The end of an arc! Always a vital point in a story. Hehe. I once again go back to hating Al...not really though.
Episode 22 - I Win
Ed paced back and forth in his living room as Al was sitting in the arm chair, balled up in a blanket. He was feeling better, but still rather weak. "I hope this works...what if he tries to run me off the road?"
Alphonse rolled his eyes. "Then he'll go to jail...duh."
"A lot of good that'll do me if I'm dead." He retorted.
"You're worrying too much...uh..." Al shifted uncomfortably.
"Hmm? Still not feeling well?" Ed showed his concern.
With a shake of the head, he pulled the blanket in tightly. "No, I just have to use the bathroom."
"Well go."
"It feels like I'm pissing razor blades, I'm trying to make as little trips as possible. So I wait."
"...that sounds like a bladder infection...you should probably go to the doctor."
"No...way too embarrassing to tell anyone besides you."
"Well when you start pissing blood, we'll see who you want to tell." Ed looked out the window, the sun was starting to sink on the horizon. "You should really tell mom. Get her to set an appointment."
"Forget it. I'll just ride it out."
"Whatever, I have to go now..." Ed turned and left into the hallway, briefly grabbing his coat and the van keys, he headed out the front door and into the van.
Al watched his brother leave the house. Carefully, he slid his legs over the edge of the chair and allowed them to hit the floor. No sooner had he started to get comfortable in his new position when the phone rang. Begrudgingly, Al stood up and grabbed the cordless off the book shelf. "Yo." He answered the phone in his usual way. It was Breda calling to inform him what happened a the basketball meeting after school.
"So yeah, that's about it...oh, and Carlo is out sick for the next while." Breda said with regret.
"Really? Shitty. What kind of sick? Like the Flu? Chicken pox."
"No dude. We think he has some kind of STD. He was with some girl from Clause's party, he doesn't remember who, but apparently, he started feeling really bad a day or so later. He went to get checked at the school clinic, and we haven't heard from him since. And his girlfriend's not showing up at her school either. So...yeah. Really shitty."
Al's face was a ghostly pale. "Yeah..."
Ed paced back and forth next to his vehicle. If it wasn't the impending race, it was the fact that Roy was late. It was nearly half past and Roy was nowhere in sight. "I'm so worried I could chew my own arm off."
"Both hands on the steering wheel man." Russell said. Being Saturday a J was in his mouth. Quickly looking over the camera to make sure it was in the correct mode. "Just calm down."
"Calm down? I'm about to break the law, I might get in an accident and I could also potentially get the shit kicked out of me. How am I suppose to calm down?" Ed ranted, cracking his knuckles.
Russell thought to himself for a moment. He reluctantly took the joint out of his mouth and held it out to Ed.
"..." Ed shook his head. "That's more than alright." He turned to Paninya.
She peered out the back of the tunnel to see Roy coming around the corner. "Here he comes." They were on a bit of hill, so she had a better view than she would on flat land. "He's by the gas station...wait...he's pulling in...getting out...pumping gas."
He whipped around again. "That stuff does calm you down, right?" Ed looked meticulously at the joint.
"Should..." Aria said. "Of course...if you're going to do that, you shouldn't be driving. Don't you remember what happened to Al? He couldn't even walk." She wiggled a finger at him.
"But Al's a shit head." Russell said, placing the little white stick back in his mouth. "
"Here he comes." Paninya said. "We should get to the other end."
"Drive safely." Leo warned Ed, giving him a firm pat on the shoulder. They all hopped into Leo's little car and drove off.
"Ehhh..." He sighed. Ed was left there alone, standing next to his vehicle, his mind wired with possibilities. What if this? What if that? But he knew that this would be for the best. Not that he wanted to impress Winry, at least not with this race, but he did want to get Roy away from all of them. Especially Aria. With Roy on his way up to the end of the tunnel, just an ear shot away from the school by that point, Ed waited.
Finally, reaching his destination, Roy pulled up along side Ed and stepped out of his vehicle. "Hello friend." Roy said in his usual 'feigned kindness' tone. "Ready to burn a little rubber, squirt?"
"Let's just race faggo; I don't swing that way."* Ed seemed to lose control of his tongue momentarily. He stopped and looked at Roy. "...let's go." Ed glimpsed another guy getting out of the car. He was tall and thin, his hair was cut into a mohawk that was dyed a bright neon orange. "Who's he?" He looked at his cloths, there was a lot of plaid involved with his ensemble.
"Him? He's going to be our starting man. Our flag if you will." Roy watched his friend take a bike from the trunk of the car. "You better not scratch that paint job, Vato."
"Not to worry." He said, closing the trunk. He wheeled it around and parked it between the two cars. "Alright, dudes. Get behind your wheels!" He said, his squinted eyes watching the two contestants take their spots and then the seat belts fastened.
Ed swallowed a huge lump in his throat.
"Alright. We're only having one go of this, so make er' count!" He had a ping pong paddle in his hand. "Also, I couldn't find a flag. But I did however find a paddle with red on one side and green on the other."
"Would you hurry it up!" Ed yelled.
"Ok, ok...geez, take a chill pill." He held up the paddle, red side facing the two drivers. "...I have chill pills in my bag if you want one."
