Author notes- ARGH! I am so PISSED off at Fanfiction right now for not letting me upload my chapters for a WEEK! I'm terribly sorry that it took me so long to upload because I had the chapters all written up, but Fanfiction decided to be an ass! Okay, rant over.

In today's installment, Carmen is going back to school (Yay!) but she's still not ready to forgive Kuro-puppy. I've been really excited about writing this chapter, because there's going to be some more singing (to a song that we are all very familiar with), and, that's right fangirls and fanboys, Kuro-chu is going to sing! *squeal!*

~Chapter Five~

"Carmen, get up!" Sarah's irritated tone commanded. I groaned and pulled the covers over my head. "Don't bother me, I'm sleeping." My eyebrow twitched as my sister opened my shades and ripped the covers off my body. I threw my hand over my eyes to block out the intense glare coming from outside.

"Get your lazy ass up! I'm not letting you skip the last day of the week when you've already missed three days!" the blonde exclaimed.

I groaned again, but I sat up anyway running my hands through my hair and rubbing my eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?" I asked her in a groggy voice.

"We got the day off because the teachers are having a meeting, but the High school has school today. If you skip anymore days, you're going to have a ton of make-up work. Do you want to ruin your good grades?" she asked me.

I rolled my eyes and got out of bed, making my sister leave. I dressed in jean khakkies, a blue T-shirt, and my zip-up scarlet Amestris High hooded sweatshirt, which had been a gift from Winry on my first day. I walked into my bathroom to wash up. I put my hair in a single french braid before walking out to the kitchen.

Sarah was sitting at the table, eating a bowl of cereal. She watched as I went to the fridge and grabbed a can of Coke. I sat down next to her and started to irritably chew the top off of a muffin.

"What?" I asked when I sensed her staring at me.

"Nothing. It's just...what are you going to do when you go to Spanish today?"

Her question made me stop for a few moments. I shrugged.

"And Carmen."

"Yeah?"

"That better not be your "breakfast.'"

88888

My stomach was tied in a huge not by the time I drove into the High school parking lot. I got out, locked my truck, and started walking toward the school, my eyes scanning the campus looking for my friends. When I saw that they weren't there, I sat down on the curb in our usual meeting place. I started tracing swirls into the cement with a random stick I found when I heard footsteps approaching. I looked up to see Alphonse walking toward me.

"Hey Al," I said standing up. He and I fist-bumped before he sat down on the curb with me.

"Are you okay?" he asked me, concern in his brown eyes. "I thought that you weren't going to come today, since what happened in Chorus pissed you off so much."

The familiar spark of anger was fueled once again. I clenched my fists and bit my tongue. I didn't want to take my anger out on Al. He was just concerned about me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

As the school day progressed, I was trying hard to concentrate on what I had missed, but another part of my brain was thinking of a way to get out of eighth period Spanish. I didn't want to ditch class. Maybe I could ask the teacher if I could go to the nurse a few minutes into the class and then hide out in the girls' bathroom until class was over.

I was still thinking of my escape route as I neared the Spanish room. I stopped outside the doorway and looked in, heaving a sigh of relief. Kurogane wasn't there yet. And I luckily saw an empty seat next to Riza at her desk.

I shuffled in and up the the desk. "Um, Hi Riza. Is this seat taken?" I asked her apprehensively. I had never really talked to the blonde before, so I didn't know what she was going to be like.

Riza gave me a small smile. "No, you can take it," she said. I thanked her and slid into the seat. No sooner had I done that I saw Kurogane enter the classroom out of the corner of my eye. I forced myself to stay seated as I sensed his gaze rest on me. No doubt he was surprised to see me back in school. I let my guard down slightly as he looked away and headed up the stairs.

As the final bell rang at the end of the period, I hid among the huge sea of students coming out of the classroom. Al was waiting for me at my locker like always. We started walking down the hallway when a thought came to me.

"Al." I said as we emerged from the double doors.

"Yeah?"

"You go on ahead with Ed and Winry. I'll catch up with you guys later."

He looked a little reluctant about leaving me there. "You sure?"

I nodded. "I just need to go do something. I'll come over to your place tonight." Ed, Winry, Al, Sarah, and I had planned to hang out at the brothers' apartment that evening to do homework.

"Okay," he finally agreed. He turned and started heading towards his car.

I turned on my heel and headed back into the school. The hallways were all empty as I walked down them. I knew that the school closed at four, so I had time until then.

I finally came to the Music room. I turned the doorknob and slowly stepped inside the empty classroom. I let my gaze travel around until it rested on the thing I was looking for; the guitar.

I took a chair and pulled it over to the instrument. I sat down and carefully took the instrument off of it's stand. Playing the guitar always helped sometimes to calm me down if I was under a lot of stress, or if I was just mad as hell.

