Brief Commentary:
Woo next chapter...sorry, I'm skipping ahead for this one as I have nothing better to do and I can't think of any good fillers. XDD Err, anyway, here's chapter 34 for you all (this is moving so very slowly...). And holy shit, before I forget, thanks everyone for the 200+ reviews! Love you everybody! While I might not be responding as often as I used to, I'm certainly reading them all! I won't ask for any more for now because that would just make me a silly bitch. :)
Yes, I got a Black Magic Woman,
She's got me so blind I can't see;
But she's a Black Magic Woman and
she's trying to make a devil out of me.
Reasons Not For Your Ears
Chapter Thirty-Four
The summer vacation passed more quickly than Winry had realized, for soon Pinako quietly approached her announcing the need for a few things for the upcoming school year. She had only just finished obtaining the last item on her grandmother's supplied list when she found that it was two days until the start of the first semester. In the mean time, she slept little, half because she found she was never truly tired, and half because of emotions she did not particularly want to acknowledge that were swirling around in her stomach.
It was with some reluctance that Winry pulled herself out from under the sheets, relatively early in the morning, to dust off her school uniform and put it on. After dragging herself into the bathroom, Winry soon fell back into her old schedule of washing her face, brushing her hair, and making her way downstairs for breakfast. She found some semblance of relief well up as she caught the smell of Pinako cooking something, and a tiny, tentative corner of her mind wondered if things might be returning to normal. The thought was squashed, Winry reminding herself of how nice it was to be free of care, concern, and her emotions in general.
Soon after sitting down at the small table in the kitchen/living room, she was presented with a basic meal of bacon and eggs; Winry wasn't about to complain or even speak at all as she rapidly consumed her food. It was finished in a matter of minutes, the blonde already reaching for her heavy, slightly over-stuffed book bag and slinging it over her shoulder, making her way towards the front door. She felt her grandmother's gaze on her back as she left, but she chose to ignore it in favor of subconsciously counting how many steps there were on the staircase as she made her way down.
The bike was miraculously still in rather good shape after a summer vacation of absent neglect, Winry feeling only a small need to pump up the tires again before she would set off. A small wriggling in her stomach reminded her that she hadn't ridden her bike in a while, and her reflexes and movements on it weren't as sure as they had been. Winry set herself to make more cautious decisions as she avoided pedestrians and cars alike, absently wondering if the ride to school had always taken so long.
As she had half-heartedly hoped, she made it to school early, chaining the bike almost mechanically to one of the bike racks, adjusting the bag on her shoulder again, and walking inside. From the letters received in the mail, everything was almost the same as last year, the only difference being the learning material, the grade level, and the students' schedules. Winry's feet took her to her locker on their own, its condition very much the same as she had left it.
After such a long period of disuse, her fingers felt awkward on the plastic tumbler, even as the familiar combination flowed back to the front of her mind with relative ease. It took her two tries, but eventually her locker door swung open and she allowed her bookbag to drop inside with a dull thunk. Digging out her schedule, Winry smoothed out the slightly crinkled piece of paper and used one of the magnets she had borrowed from their refrigerator to post it on the interior of her locker for reference.
She proceeded to draw out her English binder, as that would be the first subject to begin the day with. Sticking a slightly chewed pencil into the binder's pocket, she swung the locker door shut, turning and closing it more firmly with the heel of her shoe. Winry stepped forward, wondering if it would be worth her time to go to class early. Before she was able to confirm the thought, her face smacked into the material of a shirt and the arm behind it. She opened her mouth to mumble a quick "Sorry," but a glance at who she had accidently bumped into closed it again in surprise.
Her shocked blue eyes met irritated golden ones, and Winry nearly jumped backwards as she realized fully who was standing in front of her.
It was none other than Edward Elric, who looked especially pissed off, Alphonse a few feet behind him apologizing to other disgruntled-looking students who the elder brother seemed to have jostled as well. It was after a few seconds of silence that he sneered at her and waved a hand in front of her face.
"Good morning, Rockbell-san," he said, voice mocking. "How are you on this fine day?"
Winry said nothing, although her brow furrowed and she felt her teeth chew into her bottom lip.
"I see, I see," Edward continued, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, I get it, it's a real shock to see me. You must've missed me so much, huh? Geez, not even a 'hi,' goddamn. Are you still being a zombie? Fuck, bet you are. I'll be avoiding you, then. I don't talk to dead people, sorry."
And then he sauntered off, not seeming to notice the strange looks he was getting from the other students. Winry stared after him, then turned her attention back to Alphonse, who was a little red in the face.
