Once again, here I am, providing you with yet another chapter.

I need to so this quick, so stick with me and we'll make it through!

Chapter 18 - Feeling

Knowing full well it was a terrible habit of getting into, Ed couldn't resist getting a coffee from Tim's every morning he had the van. 'But it's just so good.' was his excuse. After getting his caffine fix, Edward picked up his group of friends and they were heading off to school.

"So..." Aria began from the very back of the van. "Do you think that Clause'll still be upset?"

Leo shrugged. "Maybe...if she's there. She might be too embarassed to even show up." He pointed out. "Clause really did make a fool of herself, it wouldn't surprised anyone if she decided to lay low for a little while. Honestly, she's spitful, whe'll probably bring some of her grudges to the grave, so she might be plotting agian."

"Best to stay on our toes then." Aria warned.

"I don't really care either way, just so long as she keeps her distance." Ed wasn't one to hold a grudge, but he was still a little sore after the whole incident. It had only been a day, so wounds were still fresh. Reaching their normal turning point, Ed was faced with a road block, the straight forward path was blocked by road construction. "Son of a-" Ed muttered. "Now we have to take the long way." He eyed the direction of 'left' in distain.

"We could always take the tunnel." Russell pointed off to their right, out the side door window. "It takes us right to the back of the school." There was a barricade in front of it that had been knocked over. "It's only closed because the security camera's were broken."

"And seeing as how we're so 'gettho' we didn't replace them yet." Paninya piped up from the middle seat. "It's been nearly two months."

Leo laughed. "Just like one of the traffic lights on George Street, it's held on with duct tape."

Ed looked at Leo sitting next to him. "You serious?"

He nodded. "We'll head downtown sometime, you'll see them."

"Tunnel now?" Russ said. "We have someone behind us."

Ed looked in the rearview mirror. "Damn...oh well, we'll just get a slap on the hand if we get caught." Ed turned his wheel off to the right and entered the tunnel. "At least it's still well lit...what the?" He looked in the rearview mirror once again to see that the van, behind them at the crossroads, was now following them. "Uh...what if they're undercover cops? Damn, long way it is I guess."

With a quick jerk, the vehical behind them pulled up along side and there was a sign, crudly written, saying 'race?'

"You're kidding, we're in vans, that's like racing turtles. Sure they can move, but who gives a shit." Bunny complained.

"Oh, it'll be fun, remember, no cameras." Ed put his foot down on the gas pedal a bit and laid on the horn for a few seconds. Quickly he began to pick up speed. The other vhecial kept up, not wasting any time cashing in on the race scenario.

The lights illuminating the sidewalks in the tunned flew right by, looking almost like a solid line of light. Ed managed to get the van up to 120 KMPH, but sadly, was no match for the superior speed of the other van. It zipped right on by and broke the yellow tap blocking off the opposite end of the tunnel. Speed rapidly reducing as it exited the tunnel.

"Damn, we lost...we even had a head start." Ed slowed down and parked behind where the other vhecial stopped on the side of the road. Ed's phone began to buzz. Taking it out of his pocket, he flipped it up to see the text that he just received. 'We won.' Is what it said. "We? Right, there was someone holding the sign."

Ed saw the other vhecial's door open and none other than Clause step out. Ed quickly saved her number to his address book, for future reference, and then he too stepped out of the vhecial.

"Ed. Come on, don't start anything." Leo warned.

Edward looked at Clause who didn't seem to repremanding. "No worries." He closed the door behind him and began to approach Clause. "So...what's the deal with the race? Thought you'd be mad at us." He held his arms out at his sides in question.

Clause walked right up to Ed and gave him a firm poke in the chest. "You beat me in court, so I beat you behind the wheel. Now...we're even." She smiled and walked off.

Ed was stunned for a moment, but nodded. "That works...who's in there with you?"

Clause looked over her shoulder. "Winry is, it was actually her idea." She waved and hopped back into the van and steadily pulled away.

He smiled. Winry was a good girl, to this day, he still didn't undrstand why she stuck with the plastics. It just didn't make sense. Ed hopped back into the van and buckled himslef in. "Interesting." He said.

"Interesting? What did she say?" Aria questioned; she had scooted her way up to the front of the van so she could ready her phone just incase Clause tried to pull the same stunt again.

"She said that since she beat me on the road, that we were even." Ed nodded again. "Very interesting."

Leo sat back in the driver's side seat and sighed. "...I wonder what goes on in her head sometimes." He scoffed. "If anything at all."

"Ed." A small voice spoke to him.

