Author's notes-Hello! It's time for chapter two! Yay! In this chapter, Kurogane ends up in one of Carmen's classes. How do you think that will turn out? Lol. This means thoughts. This means that someone is speaking in Spanish. This means someone is singing. 88888 means scene changes. Enjoy!
~Chapter Two~
I had to admit, my first day wasn't as suckish as I thought it would be. Almost all of my friends were in my subjects. I was glad that Fai ended up being my partner in my culinary class. I've always liked to cook and the older blonde was there to give me a few pointers.
By the time eighth period rolled around, I was pretty used to my new learning environment. As I entered the Spanish room, I saw that it was set up as all my other classes were; long rows of desks, and bench-like seats, elevating themselves as they extended to the back of the room. I walked up the stairs and set my books down at a desk in the middle section. The teacher was late, so I took out my English notebook, opening up to a fresh page. I picked up my pencil and soon lost myself once again, writing a new song.
As long as I could remember, I've always loved to sing and write my own music. Mom taught me how to play guitar when I was three. I practiced hard every day to perfect the notes so that they would sound beautiful. My determination at that age always made Mom smile and laugh. I shook my head as I felt tears stinging my eyes. I wasn't going to cry. Not here, at least.
I finally gave up in the middle of the first verse when my hand cramped up from writing and my mind went into a writers block. I put away my notebook and propped my chin up with one of my hands, resting my elbow on the desk. I watched as more students filed into the classroom. I spotted a few people who I recognized from my other classes. Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye were among the clumps. Roy was the senior football jock who was adored by all of the girls, especially the cheerleaders. The only girl he couldn't put under his spell was Riza. She was a bad-ass blonde who didn't take orders from anyone and was the only person who could make Roy curl up in a fettle position in a corner. I chuckled at his feeble attempts to flirt with her.
I then saw Fuma and Kamui shuffle in at the back of the crowd. Fuma was the brother to Seishiro, who just happened to be in my math class. They were twins, but there were some traits that proved that they weren't identical. Seishiro had dark hair while Fuma's hair was light brown and spiky.
Kamui was a kid with a mess of black hair and deep blue eyes. Although he was pale and unbelievably skinny, he was athletically built. I was in his Phys Ed class. I've never seen anyone move that fast on the basketball court. He was awfully quiet, and he didn't talk much. But when he did, it would sometimes be to shoot a hostile retort at some dumbass who was pissing him off. Other then that, he was pretty level headed.
I lazily looked back to the doorway. I really didn't expect who to see next.
88888
"Damn that bitch Yuko!" the red-eyed raven hissed as he walked down the hallway. The stupid principal was the reason why he was late for the third time this week for class. She had called him into her office right after seventh period had ended.
"I just wanted to let you know that I've switched your eighth period class from Math to Spanish, Mr. Suwa," the long-legged beauty of a principal had said to him. Her office was plastered with all kinds of nature things, including tens of butterflies, going along with the older woman's fetish for them. She wore a long skirted business suit that included a dark purple blouse, slightly unbuttoned, underneath the blazer. The front half of her long, unimaginably straight hair was pulled back into a bun held by yet another purple butterfly among the others. She had always tried to look more motherly prior to when she had took in that Watanuki kid after his parents had died.
"WHAT!" Why the hell did you do that!"
"I want you to make some new friends." She had given him a smile.
"I have friends," he growled.
"Maybe it's time to open up and make some new ones," she then became serious. "Why don't you try talking to the new girl, Carmen Vega?"
"Why? She had a whole flock of friends around her this morning."
"Yes that's true, but none of those friends are in her Spanish class and the poor girl hardly knows anybody else." Yuko explained.
"Why would I care about that? She can survive one period without any of her little friends." he insisted. He really didn't want to waste his time with being a tour guide to the new kid; especially an airhead girl like her.
"Why don't you just try talking to her? You can learn a lot from someone new, you know."
He was now nearing the Spanish room, bracing himself for another lecture from the teacher about his attendance. He peered into the room and let out a silent sigh of relief. The teacher was late yet again. He walked into the room and let his gaze roam about the classroom. His red eyes finally rested on the person who he was assigned to "become best friends" with.
