Central High

21.

Lydia laughed and tossed her backpack onto the lunch table, it landed with little sound, a testament to how little she actually had in it. She unzipped and rummaged around in it, pushing and pulling here and there at the different things that she had crammed into the charcoal bag before she had snatched up Greed's jacket and her skateboard and tripped as her dad came around the corner on her way out of the house that morning. She rummaged around in it until she pulled out a white, as white as something covered in graphite smudges and the flamel spray painted onto the cover of it could be, school agenda and set it on the table, her two best friends looking at it like she had just committed murder and pulled a body out onto the table. Lydia Elric had a school planner... not that she used it as anything other than a sketchbook for all her illegal artwork that would end up on some train freight headed to be seen across the country. Her art was rather popular in the south area of Amestris, ironically as that's where Izumi resided and the girl would be beaten every which way should her grandmother find out that the tagging was her doing and not some other tag artist's. She smiled and flipped the flimsy thing open, sketches of a dragon fighting a mustang and random dicks or sayings were scrawled across every page. She had the word "monday" blacked out with sharpie, the words "Yeah, fuck that," written above them. She smiled as she flipped to the August calendar in the pages and laying it open, pulling her favorite silver gel pen from the spiral binding and uncapping it with her teeth, eyes searching for the date she was looking for, making a pleased sound of triumph when she found it, "There we go! The Green Dragon Festival." She pointed to the day four days away from current date. "This is the best place to learn the most in a short amount of time. It's a heritage festival. It's kinda like we dress up, have fun, and celebrate and honor those before us who helped shape the country. My family goes out to the Rockbell House to visit grandma the day after," she explained and Smoke nodded, interested as she looked at the girl's sparkling green eyes and the drawing of a dragon dancing on the date's square. The nervous girl jolted aggressively when Lydia cried out in shock. "FIERA FUCKING JONES! Why didn't you tell me that the festival is three fucking days away!?" The girl in question just broke out laughing.
"You always know when it is! I didn't think I had to remind you!" Fiera laughed as her best friend glared and groaned, dropping her head to the lunch table. Lydia Rain Elric was dateless to the Green Dragon Festival... for the moment at least. The girl snapped her head up, orange-blond hair flying with her motion, settling around her face as she got a wicked look in her emerald eyes.
"Moradin, do you have a date to the festival?" He raised an eyebrow at her inquiry and hesitated to reply. He knew that look in her eyes and it usually meant that she had something planned. Something devious was running through her mind.
"No, I don-" he jolted when she jumped up, hands splayed flat on the table as she leaned forwards.
"Great," she chirped and leaned back. "You're my date! I know you don't know how to swing dance so you'll come over..." she paused and looked down at her schedule, "Tomorrow night, and I'll teach you. Dress nice, and bring your shoes for the festival. M'kay?" He was left stunned at  the speed that she had declared him her date and planned out their week in a mere second. He coughed in surprise and the soda that he was drinking went up his nose, the carbonation making fizzling burning explode in his nose and he snorted in pain, transferring his soda from one hand to the other, the alchemy circles on his palms connecting to create a transmutation. The second his hands were both touching the can in the pass-off, the atoms in the soda began to move rapidly, causing an explosion as the pressure built and the can ruptured from the force, the aluminum of the can mangling and hitting the floor as the soda exploded and drenched him, splattering across the table to hit the girls as well. He sat there, face deep red in embarrassment. The girls had squealed when it exploded, but now sat laughing with tears in their eyes and their sides hurting as he sat there, dripping with his soda. He groaned and pulled his shirt from his skin, the black fabric clinging to his pale frame. Lydia smiled at him when he looked back at the girls and he was thankful that his face was covered with the brown-black liquid to cover the blush he had. He'd had a crush on her for a while, but he'd never said anything about it to her or anyone. She would laugh, and he knew it, so he kept quiet, glad to just be her best friend, having days where she would come over and lay across him on the couch, playing video games and noisily eating chips as they played around until Solf would yell at them from up-stairs to shut up.
"Classy," she teased and he let out an embarrassed laugh, aware that he must look like the world's biggest dork as he sat there, drenched and dripping Coke, face red with embarrassment because his crush just declared he was her date to the festival. While he was glad she had chosen him, secretly elated should he be honest, he was extremely nervous but even more so scared. She was a... aggressive personality. Now, she wasn't an aggressive person in a violent way, but in a "in your face" kind of way. She was bold and insistent, and that did not bode well for his night as her date. He was sure that he'd be a little more than overwhelmed by her strong personality as he often was. He silently wondered if you could be overwhelmed to death... and promptly realized that yes, yes you could. It was a bothering sentiment, one that he shook off quickly. "Anyways, so you got that or do you need me to call Rebecca and tell her to remind you?" She laughed and he scowled. He was used to her teasing but that didn't mean he liked it, especially when she insinuated that he was incompetent or forgetful. He had a photographic memory, and she knew it. He and his dad both did, and sometimes it was a blessing and others it was a curse. He would never forget his schedule, but he would also never forget getting humiliated by Mrs. Sarriff on the first day of class.  
"I got it," he replied, making a mental note to tell his mother that Lydia would be over tomorrow afternoon after school so that she would be prepared for that rowdy event. The pair were always either loud together or rowdy, often breaking something. "What time?"
"I'll be there at 3:50, sound good?" He nodded and she smiled and got up as the bell rang. She gave him a thumbs up and turned to Smoke, the girl having been quietly enjoying the show as Lydia freaked out. "I'll tell you more about it in sixth, alright Drachman?"
"Sounds good," she replied and, with that, Fiera Jones and Lydia Elric turned and left for fourth, chatting as they walked, and Moradin couldn't help but watch her as she left, eyes trailing after her. Smoke smiled at the display, the boy having forgotten that she was even there, and tapped his shoulder, offering him her jacket to replace his drenched shirt. "You like her, huh?" She asked, a gentle tone as he flushed bright red and took the brown hoodie that she held out to him. He found the fabric to be old and dying, but still comfortable as he pulled it on, zipping it up and pushing the sleeves up to his elbows.
"And if I do?" He knew it was wrong to be hostile to her when she was being nice. She smiled sweetly in response with a giggle.
"I think it's sweet. Take this chance to win her if you really do like her," she replied and gathered up her things. "See you in alchemy class, Moradin."