Turining around, only briefly, to see who was talking to him but was quickly tugged off into a nearby classroom. "AH!" He let out a startled cry.

"Shh." Winry's voice sounded in his ear.

He managed to stand up and make eye contact with Winry. "What the heck was that for?" He held his hand over his chest, trying to quell his beating heart. He couldn't tell if it was beating so fast because he was startled or if it was because of Winry. She looked amazing today form some odd reason, not that she ever looked bad, but today she seemed to be glowing.

"So! What did you think?" She asked abruptly.

"I thought I was being sucked into a void." Ed promptly answered, not being too sure what she was inquireing about, so he refrenced the pulling of himself into the room instead.

"I meant about the race. Clause is really simple, you just gotta' know what makes her tick. She just wanted to know that she won against you." She clutched her hands around the opposite arm on either side of her body, essentially hugging herself. "Besides, the hum of the engine, the smell of oil burning, the wind in your hair! AHH! Makes me feel alive." Winry threw her arms up in the air in a fit of joy.

Edward then became quite scared, he backed off a step. "Glad you enjoyed yourself. So...are we at peace with Clause, or is there more?" He asked in an unsure tone.

Coming down off her cloud, Winry then became slightly serious. "Hard to say really. I mean, for now, I know she'll be fine, but I can gaurentee that she's going to slip back into old habits. Humans are creatures of habit." Winry paused for a moment. "Oh, by the way, I got my mark for that bio project." She approached Ed and gave him a tight hug and a brief kiss on the cheek. "I got perfect marks, 100 precent, you're a lifesaver Ed."

Trying his best to hide the blush on his face, he smiled warmly. "I'm glad I could help." He rubbed the corners of his eyes with his right hand.

"Alright. Be careful, just because she was friendly with you, doesn't change what she is and what you are to her." Winry warned.

Not being able to contain himself anymore, Ed finally asked her the burning question that had been on his mind since day one. "Ok, I need to know. You seem to act like you care for where you're at. Why don't you-"

Winry cut him off. "Go over to the dark side?" She was quite quick to catch on to what Ed was trying to convay. "We all have our reasons for doing what we do. Being where I'm at right now, surprisingly enough, makes my life a lot easier. At school and at home. Espically at home." Winry turned her head at the sound of the 'end of mid morning break' bell. "But that will have to wait for another day. We just met a little under a month ago. Everything will become clear to you some day." She waved. "See you later."

Ed nodded, taking in all the Winry had said. "...alright...later." With that said, Winry left him there in the empty classroom to ponder. "At home, huh?" That being said, Ed ventured off to his next class.

"Hey Al." Clause's voice came from behind the locker door.

"Geez." Al took a step back, slightly startled. "Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry." Clause lowered her line of vision. "Listen, Al, I'm really sorry for what I did, I just...I really like you, I wanted people to think that we were more than just friends. I handled it badly, and I almost seriously hurt you because of it. I need to get my temper in check, you're never suppose to hurt the ones you care about. Even if there's never going to be anything between us, do you think we could at least still be friends?" As she spoke, tears began to form in her eyes.

Al panicked. "Don't cry." He huffed. "Clause, you really tore into me. I'll say that we can be friends still, but it's going to take a lot fer me to be able to trust you again. Alright?" Al was stern with his words.

The tears that were in Clauses's eyes glided over her cheeks and hit her shirt. She slid her arm across her eyes, making them mostly dry. "Thanks Al. That really means a lot. And, just so you know, I'm going to try and make it up to you. I won't do anything to hurt you ever again. I promise." She clasped her hands together, as if to pray.

He remembered that he tried doing that exact same thing in hopes that something good would happen. Al hesitated as he looked for any amount of insincerity. Seeing none, he nodded. "Ok. I'll see you at lunch." With that said, he shut his locker, locked it and walked off.

Clause smiled. 'I'll win you back Al, whatever it takes.'

Though there was still a little bit of distance between them, Al managed to treat Clause as he normally did, just with a little less feeling behind it. Not that he ever had anything deep for her, he still did consider her a friend before hand, so this was the best way to go about the healing process.

As it normally did, lunch came and went, leaving the students with only two more hours till the end of the day. Al sat at the back of his class, staring off out the window. He was quick with writing, so when the teacher was marking things down on the board, he was always the first to finish, leaving him with some time to himself to think. As if from nowhere, Al's head began to ache. Disregarding it, he continued to stare.

His second last class passed and he became more and more ill feeling. "Uh." Al rubbed his eyes on the way to his next class.

"You doin' alright?" Kain looked over to Al who was also on the way to gym class.