88888888888
"Shit, what's he doing here!" I thought as I saw Kurogane Suwa walk through the doorway. I quickly opened up a random textbook and pretended to be lost in the lesson written on the pages. Unfortunately, I could sense his gaze traveling around the room and finally coming to a rest on me. I stared blankly at the pages as I heard his footsteps echo as he made his way up the steps and towards my desk.
"Sakura is going to be so pissed at me if she finds out that this happened!'' my thoughts warned. A pile of books were set down next to mine.
"Oi."
I forced my eyes away from my text book and made them travel up until they met with the raven's hard, crimson scowl. I forced the bile down that had started to rise in my throat when my thoughts reminded me of another thing that was the color of dark red.
"Y-yes?" I asked, my voice stuttering slightly. I mentally kicked myself for showing a sign of fear and weakness.
"Hell if I know. Yuko just told me to talk to you," and with that, he slid into the seat next to me, staring straight ahead.
I held back a groan. Wonderful. The school principal just had to choose the most feared guy in the whole student body to be my guide. He didn't look like he was going to make an attempt to talk to me, and for once, I was glad.
The teacher then walked in and proceeded to take attendance. She then put us to work immediately. I was happy there was something to take my mind off of the grumbling giant sitting next to me. I was fluent in Spanish and also in Japanese. I wrote down the notes in my notebook that the teacher had begun writing down on the whiteboard-without the English translation. I could understand what the sentences said; what was the use of writing down the translation?
Two red eyes glanced at my paper. "Why the hell isn't she writing down the translation?" was probably what he was thinking. I bet he couldn't understand any of the foreign crap the teacher was writing, no matter how many times he looked at it. This was just another class that he was flunking among many.
He let out a frustrated sigh.
My eyes darted over to the male as soon as I heard the verbal protest. His hands were balled into fists and he looked like he was ready to either rip his hair out, or kill the nearest thing he saw. I put down my pencil as soon as I was done copying down the notes. I turned my head to him and lowered my voice, "What's the matter? Do you not understand something?"
"Yeah, and its name is Spanish. I don't see how people can understand this crap!"
"If you hate it, why did you pick it?" I asked him curiously. It's not like Kurogane needed to take this class. It was an elective after all.
"None of your business, Vega!" he hissed back at me.
I resisted the urge to smack him. I couldn't stand it when people had the gall to snap at me when I was just asking a question.
Both of us jumped when the voice of our teacher shattered the silence of hard-working students, "Miss Vega. Mr. Suwa. Would you like to share your conversation with the rest of the class?"
"No, ma'am," I answered, feeling myself blush in embarrassment. My first day and I was already in trouble.
When she continued to glare at me, I sighed, "I'm sorry that I disrupted your class, ma'am. I promise it won't happen again."
The class went absolutely silent, and a bunch of eyes were watching me. My face went beet red. I wasn't used to being the center of attention.
"You're fluent in Spanish?" my teacher was shocked.
I nodded, "Yes ma'am. My parents taught me how to speak two languages when I was first learning how to talk. My mom taught me English and my dad taught me Spanish. I'm trilingual because I'm also fluent in Japanese. I'm also thinking about studying a fourth language."
"That's quite impressive, Miss Vega. Perhaps you can tutor the young man sitting next to you."
I looked at Kurogane out of the corner of my eye-who was right now looking at me in bewilderment with his jaw hanging open. I returned my attention to my teacher, "Maybe,"
As soon as the final bell rang, I rushed out of the room and down the hallway. I was relived to see Winry talking with Ed and Al over at their lockers. I gave Winry a hug in greeting and double-handedly fist bumped the Elric brothers.
"So, how was your first day Carmen?" Winry asked me as we walked out of the front doors and into the warm afternoon sunshine.
I shrugged. "It was okay, I guess. The classes weren't bad and the teachers weren't a bunch of assholes like they were at my old school."
"Glad to see you're fitting in." Ed complimented. I punched him in the arm playfully, causing his auto-mail to make a clanking sound.
