Brief
Commentary:
Yay! I'm back into the story, which is great! I feel like I can move the events along a little
easier now that Winry knows that, indeed, Ed and Al are brothers, and
that, yes, they do hate each other. This chapter I kind of played
around with what went on; although it's an actual building up of
the climax (plot structure is awesome! XD), so it's not utterly
pointless. This one might even contain a little "Pay Back on the
Bitches," which I've wanted to do since before the beginning of
the story! Ha ha…please review!
Reasons
Not For Your Ears
Chapter Six
Despite her altering relationships with the Elric brothers, Winry couldn't help but be curious. For brothers from the same family, they were as different as fire and ice. Naturally, with millions of questions buzzing in her mind, she turned to Paninya, who seemed to know everything. At first, the dark-skinned girl was reluctant to tell her the Elrics' story, but inevitably, she cracked, and everyday at their lunch period, Paninya would tell her a little more, gradually spinning out their story like it was some kind of fairy tale. Alphonse, who did not share their lunch period, knew nothing, and things between Winry and him were the same as ever.
"Right," Paninya flopped down next to Winry on the grass, for dispite the fact that it was the middle of winter, it was a mild day, both of them only needing to put on the uniform's sweater to keep warm. That afternoon, the sky was clear of cloud cover, only a few fluffy white lumps drifting here and there in the wind. Winry noted Paninya's small lunch for the day; a cup of steamed rice held in her left hand and a pair of chopsticks poised in her right. The Rockbell often forgot to eat whenever her friend would give her a little more insight on Alphonse and Edward's situation, so lately, she hadn't bothered to get any lunch herself. Paninya quickly took a few famished bites out of her rice, before wiping away the stray grains on her chin and continuing.
"When they
were eleven and ten, their mom, that was Trisha, you remember, was
killed in a freak car accident. A lot of people said it was suicide;
their mom didn't like Edward and loved Alphonse, so they thought maybe it was Edward's
fault."
Winry stared at her in disbelief, but found she really
couldn't find something to say.
"Yeah, awful, isn't it? And
on the same day, their dad; I can't remember his name, but anyway,
he basically disowned them, but he put it more nicely as 'he
wouldn't be taking care of them anymore.' So they had to go live
with this awful guy named…uh…it was…oh! Right, it was
Bradley-san. He's terrible!" she waved her chopsticks in the air
for emphasis. "And he's even missing an eye; it's gross…ugh.
"But
anyway, he didn't like either of them, and eventually Edward got
sick of staying at that place where his otoutou-san was being much
more well cared for and treated more respectfully, so that's when
he started running away."
"Are you guys talking about
somebody's dog?"
The two
girls looked up, bewildered, to see an unfamiliar face peering
curiously down at them. This new comer, in actuality, was a tall boy with long, spiked black hair tied into a ponytail at the nape of his neck, his narrow eyes observing them with what seemed like utmost politeness. Winry glanced at him uncertainly and asked,
"And you are...?"
"Ling Yao," he grinned widely. "I'm a new exchange student. Didn't get here until just now though."
"Were you late because you didn't know the time or because you didn't feel like getting up in the morning?" Paninya smirked at him knowingly. He smirked back.
"Probably the latter of the two. And who are you?"
"Paninya," she jerked at thumb at herself, then pointed with an index finger at her friend. "And that's Winry."
Winry nodded her head and smiled politely.
"Nice to meet you."
Ling grinned.
"Nice to meet you, too."
Noticing that Winry didn't have anything to eat with her, the exchange student frowned.
"Are you trying to lose weight?"
She jerked suddenly and slowly turned to look at him.
"...what?"
"You don't have any food with you; are you trying to lose weight?" he patiently repeated his question, motioning towards the empty space around Winry. "Is your size in this country too fat or something?"
Winry brought her fist none-to-gently down onto the top of his skull, and, wearing a fake smile, turned back to Paninya and said in a freakishly cheerful tone,
"You were saying?"
While Ling nursed his throbbing skull, the dark-skinned girl began to cotinue. She had hardly reached the end of her third sentence when he butted in,
"Who are we talking about?"
Paninya rolled her eyes.
"Nobody you know."
"Ling-senpai! Oi, Ling-senpai!" The exchange student turned his head and let out a little groan of disappointment as a girl, with hair a shade lighter than his and much shorter, came running up to him, panting with her exertation. "Ling-senpai, the lunch period is almost over!"