I started to strum out the intro, closing my eyes and losing myself in the beautiful melody. It was a song that everyone was familiar with, so I had memorized it so I could play it. I sat alone in the empty classroom, playing my heart out. The happiest I had ever been in a long time.

88888

He trudged out of the Spanish room and into the sea of students, feeling like someone had just hit him in the gut with a sack of bricks. Carmen had come back to school, but she had completely ignored him when he had walked in to Spanish. To make matters worse, she had been sitting with Riza. He wanted to apologize again, and say that he was sorry for making her cry yesterday; though he wasn't exactly sure what he had done to upset her like that.

His thoughts were then interrupted when he heard the sound of a guitar playing. He let his feet lead him down the empty hallway and to the music room. The door was open, so he stood against the doorway and out of sight. He had a good idea of who was playing the guitar even before he looked in the doorway.

88888

I was sitting to the far right of the doorway, playing the guitar with my eyes closed as always. The only difference from all the times I had played this before was that I wasn't singing this time.

Hate~enki yu~me~e motomeru ~ shirube naki sekai~ de. ~~

Kasanaru omoi ~ kokoro tsukisasu ~ kodou,

shizuka ni tsuzuku ~ tamerai mo nai ~ uta.

Tooku ~ sora, no ~ kanata~ kara ~ mazaria~atta ~ bokura no kage.

Hitsuzen~n to ki~magure~ no naka ~ shiru~sareta ki~oku.

Surechigatta ~ toki no uzu

Kuchi~hatetemo ki~mi no ~koe o~ shinjite. ~~

I knew full well by now that he was there and singing, but I just kept playing as he sang the next verse.

Hate~naki~yume~e motomeru ~ shiru~ube na~aki mirai~ de.~~

Boku ga~ hikari ~ na~kushitemo ~ isuka.

Kimi ga~ tomo~shi~itekureta~a ~ kirameku mu~une no honoo

Tsuba~sa-ni~ kawaru ~ kibou~ nokakera.~~

88888

My fingers slowly came to a stop as I strummed the last note. There was a brief silence before I lifted my head and met his eyes with my cold glare. "What do you want? I thought that I made it clear yesterday that I didn't want anything to do with you."

The raven heaved a sigh, "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about what I did to you in chorus."

My anger started boiling all over again. I was getting so sick and tired of him trying to act like he actually felt terrible about what he had done. It would be better for the both of us if we acted like it had never happened and just move on with their lives.

"When are you going to get it through your thick, Neanderthal brain that I won't forgive you? It's my option to forgive you, but I won't. It was your option not to call me that word, but you decided to be a douche and do it anyway." As I was talking, I carefully placed the guitar back on the stand, surprising myself that I was able to keep my hands so steady when my body was starting to tremble with familiar rage. I stood up and stalked past him and started to make my way down the hallway, when he grabbed my arm.

Like a reflex, I tried to rip my arm out of his grasp, but he held on. I tried again, but he kept a firm hold on me.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay!" the sudden sincerer tone surprised me. I stopped trying to get away and stood still. I still had my back to him, but I just listened. "I didn't know what I was thinking when I called you that, and I know that I shouldn't of called you it. Even if you were one of my friends, I still shouldn't of said it to you."

"..."

"If you want to hate me, I don't blame you. But I want you to know that I feel like an asshole about hurting you."

I finally forced myself to turn my head back and look at him. I was surprised when I saw his expression. Though his signature scowl was still there, he had risked letting it up a little. Kurogane did look sorry. Well, to me he looked more like an animal that had gotten run over, but that wasn't the point.

I felt his grip on my arm loosen, allowing me to pull it back to my side. I heaved an exasperated sigh. "If you're going to be like that every time you apologize, I guess I'll have to forgive you." I said.

After standing there for a few seconds, I turned around, stuffed my hands in my sweatshirt, and slowly started walking down the hall. But before I had gone a few feet, I turned around again.

"And just to make it clear, Alphonse is a good friend of mine. He, Ed, and Winry helped me get through a tough time when I was younger. Believe me, I don't have a crush on him." I then continued walking down the hall and out to the parking lot.

However, the mention of Al and I as an item did get me thinking...

Post notes- Whew! Let me just say that I had a writers block about Kuro-wan and Carmen's conversation awhile back. Believe me, it was torture! Sorry if the ending was a little crappy, but I was running out of ideas on how the chapter was going to end. GAAAHHHH! *head/desk*

~I (KCH33) helped! That last little line was mine!~ X-D

Please don't hurt me lol. And yes, the song that Carmen was playing was Blaze, and it is the theme song to season one of Tsubasa. Read, Review, and Comment, and I'll see you in Chapter Six.

Your friend,

Carmen Veiga