"I feel like shit...maybe I should go home." Al looked out over the field, the sun beating down on the crisping grass.

"You know the teacher's going to think your faking it so you don't have to run track." Kain tossed his bookbag down next to the outside bleachers.

Al scoffed. "Let her think what she wants, I like track...I just feel gross." He rubbed his head again. "This headache is killing me."

"...Maybe you should sit this one out." Kain tried his best to offer a little guidance.

Alphonse shook his head, stubborn as ever. "...Never mind, I can do it, it's nearly the end of the day."

The way that gym class usually went, when there was no actual game going on, like in this case, it consisted of two laps that needed to be run and then walk till the end of class around the track.

Al managed to make one run around the track before the nausea started to get to him. "Hey...Miss...mind...if I sit...in the shade." He said through his vicious panting.

Mrs. Curtis, who also functioned as a gym teacher, approached Al. She took his face in her hand and examined the color of Al's skin. "You're flushed. Yes, you go and sit in the shade till the end bell. I'll notify your brother that he has to make sure you get home."

Al was shocked. "...really?" He nodded. "Thanks miss."

"Here." She walked him over to the to school's outdoor cooler and pullled out a cool bottle of water. "You look like you have heat exaustion, and we don't need our newest team member being hospitalized."

Taking the water from the teacher, he agreed. "True enough. Thanks again." He twisted the top of the bottle off, with more effort that he thought he needed, and took a swig from the clear container. He felt really weak, and struggeling with a plastic bottle was proof enough that he wasn't feeling well.

"If you need anything, just ask." She gave him a pat on the shoulder and went back to her students.

Looking around for a suitable spot to lay in the shade, he spotted the bleachers, and the cool shade they exibited right beneath them. Slinking his way through the rungs of the arranged seating, he laid out on the soft grass underneath. It was sparse because it normally didn't get a lot of sun, so it also wasn't as sharp as the plant life in the middle of the field. Feeling too warm, he poured some of the water out in his hand and splashed it on his face and ran his fingers through his hair to dry. With a sigh of relief, he closed his eyes and drifted off.

"Helloooo." The sound of Ed's voice finally managed to wake him up.

Al opened his eyes to see none other than Ed hovering over him, his hands resting on his knees. "Hey."

"Hey...ready to go home? Mrs. Curtis said you looked like crap, so she sent for me."

Thinking about it for a second, Al inquired. "She said that?"

Laughing a little, Ed shook his head. "Maybe not word for word, but she did say that you weren't feeling well. And now that I'm here...you do look like crap." He watched Al sit up. "Do you feel bad?"

Al rubbed his dry face. "Yes...I actually feel really weak."

"D'Awww. Want me to carry you." Ed joked in a sooky tone.

"...actually, yeah, I do." Al shakily got to his feet.

"Dude, I was kidding." He defended his freedom.

"Tough, turn around." Al spun his finger in a clockwise circle.

"Ugh, son of a--" Ed turned around and knelt down, allowing Al to piggy back on him. "You're lucky I'm nice." That being said, he stood up and began menuvering his way through the support beams of the bleachers.

"I have to ask, are you really sick, or is this just some ploy to get out of doing yard work?" Ed glanced at his brother in the passenger seat.

"Yard work? Ah, fuck...I forgot...seriously though, I really don't feel good. It hit me second last class and it just keeps getting worse." He leaned against the door.

Frantically looking out the front window and then back to his brother, not wanting to take his eyes off the road but he also needed to see if Al was fibbing. "You'd better not be liying." He glued his eyes back on the road.

"...do you want proof?" Al suggested.

Ed was confused. "That would be good...why, do you have a fever or something."

"Probably, but that's not what I meant. Pull over." Al said.

"Pull over?" Ed glanced over to Al. "Why?" He could see his hand over his mouth. "Oh, lovely. Don't get it on the seat." Ed quickly pulled over to the shoulder of the road.

"You are going to owe me big time after this. And you better not be contagious. I hate being sick." Ed pushed the front door open, Al held on steadily to his shoulders as he once again hitched a ride.

"Sure, heat exaustion is really contagious there Ed...uh, bathroom...then you can go." Al pointed to the stairs.

"Hey...don't get lippy." Ed headed up the sairs and let Al off at the top of the steps. "I'll go tell mom that I'll be doing the work alone...hurry up and stop being sick...makes my life easier."

"I'll get right on that." He said, disappearing into the facilities.

Heat exaustion? Food poisoning? Stress? You never know with me. I like to go for something more unessary an elaborate. ;P

Anywho, tell me what you think.