Brief
Commentary:
Alright, this one was also revised/edited a bit; I couldn't resist. :) There were a few things here that bothered me, so I figured I might as well get them fixed (this'll probably apply to all the chapter in the story soon enough). But again, don't worry, my dears, for those reading. This confusion will be over soon.
Reasons
Not For Your Ears
Chapter
Four
Days turned to weeks, and weeks turned into a month and a half, but Winry hadn't found a hint of the boy's presence anywhere in town. He eventually began to loose her interest, although a fleeting, mindless fantasy of him would appear in her imagination every once in a while. She found it difficult to keep referring to him as "the boy" so instead she decided she instead would refer to him as "Bastard." Sure it wasn't very original, but so long as she never spoke of him aloud, she figured she would be safe from odd looks, or in Alphonse's case, glares.
She had quickly apologized to Alphonse the next day for bringing up the subject of "that guy" and asked if he could forget she ever said anything. He agreed, and the two had begun to bond a bit more deeply since then. Winry was considering him as a romantic interest, although she currently was not into the idea of having that kind of relationship with him just yet. Calling him just 'Al' was nothing unfamiliar to her now, and he was completely comfortable with calling her 'Winry.' She and Paninya, meanwhile, had speedily gone from 'good friends' to 'best friends' within the week of their meeting, and now did nearly everything together, including, as Paninya called it, 'Pay Back on the Bitches Club.'
The Alphonse Fan Girls had quickly become her worst nightmares, taping threatening messages to her locker, also slipping into her locker crude, suggestive pictures of herself labeled "Big Fat Skank" or "Stupid Bitchy Whore," among other things, and one had even gone so far as to spray paint inappropriate messages onto her apartment building. The owners were extremely unhappy with her, so Winry had taken it upon herself to clean it up as best she could. There was still a mark here or a smudge there, but generally it was unnoticeable, and the managers eventually calmed down. Paninya encouraged her to get back at them, but mostly it was Paninya herself who did the getting-back (she even went as far as to destroy the mail box of the girl who had defaced the apartment). Winry preferred to sit, watch, and laugh accordingly, as well as stick her neck out for her on the occasion that she got caught.
It was the day everyone had off of school, and Winry had gone with both Alphonse and Paninya to the library for a brief studying session (an exam was coming up). After being shushed several times by passing librarians, they were eventually asked to leave and study elsewhere. This was mostly because Paninya kept whispering perverted comments and making humorous faces as Winry and Alphonse attempted to bury themselves in books to ignore her. Winry laughed harder (and louder) than Alphonse, because, as he had known Paninya for much longer than she had, he was used to her behavior. However, Paninya did succeed in making him laugh several times none-the-less, and Alphonse looked incredibly bewildered when the librarian had asked them to leave. Evidently it had never happened to him before, which was probably to be expected.
"All right, well, I have to go home;
with the shorter days, it looks like it'll be dark within the next
hour," Alphonse glanced at them as they stood outside the library's
front doors, a small, lingering smile playing on his lips.
"Ah, really?" Winry looked up at the sky for a brief moment and noted
that the sun had already declined quickly towards the horizon. "Hn, I
guess so. See you tomorrow, then?"
"Sure thing, Winry," he winked and smiled at her, causing her stomach to twitch slightly. "See you tomorrow."
He
turned to leave before waving over his shoulder towards them, Paninya
grinning broadly as she waved her arms in response. Glancing at Winry,
she said aplogetically,
"I have to get going, too. I promised my mum I'd help with the cooking tonight."
"All right. How's your father doing?"
Paninya held her head high, her face brightening considerably.
"Never better! I'm really happy to have him back!"
"I'm glad," Winry offered a soft smile and hugged her friend briefly.
"Well, go on ahead, I can walk home by myself, or take a cab if I need
to."
"Okay; stay safe, Winry-chaaaaan," she teased her. "Don't let creepy people stalk you home."
"Oh, you shouldn't worry, Paninya-chaaaaaan," she smirked back. "I know you'll just fuck them up for me."
"Ha ha, you know it!" Paninya laughed.