"GET ON WITH IT!!!" The two of them yelled.
"Fine! Ready, steady, go!" He flashed the green side, then, quicker than the blink of an eye, they were both off.
Ed laid his foot down on the gas pedal, making him speed faster than Roy ever so slightly. "Huh...why isn't he trying to pass me...I'm only going 90."
No sooner did he say that when Ed saw Roy quickly tear up along side him and surpass him entirely. After he was so far ahead, he shot out in front of Ed, blocking him from passing. "Bastard...wait...this isn't the real thing." Ed resumed the race and veered off to the right and tried to get around Roy. He knew it was all staged, but he still had to make it look like he was trying.
Just as quickly as he pulled up, Roy slowed down and went along side the driver side of Ed's vehicle and went right to the back. "Take that ya' little prick!" Roy bellowed as he rammed the back of Ed's van. Roy had taken the time to equip his fender with a bumper so he didn't damage his own car.
Ed swerved off to the left, keeping perfect control of the van even with the jolt he incurred. "Woah." Ed prided himself on his defensive driving skills.
Just like last time, Roy pulled up along side Ed's right side and proceeded to circle him one more time, this time, he didn't ram the back.
They began going along the turn when they got into the home stretch. Ed carefully watched the wall of the passage way. "Wait for it...wait for it." The lights along the ceiling were making lines in his window, so it was becoming difficult to see. Ed did his best to not only keep on the road, keep up his speed, but he was also looking for the marker. "Did I pass it?" The large red electrical tape then came into view.
"Eat my bumber asshole!" Roy the jammed the button on his dash, activating his nitrous oxide, causing him to fly down the tunnel.
Fortunately for Ed, the jump in speed for Roy made Ed's 'jamming on the break' seem like Roy was just going that much faster. He managed to stop about twenty feet from the end of the underpass while Roy zipped on out of the end at full speed.
"Hey! Watch it asshole!" Russ yelled at the passing black car.
"He almost hit Leo! Are you ok?" Aria said, playing the part, and rushed to Leo's side to make sure he was ok.
Russell hit the record button to stop the recording and smirked. "Aaaaand-cut!"
The three friends crossed the road, watching out for Ed who was slowly pulling out of the tunnel. Ed stepped out of the van. "Is he coming back?" Ed looked out for Roy. "Yup, there he is."
Roy was pulling the car around in reverse; he too then stepped out of his Mustang. "Well, I don't think there's any question as to who won. Your Nos didn't work so...You know what that means." He sing-songed the last section of his sentence.
"Sure do." Edward began. "It means we video taped just you, not only trespassing on a blocked off road, but we also video taped you speeding out of said passage." He hooked his thumb over his shoulder to Aria and Paninya replacing the 'do not enter' sign. "So unless you want to lose your license, I suggest you back off."
The one with the green hair waved with the camera. "To think, you fell for the whole thing."
Roy was dumbfounded. "You little-" He began to reach out to him.
"Ah-ah-ah." Ed waved a finger at him. "Don't want to get caught on tape for beating up a minor. You'll just plain ol' go to jail for that."
"You can't show that video to anyone! I'll lose my seat in university if I lose my license. It's crucial!" Roy pleaded, arm outstretched as if to steal the camera away form Russell.
"No worries." The little red head comforted him. "If you make yourself invisible, I don't see any reason to show this to anyone."
"...bastards...fuck..." Roy shook his head and went back to his car. "I hope Vato still has some of those chill pills." He said, closing the door to his car. That being all said and done, he sped off down the road.
Paninya stood there in shock. "It worked...it bloody well worked!" She shouted. The group took a short while to celebrate the success of their plot.
"Alright. Let's see the memory card, I'm going to transfer it to my hard drive. It's good to have a copy, I'll burn it to disk too." Ed looked at Russell.
"Right." He said. Reaching for the memory card slot, he popped it open to reveal nothing. "Aaaaahaha. I forgot to put the memory card in." He snickered.
"You stoned fucker!" Paninya clipped him in the back of the head with a firm fist.
"Um." Aria began. "What he doesn't know...can't hurt us....right?"
The group exchanged glances. "Yeah." They said together. They decided to keep this little secret to themselves, deeming it to dangerous to let this bit of information go to anyone else.
Al sat at the computer desk, alone, filling out the appointment form for the health clinic at the school. "I hope this is just paranoia." He had just looked up every possible STD known to man, and from his diagnosis, he had every one. But, since he wasn't a doctor, he decided to leave the diagnosing up to them.
He racked his brain, trying to remember more of the party. Maybe he had done more than he thought he did. If he had caught something from someone, it would explain his random string of illness. First the weakness, then the nausea, the lack of sleep and now, a supposed bladder infection.
"I'm in bad shape." He rested his head on the desk, mind flaring with possibilities.
*For those of you who don't know this: Rubber is a slang term for a condom. So Ed's little retort was a rejection at the misunderstood phrase "burn a little rubber." Burn refering to the friction. :P
But there you have it. After this next little arc, I'm going to time skip till...maybe end of the year exams...maybe not that far. I'm just excited to get them to grade eleven. XD