Yet another chapter. What can I say, I'm really on a role with this one! XD

Chapter 4 - Confrontation

"And she wants you to help her after school?" Leo spoke quietly whilst sitting next to Edward in chemistry. They didn't even realize that they had second last period together. "Are you going to go?" He asked with a bit of regret.

Ed nodded as he feigned paying attention to the teacher. "She was really nice when she asked, and I really don't mind showing her."

Leo peeked at Ed's schedule that was laying on the table next to his work. "Wait...you aren't even in bio this semester..."

He shrugged. "Doesn't mean I'm not good at it. Besides, it's only to do with the organization of the lab, not really any of the content. From the due date written on the top of it, it's due tomorrow. So she needs to get it done."

He couldn't help but be a little concerned. "Don't think too much of her asking to help, she might just be using you. Trying to get in good with the plastics is pointless for people like us." He stopped and realized what he just said. "No offense or anything."

Ed couldn't help but smirk. "No worries, I know what you mean. I'm all too use to not fitting in with the popular crowd...not that I really want to anyway. You guys seem nice enough, I think I'll count my blessings."

He smiled at his new friend. "Thanks man." Leo went back to listening to the teacher and her explanation of mole conversions. "When are we ever going to use this stuff?"

The blond boy shrugged. "Not too sure, but I think it's because if we ever go into a profession that requires this sort of thing, though computers will most likely be doing all the work, it's best to have an understanding of what it is your doing. It makes you remember it better."

"But if we have computers, what's the point of knowing how to do mole conversions on your own?" He raised a good point.

"You give someone a graphing calculator and I'm sure they can push the buttons and make graphs come up, but that won't mean anything unless they understand what they're looking at. Same goes for chemistry." Ed raised a counter-point.

Giving it a second to process, Leo nodded. "I never thought about it like that before." Allowing a few more minutes of silence to pass with the teacher harping on about how it needed to be exactly 6.023 X 1023 or else it wouldn't work, running his fingers through his slicked back black hair. "You aren't interested in her, are you?"

Ed rolled his eyes. "It's my first day, I'm not even going to bother looking for a girlfriend so soon. Especially since I haven't even met many people yet. I'm sure I'll find someone I like eventually, but for now, I'll just keep my options open."

He nodded. "Yeah, besides, cheerleaders are to be left to the jocks, it's the way the world works. You don't want to mess with the delicate balance. Plastics are the kind of people it's best not to get too close too, you'll only get hurt in the end."

Ed couldn't help but agree. "I know. Get too close to the sun, and all you'll do is burn up." He paused for a moment. "Where did I hear that before?" He turned his attention to Leo who, in turn, shrugged. Ed was stumped, normally he remembered where memorable quotes came from, but for some reason he was stuck. Shrugging it off, he went back to his work.

There seemed to be a lot of things that Ed never understood. The hierarchy of high school, the need to want to fit in for the soul purpose of impressing others, or the more obscure behavior of the need to kick in the bathroom stall doors. Three of four stalls had a big dent in the door. He really didn't see it necessary to take any amount of anger that he might have had on a bathroom door, but apparently, someone else did. Walking up to the sink, he turned on the water and allowed his hands to test it.

Another thing he didn't understand, why it took so long for the water to get hot in big buildings. Maybe it was because the hot water heaters were all on the first floor, but that only made him think as to why they didn't put one of the upper levels. He really did think of useless things at times, but at least he didn't waste other's time with his musings.

While being lost in thought he neglected to her someone else enter the restroom. "Hey, fancy running into you here." The first boy said, the other two following right behind him.

Ed then turned his attention to the one's who just waked into the bathroom. "Hi...do I know you?" He was rather confused, and now, slightly nervous. The older boy, looking to be at least in grade twelve, possibly a post grad, got uncomfortably close.

"Not really. But we did hear what you did to a friend of ours." He slammed his hand up against the mirror behind Edward, nearly coming nose to nose with him. "What's your deal anyway kid?"

Being severely confused, but still thinking straight, he responded politely as possible. "I'm not sure what you mean, this is my fris--"

"Don't play dumb! And definitely don't piss us off." He grabbed Ed by the scruff and threw him against the bathroom door, thus denting it. Aside from the initial pain that he was feeling, he now figured out as to why there were dents in the doors.

"What the hell are you doing?! I didn't do anything! It's my first day!" Ed tried to stand but received yet another shove, knocking him back against the same wall the toilet was on; fortunately for him the lid was down.

"We're going to show the little freshmen where his place is." Lining up a punch, he landed it square in Ed's cheek.