He rolled his eyes.
"Ranfan, I know; calm down."
"Oh...uh, well...I just wanted to remind you," she blushed slightly and nodded her head.
"This," Ling mirrored Paninya's thumb-jerking motion, "is Ranfan. She's also an exchange student. Don't ask me why they brought the two of us."
"Nice to meet you, Ranfan-san," Winry offered her her hand, but all she received was a slightly puzzled look in return. "Uh...right. I'm Winry, and that's Paninya."
"Winry-san and...Paninya-san," Ranfan tried their names on her tongue, nodding when she was able to pronounce them correctly. She gave them a small smile, then handed Ling a box Winry had not seen her holding before. "Oh, and you forgot your lunch again, Ling-senpai."
"Do you have to say again, Ranfan?" he whined, but accepted the box and pried the lid open. Paninya and Winry peered curiously into it, but when they found they couldn't identify any of its contents, they narrowed their eyes and looked away, not pleased with what some of the food items reminded them of.
Ling had obviously been famished; with three minutes left until the next period, he had finished his lunch in two. After watching him eat, however, Paninya declared her appetite lost, and was eager to run with Winry away from the odd pair and to the safety of their lockers. Well, to the safety of Paninya's locker, as Winry soon found that her locker was near unrecognizable. With a quick intake of breath, she observed the scribbles and words written in permanent marker and spray paint.
What in the...oh.
She felt her eyes burn as she recognized some of the dirtiest swears and trash written there, on her innocent locker door. Of course, there was not a single mark or smudge on Alphonse's, which was predictable, but really, wasn't this a bit far? Winry sighed and reached to enter her locker combination, only to find that the dial had been hot-glued still. Her blood began to boil in irritation. What next? Would she, if it was possible to open it, be immediately covered in little notes proclaiming her a 'bitch,' a 'slut,' and a 'whore'? Would they have some how vandalized her binders, gotten a hold of her homework and ruined it, and found her gym uniform and have squirted ketchup all over it? Winry slapped her hand to her forehead. She was exaggerating, and she needed to stay calm about this. Just...calm. Calm, she told herself, as she began to bang her head on her locker door, hoping the pain would jog her mind for a solution.
"Rockbell-san, may I inquire exactly what it is you're doing?" Winry froze at the sound of Mustang-sensei's voice. "And what is this on your...locker...?"
"Uh, nothing!" she squeaked, turning around quickly and backing up against the locker door. "It's nothing! Honest to God!"
His dark eyes flickered to and fro from the parts of the locker she couldn't cover to her face, and there was definite disbelief there.
"This doesn't look like nothing. And I don't believe in God. Now please move."
"Um, but-"
"Move, Rockbell-san."
"...yes, Mustang-sensei."
Mustang took his time deciphering the messages on the locker, his face slowly pulling into a frown. Turning back to Winry, he gave her a stern look and asked,
"Does this happen often, Rockbell-san?"
"Uh...sometimes..."
"Do you intentionally provoke it into happening?"
"Not to my knowledge," Winry muttered, staring at the floor.
"Do you know who's doing it?"
"I have an idea..."
"Then I will inform the main office. Vandalism of school property, including student lockers, violates educational policy," Mustang sounded as though he was reciting it from a passage. "And from the looks of it, many of the people responsible for this are in my class, which is fortunate and unfortunate at the same time. At the very least, I can identify who they are through their handwriting, although this is utterly embarrassing."
"Yes, Mustang-sensei," she sighed, but raised her head to add, "Uh, they glued the dial shut, so...I can't open my locker."
Mustang groaned and nodded his head.
"I'll make sure the door is replaced as well, Rockbell-san."
"Er...thanks," Winry blinked in surprise, but brushed it off. "So, what am I going to do for the rest of the day?"
"At the very least, pay attention in class, and borrow someone else's notes. You can make up for the assigned homework later," he sighed, rubbing his forehead with his thumb and index finger.
"Um, thank you very much!" Unable to hide her delight, Winry bowed eagerly and skipped off to her next class, wanting to see the look on Paninya's face when she informed her of the incident, leaving behind a disgruntled looking Roy Mustang.
All right, I lied. The bitch-bashing will begin in the following chapter; but hey, Ling and Ranfan have been introduced, so that's something:) And now Winry knows even more...yay! I'm thinking the next chapter will be up soon.
