Dancing in the Rain
Chapter Two
Winry paid as much attention as she could for the rest of the period. Although the fact that Edward had helped her still lingered in the back of her mind. First and foremost, he came on as a jerk, so why would a jerk help her? He did help her right? She thought it had been him. But, the more she thought about it, the more she started to doubt it. And the more she thought about it, the farther her mind wandered from the lesson. She made a mental note to ask Mr. Meadows for some practice sheets on this stuff later.
Mostly though, she was thinking about what Riza had said to her. Edward Elric was cursed. What did that mean? How was he cursed? Like, klutzy cursed? Or the bad kind of cursed? Not that she cared. After all, Winry Rockbell didn't believe in curses. They were immature, stupid, and plain old ridiculous. There was a logical explanation behind all curses.
She only thought that way because back in third grade a boy pretended to put a curse on her and she couldn't sleep for three weeks afterwards. Her mother had mimicked the same speech and finally Winry got to sleep.
It seemed the period went by all too fast, and the bell gave a loud rang, followed by muttering and the sound of movement as the class started to get up. She glanced over at Edward, only to find him not there. When she glanced back at the door, she barely saw him as he disappeared through it. Winry had to wonder how he could get from the back of the class all the way out the door before anyone else. Finally, she pushed the thought aside and collected her books.
She had managed to pretty much avoid Edward for the rest of the morning. It wasn't because of the stupid curse, it was because he was a jerk. A plain old fashion run-of-the-mill jerk. He didn't have to snap at her, when she was just looking at him. That's right. She was avoiding him because he was a jerk. Well, that's what she told herself.
When lunch finally came around, she ate with Riza, Roy and a new boy named Maes who she had recently met. It turned out he was in Roy's homeroom, and the three of them had been friends since before they could remember. Maes turned out to be a nice enough guy, and Winry could see herself nicely fitting into this school.
Although, when they were eating lunch out on the rocks near the school's garden, Winry caught sight of Edward eating his lunch alone by the fence and was hit with a painful surge of guilt. Didn't he have any friends? Maybe his friends were away today. Yeah, that had to be it.
As hard as she tried to pay attention to the conversations Riza, Roy and Maes were having, Winry found herself thinking of the blonde boy that was supposed to be cursed. She didn't see why everyone said that. Perhaps he wasn't cursed at all? Maybe the other kids simple didn't like him.
The more she thought about him, the more she wanted to ask Riza why he was cursed. Her curiosity seemed to grow more and more, and soon she found it overwhelming. Although she wanted to ask, she didn't. Instead she merely kept it to herself, nodding occasionally when one of them spoke to her, even if she had no idea what they were talking about.
Lunch seemed to fly by her, and already they were back in school. For fifth period, she realized, she would have her first shop class, and the excitement was already building up inside her. She knew that it would be easy for her to catch up to whatever they were doing. After all, she was a genius with anything mechanical.
When she entered the classroom, she couldn't help but grin. The place smelt of wood and engine oil. She scanned the two-person workbenches, and found an empty one near the middle. Without hesitation, she headed over to it and took her seat, looking around to see exactly who she had in her class. When she didn't spot Riza, Roy or Maes, she frowned. It would've been nice to have one of her new friends in class.
Once the class had all but entered and took her seats, Edward stumbled in. He wasn't late, but he wasn't exactly on time. Winry paled at the sight of him, and prayed to whatever god was up there that he didn't sit beside her. There was no way she could let him sit beside her. When Edward's books clunked down next to her, she cursed the heavens and sighed.
Winry took a deep breath before turning to him. "Hi!" she said brightly. Well, if he was going to sit next to her, she might as well try and be friendly. "I'm Winry Rockbell. I'm new here." She extended her hand a warm smile on her face.
Edward blew a strand of golden hair from his eyes. "Edward Elric. The Cursed Kid I'm sure you've heard so much about." He took her hand and shook it slightly, before turning back to staring at whatever he had previously been staring at.
Winry frowned. Well, that was one way to introduce yourself.
"Actually," Winry said. "I'm been wondering why they call you cursed." She tried to catch his eyes, but it was a lost cause. "I mean... you don't seem very, curse-like." Not that she had met very many cursed kids.
"Why don't you talk to Mustang or Hughes," Winry figured he was referring to Roy and Maes by their last names. She wondered why, but brushed the thought away. "Or Hawkeye for that matter. God only knows they'd love to talk about it. And it should be easy, considering your all already great friends."
Winry frowned. He seemed a little more snippy then before. "But," she said, slightly unsure of herself. "I would like to ask you."
He frowned, placing his head on the desk, but didn't answer her.
"Edward...?" Winry asked quietly, her attention growing in ten folds.
"Look," he said, his golden eyes snapping over to her. "I don't exactly want to talk about it. Especially not to you."