"Ha! Didn't even feel it!" he cried out triumphantly. I then proceeded to chase him around the parking lot, trying to tackle him. When that didn't work, I gave up and headed to my car, waving to Winry and Al. Ed was still trying to protect his life, not knowing I had thrown in the towel on our little chase.
As soon as I was settled in my truck, I rolled down my windows and turned on my radio. I switched to my favorite station and started humming along with the song. I started pulling out of my space and drove down the parking lot. I opened my mouth and started belting out the chorus:
"But, according to him,
I'm beautiful,
incredible,
He can't get me out of his head!
According to him,
I'm funny,
irresistible,
Everything he ever wanted!
Everything is opposite,
I don't feel like stopping it,
So baby tell me what I've got to lose.
He's into me for everything I'm not,
according to you."
88888
He walked out the front doors and into the afternoon light. He didn't know what me and the teacher had been talking about at all, but he was most likely positive that he probably had something to do with it. I had looked at him out of the corner of my eye and had left class in a hurry when the bell rang after all- and that had probably confirmed his thoughts.
Now he was headed to his black Hummer SUV. He probably just wanted to go home and do nothing at all, including not doing his homework. Maybe he would call Syaoran later, or something like that.
He had just opened his car door and was about to settle in when he heard loud music blaring from a car nearby. He looked up to see an old, crimson truck coming down the parking lot, windows rolled down. The driver was, was a girl who looked suspiciously a lot like me, who was now busy singing along to the earblasting song:
"Why can't you see me through his eyes?
It's to bad you're making me decide!"
She then looked in his direction. Their eyes locked for one split second before the girl looked away and proceeded to sing the end of the song.
"According to you,
I'm stupid,
I'm useless,
I can't do anything right."
Of course, that dumb brunette in the car was me.
88888
I stepped out of my truck and locked it. I walked into the apartment lobby and took the elevator. I opened my apartment door and dropped my backpack while I removed my boots.
"Sarah? Are you home?" I called out.
"In here," a voice answered, echoing off the walls. I opened the door to the den and stuck my head in. My sister was sitting on a stool splattered with dried paint, and painting on another canvas. She wore an old pink T-shirt with blue jeans and pink and white sneakers. My sister was really into art, so she used the den in our apartment for her projects sometimes.
"Hey Carmen." she greeted me with one of her sweet smiles. She put down the brush she had been using and turned herself around in her seat so that she was facing me.
"Hey, kid. How was your first day?" I asked her. I flopped onto a red beanbag chair near the fireplace.
The blonde shrugged, "It was okay, I guess. Half of my teachers are complete bitches, but the rest are okay," she answered. "What about you?"
I rolled onto my stomach and propped my chin up with both of my hands before answering, "The high school isn't a hell hole as I thought it would be. It's not as bad as the last one I enrolled in."
"My thoughts exactly." my sister agreed, laughing a bit.
My eyes then traveled to her canvas. "So, what kind of masterpiece is the Great Sarah painting today?" I inquired curiously.
She turned back to her painting. "Don't know yet. It's a debate between Fall and Spring," she said, twirling a gold lock of hair around her finger. I swear to God that she looked exactly like my mother just then. Mom would do the exact same thing; twirl her hair when she was in deep thought. An accidental tear slid down my cheek. I brushed it away quickly before Sarah noticed.
"Have you finished your homework yet?" I asked her while a stood up from the beanbag chair. My back cracked as I stretched.
Sarah raised her eyebrow at me. "Ca-chan, you know very well that I NEVER do my homework on Friday nights," her eyes then became curious. "Why? Was there something you wanted to do?"
I leaned against the wall. "Well, it's Friday night, and I'm too lazy to cook dinner. You want takeout or do you want to go out tonight?" I asked her.
Her eyes lit up. "TAKEOUT!" she cried out excitedly.
I laughed at her eagerness as I took my cell phone out of my pocket, dialing the nearest pizza place. Fifteen minutes later we were consuming a large cheese/pepperoni pizza between the two of us and gulping down two huge bottles of Pepsi. When all of the eating was done, we both crashed on the couch in the den. I seized the remote and turned on a random TV show while we waited for the thirty tons of crap we just ate to digest.