"Wow, huh?" he sighed, shoving his bangs out of his face in exasperation. "He didn't want to come at all, at first, but some how we talked him into it...and he's causing such a ruckus, and class hasn't even started yet..."
He looked startled at the small smile that had found its way onto Winry's lips.
"...he'll be popular..."
"I'm afraid so."
"Edward-san, will you kindly shut up?"
Winry glanced behind her, eyes focusing on the elder of the two brothers, who was complaining under his breath (very loudly) about how stupid and pointless Roy Mustang's current subject, World History, was. Edward pointedly ignored him, defying the general school rules further by propping his feet onto his desk. Mustang sighed and glanced at Hawkeye, ever ready with her water pistol. They exchanged some uninterpretable look, and with a flash of her hand, Riza Hawkeye successfully landed a particularly pressured shot smack in the middle of Edward's forehead.
He nearly toppled out of his chair, eyes slightly wide with shock. Clearly, he (as had the rest of the class) assumed that the water gun in Hawkeye's hand was exclusively meant for Mustang, and not for students. Angrily wiping the the water from his face, he glared at anyone who had dared to even smile, before righting himself again.
"May I ask what the hell that was for?" the older Elric snapped.
"Misbehaved students must be punished accordingly," Roy Mustang glared at him. "If you don't shut up, I'm afraid it will only get worse, and you will be the object of great amusement for the next few weeks."
"Shut the hell up, bastard," he bit back, but eventually settled down after another round of "persuasion."
There was little progress made in that particular class, needless to say. After it drew to an awkward close (Edward receiving another shot in the back on the way out), Winry searched for Alphonse, finding him speaking to Mei Chan at his locker.
"Hey, Al..."
He turned, a little surprised at the sound of her voice. Mei chose this moment to look for something in her shoulder bag.
"Winry? Something wrong?"
"...why is he...in our class?"
It was an unspoken agreement on who 'he' was.
"Ah, you see, I taught him all the material he missed since he ran away, and since there's a year difference in our ages, he's at our grade level - so I had him held back a year."
"...how did you teach...?"
From the strange look Alphonse gave her, Winry decided she really didn't want to know as she opened her locker and took out her lunch.
As she walked outside, she looked around for Paninya, as that was who she usually ate with despite her recently foul personality, but the dark skinned girl was no where to be found. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen her in any of their earlier classes either...
Her train of thought was interrupted by a loud,
"Fuck, I forgot my lunch."
She turned her head to look at him as Edward plopped down beside her, face sullen. It was apparent that he had been looking forward to the lunch period.
"Yo, Zombie, gimme some of yours," he extended a hand towards the paper bag at her side. "I'm starving to death here, dammit."
Deciding she wasn't likely eat to much of it anyway, Winry nodded and complied, taking each morsel out of the bag and laying it on the grass, with the exception of a roll, which hadn't been put in a container or plastic wrap. He snatched said baked good out of her hands and tore into it, his stomach rumbling loudly in appreciation. It seemed that he hadn't been lying when he explained that he was "starving."
Slightly surprised to find a plastic container filled with fried rice, Winry dug through the bag a little more and found a pair of chopsticks to eat it with. Well, she wasn't exactly skilled with them, and she would've perferred a spoon... She shrugged and popped the lid off of the fried rice and carefully began to eat, not especially caring when Edward kept stealing the different morsels that surrounded her in the grass. The fried rice would fill her up just fine.
Lunch ended soon after she finished, Edward already having left to go investigate a crowd of the usual class troublemakers when she stood to leave. The process of the students attempting to get back to their lockers was a slow one, and she was greeted with the sight of Alphonse and Mei kissing each other very thoroughly - directly blocking her locker door. After letting it continue for fifteen more seconds or so, she gave a little cough - the two pulled apart quickly in shock, faces glowing a faint red as they realized who had been watching.
"Oh, Winry," Alphonse waved sheepishly at her and scuttled out of the way, Mei close to his side.
"...dating?" she said faintly, proceeding to open her locker without looking at the two of them.
"Ah, yes, we are now," Mei announced, face a brilliant red despite the happy smile on her lips.
"I'm glad," Winry nodded, before pulling out a text book and another binder for Mathematics. By the time she had shut the metal door, the two were already gone, and with nothing better to do in the couple of minutes she had left until the next class, she started towards the classroom. She felt a bit intruiged by Alphonse's and Mei's sudden status, although it was nothing she shouldn't have expected - they had taken a liking to each other since day one.
Right before she stepped into the room, Winry thought she caught a glimpse of Paninya darting around a corner, but then the bell had rang and she hurried to her seat.
Hooray, progress! Makes me happy.
