The New Neighbors (Revised)

Chapter One

School was boring. Everyone knew that. Everyone accepted that. Well, except for the teachers who didn't seem to get how boring they were, and the parents who always thought it was nowhere nearly as boring as what they had to go through at work.

I slung my backpack over my arm and cringed as the book-laden bag fell against my back. Oh what cruel friends books could be. They loved you one moment, and the next, they shouted "School!" from every orifice. Wow, books had orifices? I would have to think more on that later. Right then, I had to get to school.

As soon as I stepped outside, I knew something was wrong. Now would be a perfect time to pretend I was psychic until I was disproved, as always seemed to happen. One of these days, I swore I would guess something before it happened. In the meantime, my job would be to look around and figure out where the wrong vibe was coming from.

The grass was still as green as ever, so it couldn't be that. Well, the Gurps' grass was as brown as ever. Massachusetts wasn't a desert, so I wasn't sure how my neighbors always managed to kill their grass, but they somehow pulled it off. Everything they touched seemed to fall into disorder. Nice. What a talent.

I flicked my eyes up at the sky, but saw nothing to explain the feeling. It was a rather nice day, and I scowled and shook my fist at the sky for being nice on a school day. Stupid sky.

Now where had I not looked? Oh yeah, toward the other neighbor's house, supposing that even counted. That house had been vacant for a long time. Still, I looked, saw something different, and breathed a sigh of relief at the validation I wasn't going crazy. A moving van was parked in front of the house. That was what I had subconsciously registered as I'd stepped out the door. We were going to have new neighbors, and I found myself silently praying that these neighbors would be better than the Gurps.

Having solved the mystery and concluding with a sigh that I still wasn't psychic, I readjusted my backpack and started on my way to school. Evil school, it stood there across the street from my house, laughing at me every morning. It liked to make me think about school even on the weekends by sitting there within view of my house. Oh yes, I knew its evil plot.

First period. Chemistry. Ugh. Why did I have to have a thinking subject first thing in the morning? This school was just having a laugh at my expense, I knew it. Well, I didn't think the joke was funny, and I was going to have to find a way to get the last laugh on the school one of these days.

After checking in at my locker, I entered the classroom and made my way over to my desk and was about to sit down when I stopped, holding my books against my chest like a shield. The desks were built to fit two people, but I had not yet been given a partner. That is, I hadn't had one before today.

The boy sitting on the other side of my desk started and turned to look at me, and I took a step backward. I wasn't afraid of the boy per se, but there was something so—-so—-something—-about the boy it was unnerving to me.

I couldn't quite remember what was bothering me. He had long blond hair pulled back into a braid, which registered as familiar somehow, but my brain had still not woken up from its late morning snooze. He was wearing gloves too, which seemed odd for him to be wearing them in the classroom. And then there was the red coat he was wearing. It wasn't so cold that someone would need to wear their jacket inside.

Then it hit me. This boy was dressed like Edward Elric. How had I not thought of that right away? It was further proof that my brain should not be expected to exercise in the morning. Even watching Fullmetal Alchemist too early resulted in a wide open jaw and drool on my chin.

My shoulders relaxed and I smiled. If this boy was to be my new desk mate, that could be rather cool. We could both be obsessed fans together.

"Take a picture. It'll last longer."

I blinked a couple times as I registered where I was and realized the speaker had been the boy I'd been looking at, as though moving lips weren't a clue that someone might be speaking. Perhaps I needed to perform a brain transmutation to bring my brain back from the dead.

I looked into the boy's eyes for the first time, and simultaneously leapt for joy and cringed when I saw his eyes were golden like Edward's. This guy was obsessed, maybe more than I was, if that was even possible.

My brain came online and I remembered how to speak. "I left my camera at home."

The boy rolled his eyes and sighed, and I felt the heat rising in my face as I realized he had been sarcastic. Stupid, stupid brain. When I woke up, it was supposed to wake up with me. I was going to murder it—-with a hatchet, or I would drop it from a tall building, or I would boil it, mash it, and put it in a stew…

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and sat down in my seat, even though "Ed's" presence next to me made me feel a little bit uneasy, but I would get used to it soon enough, once I got used to the idea that I had a realistic Edward Elric sitting in the seat next to me.

I placed my books on the desk and turned to face the boy. "I'm Robyn."

"Edward," he said, and I blinked, not sure I'd heard right. After a minute, I decided I had, and I laughed. "Ed" scowled at me and said, "What's so funny?"

"What's your real name?"

"Edward. I told you that."

I still didn't believe him, and I told him so in the midst of my giggles. He groaned and said, "What's so hard to believe about that?

"Um, maybe the way you're dressed?" I said.

"What's wrong with the way I'm dressed?"

I was spared having to answer, because Mr. Duncan walked into the classroom right then. I breathed a sigh of relief even as "Ed" shot me a glare and turned to face the teacher. I knew I wouldn't be able to get out of answering his question for long, but by then, I'd have had time to think up a legitimate answer.

-To Be Continued-

Hey, AA here! I want to let you all know, this is not the entire first chapter, and I did NOT write this. The lovely author by the name of agent000 is the one who wrote this chapter. She's working on rewriting the whole story, actually. We've started a new account between the two of us for shared stories we'll be writing together. Our first project is rewriting one story the other has already written. If you like her writing or The New Neighbors, I suggest you check it out, considering there's much more to thins chapter! I only gave you a little teaser. -wink, wink-

And If you're not feeling for that sort of thing, the first chapter of my rewrite of her story should also be posted. I'm doing my take on her story My Body, Your Soul.

So check us out! Our shared account name is Vanilla and Chocolate. If you're lazy, go to my favorite authors list to find it. We're going to be writing a lot more together in the future, so keep an eye out.

I personally think that agent000 did an awesome job on this and I highly reccomend reading the rest of the chapter.