Quickly recovering from the shock, Ed tried to make a swing in return, but was unable to move his arm due to the blatant lack of room. Not having enough time to react otherwise, he was met with another punch in the face. Fed up, Edward kicked the upper part of the guy's leg as hard as he could, and then, in the moment of confusion, Ed slid beneath the guy halfway, wrapped his arm around his waist, picked him up using the strength in his legs and flawlessly, flung him over his back, making him land, upside down, on the toilet.

Trying to make a break for it, he was stopped by the other two guys who came in the restroom behind the first one. "I don't think so." They both grabbed him beneath the arms and held him tightly.

Ed flailed as he tried to free himself. "Let me go!"

Finally recovering from the hip toss, the other sophomore stood up and exited the stall. "You like throwing people into toilets? How about we throw you into one, head first." He held open the stall door as the other two guys hauled Ed towards it. The first guy, the tall one with the short brown hair, went behind Ed to grab his feet, in order to tilt him upside down.

"A swirly? Come on guys, that's so cliche." Truth be told, Ed hated messing his hair up. It was difficult enough keeping it long and looking as nice as it did, so dunking it in stagnant water, didn't seem like a good idea.

"Cliche, but really effective!" Finally managing to tilt Edward upside down, he began to flail wildly.

" Put me down!" He did his best to move and squirm and twist, trying to break one of their grips on him. "Ficken Sie ab! Lassen Sie mich los!"

"What?" One of the boys holding his arm was distracted by the strange words that came flying into his ears.

"Ha!" Ed finally managed to free and arm, dislodge his other captured arm and, with grace, he placed his hands on either side of the bathroom stall and essentially, walked up the stall with his arms, one careful, but quick, jump at a time.

"The hell?!" The guy holding his legs was amazed to see Ed's acrobatic skills at work and didn't realize that Ed had completely left any of their grasps. "Get down here, we're not finished with you."

Ed balanced in the small space between the top of the stall and the ceiling. "I don't think so." Ed was just out of the reach of the perpetrators, and now, safe from harm. He could see one of the boys trying to grab at his ankles. "Scheißen Sie Kopf."

"I don't care if you can speak French! Get down here!" He swung at Ed again.

"What's going on in here?" An older man's voice bellowed from the bathroom doorway. It was none other than the principal.

"Oh, uh, sir...nothing." With that, the three of the boys exited the bathroom, their tails, so to speak, between their legs.

Ed quickly dismounted the stall and sighed in relief. "Thank you sir."

Mr. Lang placed both his arms behind his back and looked down at Edward. "It's your first day and you're already starting fights, this is not acceptable."

Ed shook his head and waved his hands in front of him. "Oh no. It's nothing like that. I was just using the bathroom and then the three of them jumped me, they said that I did something to one of their friends and I didn't even know what they were talking about because I never even really met anyone yet and--" Ed rambled on only to be stopped by the principal holding up his hand to silence him.

"Ok...so you didn't start any of this?" He asked calmly.

Ed took a deep breath. "No sir." He said with his head lowered.

"Fine." Mr. Lang smiled. "I'll be sure to talk to those boys later, I've been having trouble with them recently anyway. Just head back to class...you're alright though? Your face looks kind of red." He said, looking at the reddish spot on Ed's cheek.

Ed raised his hand to his face. Not wanting to cause any more friction between him and whoever it was that attacked him, he shook his head. "I'm alright, I just got bumped at lunch, nothing big."

He could tell that the principal knew he was lying, but he nodded anyway. "Fine. But if you need some ice, just go to the teacher's lounge, I'm sure they'll help you out."

Edward smiled. "Thank you sir."

With that, the older man went to exit the bathroom, but stopped short and turned around. "Oh and, watch the language from now on Ed, ok?"

Ed blushed in embarrassment. "Right, sorry sir." He nodded and watched him exit the bathroom. It wasn't every day that someone around him knew how to speak German, so he figured it was ok to use in lieu of English profanity. He would have to be careful from there on out though, not that he knew a lot of German, just simple stuff; his father was straight from Munich, so it was only to be expected that he picked some amount of it up along the way.

He smiled; the principal seemed like a good guy, someone he could talk to if need be. And if the actions that took place that day went on again, he would have to talk to him again. Though Ed could defend himself, he would have just preferred to be left alone. He shook the bad scenario from his head and proceeded to wash his hands again, the top of the bathroom stalls were really dusty and messed his hands up.

An end of the day announcement came on and told everyone to return to their home room class. Ed walked up the hall with Leo and Russel along side him. They laughed at something in passing and then finally walked into the classroom to see Al and most of the rest of the class crowded around, all talking about nothing in piticullair. Ed walked past the front part of the class only to be spoken to by, none other than, Clause.

"So, what's your problem Ed?" She glared at him.

