Sei's second class was Chemistry. When he walked into the room, it was almost completely empty. The only person in the room was the teacher, Mr. Land. Sei walked over to him and handed over his schedule, not caring that he was interrupting the man's work.

"Sei Gea?" The man read the name on the schedule. When Sei nodded stiffly, he smiled. "Well, welcome to the world of Chemistry."

Sei almost smiled. "Is it different from the world in the hallway with all the idiots?"

Mr. Land let out a roaring laughter that made Sei jump slightly. "Yes, it is completely different." He put an arm around Sei's shoulders. "And my mission is to keep you from returning to the world of the idiots."

"So you're holding me captive with knowledge?" Sei smirked. He had to admit, this exchange was pretty fun. He decided that teachers could be entertaining at times.

"Yes, it's the strongest thing I have." Mr. Land led him to a bookshelf and pulled out an old textbook. "Once you learn its secrets, I will be powerless to keep you here."

Sei took the text book and opened it to look at the table of contents. They were already a month into the course, so he looked past the first unit. Unit two looked like it would be a lot of labs. He smiled to himself. Hands on work, good. Something to focus on.

"Let's see…" Mr. Land muttered to himself. Sei looked over and saw that he had pulled out a thick binder. He was looking at the first page in the binder, which seemed to be a seating plan. "We've got an empty seat at table six." He pointed to the table in the second row beside the window. "The far one."

Sei nodded and headed to his seat. When he was turned away from Mr. Land, he smirked. Two classes in a row and he was seated beside the window. He had great luck. While this class was only on the first floor, the window still offered some escape.

And a busy road. He chuckled to himself as he watched a delivery truck drive past.

They were starting a new lab that day. When they were dismissed to go to their lab stations, Sei looked around the room. It looked like the partner groups were just whoever was sitting at each table. Great. Sei sighed.

He turned to the boy who was sitting beside him. When he had come in, his nose had been in a book. He hadn't said a word to Sei. The only good thing about him, in Sei's opinion, was that he wore glasses, which probably meant he was smart, otherwise he would have just worn contacts.

Sei didn't even know the boy's name. He shrugged as he got up from the table. Well, I don't need to know his name to be able to do this lab.

"Hey." The boy said, slowly getting up from his seat. Sei looked at him with a bored expression. "I'm Eduard von Bock."

Sei blinked at him twice before what he had said registered. "Sei Gea." He replied. Then he walked past Eduard, heading for the lab with the number six pasted on the counter.

"We're going to need hydrogen peroxide, yeast, beryllium, and H2O." Eduard read from the lab sheet as he followed Sei. "I'll go get them, since you probably don't now what to look for."

"Yeast is used in baking, beryllium is soap, and H2O is water." He filled a small cup with water from the tap, then walked to the supply closet. He grabbed the soap, and while he was there he saw a bottle labeled hydrogen peroxide, so he grabbed that too. Then he went to the small fridge and got the yeast.

"There." He said, placing the items on the counter in front of Eduard. "Now let's get started." He reached for some safety goggles.

Eduard started by carefully reading over the instructions. While he did that, Sei looked around at the counter. Mr. Land had set out little things that they would need, like a soda bottle. He picked it up and turned it in his hand. The label had been removed, but he guessed from the smell still lingering on it that it had held root beer.

"Okay." Eduard breathed, setting down the instructions. He grabbed the bottle from Sei and stood it up on the counter. "Pass me the hydrogen peroxide." He ordered.

Sei frowned as he reached for the chemical. As he turned to hand it to Eduard, he saw the little skull and crossbones on it. For a moment he wondered what would happen if he drank it. It would probably be the escape he longed for.

"Don't." Eduard said flatly. Sei looked at him in surprise and saw that he was staring at him intently. "Don't drink that stuff."

Sei rolled his eyes. "I wasn't gonna." He stated, handing the bottle to Eduard. He watched as Eduard measured out the chemical and carefully poured it into the soda bottle.

I wasn't gonna. Sei repeated to himself. He stared at the bottle once Eduard put it down. I wasn't! He sighed as he got the soap for Eduard. Was I?

Sei was surprised by the size of the cafeteria. While this school was the only high school in town, the town was smaller than the compound where Sei lived. The school population couldn't have been more than five hundred. He guessed that the cafeteria could sit at least five fifty.

That's what happens when the budget is managed by the students. He sighed. He remembered reading that it was student council that decided how to spend the budget for improving the school. He remembered thinking that it might be fun to be involved in that.

After he bought his lunch (since the people at the compound were 'too busy' to make him a lunch before he left for school), he walked through the cafeteria. His destination was a table in the dark back corner of the room.

"Sei!"

Sei stopped and looked in the direction of the voice. He didn't know anyone (other than maybe Eduard), so he was a little confused. He had no idea who the boy waving at him was.

"Come sit with us!" Someone else at the table called out.

Sei ignored them and turned toward the back table. He had never had to interact with other people his own age before, and he really didn't want to start now. He hated the whole idea of being sent to high school, and he wanted to keep interaction to a minimum, which meant eating lunch alone.

"That's Ivan's table." Another boy in the group said, looking where he knew Sei was headed. "You don't want to sit there."

Frowning, Sei turned back to them. He didn't know who Ivan was, and he didn't care. "What do you want?" He asked.

"Just sit with us." The first boy said. He picked up a hamburger and shoved half of it in his mouth at once.

Why would I want to? Sei wondered. Then he sighed. He knew that the higher ups at the compound wanted him to make friends, so he gave in and went to sit with the group.