The two walked off in separate directions, as their homes were considerably far apart. It didn't take long for Winry's mind to wander to other subjects relating to her own family. She missed her mother and father terribly, but the pain that had blossomed in her heart when she learned of her parents' murder had dulled to a hidden numb feeling that would only reappear when she thought about it. The police had never caught the murderer, and for a while Winry had been kept in custody so that the officers wouldn't have to worry about him stalking and killing her next. A month passed, and there had been no signs of whoever it had been, so they released her to live with her grandmother, Pinako Rockbell. Her grandmother was fair and kind, but she longed for the familiar faces of her mother and father once again. Winry had eventually adjusted, and didn't mind so much any more; it had been over five years since their deaths, after all.
It was when
her mind took another turn and wandered back to the subject of the Bastard when she walked straight into another figure, spaced out
as she was. In fact, she didn't even register the slight pain on her
face, but only was startled by the small smacking sound.
"Uh?" Winry blinked rapidly.
"Will you watch it?" a voice from above said gruffly, side-stepping to
avoid her hitting him again. She glanced up at him and squinted; it had
grown dark already, and the nearest streetlight was ten-something feet
away. As her eye-sight adjusted, Winry let out a startled gasp.
"The Bastard?!" she couldn't help but blurt out.
The
person she had crashed into was none other than the boy she had seen in
the middle of the night so long ago. His hair, upon closer inspection,
was dirty and tangled, and the pony-tail it was in was rather clumsy,
but the hair color was gold, all the same. His eyes, flashing dimly in
the darkness, were a similar gold that resembled a wild, exciting amber
color that seemed to make Alphonse's much lighter and yellower in
comparison (it could have just been the street lamp-light, though; she
wasn't certain) . The clothes and shoes he was wearing were slightly
ragged and extremely dirty (with several large-looking blood stains),
but she couldn't make out much else. A lit cigarette was perched
between his lips; she noticed the smoke curling upwards.
He raised an eyebrow and removed said cigarette.
"Who?"
Winry felt her face flush a deep scarlet in embarrassment.
"Uh...nothing...it was nothing!"
He shrugged and moved as if to continue walking on, but, as if without
realizing it, Winry caught his arm, feeling as though her face was on
fire with her sudden boldness. He glanced at her warily.
"Is there something I can help you with...?"
"Um...I've seen you...before...right?"
He rolled his eyes in irritation and shrugged his arm out of her grip.
"I wouldn't know. I don't speak to people very often," he began to walk away again. "Never seen you around, anyway."
"Uh, please wait!"
The boy turned around impatiently, glaring at her.
"What?"
"Can you at least tell me your name?"
"Tell me yours then," he countered.
"W-Winry Rockbell," she lowered her eyes to the side-walk out of modesty.
"Huh." Her irritation began to spike as she heard his retreating footsteps.
"You haven't told me your name!" she pratically ran after him, blue
eyes flashing angrily. The boy sighed as he extended an arm to catch her
by the wrist, in order to prevent her from crashing into him again.
"Damn it...so annoying," she heard him mutter, and she squirmed in his
grip, hoping he could feel how much he was pissing her off as he
casually put the cigarette back into his mouth. "If you have to
know...it's Edward."
"What's your last name?"
Edward let out a snarl and flung her onto the side walk, with a loud,
"Shut up!"
Then he was gone. Just...disappeared. As Winry slowly picked herself up, she muttered a painful "Damn bastard" and began to examine herself. That stupid boy had given her bruises up and down her legs, one on her right elbow, from the fall, and the wrist he had grasped her by felt sore. How hard had he gripped it, anyway? All that was left to show that he had been there was a slightly rumpled-looking cigarette on the ground, the foul smoke still curling into the air. Stomping on it angrily, Winry picked up her books and walked more briskly home, fueled by her outrage of this boy, Edward's, character. What the hell? All she asked was for his stupid, dumb last name, and he just flipped! What the hell...
Winry released sigh a sigh of relief as her apartment
came into view, and ran the last few blocks to clamber up the steps and
fling the door open.
"Baa-chan, I'm home!" she shouted, and began stomping upstairs towards
her room. She heard a quieter response in return from her grandmother,
something like,
"About time she got back...with this new town, who knows what kind of characters prowl around like parasites at night?"
Winry snorted in agreement.
That was quick. :P
