldn't have him acting like he'd never seen a movie before. Ms. Stratton pushed the DVD into its slot and another volunteer classmate got up and shut the shades, making it easier to see in the dark. I nodded and lifted my cheek off of my fist for a second while I whispered to Ed, "Turn around."