I do have an excuse for not showing up lately! If you want to know the drama that is my entire fucking life, read the next couple paragraphs, if not, go to the chapter title.

I found out back in January, I think that's when I last updated, that Raeven's father is moving to Halifax...that's about 6 hours away from where I live. She's only 3 and needs her daddy. ;-; We have things worked out and all, but I'm just sad because Dave get's to chase his dreams while I'm stuck at home being a mom with no other option as of right now...being a mom is important too don't get me wrong...still depressing though. I did so much work with Raeven, taught her so many things, spent so much time with her and DAVE get's to cop out of being a parent...needless to say, it didn't please me.

He's moving away so he can help to get a better life for the baby, but it's just annoying that he's not planning the trip properly, not saving enouh money and being reckless. I told him that it was a bad idea...and honestly, for Raeven's sake, I hope he proves me wrong.

But mind at ease, I'm doing a lot better. At least you all know why I wasn't around. I haven't worked since Jan 21st...I was a mess up until yesterday when I came to a revelation...but enough about me; on with the episode! :D

Episode 34 - Out, Out

The group had noticed it the second she walked through the front doors of the school. Her hair was silky black, as if she had straitened that morning, the push up bra she was sporting helped the low cut shirt reveal just enough so that the school didn't send her home, and her skirt was more for a bar scene, not a school setting. Reason being, it was made of a light lavender material that hugged the curves more than necessary, but she let it be known to the world, she was wearing a black thong, the skirt didn't ride too high on the hips, so the thong straps stuck out about and inch over the line of the skirt. Overall, her nice girl act seemed to be just that, an act, and she quickly reverted back to her old ways.

"You know, it actually took longer than I expected for her to turn...I guess this means I lost that pool." Leo joked as they headed to the bacement for lunch. The lunch room was usually packed, and Leo found that there was too much drama for him to handle in there, so, at the beginning of the year, in the first week no less, he had suggested claiming the downstairs as their own.

Surly enough, it was a successful move that was sticking, and growing. Since the beginning of the year, they had added Edward and Sylvia to their ranks. And maybe, there was even a littel room to keep growing.

"You had a pool* and didn't let me in? Bitch." Paninya scoffed. "But I will give her props, she wears that skirt well." She smirked as she recalled watching Clause carry a stack of books to her classroom earlier in the morning. The girl did love hard work, she had heard Clause say that it was good for the legs in cheerleading, so she always volenteered when something needed to be carried.

"She's a very odd individual. It's like she was bipolar. I use to have a friend who was diagnosed bipolar. Very creepy guy." Sylvia shivered as she bit into her ham and cheese sandwich.

"Creepy? Isn't bipolar where someone is really happy one second, and then raging mad the next with no reason? Or something similar?" Aria questioned, she didn't find that to be terribly creepy.

"Yeah." Sylvia agreed. "He had that too, but it just I remember this one time, we were cutting through a graveyard, and he started freaking out saying that he saw someone standing over by a tree. We all went over to the tree, except for him, but there was nothing there." She laid the sandwich down on top of her orange lunch bag. "What's weirder, someone was burried there the next day, in that exact spot."

"Freaky..." Ed chimed in. "Was the ground marked when you guys looked at it?" He tried to bring the scarry level down a kotch by offering some reason.

Sylvia shook her head. "Nah. Not at all. That's the freaky part. And none of us knew the guy being burried either, he was old from the date on the tombstone though. 1928." She said with shock.

"Not bad. Good long life." Russ added in. "We should actually go to a graveyard sometime. Dad just bought a new camera, so we can see if anything shows up." He said with anticipation to play with a new eletronic device.

Ed nodded. "Yeah. Sounds like fun."

Paninya leaned over to Russell. "Just remember to put the film in this time." She snickered. Her comment wasn't met with words, only a middle finger from the boy with the faded green hair. "Ha! But I agree, sounds fun."

Leo looked through his daily planner issued by the school. "This Sunday's a full moon, we totally should. You never know what kind of spooks will show up."