Winry frowned. Well, that was rude. "Hey look I'm just trying to help-"
"I don't need your help," Edward said in an 'end of conversation' kind of tone.
Winry glared at him, before she crossed her arms and slumped down in her chair. What was his problem? She was only trying to be nice. Although it didn't occur to Winry that the title "cursed kid" might come with more pain and sadness then she had at first thought.
"Winry Rockbell," she looked up as she was addressed, spotting a man that looked in his late thirties. He was already balding but had a thick mustache that fell just over a rather plump smile.
"Yes?" she asked, sitting upright.
"My name is Mr. Arior, I'm the Shop class teacher." Well, she could've figured that out on her own. "You arrived just in time. We started a new project just yesterday. Your to pick an object from this list," he handed her a sheet of paper with a list of things to build. "And then construct it from scratch. Since we've already partnered up, and your sitting next to him anyway, why don't you work with Edward?"
Winry snapped up from the sheet she had been reading over, her mind scattering for a reasonable excuse. "I uh.. but the place and see..." she looked over at Edward, who was staring at her. His golden eyes digging into her soul, as if he knew what she was thinking. Although, she bet he didn't need to search her soul to find out she didn't want to be partners with him. Although he didn't say a word, he merely stared. "That's fine." she said, turning back to Mr. Arior.
"Excellent." The teacher chimed. "We have scrap bins around the room where you an find spare parts, and if you have any questions, simply ask me." With that, he turned on his heel and headed back over to his desk.
Winry looked down and scanned the list again. It looked relatively simple. She had constructed and deconstructed many of the things on the list when she was still young. She glanced over at Edward, who had turned his ceaseless gaze away from her. "Well, we should get started." she said.
"No need. I'm already half-way done," Edwards said, still not looking at her.
Winry was slightly surprised. "Really? Can I see it?"
"Nope." He said simply.
Winry's brows furred in confusion. "Why not?"
"It's at home."
"Okay..." she said slowly. "Then how about you bring it tomorrow so we can work on it?" she asked, trying to be as nice as possible.
Edward shook his head. "I can't. I don't do work at school."
Winry was about to say that what he just said almost defeated the purpose of school, but didn't. "Why?"
"I've got my reasons." Edward said simply. He then glanced down at his watch, and Winry noted that he was still wearing the gloves he had been this morning. He then cursed under his breath, and got to his feet.
"Where are you going?" she demanded, as he turned towards the door.
"I have to make a phone call." he said simply, and with that he was out the door. Winry wondered momentarily how he could get out of a classroom so fast, and decided not to ask. Instead, she simply got to he feet and headed over to a box a few kids were standing around. She reached her hand in and tried to find something to grab onto. She really didn't care what she got, she could probably make something out of it. She then pulled out a small hand-held motor and shrugged. She could probably make a music box with it.
With that the girl returned to her desk and got to work.
---
By the time Edward had returned from his "phone call" she had finished the music box. Although she didn't have time to find a box to put it in, so the gears were exposed, making it very easy to break. She figured she could easily find a box at home to put it in, and left it at that.
When Edward took a seat next to her, she looked up sharply at the clock, before looking down at him. "Where were you? That phone call took almost the entire period!"
"Who are you, my mother?" he asked with an annoyed look on his face. "Besides it's none of your business."
"Geez," she cried. "If this is how you spend your periods we're never going to get this project done. I'm going to flunk for sure.." the girl trailed off, moaning slightly. It wasn't as though Winry was crazy about grades, but her parents were. If she got anything lower then a B her parents would give her the "I'm disappointed in you" speech, and god did Winry hate that speech.
"Give me your address." Edward said suddenly, catching Winry completely off guard.
"What?" she cried in disbelief.
"Give me your address." He repeated. "I'll come over to your house later tonight and make up for the period I blew off."
Winry was hesitant. Why was he being so nice all of a sudden? And why was she complaining? She had no problem with Edward coming over, but she was sure her father wouldn't like it very much. He had always been skeptical about having boys over, and was often too overprotective of her.
"Um.. alright.." she said as she pulled a piece of paper from her binder, and quickly scribbled down her address, before handing it to him.
She was a little in stun as the bell rang, and the kids started filing out to their next class. All she heard was a quick thank you as he passed before he was out the door and down the hall.
A/N: I'd like to clarify that Edward, Winry, Riza Roy and Maes are all in tenth grade. And, as you could tell, I've mixed up the ages so that they are all the same age. Although that was IMPOSSIBLE to figure out. (Sarcasm) Anyway, I hope this chapter was long enough for you. I'll try to keep the chapters about this long, but you never know. It's all about what the fingers want.
Two more things, the Im done. I'm sorry the update took so long, I've been having internet problems, but I promise that updates should be faster. Next, a few people have asked me if Alphonse will appear in this story and I'd like to say he will. He's going to appear in later chapters though, so you'll have to wait for that.