Ed stopped and looked at her, sitting next to Al on the desk. He raised an eyebrow. "People keep talking around me and thinking I did things I probably didn't, and it's getting annoying. Why do you ask?"

She spun around and faced him head on. "I mean why do you hate your brother so much?"

"What?" Al said.

"What?" Ed followed up. They both looked at each other, confused as they could be. "I don't hate Al, what gave you that idea?" Leo and Russel stood behind him, silently, watching the scene unfold.

"No one gives someone a cut like that out of love. So why'd you do it?" She stood up, hands on her waist, head cocked in a saucy manner.

"Cut? He didn't cut me." Al leaned back, and talked to Clause.

"What?" She said in confusion looking halfway over her shoulder at him.

Al sighed and stood up, he then walked next to his brother. "So I take it you didn't tell them." He turned and faced the rest of the class, who looked on in confusion.

"No...I thought we weren't going to." Ed smirked. "But then again, if we don't, everyone's going to think things that aren't real."

Leo sat against the teacher's desk off on the far left of the room, away from the door. "Wait, Ed, don't you have a scar that Al gave you?"

Ed held up his right arm, revealing his scar. "Yeah."

Al held up his left arm, right along side Ed's, matching it nearly perfectly. "I have one too."

Winry face palmed. "Oh, I get it." She smiled and some of the other kids looked at her, wondering what she 'got'.

"Normally we don't tell anyone about the scars, because it usually freaks people out. So we decided to just keep it under wraps. But since you guys are so persistent." He placed his scar up against Al's, they fit together.

"I told you, we're identical twins, didn't I? We were joined at birth." Al smiled and removed his arm. "The scar is the result in us being separated." He lowered it to his side.

Clause immediately felt like a complete douchebag. "You what? Why don't you look...identical then?"

Ed smirked as he too lowered his arm. "Al dyes his hair a darker color and keeps it short, while keep mine long and it's natural color. I also wear contacts that make my eyes green. It makes us easier to tell us apart. So yeah, you were wrong, and you made a complete ass out of yourself and gave me a bruised cheek in the process, I hope you're happy." Ed relaxed and walked to his seat in the front of the room. "Now would you mind leaving me alone?"

Al glanced at his brother. "Bruise? She hit you?"

He shook his head. "No, of course not. She got a few of her buddies in grade twelve to attack me. Luckily for me the principal intervened."

He looked at her, completely disgusted. "Don't try and solve my problems, if Ed's bugging me, I'll beat him up myself."

Ed rolled his eyes. "Like you could." Al looked away from Ed, pretending he didn't hear what he said.

Clause lowered her vision. "Sorry..."

Al shook his head. "No matter..." He turned around. "What are we here for anyway?"

Leo piped up. "There's some handout about the health center that just opened up. Bunny said that we'll be able to use it by Friday; that's actually what she was gone for all lunch."

"Indeed, it is about the health clinic." Mrs. Curtis smiled as she entered the room. "Here, I've got to get going, so make sure to close the door behind you, ok?" She handed the small stack of papers to Leo who was sitting on her desk. "And get off that." She shooed him away. Walking over to the door, she turned her key in the lock and jiggled the knob, making sure it was locked. "I trust you guys." With that said, she left.

Leo shrugged. "She's always in a rush." He looked back to the class and took four of the papers. "I'll take one back for Aria, she'll probably be in tomorrow, but oh well." He handed the rest of the stack to Al, who in turn passed them around to the rest of the people. Leo handed one to Ed and Russel.

"What is it exactly?" Ed glanced over the paper. It was telling about the health clinic that opened in the school, and how it was supplying the students with condoms, birth control pill, pregnancy tests and help with addictions. All free of charge.

"Anyway, we should go." Russel piped up. "You coming Ed?"

Ed snapped out of his daze of reading his paper. "Actually, I'm staying for a little while, I'll talk to you later." Over lunch, he had gotten their cell numbers, it was amazing how useful technology was.

Leo nodded. "Oh right, later then." He waved and set off.

Everyone got up and exited the classroom, and as Winry walked by, Ed made eye contact with her. Hopeful that what Leo had said wasn't true. Quickly breaking the eye contact, she said nothing and walked right past. Ed watched as the second last person out of the room shut the lights off. Standing up, he headed for the door to go to the library to wait, possibly for someone who wasn't going to show up at all.

Normally I'd say 'sorry' at this point for being so late with my updates...but I'm not late...hell, I'm quite early. XP

Come on, tell me what you think. Even if it's something as simple as "update soon" or "Go die in a hole" or "I like it" or "Nice". Something, anything, just let me know you're alive! (...on second thought, not that second one)