"Nooo-no-no-no. No way. I'm out. I'll watch the tape when you get back." Sylvia shook her hands in front of herself. "After that last incedent, I'm still sketchy."

Aria wined. "Aww, come on. It'll be a good bonding expirence." She clasped her hands. "...and I don't want to be the only wuss going."

Russell looked at her with confusion. "I thought you were into the whole Wicca thing, and summoning spirits and shit. Isn't this everyday stuff for you?"

She shook her head. "I'm not Wiccan, I'm Neo-Pagen. People who are Wiccan belong to the Black Forest coven, I just follow a similar form of the belief...and I don't summon anything, I don't even cast spells. I'm more one for praying and meitating."

"...I'll take your word for it." He said, disamused.

"Though I can do spells, and if you're not nice, I'll turn you into a frog; we all know how much you like them." She smirked deviously.

Russ reminised back to the camping trip where she had chased him with one of the 'slimy little bastards', as he so refered to them as. "Not funny." He folded his arms.

The a few moments of silence they were enduring was broken by Aria saying 'RAH!' and pointing her hands and all her fingers at Russell in hopes of transforming him. It didn't work, but it did make him jump, which made the rest of the friends laugh. "Piss off." He said through a chuckle as he nailed Aria in the head with a clementine.

"AH! Citrus!" She fell backwards, legs bent and in a seim-in-the-air position. "My eye!" Some of the juce had caught her in the corner of her eye and it had begun to sting not too soon after contact.

"Ah, don't worry, you won't melt...or will you?" Russell pondered his statement with a chin rub on his non-existant beard.

"Ok, so we're all going to the March 1st dance right?" One of the girls at the luch table accosed the rest of her friends. They all nodded in approval, all except for Riza. "Come on, you never go to dances with us. You don't have to dance if you don't want to, just hang out."

Riza shook her head. "I feel weird not going with a date, sorry. Not for me."

The girl with the curled brown hair leaned over the table. "Why not go with my brother? He's only a year older than you and he's single right now. It think you'd be good together."

"I don't think she needs a boyfriend, that's not her type." Clause said in the snottiest cadence she could manage.

"Clause!" Riza said, moth ajar. She glanced around the table to find her getting stares from all around.

"Clause!" Winry reitterated. "Shut-up."

"You're a lesbian?" The same brown haired girl said.

"I let her hold me up the other day." A girl, one of the tops, said from down the end of the table, her hands covering her mouth as she said it. Sadly, she was still heard.

"Katie! Shut up!" Winry bellowed at her loud enough to get the point across, but not loud enough for the entire lunchroom to hear.

"I'm....I-...." Riza broke down in sobs and quickly ran from the table, doing her best to cover the upset look on her face.

"Clause!" She said once again. "What the hell?" Winry was outraged. Riza had instilled her trust to only a few girls in the entire school, Clause and Winry were two of them.

She shrugged. "I thought she told everyone. Al knew, I thought it was out already."

"You know she didn't!" Winry said a littel louder. "Listen." She calmed herself down. "Riza is with someone right now that she loves dearly, she's not interested in anyone else. And if any of you make it hard for her, or me, by refusing to do moves with her, I will end your time on this team."

"There's no 'I' in 'team' Winry." Clause rolled her eyes as she 'rocked to boat'.

Winry was made well aware that Clause's 'nice girl' days were over, but that didn't mean she had to go along with it. "No, there's no 'I', but if you jumble it up, there is 'meat' and that's what you'll be if you start shit, dead meat." Winry clasped her hands together as she conversed with the rest of the team. "Please girls, we're at the top of our game and we have Riza to thank for that; her expirence and strength is what is doing it for us. Without her, our symmetry would be off, and if she quits because of this, we're going to have to make a new routine for nationals, and I don't think anyone feels like doing that." Winry sat back down and hung her head trying to think of something else to say to defend her friend.

"You're right...I should go appoligize to her." Katie said from the end of the table and began to stand up.

"Yeah. Winry's right, she's gay, not diseased. Why don't we all go, just tell her it's ok." The girl who suggested her brother as a potential said with shame. "I sounded kind of snotty to her too." The team began to rise from their designated chairs.