"Carmen, do you think you can play and sing one of your songs on Mom's guitar?" Sarah asked me.
My thoughts screamed at me to say ''No'', but I gave in just by looking at her innocent, pleading eyes. "Sure," I answered. I got up and went to my room. I knelt in front of the old chest in the corner of the room and opened it. There it was, my mom's old guitar. It was collecting dust since I hadn't used it for a few months, and the old, light blue ribbon tied around the guitar neck was frayed and fading.
You see, the day after my mom died, I had locked her guitar in this very chest, never wanting to see it, or play it again. I couldn't cope with the fact that she was gone at that young age. However, as I got older, I would take the beautiful instrument out and strum the strings once in a while. Sarah would beg me to play one of the songs I wrote. This was one of those times.
I lay the guitar on my bed and went to my desk. I flipped through my binder of the sheet music that held my songs. I finally found the one I was looking for and carried both items back to the den.
"Ooo, is this a new one?" Sarah questioned as I handed her the sheet music.
"Yeah. I started writing it today, but it's not done yet. That's all I have so far," I told her, slinging the guitar strap over my shoulder. I sat down on the couch and crossed my right leg over my left one, balancing the guitar on my thigh. I started strumming the intro. Beautiful sounds and music filled the small room. Closing my eyes, I opened my mouth and started singing:
"You take a deep breath and you walk through the doors.
It's the morning of your very first day.
You say "Hi" to your friends you ain't seen in a while,
try and stay out of everybody's way.
It's your freshman year and you're gonna be here for the next four years in this town.
Hoping one of those senior boys
will wink at you and say
'You know I haven't seen you around, before.'
'Cause when you're fifteen
and somebody tells you they love you,
you're gonna believe them
and when you're fifteen
feeling like there's nothing to figure out.
Well count to ten,
take it in,
this is life before you know who you're gonna be...
fifteen."
As I ended the last note, Sarah gave me a little round of applause. "That was great, Carmen!" she praised. She wrapped her arms around me in a hug.
"Thanks Sarah," I told her, returning her hug. A small smile crept over my face. Even though she wasn't here, I knew that Mom would be smiling one of her bright, proud smiles at me. The guitar was one of the last things that I had of my mother.
I slowly reached up and gripped the golden heart locket around my neck. The picture of my parents and I that was sealed inside flashed in my head. "I miss you guys so much." I thought.
Post notes- Yay! Another chapter done! Now, moving on to a new order of business, I am officially changing the pairings for the story.
SyaoSakura (Hell yeah!)
Instead of FaiChi, it's gonna be ChixHideki :D (Later, though, sowwy!)-That was KawaiiChibiHime33, my editor if you didn't already know her from my other series "Tsubasa Alchemist."
Instead of KuroTomoyo, it's gonna be TomoyoxEriol (Yes, I am putting him in there XD, even if he is from CardCaptor Sakura. Same with Hideki from Chobits.)
EdWinry (That stays the same)
AlphonsexCarmen (Yes, Al is going to be Carmen's love interest, deal with it lol.)
and finally... the pair you've all been waiting for. *drumroll*
KUROFAI! *SQUEEEEEEALLLLLL!* (My editor for Tsubasa Alchemist, KawaiiChibiHime33 is going to be writing the Kurofainess, because I really suck at writing yaoi pairings right now lol.)
_Hey! It's not like I'm a yaoi fangirl or anything, but Kurofai is one hard pairing to ignore. It's so in your face! Once you know, you cannot let it go. But anyway, I've had my run-ins with yaoi(more than I ever deemed necessary), so I'll be helping Carmen out with that aspect of her story. NO LEMONS PEOPLE! *sick-minded little bastards out there...* JK! Just a few cute and fluffly yaoi moments here and there, so don't go all hormone-happy on us. WARNING: We will NOT live up to you expectations!(Okay, I'm done.)
KawaiiChibiHime33
I hope you fangirls (and fanboys) are all happy! See you next chapter.
Your friend,
Carmen Veiga