"Thank you so much guys. Acceptance goes a long way." Winry had a couple of tears in either of her eyes, the entire group's understanding really stirred up Winry's happiness. She turned back to Clause. "You guys all go, I need to talk to Clause."

"Woo, spooky." She rolled her eyes yet again as she watched the rest of the team make tracks.

After the group had left Winry sat down across from her dark haired friend. "Alright...I know you're going throuh some tough stuff right now, but that's no reason to take it out on your friends. Smarten up." Winry was rather displeased when speaking to her.

"Why does it seem like you don't care?" She cocked her head.

Winry sighed. "Because you don't seem to be acting like it's bothering you. You come in today, overconfident, dressed like you're ready for a night on the town. Clause, if you don't care about what happened, how can I?" She stood up. "You are not well. From what I can tell, instead of making yourself well again, you'r just making everyone around you as miserable as you feel. You need to go talk to someone and get this skeleton out of your closet."

"Geez, if I'd have known I had a skeleton in my closet, I'd have asked Riza to grab it on her way out." She snickered.

She shook her head. "Not funny." That being said, Winry grabbed the remainder of Riza's lunch and her lunch bag on the way away from the table.

"Oh come on! That one was funny!" She folded her arms and sat at the table by herself. "Whatever." She scanned the lunch room for something else to do.

Winry allowed the heavy lunchroom doors swing wildly behind her and she she made some distance from the lunch room, she let a few tears slip down her face. She was bothered by what happened to her friend, but giving her too much lead way was only going to end up bad for eveyone in the end. It hurt her a lot to talk to her like that so soon after the incedent, but she did have an entire team that depended on her, she couldn't let them down; her parents would never forgive her if she failed.

She looked up to see Ed down the end of hall, chatting and carrying on with his friends. She quickly sprinted toward him. "Ed!" She caught his attention and grabbed his arm on her sprint past the rest of the group. "Emergency tutoring! I have a test next class!" She pulled him away from the group without his concent. "Sorry guys, I'm borrowing him." Winry tugged him away so quickly his feet barely touched the floor.

They stood there, dumbfounded.

She held him tight. It was dark, but she held him tightly in her embrace, and made the dark feel like nothing.

"Not that I mind or anything-" He said, hugging her tight. "-but what's wrong? The test can't be that bad." Ed was oblivious to what was really happening.

Winry shook her head that was still pressed firmly against Ed's chest. "Sorry, there's no test...I'm just having touble with a friend, and we just had a fight...I just needed a hug." She loosened her grip, only enough to give him a peck on the lips.

"I'm new at this, so bare with me...do you want to talk about it or something?" Edward awkwardly questioned.

She laughed slightly. "No...not this time. It's a little personal...but thanks. Next time I have a burden, I'll be sure to share it."

They both chuckeled and stayed there in warm enbrace till Winry was calm again. Suddenly, there was a bright light and they quickly broke apart.

"What are you two doing?" The janitor stepped in the closet. "I need the mop. Some kids in the lunch room decided to fight with orange pop, it's a mess." He walked past the two of the teens and began to wheel the mop bucket between them. "..." He looked at Winry, and then to Ed. "Don't you think this is a little cliche?"

Ed shrugged. "Not really Mr. Sanchez...aren't you going to ask us to leave?" He was confused.

"Are you going to steal anything?" The older man questioned.

Winry and Ed both looked around the room for something steal-able. "No." Ed said.

"That wet-dry mop is nice...but I don't think I need it." Winry said in joking fashion, she was starting to feel better.

"Well then, just lock the door on your way out." That being said, he shut the door behind himself, leaving Ed and Winry in the dark once again.

"...Huh...how about that." Edward scratched the back of his head.

*Betting pool, not swimming pool...just so we're clear. I was so confused when I first heard the term, so just in case someone didn't know, that's what I was talking about. Still not clear? Google it. ;P

And I know I'm a bitch too...I just came up with that skeleton comment right off the top of my head, quick whit and what not, and I could not help but laugh. Sorry if I offend, but it's for the sake of humor, not of hate. XD